Once considered heroes, the Challengers of the Unknown are now treated like relics, but that all changes when their mountaintop headquarters are blown up and they are placed on trial for their lives.

Time has finally caught up with the Challengers of the Unknown. The world seems to have passed them by, and they are now relics, curious artifacts and faded celebrities. All that changes when their fabled mountaintop headquarters blows up and the quartet suddenly find themselves on trial for their lives. So begins the most audacious case of their careers. This graphic novel is the first creative pairing of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale, whose highly regarded partnership would give way to legendary works including BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN, SUPERMAN: FOR ALL SEASONS and CATWOMAN: WHEN IN ROME. Collects CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #1-8.

The Dark Knights ride through the farthest reaches of the Multiverse to track down the unlikeliest of teams: The Flash, Cyborg, Raven and Detective Chimp. The mission: keep these heroes from completing their desperate quest to save all of existence! Plus, Challengers’ Mountain crackles with dark energy that will release an army of the world’s worst nightmares into the streets of Gotham City! This one-shot also answers the question: Where are the Metal Men? And who is the latest addition to the team?

Now in one amazing volume collecting SHOWCASE 6, 7, 11 and 12 and CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #1-8, these are the original 1950s tales of four death defying adventurers and their incredible exploits.

Presenting the classic tale of the Dark Knight from writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale for the first time in DC's upscale Absolute format! Collecting BATMAN: DARK VICTORY #0-13, this epic continues the story of THE LONG HALLOWEEN. It is early in Batman'

"Originally published in single magazine form in Deadman 1-4, Strange adventures 205-216, The Brave and the Bold 79, 86, 104, 133, Aquaman 50-52, Challengers of the unknown 74, 84-87, Superman family 183, DC super-stars 18, DC special series 8, Adventure Comics 459-466, DC Comics presents 24, Detective Comics 500, Secret origins 15, Who's who: the definitive directory of the DC Universe 1, 13, 20"--Copyright page.

ÒSEVEN DOORWAYS TO DESTINY!Ó The cultists have June as a hostage. The Challengers get beaten down by cultists, some half-monster. Monroe explains how MÕNagala came from the stars, as recounted in SWAMP THING #8. He demands Rocky and Ace fly to England and perform an incantation from a mystical book and bring MÕNagalaÕs ÒfamilyÓ to Earth. They go, reluctantly. At Challengers Mountain, Clayburne (the wannabe Challenger) uses the computer to analyze ProfÕs infection. It recommends Dr. Alec Holland as an expert in Òbiochemical abnormalities.Ó Clayburne flies to Oregon, where Holland teaches, and he agrees to help. Outside London, Rocky chants at midnight in a pentacle, while Ace fetches a pack of jet fuel. MÕNagala-kin try to burst through a portal, all icky tentacles and squishy guts, but Ace chucks the fuel pod Òjust like JawsÓ and shoots, destroying the monster and shutting the portal. Clayburne and Holland land in Perdition, but in the dark, Holland starts to revert to Swamp Thing as his bio-restorative formula wears off. They find Prof half-consumed by icky polyps.

This volume collects a wide-ranging sample of fresh analyses of Spider-Man. It traverses boundaries of medium, genre, epistemology and discipline in essays both insightful and passionate that move forward the study of one of the world's most beloved characters. The editors have crafted the book for fans, creators and academics alike. Foreword by Tom DeFalco, with poetry and an afterword by Gary Jackson (winner of the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize).