The world needs the Challengers 
Challengers of the Unknown #69 is an issue of the series Challengers of the Unknown (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1969.
Synopsis for "The Secret of Skull Mountain"
In rural Skull Mountain Village, an old many is brutally murdered in the snow. At Challengers Mountain, the Challengers of the Unknown are lounging about, eager for an adventure. Red practices his marksmanship after having donated his eye to his blind brother.[1] Little does he know that the gun has been sabotaged by his teammate Prof, whose mind is being controlled by an evil computer.[2] Before he can figure out the truth, Ace informs them that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has contacted the Challs and asks them to investigate the death: the victim's body has fingerprints from the deceased biologist Eli Swade who died six months ago in a rockslide.
As they drive up the treacherous mountain pass along Skull Mountain, they find a terrified man who claims that he's being chased. Rocky immediately leaps into action and is bludgeoned by a huge beast that runs away after swiping at all of the Challengers. The team follows him and as Ace rounds an icy corner, Prof trips him, sending him over a ledge. Rocky saves him at the last minute and Red punches Prof in the jaw, furious that he would stand by while his teammate fell: none of them realize his sinister intentions. He comes up with a flimsy excuse and they proceed to a mysterious mansion across a field.
They are greeted by Algernon Stark who invites them in to get warm. The power suddenly cuts out and when Stark goes to turn on his generator, the heroes investigate large, wet footprints on the carpet. They find the mansion is booby trapped and that the mammoth creature who fought them in the woods is imprisoned in a laboratory behind a grate. His face looks like Swade's but he is twice the size of a man. A woman screams in the distance and Rocky rips off the metal bars and the team attacks the hulking beast; they manage to defeat him this time by using teamwork and electrocuting him on an errant wire sticking out of a machine.
Rocky is distraught that he has evidently killed Swade but the woman they heard before reveals herself as Algernon's daughter Corinna Stark and the monster-man as an unthinking android created by her father. Algernon is obsessed with finding the secret to immortality and he has grown biological androids that are based on Swade's work. She is disgusted by this abomination and just as she finishes her story, Algernon appears, armed with a gun. He insists that the Challs enter stasis pods that will cryogenically freeze them; if they refuse, he is willing to murder his own daughter in cold blood.
Prof leaps between Corinna and the barrel of the gun, telling him that he is willing to die and is as rotten as Stark. He unloads several bullets into Prof's torso and the three other Challengers dive at the villain, disarming him. Corinna explains that the only way to save his life is to freeze him. They quickly do and Rocky rips off his costume out of grief and disgust. Corinna pleads that the world needs the Challengers and volunteers to be Prof's replacement, if the others will have her.
Appearing in "The Secret of Skull Mountain"
Featured Characters:
- Challengers of the Unknown
- Walter Haley
- Lester Davis
- Matthew Ryan
- Kyle Morgan
- Corinna Stark (First appearance) (Joins team)
Antagonists:
- Algernon Stark (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Martha (Mentioned only)
- Eli Swade (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- The Ozark Mountains
- Skull Mountain Village (First appearance)
- Colorado