Shut up, Clayburne, if Rocky doesn't hit you -- I will! 
Challengers of the Unknown #82 is an issue of the series Challengers of the Unknown (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1977.
Synopsis for "The Lurker Below"
Prof is dying of an all-consuming fungus infection. Rocky, June, Ace, and Red rush him to their jet. Gaylord Clayburne, playboy-Challenger-wannabe, learned Prof was sick and found a specialist to heal him. Ignoring Clayburne, the Challengers zoom off to Perdition, Pennsylvania, a farm town. As soon as they land, the Challengers are mobbed by farmers with pitchforks. Doctor Monroe calls off the farmers.
Dr. Monroe relates the town's history to the Challengers. Seventy years ago, a man summoned a demon to the town. Enthralled, the locals sacrificed strangers to the “god” until Swamp Thing came to town and collapsed its cave, burying the monster “forever”. Behind the scenes, we see the fungus lived on and still infects many locals. Doctor Monroe needs special medical equipment from a doctor in Borotavia behind the Iron Curtain in order to save Prof's life. Red and Ace zoom off in the jet again, leaving June and Rocky in the town.
Red and Ace zoom off in the jet again. In Borotavia, they knock out some guards, out-fly jets, and get the blood filter machine. Meanwhile, in Perdition, the locals capture a visiting tractor salesman. Rocky and June, creeped out and worried about Prof, wander around, looking at Dr. Monroe's library, which is full of occult books. They hear the salesman’s screams and see him sacrificed to a tentacled horror. Both interrupt the sacrifice and are cold-cocked.
Rocky awakes bound to a post. Monroe confesses he’s also infected with the fungus because it’s actually a manifestation of the god M’Nagala! Monroe leaves for another sacrifice. Rocky glimpses someone in the shadows. Rocky bursts his bonds and meets Ace and Red, who have returned witht he equipment. In the church, they freeze, because June is the next sacrifice!
Appearing in "The Lurker Below"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- M'nagalah
- Doctor Heathcliff Monroe
Other Characters:
- Gaylord Clayburne
- Swamp Thing (Flashback only)
- Abraham Monroe (Flashback only)
- Jason Monroe (Flashback only)
- a tractor salesman (Richard M. Nixon?) (Dies)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Challenger Jet
- Jet-Pack
Notes
- A single Swamp Thing panel is inked by Bernie Wrightson.
- This issue is reprinted in Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Vol. 2.
- This issue is divided into four chapters:
- Part I: The Lurker Below
- Part II: Legacy of the Damned
- Part III: The Soul Predator
- Part IV: The Lurker Rises
Trivia
- The villain, Heathcliff Monroe, is an HP Lovecraft look-alike.
- The tractor salesman is a "wink" to Richard M. Nixon (NOTE: his "...and that's not a crime..." speech and the "V"ictory fingers.)
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Challengers of the Unknown series
- Images from Challengers of the Unknown Vol 1 82