Saturday, March 28, 2009

DC Challenge #3 (1/1986)





Previous issue writer Len Wein set up Aquaman's salvation just as Doug Moench would play it out, but felt Moench had "copped-out" on the symbol Superman found in the bomb crater. Len would have had B'wana Beast use his power to combine or disassemble two or more animals to separate the Manticore into a lion and a scorpion.

  • In ancient times, Jon, the Viking Prince kept night watch. He was alerted to long-dead Hrolf using a laser to carve a portion of sacred runes off a cave wall. A demon flowed from Hrolf's chest, and defeated Jon with the help of one Cuthbert J. McGonigle, an anachronistic pedantic dressed in a white double breasted suit. McGonigle next merged the prince with a lance that he then threw into a deep trench.

  • A bald, pointy-eared alien had viewed recent goings on in this series through a monitor. "I am not pleased. Let him in." A merciless despot was allowed into the alien's chambers for a dressing down. "Mongul, you not only failed-- you left another clue for subject Superman. " Mongul replied, "I warned that these Earth super-heroes would not be easy to--" but was cut off. "Never mind the excuses, Mongul! I want you to get back to their moon with another relay device at once-- or Project X will never be successfully completed. Now go-- the next crew is already waiting to leave."

  • Jonah Hex swerved to avoid the nuns and children, though he did smash into another couple of cars in the process. Then, the Djinn/Other that fought the Manticore last issue arrived, explaining he had only left the battle to retrieve Hex's piece of the stone. Once that was done, the undead gangsters vanished, while Hex himself was returned to his year of departure, 1876.

  • Congorilla and B'wana Beast were in the Manticore's clutches, until the latter used his powers to merge the golden gorilla with the mythological monstrosity. Congo Bill then did some brain swapping, but in the end everyone's psyche returned to where they had started. The Manticore eventually left the scene in search of the Other...

  • On the moon, Superman somehow determined the symbol left in the crater referred to Deadman, though I'd say it more closely resembled half a pretzel, or maybe the letter "D" (hey-- wait!)

  • In Midway City, Batman delivered the stone tablet and number sequence he'd received to museum curators Carter and Shiera Hall for further study. Shiera determined that the tablet's message had been altered, having found a deceptive "plug" covering a piece extracted from the tablet. Word then came over the radio that the Manticore was rampaging in town, so the couple changed into their super-hero garb as Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Hawkman took with him the viking lance seen earlier...

  • In Metropolis, Floyd Perkins underwent hypnosis to recall he'd reached the mystery floor at the Daily Planet by pushing the lobby button while on that floor. With the help of Jimmy Olsen, Superman learned of this, and detected radiation traces on the Planet's roof that were also strongly present at the WGBS broadcasting antenna...

  • The Other was in Midway City, inserting Jonah Hex's stone into the Hawks' tablet. The Hawks themselves fought the Manticore, until Hawkman threw the viking lance into the creature's forehead gem. Shattered, the Manticore vanished, while a gem shard found by Hawkwoman now contained a tiny Viking Prince...

  • In the Sahara Desert, Aquaman snatched a vulture that intended to feast on him from the air, and turned the intent against it. Rejuvenated by the 97% water found in its blood, the Sea King rose to carry on with his trek. Less than an hour later, another seeming oasis proved real, and Aquaman emerged from it to find the classic Justice League of America had homed in on his signal device. As an aside, among them was a Green Lantern John Stewart that was clearly a recolored Hal Jordan.

    Aquaman explained, "I was on duty in the JLA Satellite [even though it had been destroyed once or twice by that point in continuity]-- when I detected unusual transmission beams originating from the moon, and teleported myself down to the beams' target point-- an excavation site here in the Sahara. From hiding, I overheard the Arab diggers say they were looking for 'cuneiforms of Allah's sacred words' which would give them 'the power to defeat all' ...When I snuck into one of the tents to steal a burnoose disguise, I discovered a device [duplicating Mongul's] of apparent alien technology... and I also saw that the diggers were not really Arabs."

  • The Hawks returned to the museum and the tablet. With the new piece and some time, they determined a coded time and place-- almost twelve hours hence in the Peruvian jungle. Hawkman took the gem shard with him to Peru, leaving Hawkwoman to wait for additional information from Batman...

  • In the Batcave, the Dark Knight determined that the number sequence could mean the end of the world, and set about contacting Midway City...

  • Hawkman arrived at the allotted time in Peru, only to be struck by a Zeta Beam and teleported to the planet Rann. Adam Strange greeted him, as the pair fought through rampaging monsters to the lab of the scientist Sardath. Rann was overrun by warring factions of their ancient mythological beings, and these were the same alien "demons" continuing the fight to Earth. Hawkman presented Sardath the gem shard, from which a projector ray released the Viking Prince. Just then, Hawkman was knocked out by a collapsing roof, while Adam Strange's zeta-beam radiation wore off, returning him to Earth. From above, a monster attacked...

  • Back in the Sahara, Aquaman explained he'd had to run into the desert after being detected, only to find he'd just given the full skinny to aliens of the type commanding Mongul, disguised as the JLofA. Resuming their true forms, the aliens directed their ray pistols at the Sea King...

  • Batman and Hawkwoman reached the Peruvian jungle, but were attacked by a green monster that ripped off the heroine's wings. As the pair were about to plunge off a cliff to their doom, Adam Strange arrived. He couldn't save the duo and catch the Zeta-Beam home, could he?

  • "Viking Vengeance" was by Doug Moench, Carmine Infantino and Bob Smith.

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