T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #11 ((March 1967)
(note: the events of this cover never occur in the issue)
Tower was already in serious trouble after its distributor managed to keep all of its books off the racks for three straight months, but March of 1967 brings us what initially looks like a triumph: for the first and only time, Tower releases a new issue from ALL of its titles in a single month. Of course, this was all just backlog from that three month gap, no change-up in creative teams nor indication in the letters page to suggest anything had yet changed for Tower at the time of this issue's creation. Clearly, this issue was intended for a December 1966 release, before anyone knew there was going to be a problem.*
Still, Tower had to be feeling it at this point. Three months without a single issue hitting the stands had to not only hurt direct revenues, but also reader interest, advertiser interest, and (I would think most importantly of all) steady work for their already small team of writers and artists. All of this will certainly be true within four months, but it isn't showing yet in these backlog issues.
Anyway, onto the stories...
Dynamo: "The Death of Dynamo"
Script: ?
Pencils: Wally Wood
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
grade: B-
In only a single year of publication, Tower had already managed to give us two stories that worked just like this one:
but at least this one provides the added twist that the true good guy was neither of them. He was the imprisoned scientist, hanging back and looking helpless:
Fun twist that you can see coming if you're paying enough attention. Turns out that the Dynamo who wasn't an imposter was one of NoMan's android doubles. So I guess we're back to the assumption that NoMan is totally capable of making his androids look completely normal (including the eyeballs) and just chooses not to. Odd for a guy who constantly broods about how he'll never be human again.
Lightning: "Vs. The Vortex"
Script: Steve Skeates
Pencils: Mike Sekowsky
Inks: Frank Giacoia
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
grade: D
Skeates has FINALLY given The Warp Wizard a rest and introduced a new scientist who randomly decides to use his inventions to commit crimes. It's a terrible and largely illogical tale in which Dr. Forkliff builds a tornado machine that he gives to a gang boss so that he can go rob banks until Lightning uses his super speed to counteract the tornado. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. holds on to the machine in case it's needed while Forkliff remains at large.
One refreshing thing about this story is Skeates' first ever attempt to humanize our protagonist, even if it's done through cliche romantic tensions with the only girl on the team:
Honestly, who
hasn't Kitten had romantic tensions with at this point? Let's see: Dynamo, NoMan, and now Lightning. Menthor died before he got the chance, so that only leaves Raven. T.H.U.N.D.E.R.'s going to need to start outsourcing its romantic tensions to another agency.
But wait...it gets better. I know superd*ckery was in vogue at the time, but just look what Guy does to Kitty by the end...and for no good reason:
I mean...she's a fellow agent, not a secretary. Did sociopathic adolescent boys of the late 1960s just need their male heroes to be utter d*cks to women who liked them? I don't get it.
Anyway, I still struggle with Skeates' writing, and I still struggle with Sekowsky's art, but at least it wasn't the same damn generic Warp Wizard story these two were giving us every issue prior to this point.
NoMan: "The Trap"
Script: Steve Skeates
Pencils: John Giunta
Inks: John Giunta
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
grade: D+
Welcome to the worst opening shot I've pretty much ever seen in a comic book:
And no, Skeates will never bother to explain why this villain (who, as far as I can tell, isn't even British) is dressed like a beefeater. But, as bad as this looks, the art does improve, and we get to a somewhat interesting theft of Marvel's X-Men:
A brother and sister, born with telepathy, who believe it's their right to rule those who are their inferiors. The brother dies, but Skeates has set NoMan up for a new ongoing villain.
Skeates isn't bringing his A game to these stories, and the appeal of this one can be chalked up more to theft than ingenuity, but this wasn't the worst thing he's written.
Dynamite: "Understudy for Dynamo"
Script: ?
Pencils: Chic Stone
Inks: Chic Stone
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
grade: C
Dynamite goes entirely forgotten for the better part of a year, suddenly shows up again last issue, and now they're giving him a feature? This is done in the exact same style as the Weed back-up feature in
Dynamo, in that both utilize a secondary T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad member to comic effect in a way that absolutely does not fit their character, leaving me to believe it's the same uncredited writer.
In this case, Dynamite is given Dynamo's belt when he is ill, and humor ensues, largely from Dynamo forgetting that, with the power on, his density increases. So, for example, when their plane is about to take-off and begins rolling down the landing strip:
...it's actually chuckle-worthy on occasion. I can only guess Tower had decided they needed more humor features in this book in order to attract a wider audience.
Also worth noting that Dynamite is never called "Dynamite" in this story after the title page, folks calling him by his real name instead, presumably to avoid confusion from the similarities of the names Dynamo and Dynamite:
Hard to tell if Dynamite will be getting his own feature again in the future.
Raven: "The Case of Jacob Einhorn"
Script: Manny Stallman
Pencils: Manny Stallman
Inks: Manny Stallman
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
grade: B
Three things I understood about this feature as of last issue:
1. The art was astonishing
2. The stories were utterly disposable
3. Mayven was dead
Reverse all three of those now. Mayven is back without explanation, and Raven (who was crying over this last issue) is in no way surprised to learn she's behind the latest threat to mankind. Meanwhile, Stallman's art, while still decent, lacks much of the moody noir of the previous issues:
and the story proves the most memorable part for once, as it takes a surprisingly serious focus, Mayven being hired by former Nazis to silence the aging U.N. appointee conducting hearings in order to find them. Best yet, after Raven has put the elderly man somewhere for safe keeping and finds himself in Mayven's clutches, it's the elderly U.N. appointee who saves the day:
As he later states:
To which Raven replies:
Powerful message about real heroism and justice being made there, and I don't think I've ever seen a comic refer to a Jewish character endearingly as a "bald-headed hunk of bagels 'n lox" before. Stallman is clearly interested in playing up a positive depiction of Jews here, something rarely (if ever) seen in mainstream comics of the 1960s.
Not an amazing issue; nothing here truly leaped out, but it's nice to get another issue or two of normal before we start seeing this book decline sharply.
* I should always be careful to explain that the cover dates for these books were not the months in which they actually hit stands, but for convenience's sake, I'm referring, for example, to the month in which all the issues marked "MAR" hit the stands as being March of 1967. It was probably closer to January.
