Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Decent Comics: "Multi-Man's Master Plan!" by Conway, Netzer, and Wiacek

Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! The Challengers of the Unknown got their own mag back with issue #81 in March 1977 after spending the majority of the Swingin' Seventies in limbo (discounting a few reprint issues). As we've seen here, here, and here, the Challs made their triumphant return to new episodes in Super-Team Family. Those issues sold well enough that publisher Jenette Kahn green-lit the resurrection of Challengers' own mag...and it lasted an entire year. But what a year! It kicked off with a continuation of the storyline that had begun in their last Super-Team Family outing, but with a brand new creative team. Writer Gerry Conway took the helm, losing some of the quirky-cool that former author Steve Skeates brought to the Challs, but bringing some action-packed scripts and Marvel-style soap-opera-ish subplots with him. Penciler James Sherman's other assignment, Legion of Super-Heroes, had gone monthly, so he chose to give up the Chall's strip, so the exciting Michael Netzer (known then as Mike Nasser) drew the first two issues, inked first by Bob Wiacek, then by Joe Rubinstein. After that, another young, exciting penciler, Keith Giffen took over the penciling, inked quite nicely by veteran John Celardo. But enuff wit da info! On with da comics! Here's "Multi-Man's Master Plan!"
Cover art by Michael Netzer and Neal Adams

















1 comment:

  1. Those Challengers issues were awesome to behold. I loved Michael Nasser/Netzer's artwork from this period. And Neal Adams providing cover inks?!

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


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