T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #10 (November 1966)



(note: The cover image never actually occurs in a story within)


Tower has achieved its (brief) Golden Age, as the double page centerfold ad in this issue makes clear:



and that is reflected, this issue, in a new awareness of continuity, almost as if someone finally realized this needed to start feeling like a universe, much as Marvel was doing at the time. There are no editor notes to help explain past events being referenced (and many of the references go back almost an entire year) but the effort is notable all the same.


Dynamo: "Operation Armageddon"

Script: Ralph Reese
Pencils: Wally Wood
Inks: Wally Wood
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: C+

The lead story in this issue sets the trend, as S.P.I.D.E.R. recruits previous T.H.U.N.D.E.R. villains Dr. Sparta (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #4) and Demo (last seen in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #6):



as well as steals weapon plans created by the long-dead Vibraman (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3) and sets up base in an old Warlord tunnel.

None of this makes much sense. Dr. Sparta was a paleontologist who could also time travel. Neither area of expertise would be useful in building a weapon that creates earthquakes. Vibroman was less an invention builder and more an evil Tower version of Marvel's Daredevil, and Demo's only real skillset was in controlling a race of subterranean beings. He has no practical use here either. Wood just seemed to want to prove that these weren't one-shot villains; characters in the Tower universe stick around.

Beyond that, there isn't much to this issue. Reese dials back his need to depict Dynamo as an idiotic ass a tad, only having Dynamo come close to murdering a S.P.I.D.E.R. Agent without even realizing it until Alice stops him. Wood, in contrast, doesn't turn on the usual flare. Much of this story looks pretty lackluster, though we do get a few unique artistic choices, this being the most impressive of the bunch:




And that amazing colorist is back (I still think it's Victor Gorelick):



But beyond these fleeting moments of visual fun and a desperate attempt to bring old villains back into the fold, all this story really manages to do is prove that the threat of S.P.I.D.E.R. is growing, as their ability to weaponize earthquakes is not foiled by the close.


Note: This story marks the first time that The Raven is shown as a member of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. outside of his own stories.




Lightning: The Air Laser
Script: ?
Pencils: Mike Sekowsky
Inks: Frank Giacoia; Joe Giella
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: F

Seems to me that Steve Skeates must still be writing these stories as they still follow the exact same contrived pattern of a frustrated scientist turning to crime for glory and/or profit, in this case a Dr. Tarlac. They are all so very generic, and with Sekowsky on art, you can be sure that the art and action aren't worth watching either. I've truly come to loathe these Lightning stories.



Three Deeds of Evil
Script: ?
Pencils: Ogden Whitney
Inks: Ogden Whitney
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: C


When Andor first appeared in Dynamo #1 only three months back, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood gave us the most compelling and complex character we'd yet seen in a Tower book:



Last month, Andor was handed over to the Lightning creative team, and they utterly missed the point and made him a bland, vanilla kind of hero:



This new creative team now continues off of that second story, as (with that strange new attention to continuity) Andor seeks out the Warlord who attempted to control his mind last issue.



And thus, Andor spends the entire issue being a brainwashed stooge for said Warlord. It's an incredible waste of the character's potential (and NoMan doesn't really do anything impressive while pursuing him either) but I at least respect the decision to tie up the loose ends from the previous Andor story by having him swear revenge against and pursue that Warlord at the beginning of this installment.



T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents: Kitten or Killer?

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

grade: B-

An unusual choice for this issue. The "T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents" feature, since the very first issue, has been where the entire team comes together (though without Raven, for some reason) to battle a major threat. This time, two of our four heroes are present (Dynamo and NoMan), but they don't really do anything. Really, this is a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad feature, and they haven't had a feature to themselves ever since the creation of Lightning back in issue #4.

Essentially, Kitten is captured by an unnamed Fidel Castro and an extremely racially offensive (and entirely inaccurate) depiction of Mao Zedong:



And, if it isn't weird enough to see these two conducting covert operations by themselves, it gets weirder still when Kitten kills them in the end:



By the way, I'm not judging, but what's up with Fidel's lady shoes?


What's interesting to me about this story (again in terms of continuity) is the first clear mention/depiction of Dynamite since way back in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #3, though he did get what you might be able to call a cameo in issue #5:



See? You can make out one eyeball.

Back in the first issue, this was the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad roster:



But Egghead died in issue #2, Guy became Lightning in issue #4, and we've pretty much only seen Kitten and Weed since. That finally gets corrected.

But we've seen other unnamed T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad agents since then. One bought it in #8, and another appears in the first story of this issue:



So there's still some confusion as to the full size and roster of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad, but at least we now know what's become of all the original members.



The Raven: (untitled)

Script: Manny Stallman
Pencils: Manny Stallman
Inks: Manny Stallman
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: A-

I continue to adore Manny Stallman's work on The Raven! His art is so moody, dark, and kinetic in the most unorthodox of styles that resembles nothing I've seen before:





He's also made a fascinating alteration to The Raven's look and powers. Whereas The Raven's primary weapon/device was initially clearly presented as being a set of wings:


(from issue #8)

his wings have since either been replaced by enormous shields or are at least now protected by them:



He even has a "silicone magnetic blaster" built into them:




Seriously cool concept, way moreso than a dude with a pair of artificial wings.

Stallman doesn't stop there, though. While his strength lies in mood and action, he decides to give us a quiet moment of character revelation that doesn't land as well as it should have, but it's still intriguing, as we watch The Raven shed a tear after hearing that Mayven, his nemesis, appears to have died:



As an onlooking police officer comments, "I never saw The Raven look so down. There must be more to this than we know!"

Hopefully, we'll find out before Stallman loses control of this feature.

And, of course, Mayven isn't really dead by a long shot.



So there it was: Tower's flagship title at its moment of glory, right before the rug got pulled out from under it. While the Tower titles still have glaring deficiencies in writing, editing, and sometimes even artwork (Sekowsky), this "Universe" (I feel like I can finally call it that) has done some significant evolving in the past year. I would have been curious to see that continue. Instead, I suspect we'll soon be watching its death throws.

NoMan #1 (November 1966)



Ever since I first began this review thread, this has been the issue I've looked forward to reading/reviewing the most. While Wally Wood has favored Dynamo from the beginning, there is no doubt in my mind that NoMan is the most compelling Tower hero of them all on so many levels, from his unique look, to his unique powers to both turn invisible and transmit his consciousness to other android bodies, and (most importantly) to the utterly unique and compelling back story of an aging scientist trapped in an android body. That last part has so much potential, and while it's been handled before with all the subtlety of a jackhammer



it had promise. NoMan still has serious potential as a character and should be playing a prominent role in the DCU today, but DC can't see that potential and neither (apparently) could Tower, as this first outing is utterly terrible and makes poor use of everything I just mentioned above.

Worse yet, Wally Wood, both Tower's strongest artist and the closest thing to an overseeing editor the company has, is nowhere to be found in this title. He wasn't involved, nor was Steve Ditko (the best co-creator we've had on NoMan yet). This major launching is left to the B and C listers, and boy does it suffer as a consequence.


"Fingers of Fate"

Script: ?
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Paul Reinman
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: C-

NoMan, written as a carbon copy of Dynamo, complete with the hostile boss, the wise-cracks, and the arrogance that absolutely do not fit what we've known of NoMan up until now:






He's even got a weirdly detached reaction to death, as a criminal he scares takes an accidental tumble to his doom:



No reaction. Nothing.


Worse yet, this is essentially a detective story, which neither fits NoMan's persona nor the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in the slightest. It's a totally impractical idea in which international jewel thieves (why in the world is this a concern for T.H.U.N.D.E.R.?) are lifting the finger prints of famous people and placing them at the scene of their crimes for no apparent reason. Couldn't they just use gloves? It's up to NoMan to figure out that a guy posing as an autograph collector is using the paper these celebrities sign to steal their fingerprints.

Hey, that's kind of clever, right? I mean, it's entirely impractical and unnecessary, but it at least makes for a good detective mystery solution, right?

Wrong. Here's where NoMan first trails the guy picking up the key set of fingerprints for their upcoming heist:



Oops. Kane drew her wearing gloves.


And if that sounds stupid and careless to you, just wait for some of the other stories in this issue...




"Secret in the Sky"

Script: ?
Pencils: John Giunta
Inks: John Giunta
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: F

By far the stupidist story in this issue that plainly isn't even trying. The basic concept centers around this:



Let's be clear that the reason this guy can control the weather on ALL parts of the world at the same time is because he somehow built and launched a satellite that is nearly as large as the Earth itself?? C'mon, dude. You're not even trying.

I wish I could say that's the dumbest part of this story but, honestly, it's so bad and so full of holes and logic lapses that the very idea of covering it in depth seems exhausting and pointless. We move on.




Lightning: "The Warp Wizard's Master Plan"

Script: Steve Skeates
Pencils: Chic Stone
Inks: Chic Stone
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: D

Oh good. Now we get Steve Skeates on Lightning even outside of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents title. I know the letter columns had hinted that Tower was thinking of giving Lightning his own title next, but this feature under Skeates is honestly the absolute worst thing Tower is putting out, and it doesn't get any better here.

This time, Lightning's old and entirely unnecessary nemesis, The Warp Wizard, is back to do pretty much exactly what he did the last time, and Lightning is just as useless trying to stop him.





The guy whose ONLY superpower is running fast gets outrun by a brilliant senior citizen AGAIN. Less talking, more running, idiot.


He eventually gets the bad guy, but it's so not worth it.

So not worth it.




"Trapped in the Past"

Script: Steve Skeates
Pencils: Ogden Whitney
Inks: Ogden Whitney
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: C

By all means, lets give Skeates the cover story too! Why did Tower keep giving this guy good work?

So this story spends less than half of its ten pages in the past, during which nothing interesting happens beyond narrowly missing falling into a dinosaur's mouth. Forget what the front cover promised. Aliens were going to invade Earth and decided that the best way to eliminate the human populace was to travel back in time and begin rounding up neanderthals for execution. Wait...what? It gets dumber; it really does, but the weirdest part comes in the final two panels, where we find out how NoMan got home after his time machine was destroyed.



Wait. Wouldn't that have made a far more interesting story than the ten pages I just read?





"The Good Subterranean"

Script: ?
Pencils: Ogden Whitney
Inks: Ogden Whitney
Colors: ?
Letters: ?

grade: A-

Just when I'd given up all hope on this volume, this final story came around. It still does little to nothing for NoMan, making little use of his character, back story, and powers, but it's bold, important, and powerful anyway.



That caption says it all. And while this was provocative stuff to try on a mainstream audience in 1966, it also resounds powerfully in the world of 2016.



In this day and age indeed.


The only weird part is why average citizens even know what a Warlord is.



Especially since they don't even know much about T.H.U.N.D.E.R.



It's not like T.H.U.N.D.E.R.'s war with the Subterraneans was broadcast on the nightly news.

And, really, couldn't NoMan have just given the subterranean one of his realistic-looking masks he always uses so that the dude could have lived discretely amongst humans?


Still, the sheer hatred and unwillingness to understand is powerful and pervasive in this story, and perhaps the most moving part of all is that all doesn't end well. There's no happy ending where some brilliant speech or witnessed moment of heroism changes the public's mind. The subterranean dies still striving to be judged fairly after sacrificing himself for the greater good:



Haunting.




So not a successful launch for this new title. Hopefully, Tower will get it together next issue, before the title folds and Tower begins circling the drain.

Here's my rank

5. Vic Gorelick
4. Wally Wood
3. Ray Bailey
2. Steve Ditko
1. Manny Stallman

Bailey, Ditko, and Stallman - they all does great pencils and I'm consider these three pretty much even - but I'm a fan of Ray Bailey because of his brilliant use of settings and far out scenes and all that. I'm not familiar with Wood and Gorelick at all they seems to be a little inferior to Bailey, Ditko, and Stallman. When, I first reading THUNDER in the general - I was stunned to see the great artwork of Manny Stallman and this is the first time I seen his work and does a great job doing so.

But, I just have a hard time letting go Bailey and Ditko and I love both of them in this Comic Book Run that I've grew fond of and I'm a fan of redheads and I was introduced to Iron Maiden and what a beauty that these artists drew her. She would ranked in the top redheads in comic history easily in my top 5.

That's my take on these wonderful artists in THUNDER.

Same for me. He began by working under Milt Caniff, which explains the style.




Crandall's weakness, however, was his sense of movement. His work has always felt stilted to me, and that's a serious drawback in a high-action series.



It's technically very solid, but it just doesn't feel like movement is occurring at a fast and exciting pace.





Sekowsky is my absolute least favorite artist ever to grace these pages. Sorry, but I absolutely can't see where you're coming from here. "Middling" doesn't begin to describe it.



It's all excessive motion lines, awkward faces, and awkward poses.

I have glanced and read many of these comic books and I have great love for Wally Wood but Thunder has great artists in that run and I'm not really familiar with Gorelick at all and I agree that he should take 5th Spot in your countdown.

I just read your reaction and Wow, and all that.

Wood and Bailey are so close but, the settings and the scenes of Bailey edge out Wood.  But, Wood does a great job in close ups that I consider him ahead of Bailey.  But, Bailey does a good job in the close up department and I have a hard time putting him below Wood.  Wood and Bailey so difficult to judge properly and that's why I gave the edge to Bailey of his superior settings and scenes. To me, if any artist does a good job in that department gets an edge period. 

But, when Steve Ditko was young he was a master of pencil work and I just find his early work incredible and that's why I think your assessment is spot on correct. But, I have to put him in 2nd place behind Stallman.

Stallman was the best artist of Thunder period. 

My ranking still stands firm and strong ... I just wished that Wally Wood did some DC Comics and/or Marvel Comics work and I would enjoy his work more and more. This is my first exposure of Wally Wood and he would be definitely would be the top artist in DC and/or Marvel.

The Thunder Artists were far more superior than the artists in DC and Marvel for what they did in general. 

Shaxper, I have a hard time reading these books because of the wonderful artwork that this series has given to me and I remember the artwork first ... then the story a dismal 2nd.

That's the beauty of this book ... too many good artists ... way too many! 
 

I agree with you Confessor.