Dynamo #4 (June 1967)
The final issue of the final ancillary Tower title to see print, though Tower was apparently still optimistic about its fate, continuing to solicit subscriptions to nearly all of its titles in this issue, though it's interesting to note that Tower only offers to sell you the already printed issue #6 of UNDERSEA Agent:
Guess they were hoping for enough back issue sales/interest to resume the series?
In response to a fan requesting a Weed solo series in this issue's letters page, we are told
Weed is one of Tower's most popular characters according to the letters we've seen printed, so it would seem the once ever-expanding publisher had some awareness that there was now uncertainty in the air. Along similar lines, any promise made in previous letter columns of upcoming titles starring Raven and some as of yet unrevealed character suddenly disappear as of this issue. Tower is making no promises about anything at this point beyond printing subscription ads.
As for the issue itself, Steve Skeates'
own words about the demise of Tower become very relevant as of this issue:
I daresay there was a veritable multitude of bizarre factors that caused this particular Tower to crumble, beginning of course with the well-known fact that those in charge hadn't properly (if at all) copyrighted or registered (or whatever you're supposed to do) the characters, the concepts, and the titles they were employing! More importantly, though, at least as I see it, was the fact that Wally Wood who had been the driving force of the early issues, had lost interest in the various Tower comics due to having started up his own way-out-there publication called witzend! Thus Samm Schwartz who had originally been the editor in name only (while Woody was doing the actual editing) had to actually do the editing himself! Now Samm's main experience in comics was with the Archie-type books; he didn't know superheroes and in fact didn't like superheroes, and therefore all sorts of bone-headed mistakes started to take place, mistakes that were surely turning off a number of our readers (details available upon request), even as the company was inexplicably trying to expand -- with a Dynamo book, and a NoMan book, and even plans for a Lightning book! All in all, this entire scenario didn't bode well, believe you me!
Witzend! first gets solicited in the letters page of this issue and (as I'll discuss in a moment) Wood's attention definitely seems to get derailed in the one story he does for this issue. That leaves Samm Schwartz and favored writer Ralph Reese to take the remainder of this issue in a more comedic, less super heroic direction than ever before. The weird part is that it kind of works this time.
"The Maze"
Script: ?
Pencils: Dan Adkins
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: Ben Oda
So Wood isn't even penciling anymore? Odd, as the art still manages to feel like his. I'm willing to bet he provided some breakdowns and perhaps a basic plot because, for much of this story, it feels right at the caliber of
the last installment. We've got stunning, creepy art:
Hmmmm...kinda' looks like Ditko, actually. I wonder if he assisted.Outlandish visual sci-fi concepts:
and even some good comedy to boot:
But then, suddenly, this multi-part story arc that's been building towards Dynamo confronting a terrifying and vastly superior alien threat arbitrarily derails in favor of a bad joke and a swift conclusion:
I mean...what? It truly feels like Wood had been driving this story and building it towards yet another foreboding cliffhanger, and then dropped it at the last moment for Witzend!, Ralph Reese or someone like him picking up the slack to bring the story to an arbitrary conclusion. It just doesn't fit at all. This menace had been building since
Dynamo #1!
Grade: C+
"The Secret Word is ..."
Script: Ralph Reese
Pencils: Joe Orlando
Inks: Wally Wood; Dan Adkins
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
Ralph Reese has been trying to make a joke of Dynamo for ages now, but while it had always been obnoxious and awkward in the past, it actually really works this time around. Sure, we've got Reese's usual portrayal of Len as an absolute idiot to the point that even NoMan is sick of him:
as well as the usual non-sensical plotting and disappointingly mean-spirited characterization of Alice, his love interest, but there's a truly funny concept at the heart of this story, which essentially just endlessly mocks the concept of Fawcett's Captain Marvel shouting "Shazam!" in order to transform.
In this story, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. outright thinks of Captain Marvel (though not by name) in redesigning Dynamo's power belt to respond to the word, "Excelsior!" but the bad guy's audio-record him saying this and play it back. Hilarity then ensues.
It really is quite funny!
Needless to say, the belt is restored to normal by the close.
Grade: B
"Dynamo's Day Off"
Script: Ralph Reese
Pencils: Chic Stone
Inks: Chic Stone
Colors: ?
Letters: Ben Oda
A little less focused and, subsequently, a little less funny than the previous story, but it still shines in places. Essentially, Weed invites Dynamo on a double date to the beach, which doesn't prove half as funny as it probably should have been. Still, I did laugh out loud towards the end, when, after Dynamo's date proved to be a secret agent working to steal his belt, Dynamo pursues her, claiming a fake duplicate he is wearing is the real power belt. He
almost has them fooled, when...
Reese's Dynamo is sooooo dumb.
As a side note, an inordinate amount of attention is given to a random little skinny guy on the beach with a bad temper who ends up kicking serious butt. He gets the primary focus in three separate frames, culminating in this:
Is that supposed to be Wally Wood? I know he was small, had a bad temper, and often got physical. Perhaps Reese was having a little fun now that the boss was away?
grade: B-
"The Weakest Man in the World"
Script: Ralph Reese
Pencils: Chic Stone
Inks: Chic Stone
Colors: ?
Letters: ?
Fun as some of these stories are now becoming, it's also clear that no one at Tower has any interest in telling serious superhero stories anymore. It's frankly ridiculous to see former serious threat Iron Maiden now randomly working for a two-bit crime boss for no apparent reason:
and more disturbing, still, that she can randomly create robotic duplicates of herself that can inverse the polarity of Dynamo's power belt. Uhhh, how? The combined intellect of every scientist at T.H.U.N.D.E.R. can't even replicate the belt, so how does someone who has never even touched it understand how to alter it so effectively? The script demands it, so it happens. Reese doesn't care. He just wants to get to this:
A love triange for Dynamo. Lois Lane and Lana Lang plus Catwoman. How derivative and tiresome.
Important development: 1st appearance of Roxanne (later Roxanne Small)
Grade: D-
"Once Upon a Time"
Script: Ralph Reese
Pencils: Steve Ditko
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: Ben Oda
It sure looks like Steve Ditko began with a truly fun and hilarious idea:
But Reese, who always takes a disappointingly grounded approach to his story-telling, managed to make it far more bland story about Weed being mind-controlled by Iron Maiden. Still, it has some funny moments, and, for the first time, we really see Steve Ditko having FUN too:
Not as good as it should have been, and certainly not consistent, but lots of fun in several places!
grade: B-
Minor Details:The letters page for this issue is really really hostile to readers, taking up most of its space to remind readers not to send in scripts, not to ask for original art, and not to expect replies to their letters. In two full pages, only four paragraphs are devoted to answering fan letters, and most of those four paragraphs is devoted to mocking the fans for not enjoying the more comedic direction the title is taking enough. Why bother having a letters page if all you're going to do in it is complain about the contents of the letters?
Truly, by this point, Tower feels like a company that deserves to fail. Some of this issue was pretty entertaining, but with no one at the helm, no interest in telling actual superhero stories nor respecting the integrity of the properties, and no regard for the fans writing in, you have to ask why the hell Tower was turning out superhero comics anyway? Without Wally Wood around, I'm betting even they didn't have an answer to that question.
