Founded 1945 · Restored 2024
Public Domain Archive
A History Project & Open Forum
1945–1946 · Four Issues · Ten Cents

The Comics

Four issues. Every story chosen because it pointed at something real. These are not parables. They are the world of 1945 and 1946, rendered in ink and four colors, for a dime.

Issue 1
Issue #1 · 1945
Issue 2
Issue #2 · 1945–46
Issue 3
Issue #3 · July 1946
Issue 4
Issue #4 · Fall 1946
#1

The Challenger

1945 · Undated · No Price Listed · 36 Pages
Interfaith Publications / T.C. Comics · 1 East 43rd St., New York

The debut. Undated and unpriced — likely distributed through churches and progressive networks. The rarest of the four. E.C. Stoner leads the book with what may be the first story in mainstream American comics to center a Black man as a straightforward, unambiguous hero.

AVAILABILITY: Not yet publicly scanned · Active search underway · GCD record #247718

Stories

  • Rev. Ben, Fighter of FascismArt: E.C. Stoner. A biographical strip on Rev. Ben Richardson — a real Black minister and anti-fascist activist.
  • The Challenger — Bill Day, debutIntroduction of the comic's masked protagonist. A hero defined not by powers but by what he refuses to tolerate.
#2

The Challenger

1945–46 · ~68 Pages · Ten Cents
Interfaith Committee of Protestant Digest

The most studied issue, because of who drew it: Joe Kubert, approximately eighteen or nineteen years old. A CGC-graded copy in Very Fine condition sold at Heritage Auctions in July 2023. Overstreet 2024 values VF 8.0 at $742.

AVAILABILITY: Not publicly available online · Surfaces at auction periodically · GCD record #247719

Stories

  • ZapataArt: Joe Kubert. The historical biography of Emiliano Zapata. One of Kubert's earliest sustained narrative works.
#3

The Challenger

Summer / July 1946 · 68 Pages · Ten Cents
Interfaith Committee of Protestant Digest

The fullest issue. 68 pages of illustrated features, biography, comedy strips, reader letters, and an 18-page Kubert feature. The back cover is devoted to the Challenger Clubs of America membership pledge. Free to read online now.

FREE ONLINE: ComicBookPlus.com (dlid=62009) · Print reprint: Amazon ISBN 9781532878183

Stories Include

  • The Challenger — Race Riot
  • The Golem
  • Pre-judice
  • Japanese-American Story
  • 18-Page Feature (Art: Joe Kubert)
#4

The Challenger

Fall / October–December 1946 · 69 Pages · Ten Cents
Interfaith Committee of Protestant Digest, Inc.

The last issue. Published as postwar America was shifting its fears from fascism to Communism. The book didn't know that. It went out the same way it came in. Free to read online now.

FREE ONLINE: ComicBookPlus.com (dlid=79176) · GCD record #247717

Stories Include

  • Whirlwind Wilson
  • The Wedge — Labor Story
  • Nazi Boxer — 1946 Berlin
  • Gideon