New Challengers #1 Review

Writer: Scott Synder & Aaron Gillespie / Artist: Andy Kubert / DC Comics Hostages? Explorers? No, no hostages. That’s the conclusion I came to after reading New Challengers. Out of the wild and crazy happenings of Dark Nights: Metal comes another fascinating series. This time, Scott Synder and Aaron Gillespie took the opportunity to take on the classic series Challengers of the Unknown, giving us the New Challengers. I’ll admit that I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the original Challengers of the Unknown series, or the New 52 reboot of sorts. However, Synder and Gillespie do a great job of making the book accessible to new readers from the start. It’s a pretty simple premise of four random strangers chosen to go on death-defying adventures to save the multiverse with a time limit. If the first issue is any indication, then there will be no limits to how crazy and ridiculous the team’s adventures will get. One of the things that struck me immediately is the stakes. I don’t want to spoil too much but let’s just say that there is one thing each member of the group shares, and it’s the reason they were chosen. I like characters that are thrust into situations without really having a moment to catch their breath or deal with the reality of it all. The team is given a quick and dirty rundown (that becomes deadly for one of them) and is thrown into their first mission right away.

Unfortunately, we don’t get to spend too much time getting to know the Challengers. The only p…