I've only read a handful of THUNDER stories, but your reviews seem to bear out my initial impression: Some great character concepts, artwork that ranged from decent to outstanding, but the stories just never came together. It's almost a precursor to Image Comics, another imprint created by artists that featured striking visuals and indifferent writing. Only by the '90s, the comics market had changed enough that they were able to make a go of it.

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #7 (August 1966)



Wow. If that isn't one of the finest covers of the Silver Age! It really is good to have Wally Wood back on the title.


This issue marks an odd assortment of loving adherence to, and yet willful neglect of, previous continuity, some surprisingly mature content for kids, the partial return of the long abandoned T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad and, most importantly, an unexpected major death by the close.



Dynamo: "Suspicion of Treason"

Script: ?
Pencils: Wally Wood
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: Bill Yoshida ?

grade: B

We're given a striking enough beginning,



and whoever is scripting does a solid job of pouring on the noir at first, too. Sure, someone is impersonating Dynamo, and sure we just saw that same plot play out two issues back, but at least they're decent enough to acknowledge as much.



But the story takes an unexpected and exciting twist when we get to this little moment where a mysterious femme fatale offers to help Dynamo out of his predicament of being framed.



Could it be...? Please let it be...! Is it...?



YES! The return of the Iron Maiden! Of course, it makes absolutely no damn sense. We SAW her die in #4, but I guess Wood really wanted to draw her again.



Really wanted to draw her again. (1 page feature included later in the issue)



Really Really wanted to draw her again.

Yeah, we get a lot of Iron Maiden bad-girl imagery in this issue, and I have to admit I'm a little surprised to see her seductively puffing on a cigarette throughout most of the lead feature of a book targeted to children.


Beyond that, though, what's the most surprising about this issue is what it does for Dynamo's continuity. Last issue, out of nowhere, his entire twisted romantic relationship with Alice was reset back to square one with no warning -- Dynamo now so shy again that he can't even dare speak to the woman of his dreams, let alone date her, be seen mostly naked in bed by her because she has the key to his place, or blow up at her after she'd become too much of a shrew in the wake of Iron Maiden's death. But now, we're apparently resuming that old continuity once again, as Len and Alice are out at dinner early in this story



and Len is back to being a major a$$hole to her, even when she isn't there.



In fact, he arrogantly informs Iron Maiden at one point that "I said I'd join you...I didn't say I love you! I can have any girl I want!"

So that arrogance we saw earlier on is back too. Too bad. I want to punch this guy, not root for him.


plot synopsis: Dynamo is being framed for committing crimes against T.H.U.N.D.E.R., so they put an escort on him at all times to make sure it's not him. A mysterious woman shows up and offers to help him lose the escort. For some extremely stupid reason, he agrees. It turns out it's Iron Maiden, back from the dead, and threatening to frame Dynamo if he doesn't join her in her quest to rule the world. He double crosses her and is vindicated, but she'll be back.




Lightning: "The Warp Wizard's Revenge"

Script: Steve Skeates
Pencils: Mike Sekowsky
Inks: Frank Giacoia
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: B+ (wait, you'll see why...)

Yes, Steve Skeates. Let's bring back the utterly generic villain you introduced just last issue and set him up as Lightning's primary antagonist. Why the hell not? And, of course, let's continue to write the story like a damn five year old. Even accepting the premise that some brilliant scientist, working entirely on his own and in secret, just randomly decided to use his invention for evil, he then just breaks into a top secret research facility and demands this?



He didn't even bother to check what they're working on -- just "Give me your best top secret plans, I trust you"? Besides, the dude invented a frickin' teleportation device by himself. Why does he need to steal research from others?

But, of course, this is Steve Skeates, so that's hardly the worst of it.



And then, for the second damn issue in a row, Lightning, the guy who's [i[only[/i] ability is that he moves a hundred times faster than an ordinary man, fails to physically catch the old villain who runs away too fast.




And yet, right before I was about to tear up this issue in utter disgust, something interesting happened. You might recall that the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad, originally introduced as its own feature in this title, had been replaced by this feature and, ever since, its characters had fallen into obscurity.


(from T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1)

Guy is now Lightning, Egghead is dead, and Kitten started showing up in everyone else's features just last issue, but Dynamite and Weed were now long forgotten, replaced by faceless agents that would pop up from time to time and never physically resemble them.

But suddenly, in this issue, we get this:



Weed was always the most visually distinct of the Squad, though nothing much was ever done with him. Now, suddenly, he gets the climax of the story over Lightning, and it's AWESOME.





Sure, Lightning saves him at the last minute, but Weed was the one who really stole the show here.

We'll see both Kitten and Weed get some attention again by the end of the issue. Nice to see the Squad coming back, even if Dynamite is still MIA. Maybe his name was too similar to "Dynamo".


Plot synopsis: Lightning tries to catch The Warp Wizard again, but the Warp Wizard tricks Lightning into acquiring a Warp Belt that is sabotaged to break his legs. It does it's thing, allowing The WW to arrive at T.H.U.N.D.E.R. HQ, where Weed bravely holds him off until Lightning can save the day at the last second (his friction-resistant suit absorbing the impact of the sabotaged belt), but Lightning faints immediately afterward, apparently taking more serious damage than he'd let on.




T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents: "Subterranean Showdown"

Script: ?
Pencils: George Tuska
Inks: George Tuska
Colors: ?
Letters: Bill Yoshida ?

grade: C-

It's nice to see some sense of continuity as the storyline begun in the very first issue is still continuing here, in a fashion. After all, The Warlord introduced in that issue was later said to be part of this race of underground would-be world conquerors, and we're still pursuing them six issues later.



Heck, they've even brought back Dynavac, the android double of Dynamo that Warlord set on him in the second issue, except now there's a whole army of them...and they're larger.



This story does its continuity homework well. Even Kitten is still along for the ride after last issue



And even though Dynamo talks to her like he's seven years old, the romantic tension between them is resurrected in this issue as well.


If that's not enough, the writer continues the quest of finding new ways to utilize NoMan's strange powers, this time allowing one of his bodies to be captured so that he can use it as a homing beacon.



And this is the first time in many issues that anyone seems to remember NoMan has the brain of an elderly scientist.




But, as for the story itself, there isn't much to it. We get one gorgeous visual that feels more like what Reed Crandall was doing in UNDERSEA Agent than anything else



And the story MAY be pulling the same stunt tried in UNDERSEA Agent the other month, giving Dynamo NEW powers as a desperate means of trying to keep the readership energized



but I'm hoping this will be treated as a one time thing, quickly forgotten by the next installment.


Plot synopsis: NoMan poses as an important scientist so that The Warlords will abduct him, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. pursues, they capture Dynamo, but NoMan intervenes and uses their death machine to give Dynamo new lightning powers, allowing him to defeat that particular group of Warlords and capture one so that they can get answers out of him. The solict at the end promises next issue will contain the "FINAL encounter with the subterraneans!"




NoMan: "To Be or Not To Be"

Script: Bill Pearson
Pencils: John Giunta
Inks: Sal Trapani
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: B+

If Iron Maiden being depicted in the lead feature repeatedly dragging on a cigarette in the most seductive of ways wasn't awkwardly mature for the young readership this book was marketed to, this story certainly takes all that to a whole new level. It begins by depicting NoMan dying over and over again.



Okay, you've got my attention.

But the exploration of why NoMan keeps making mistakes that allow his bodies to be destroyed gets really dark really fast.





Of course, all of that is far more intriguing than the resolution, in which NoMan decides far too abruptly that he must fight for what is right and put his personal needs aside.

And, for the fourth issue in a row, NoMan is given a new potential romantic interest with absolutely no acknowledgement that a previous potential romantic interest had existed.



Why do they keep doing this?


Plot synopsis: NoMan is sick of being an android and wants to die, especially since he's in love with a woman he cannot have, but he is given the opportunity to stop a saboteur within the ranks of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and takes it, deciding to put his mission first and put aside any notion of love or leading a normal life.




Menthor: "A Matter of Life and Death!"

Script: Dan Adkins
Pencils: Steve Ditko
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: Bill Yoshida ?

grade: A-

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad aside, this has been the feature that has struggled the most, ever since the first issue, and thus it was no surprise to see Menthor going through some serious changes last issue, nor to see Steve Ditko given this feature this time around (though he doesn't work wonders for it the way he did for NoMan last month), but I absolutely wasn't prepared for the big surprise that came at the close.







Holy cr**! They killed Menthor!!

I guess it makes sense. The letter column in this issue explains that fan reaction to Lightning, the newest T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent, was immensely positive, so Menthor's out and Lightning is in. Maybe that also explains the resurgence of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad in this issue -- will they be getting their feature back next issue in place of Menthor?

And you'll notice that, as Menthor is dying, he again mentions both Kitten and Weed. Weed is no longer forgotten.

And, if you look at that last panel once again, that just might be Dynamite in the background, though that certainly isn't Weed with him.



The final battle, in which the team savagely fights back, enraged after watching Menthor die, is truly exhilarating stuff too.




Really, the only problem with this story is that it COMPLETELY ignores the major cliffhanger at the end of the last one, in which Menthor had lost his helmet, had failed to get it back, and was placed on probation as a result, utterly powerless. Oddly enough though, the beginning of this story does acknowledge the theft of Menthor's helmet by Demo earlier in that same issue.



Menthor loses his helmet a whole lot.

Well, not anymore.


Truly a powerful powerful exit for a character nobody liked all that much.


Plot synopsis: Menthor fights The Warlords, loses his helmet to them, and dies while trying to warn the other T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents before they walk into a trap. Leaving no doubt behind, we see them bury Menthor at the close.

I think it was just Dynamo's bad attempt to make fun of the guy for tailing him (and the guy playing along).

It was a lot of fun to see Iron Maiden return, the but plot was recycled from at least two previous stories in which Dynamo had lost T.H.U.N.D.E.R.'s trust, and Dynamo's characterization was really troublesome to boot. It was nice to see him repay his debt to Iron Maiden by throwing himself in front of her to save her life this time, though.

His run on Aquaman is also really good. Maybe it just took him a while to find his voice?

Not sure why I am just now discovering this thread, but I am enjoying it and getting a lot out of it. Shax's summaries/reviews are analytical and critical and a real pleasure to read. I knew of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents series but have never read a single issue, however thanks to this thread, I want to read the actual comics. What a fascinating and innovative series--I find it interesting that NoMan predated the Vision (and Red Tornado); and that Menthor was killed off about six months before Ferro Lad over in the Legion. And I still say Iceman's 1970s Champions uniform is a rip-off of Dynamo's!

I'd chalk it up to youth/inexperience, but also Skeates may have felt somewhat discouraged during this period. Just before this assignment he'd been at Marvel for a short while, just ahead of Roy Thomas coming on board (and they overlapped a bit). Skeates apparently couldn't write in the manner that Stan wanted and wasn't retained (Roy of course was). The brief stint at Marvel may have shaken Skeates's confidence.

Nice catch! Did the decision to kill Ferro Lad come from Shooter, though? Even at 14, I couldn't imagine him reading the fluff found in these T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents stories and actually wanting to borrow from them. I suppose anything's possible, though.




Pretty much the most generic superhero costume of the Silver Age, it would appear



I'd read that, too. Not the discouraged part, but rather his dismissal, which he discussed in this interview. It's also possible that, falling from something as big as Marvel and getting picked up by something as small as Tower prompted him to take the gig less seriously.

And we already know that Tower's ownership had no respect for writing. They felt the art was all that mattered.



Really glad you jumped in on this thread, my man. Great thoughts!