RUN: 8 Issues 1991
KEY CREATORS: Jeff Loeb (writer) Tim Sale (artist)
OUTLINE: After the "deaths" of Prof and June, the Challengers retire, go their separate ways and grow in different ways, then finally team up to fight a new menace. Questions are raised as to how much of their history was real and how much was embellished
STANDOUT/DUD ISSUES: None spring to mind. However, my favorite scene is where Batman indicates to an out of control Challenger that it's time to leave town
EVALUATION: I can see why a lot of people wouldn't be fond of this. To state that it takes liberties with the Challengers is an understatement. However, truth be told I've always found the team elsewhere to be one dimensional and interchangeable. This mini establishes a context in which the old stories still happened (partly simply as earlier events in their lives, partly as embellishings in stories within the story) and makes the characters very distinguishable from one another. There is no question
that the team is drastically changed, but in my mind the changes are for the better, and we're finally left with a more interesting team.
RECOMMENDED OR NOT? Yes. If you're a diehard Challengers fan it might upset you, but people with tastes similar to mine and who considered the members uninteresting will appreciate this revamping.
CONTINUITY NOTES: Unfortunately nothing has been done with this status quo's potential. For the most part, subsequent appearances of the Challengers imply that much of the earlier stories still happened intact. However, in one story, more example, the Challengers appeared prior to the mini, suggesting that the mini still happened, only later on by their perspective.