This book has one thing going for it, and that's the fact that Howard Chaykin doesn't take the plot and characters down the path he usually takes. In other words, there aren't any T&A-laden, fishnet-focused, sexually gratuitous cheesecake shots to be found in this comic book. What we do get is plenty of Chaykin's dense plotting and illustration. One could argue that's it's a little too dense. The main characters have a lot in common, and I actually found I was confusing them from time to time. Still, there's an interesting structure that emerges in this issue, and the complexity of plot is intriguing as well. Though I have some qualms with the book, I'm more interested in it that I ever thought I would be.
Zack Dyamond, Tessa Crowne, Rydell Starr, Kendra Harte and Holden Crosse are at the top of their respective fields. They're brilliant and they're dangerous, and each one of them feels a pull. Each has been experiencing strange dreams and now a waking vision, and they're drawn to a particular place. The unusual gathering is linked somehow to the recent assassination of a world leader's wife. Meanwhile, a similarly exceptional man -- a pirate named Byshop -- pulls a job at sea with his crew.
One of the visual problems in this book is that there are a few characters who look a bit too much alike. Three of the main players here are white men with short, black hair, and it makes for some confusing moments while reading. Still, one can't help but appreciate the fact that Chaykin matches the complexity of plot with a richness of detail and inventive panel layouts. The colors add a lot to the book as well; the effect used to set apart the characters' visions is quite effective.
I get that the symbols are important cues and motifs in this book, but the matching Kewl names get to be more than a little distracting. These simple symbols are clearly an important element in this title, but it's a shame there wasn't a better way to incorporate them into the characters' identities.
I think one of the things Chaykin does best is media critique, and there plenty of it to be found here. It seems as though the villain of the piece is going to be a Ted Turner-esque media mogul, and Chaykin clearly points out how only a few people can easily shape the truths the public sees. It's a powerful responsibility, one that's felt from the CEO of a media corporation right down to individual journalists. In fact, the whole plot seems to revolve around manipulation of consciousness, be a mass consciousness or individual minds.
One thing that I find odd about this comic book is the title itself. The premise and the characters have no concrete link to previous incarnations of the Challengers of the Unknown, save for the fact that the characters are all exceptional human beings. Of course, that's true of the players in any piece of escapist entertainment. Given the prominent role the original Challengers characters are playing in DC: The New Frontier at the moment, I don't know that unveiling a new version of the team right now is a good idea. In fact, Chaykin needn't have named this Challengers of the Unknown at all; aside from the title, this comes off as a wholly original book, and I don't know that the resurrection of a somewhat obscure DC brand will draw in that many readers.
