DC Universe Presents #6 (April 2012) Challengers of the Unknown
Writer – Dan Didio
Artist – Jerry Ordway
“Renewal”
Just before leaving to travel home for Christmas, I found a small box of random comics. I discarded the box and I am working my way through this pile. I still take a few comics with me to the office to read before work and on break. I went with DC Comics Presents #6 while drinking coffee and eating breakfast one Thursday morning.
The latest season of the reality show Challengers is make or break – the hit show has taken a dive in the ratings and its on the brink of cancellation. A group of C-list celebrities are headed to the Himalayas when their plane crashes. The survivors awaken in Nanda Parbat. The producer of the show, Clay Brody, has a talisman that told him to assemble the group and to travel abroad. The monks of Nanda Parbat tell the group “The fate of worlds rests in their hands” as their journey begins.
During the New 52, DC Universe Presents revitalized characters that didn’t have an ongoing series. If memory serves, what drew me to buy this issue was the cover art by Ryan Sook. Some of the characters that make up the reality show are just like their real-world counterparts – skeevy, crass, and immature. After the plane crash and their newfound mission, they must find a way to become heroes. They must work together or else everything will perish. Not all of the group will survive, as two members are killed by the end of the issue. Jerry Ordway, a workhorse for as long as I’ve read comics, does a great job as the artist on this issue. Nanda Parbat is stunning thanks to his pencils and Tony Avina’s colors. There is a nightmare sequence that is utterly horrifying as well. It turns out just to be a bad dream of June’s …or is it a prophecy of things to come?
Flipping through this comic, one of the interesting parts worth mentioning were the in-house ads. Superman and Green Arrow both tout new creative teams already after seven issues. Definitely not a good sign for both heroes. Also, there is an ad for Voodoo. The shocking part – Joshua Williamson was the writer of the series. Mr. Williamson is one of the premier writers today. If I can track down the first volume of Voodoo online or at my local library, I will check it out to see how he cut his teeth in the DC Comics Universe.
I give this issue a 3/5. The issue starts off a bit hokey and jokey before taking a serious turn towards the middle and end. I’m okay with taking the tried-and-true formula of the Challengers of the Unknown and giving it a fresh take for our generation. The New 52 was all about taking chances and doing something different. Having it be a three-issue arc of DC Universe Presents was the right choice. Dan Didio tested the waters to see what audiences thought of it. If it was well received, the team would be back in a future storyline down the road. If not, you had a chance to give another character a spot in the limelight in the next issue or two.
Now its only a matter of doing some dollar bin diving to see if I can find the next two issues of the storyline to see if the Challengers of the Unknown can save all of reality or not.