In our review of Challengers of the Unknown #3, as the team continues to investigate the Darkseid shockwave, a being emerges from the future.
CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #3
Written by CHRISTOPHER CANTWELL
Art: SEAN IZAAKSE and AMANCAY NAHUELPAN
Main Cover: SEAN IZAAKSE
Variant Cover: CHRISTIAN WARD
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: February 19, 2025
Like the titular characters themselves in Challengers of the Unknown #3, the creative team behind this newest Challengers of the Unknown series have been given a nigh impossible mission: make the Challengers as compelling as the rest of the DC Universe. Plenty of reboot attempts of the concept from both old pros and hungry young talent have been dead on arrival, with the notable exceptions of the Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale’s gritty deconstruction from 1991 and Darwyn Cooke’s masterful reconstruction of the group in New Frontier. Cantwell, Izaakse and Nahuellpan so far seem to have learned from all previous iterations successes and failures with a very simple mission statement: make it exciting.
As with the previous two issues, Challengers of the Unknown #3 follows a single Challenger as they team with costumed Leaguers on an exploration assignment into some of the strangest corners of the DC Universe. Prof Walter Haley is tasked by Mr. Terrific to examine anomalous readings from Dinosaur Island with the Atom Project leads Ray Palmer and Ryan Choi. The trio are met by Gorgosuarus hunters (and classic DC Cave-people) Anthro and Embra, who have acquired genius intellect and futuristic technology. While examining their new allies, they are met and confronted by the Optimum, a supposed future version of the Prof who has synthesized the Life and Anti-life equations, but who refuses to elaborate on his greater purpose. Conflict ensues, but the Optimum disappears before the group can get any concrete answers. Dissatisfied with the trio’s findings, Mr. Terrific revoke’s Prof’s permissions to the Atom Project quarantines him with the previous two issue’s protagonists. Meanwhile distrust brews between the rest of the Challengers and the League and its operations. The Challengers meet in secret to coordinate a hostile takeover of the watchtower. Their mission: get answers as to what the superheroes are hiding regarding the threat of Darkseid from the rest of the team.
Cantwell and the rest of the staff in the Justice League offices have been doing a terrific job of weaving all of the plot threads throughout each of the books since the All-In initiative began. They have been and continue to make Challengers feel as important a book as Justice League Unlimited, the Question, or The Atom Project, which goes a long way in selling who are usually considered “bargain bin” characters. Since the first issue, Cantwell and company have done an excellent job differentiating and humanizing each of the Challengers. Prof. is given genuine frustrations and self-doubt without delving into gross cynicism. The ongoing mystery surrounding Darkseid’s influence on the team continues to compel.
Izaakse and Nahuelpan’s art in Challengers of the Unknown #3 seem to meld the current DC house style inspired by the likes of Dan Mora and Jim Lee with a classically trained cartoonist technique of Andy Kubert and of course Cooke. Figures are tight, action is clear and cross-hatched inks are heavy. There is a somewhat noticeable change in style in the final three pages compared to the rest of the book, but it is by no means jarring or poorly drawn. The trippy-er sequences involving the Optimum in particular look as good as any other mainstream superhero splash pages, with some dazzling coloring effects from Romlulo Fajarod Jr.. Any comic that involves cavemen shooting lasers at dinosaurs is going to be a spectacle, this book is no different.
The biggest problems with this issue emerge in the lettering. On panel three of page seven, Ryan Choi’s word balloon underlaps the art, appearing behind the windshield of the group’s vehicle. Similarly, the first panel of page ten has some errant speech balloons, with tails aiming at Embra’s helmet. These presumably belong to the Atoms, but the art and narrative don’t show or tell us this. Have they shrunken down into the helmet? The book gives no clear indication, as they just appear back on panel two pages later from nowhere. This is pretty sloppy for a mainstream book, and somebody either on the art, lettering or editorial team should’ve caught this.
Overall, Challengers of the Unknown continues to be an exciting inclusion to the Justice League titles. The mystery seamlessly weaves the character studies and the interconnecting plot threads of the previous issues and the rest of the JL line. The art is slick. If only somebody was paying attention to the lettering.
