Title: New Challengers.
Volume: 1.
Writer(s): Scott Snyder & Aaron Gillespie.
Penciller(s): Andy Kubert & V Ken Marion.
Inker(s): Klaus Janson & Sandu Florea.
Colourist(s): Brad Anderson & Dinei Ribeiro.
Letterer(s): Deron Bennett.
Publisher: DC Comics.
Format: Paperback.
Release Date: December 24th 2018.
Pages: 144.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781401283445.
My Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆.
DC Comics’ The New Age of Heroes line-up is drawing to an end with multiple runs getting axed and leaving those stories unfinished as their quality wasn’t up to par with anyone’s standards and as they had a tough time to truly find a niche or a lifeline to hold onto. With so many of the newly introduced characters and groups of superheroes presenting evident resemblances with Marvel’s property, it was only a matter of time before things went haywire and the ensemble of writers and artists were reallocated to much more substantial comic book series. Following the aftermath of DC’s latest cosmic event in Dark Nights: Metal, a whole new volume of threats surfaced from the dark multiverse only for new and old heroes to rise to the occasion and start their own legacy alongside the long-established line of superheroes we all know and love. Collecting issues #1-6, New Challengers is the before last series part of The New Age of Heroes that was prematurely abandoned and that will not have more to tell than what it offers fans here.
New Challengers (Vol. 1) follows the story of five misfits who are given a second chance at life by a mysterious individual who goes by the name of “The Professor”. Working on borrowed time, they are to explore some of the strangest and darkest regions of the multiverse in hopes of finding pieces of a powerful artifact that controls the dark frequency. As they learn to work with each other, they quickly find out that they aren’t, however, the only ones who are tasked with a life-threatening mission. With the world on the brink of extinction, if they do not successfully accomplish their assignment, these five adventurers find themselves kick-starting a team of heroes that was long-lost in history without knowing what they are getting themselves into.
The first noteworthy remark that needs to be addressed is the creative team on this project. Having Eisner Award-winning superstar writer Scott Snyder and legendary artist Andy Kubert was enough to reanimate a dead corpse with the amount of electrifying creativity these two can come up alone. What however dims it all down is the fact that they’re working on a New Age of Heroes title that got quickly canceled. New Challengers also turns out to be a reboot of a team of superheroes that never truly got time to breathe known as The Challengers of the Unknown. Unverifiably credited as Jack Kirby’s creation, this team-up is known to go up against some of the most paranormal creatures throughout time. But does this all-star creative team manage to successfully revamp them in this latest story arc? Yes and no. While we won’t be getting more of these new heroes, this volume contained incredible potential that merits this title a second chance. Where it truly fails is in its narrative structure. Not only is there too much crammed into this volume, but it also bounces around from one timeline to another (past and present), it explores different time periods (prehistoric, unknown, etc.), all the while covering the origin story of all the different characters—which totals to more than five different unmemorable heroes. This story simply had no hopes to ever capturing anyone’s attention with the way it was structured.
While it might have been one of the most chaotic and messy stories I’ve ever enjoyed reading, I strongly believe that the artwork played a huge role in keeping me hooked from cover to cover. This is a beautiful example of how different writers and artists are able to work together and make it impossible for readers to distinguish one from another. And with Andy Kubert’s art style always being eye candy for me, it was even more of a pleasure when V Ken Marion was able to deliver a consistent style that made it impossible to know who drew what. I simply loved how detailed and colourful their designs were, especially when it came down to the action sequences that sometimes were much gorier than I would have ever thought possible for this flagship title. The seamlessness of these artists’ work is also present in the writing style of both Scott Snyder and Aaron Gillespie who deliver solid dialogues, although the structure haunts the overall execution. It’s also worth mentioning that this story is filled with some of the easiest cliches imaginable, but aren’t impressive enough to annoy me in the end.
New Challengers (Vol. 1) is the reboot of a DC title that delivers stunning artwork with a confusing and convoluted plot about a group of misfit superheroes and their hunt for mysterious powerful artifacts.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and DC Comics for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
Re: your first paragraph. That always seems to me one of the parts of continuous stories I find most challenging. What happens to these story threads, especially when there are several different authors who are part of a run. I’m sure some end up working and working well, yet others may drop off like you mention.
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It’s pretty complex and not easy to synchronize everyone’s work in the same direction, especially when different writers might have different ideas. One can’t simply kill off characters too. Events however make it so that multiple series follow a same thread, but otherwise, it’s complicated. It’s also why every couple of years, there’s a whole “reboot” of the universe so that new writers can give a fresh new take on heroes and all. But some series just won’t live long enough if there isn’t a clientele that looks to buy the comic issues.
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As a newbie to the genre, it can be a little intimidating when trying to figure out where to jump into a timeline of a character’s story.
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One of the biggest fear by every reader who wants to jump into the superhero game. There’s no wrong place to start, you just have to be willing to take the dive and to then let the stories guide your adventure. 😀
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Great advice that I will take and run with! I just got a new Shazam by Jeff Smith. Gonna dive in soon!
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Ohhh! I hope you enjoy it then! 😜
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Great review ❤
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Thank you. 🙂
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I have really enjoyed reading about these “new age of heroes” line even knowing that the line ultimately failed. It is extremely similar, imo, to what happened to Marvel back in the 90’s with their “throw everything at the wall and make a comic of it and hope some succeed” thing. Of course, most titles back then lasted at least 2-3 years, not just one 😉
Are there any more in the NAOH line or was this the final one?
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I appreciate how you’ve followed me throughout this whole… rocky adventure. I couldn’t even call this a cash-grab since they barely caught anyone’s attention and weren’t selling well as single issues. Hence why they got axed. At least now each of these series introduced something new that any other series could take and incorporate…
There’s one more series in this NAOH line-up. A couple of the first series that didn’t get axed also have a volume 2. Don’t know yet if I want to see what those sequels have to tell though. 😀
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I think you’d have to be a special kind of masochist to read more in this line 😉
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I’ll remember to feel very special if my curiosity takes over and I do end up checking them out 😬
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Hahahahaha!
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This was an interesting bit of info for me, about the artists and styles. Is that a rule? Like, if the artist changes, are they obliged to draw the same way the previous one did?
I mean, all those graphic novels from years ago looked different, so i guess they can deviate and this was just a choice?
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It is a pretty cool question. I’ve always wondered myself if they ever force a style upon all the artists on the same project (story). I think it really depends on the artists ability and comfort to do so. In this case, I think their styles were just very compatible and the effort the make it consistent was easier. I just wish it was more often like this cause some stories have horrible transition from one artist to another. However, I don’t think anyone can force another artist to continue in the same style as another artist. It’s why sometimes, from one story arc to another, with different creative teams of each story arc, the artwork can greatly change. 😮
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Great write-up Lashaan (love that line about reanimating a corpse with electrifying creativity, genius!) and I truly admire that you’ve stayed the course with these New Age of Heroes titles and given them all a chance – despite them mostly not being up to scratch. I love Andy Kubert and it’s good to hear that there’s stronger consistency in the visuals in New Challengers (seem like a bit of an X-Men/Fantastic Four remix) which has been the most difficult part of these various series.
The only Metal spin-off I’m interested in really (despite my overall feelings of “eh” for Metal) is the Batman Who Laughs mini series, which I read a preview for – it has a creepy horror vibe to it (felt a bit reminiscent of the Dark Judges from Judge Dredd) and Jock’s art has pretty much sealed the deal so I’ll be picking up the collected edition of that.
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Thanks, my friend! I’m sort of surprised that I even gave these a chance, to be honest. But man, can you imagine how pumped I was for this creative team? It really is a Fantastic Four/X-Men mash-up. In fact, I found that it made me think of a Suicide Squad and Legends of Tomorrow mash-up too.
I totally agree with you on Batman Who Laughs. I do look forward to reading that one in particular. I also like the Justice League run by Scott Snyder that came out of the whole Metal event though. Otherwise, this whole NAOH line-up was extra under-whelming.
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Yeah, Justice League has been a bit of a surprise in that I’ve found myself really enjoying it!
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