Red Ryan

Matthew 'Red' Ryan, a daredevil circus acrobat, was one of four strangers who survived a mysterious plane crash and, believing they were living on borrowed time, banded together as the Challengers of the Unknown to explore the world's strangest dangers.

Few characters carry the DNA of the Silver Age quite like Red Ryan — born in the pages of Showcase #6 in 1957, brought to life by the legendary creative partnership of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon at the very dawn of DC's modern era. Over nearly seven decades of publication, Red has proven himself a genuine survivor of comics history, racking up appearances across Challengers of the Unknown, The Brave and the Bold, and Showcase itself — the very anthology that launched so many of the era's most beloved figures. With four key-issue appearances to his name and a publishing run stretching all the way to 2025, he's the kind of character serious collectors keep circling back to, and the rarefied company he keeps — sharing pages with Superman, Batman, and the Flash — speaks to just how deeply woven into DC's fabric he truly is. If you love the bold, adventurous spirit of Silver Age DC, Red Ryan is absolutely worth your time.