Challengers of the Unknown #5
In "As the World Spins!", the Challengers of the Unknown face their deepest fears as each grapples with a life they no longer want. From a prison escape in El Segundo to a jungle ritual gone wrong, from a haunting encounter with a younger self to a reporter’s unsettling mission, the team’s bonds are tested in ways that blur reality and desperation. Written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated with haunting precision by Tim Sale—his inks and Lovern Kindzierski’s colors amplifying the mood—this 1991 DC issue features a cover by Marc Hempel, capturing the series’ eerie, introspective edge.
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The Challengers each think they no longer wish to live "on borrowed time". In an El Segundo prison, Red is tortured but breaks free and kills his guards. In the Amazon jungle, Ace studies magic with the Tuto, opening doors to other planes, but returns to find the tribe wiped out. Broke, out of work, and alcoholic, Rocky battles a younger version of himself, only to wake up in a DT ward. Meanwhile, reporter Harold Moffett tries to create interest in world-wide suicides. When he receives a box of gold and an ethereal command from Prof to “Do your job”, he decides it's time to gather the guys.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).