{"id":31288,"date":"2025-01-09T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=31288"},"modified":"2025-01-08T17:32:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T17:32:04","slug":"t-h-u-n-d-e-r-agents-classics-volume-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/01\/09\/t-h-u-n-d-e-r-agents-classics-volume-5\/","title":{"rendered":"T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Classics volume 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Wally Wood<\/strong>, Steve Skeates<\/strong>, Jerry Siegel<\/strong>, Ralph Reese<\/strong>, Dan Adkins<\/strong>, Mike Sekowsky<\/strong>, George Tuska<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, John Giunta<\/strong>, Ogden Whitney<\/strong>, Chic Stone<\/strong> & various (IDW)
\nISBN: ?<\/strong>978-1-63140-182-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62302-754-4<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

The meteoric lifespan and output of Tower Comics is one of the key creative moments in American comic book history. The brief, bombastic saga of The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves<\/em> was a benchmark of quality and sheer fun for fans of both the then-still-reawakening superhero genre and that era\u2019s spy-chic obsession. In the early 1960s, the Bond <\/strong>movie franchise was going from strength to strength, with blazing action and heady glamour totally transforming the formerly low-key and seedy espionage genre. The buzz was infectious: soon a Man like Flint<\/strong> and Matt Helm<\/strong> were carving out their own piece of the action as television shanghaied the entire bandwagon with the irresistible Man from U.N.C.L.E.<\/strong> (premiering in September 1964), bringing the whole shtick into living rooms across the planet.<\/p>\n

Veteran Archie Comics editor Harry Shorten was commissioned to create a line of characters for a new distribution-chain funded publishing outfit – Tower Comics. He brought in creative maverick Wally Wood, who called on some of the biggest names in the industry to produce material in the broad range of genres the company demanded; as well as T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and its spin-offs Undersea Agent,<\/strong> Dynamo <\/strong>and NoMan<\/strong>, there was a magnificent anthology war-comic Fight the Enemy<\/strong> and wholesome youth-comedy Tippy Teen<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Samm Schwartz & Dan DeCarlo handled the funny stuff – which outlasted everything else – whilst Wood, Larry Ivie, Len Brown, Bill Pearson, Steve Skeates, Dan Adkins, Russ Jones, Gil Kane, Ditko and Ralph Reese contributed scripts for themselves and the industry\u2019s other top talents to illustrate on the adventure series. With a ravenous appetite for super-spies and costumed heroes growing in comic-book popularity and amongst the general public, the idea of blending the two concepts seemed inescapable\u2026<\/p>\n

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents <\/strong>#1 appeared with no fanfare or pre-publicity on newsstands in August 1965 (with a cover off-sale date of November, so many, many, many happy returns team!). Better yet, all Tower titles were in the beloved-but-rarely-seen 80-page Giant format, offering a huge amount of material in every issue. All that being said these tales would not be so revered if they hadn\u2019t been so superbly crafted. As well as Wood, the art accompanying the compelling, subtly more mature stories was by some of the greatest talents in comics: Reed Crandall, Gil Kane, George Tuska, Mike Sekowsky, Dick Ayers, Joe Orlando, Frank Giacoia, John Giunta, Ogden Whitney, Steve Ditko and more, as well as budding stars like Ralph Reese, Steve Skeates and Dan Adkins…<\/p>\n

For those who came in late<\/strong>: When philanthropic benevolent supergenius Professor Emil Jennings <\/em>perished in an assault by forces of the mysterious Warlord<\/em>, late-arriving UN troops salvaged some of his greatest inventions. These included a belt that increased the density of the wearer\u2019s body until it became as hard as steel; a cloak of invisibility and a brain-amplifier helmet. These uncopiable prototypes were divided between several agents: the basis of a unit of super-operatives to counter the increasingly bold attacks of multiple global terror threats such as the aforementioned Warlord. First chosen was affable, honest, but far from brilliant file clerk Len Brown<\/em>. To the astonishment of everyone who knew him, he was assigned the belt and codename Dynamo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent NoMan<\/strong> was previously decrepit Dr. Anthony Dunn <\/em>who chose to have his mind transferred into an android body and then gifted with the invisibility cape. If his artificial body was destroyed, Dunn\u2019s consciousness could transfer to another android body. As long as he had a spare ready, he could never die. The helmet went to John Janus<\/em>: a seemingly perfect UN employee and mental and physical marvel. He easily passed all the tests necessary to wear the Jennings helmet. Sadly, he was also a double agent: the Warlord\u2019s mole poised to betray T.H.U.N.D.E.R. at the earliest opportunity. All plans went awry once he donned the helmet and became Menthor<\/strong> as the device awakened his mind\u2019s full potential, granting him telepathy, telekinesis and mind-reading powers, but also drove all evil from his mind. Such was the redemptive effect that Janus actually gave his life to save his comrades: an event which astounded readers at the time\u2026<\/p>\n

Guy Gilbert <\/em>was leader of crack Mission: Impossible<\/strong> style T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad <\/em>and asked to beta-test an experimental super-speed suit. As Gung-ho Lightning <\/strong>he proudly did so, even if every use of the hyper-acceleration gimmick shortened his life-span. As the concept grew and the niche universe expanded other augmented agent appeared \u2013 such as human fighter jet Raven<\/strong> and subsea spin-off U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent<\/strong> (AKA Davy Jones of the U<\/em><\/strong>nited N<\/strong>ations D<\/strong>epartment<\/em> of E<\/em><\/strong>xperiment<\/em> and R<\/em><\/strong>esearch<\/em> S<\/em><\/strong>ystems<\/em> E<\/em><\/strong>stablished<\/em> at A<\/em><\/strong>tlantis<\/em>…<\/p>\n

This penultimate collection re-presents the compelling contents of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents<\/strong>#12-14 and Dynamo<\/strong> #4 (cover dated April to June 1967) – with the incomparably cool concept and characters going from strength to strength as a spirit of eccentric experimentation and raucous low comedy increasingly manifested in the wake of the defeat of the Warlord (part of a subterranean race intent on world conquest) and rise of independent supervillains, sinister crime cabals S.P.I.D.E.R. and O.G.R.E. or political foes like China\u2019s Red Star<\/em>…
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\nAs always the action opens with a Dynamo solo tale as \u2018Strength is Not Enough\u2019<\/em> by an unknown scripter, Steve Ditko, Dan Adkins & Wally Wood sees S.P.I.D.E.R. unleash a petty thug transformed into human weapon able to outpower the hero. Sadly, Rocky<\/em> Stone<\/em> loved to fight but had a conscience, and when he learned from Dynmao that his rebuild left him with only days to live he sought to make amends on his own terms. Fighting fire with fire was a persistent theme then, as Lightning battled a super-fast \u2018Speed Demon\u2019<\/em> unleashed by S.P.I.D.E.R.\u2019s Nazi-trained mad scientist Herr Doktor<\/em> in a rapidly unfolding romp by Steve Skeates, Mike Sekowsky & Frank Giacoia while android avenger NoMan faces \u2018The Rock\u2019<\/em> (John Giunta & Giacoia): a seemingly unkillable madman with the ability to vitrify his victims and petrify buildings…<\/p>\n

Lightning quits using the speed augmenter and returns to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent squad in a tense thriller by Skeates, Mike Sekowsky & Giacoia, but the act is merely a ploy to locate \u2018The Road to Spider HQ\u2019<\/em> after which flying agent in Craig Lawson<\/em> suits up in his heavily armed augmented flight-costume to crush another neo-Nazi revival in Manny Stallman\u2019s politically-charged battle bonanza \u2018The Raven Battles the Storm Troopers of Xochimilco\u2019<\/em> …<\/p>\n

Behind a Wally Wood cover for Dynamo<\/strong> #4, \u2018The Maze\u2019<\/em> (Wood & Dan Adkins) sees the strongman undergo terrifying psychologically reinforcement prior to being beamed to another world to face aliens that have previously probed Earth after which Ralph Reese, Joe Orlando, Adkins & Wood reveal the teething of a voice-controlled Thunderbelt in \u2018The Secret Word is…\u2019<\/em>, before Reese & Chic Stone depict the awful monkeyshines of \u2018Dynamo\u2019s Day Off\u2019<\/em> and the seductive power of returned foe The Iron Maiden<\/em> who uses her wiles and stuff to turn the super-agent into \u2018The Weakest Man in the World\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

The fun expands and concludes with a tale of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent Weed<\/em> (a character Wally Wood regarded as his \u201cspirit animal\u201d) as \u2018Once Upon a Time\u2019<\/em> (Wood & Ditko) sees the seedy spook reinterpret state secrets and the final battle with the Iron Maiden as an expurgated fairy tale for the kids he\u2019s babysitting…
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\nThe big spy bubble was bursting by this point and the spin-off titles had all folded by the time T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents <\/strong>#13 was released. The anthological line up continued as always however, and opens here with Adkins & Wood\u2019s \u2018 \u201cA\u201d Bullet for Dynamo\u2019<\/em> as a handheld atom bomb launcher is stolen by a S.P.I.D.E.R. infiltrator and only Len Brown has any chance of averting ultimate armageddon…<\/p>\n

Jerry Siegel & Ogden Whitney then had NoMan seemingly \u2018Escape From Destiny\u2019<\/em> when a bizarre accident implants his consciousness in a human body. Sadly, conscience and sense of duty ruin his dreams of real life before Steve Skeates and Stone unite to pit Lightning against evil duplicates in \u2018The Quick and the Changing\u2019<\/em> and the entire T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents cadre unites against a villain using \u2018The Black Helmet\u2019<\/em> once used by Menthor in a titanic tussle by Reese, Wood & George Tuska. The issue ends with an unused U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. Agent short by Skeates & Paul Reinman. Evil android duplicates also infest this fishy tale as Davy Jones and assistant Skooby<\/em> inadvertently invade \u2018The Second Atlantis\u2019<\/em> and foils a dastardly plot to replace all their friends and allies…<\/p>\n

Sporting a Gil Kane Raven cover, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents <\/strong>#14 opens with Ditko & Wood & Adkin\u2019s \u2018Dynamo vs Andor!<\/em> Return Engagement\u2019<\/em>: another spectacular bravura battle between the agent and a misunderstood modern Prometheus.<\/p>\n

Long ago the Warlords stole a human baby and spent decades turning the waif into a biological superman devoid of sentiment or compassion. Sadly, they lost all control of the living weapon once he met fellow mortals. Since their defeat, the pitiful misfit\u2019s attempts to rejoin mankind are constantly thwarted and derailed. Here, his latest sanctuary – a hippy commune – is taken over by S.P.I.D.E.R. until he single-handedly repels them and in retaliation they orchestrate a clash with their other nemesis Len Brown…<\/p>\n

Lightning\u2019s campaign against disguise master Mock-Man intensifies in return match \u2018To Fight is to Die\u2019 <\/em>by Skeates & Stone and ends with the hero the loser, after which S.P.I.D.E.R. also score a win by reprogramming NoMan and making him an operative \u2018On the Other Side\u2019<\/em> (Skeates & Giunta) before Kane writes and illustrates \u2018Darkly Sees the Prophet\u2019<\/em> wherein Raven confronts a rabble rousing, clairvoyant demagogue who is far more than he seems before the entire gang reassembles to save New York and the UN building from terrifying weapons platform \u2018The Fist of Zeus\u2019<\/em> (anonymous & George Tuska).
\n\"\"
\nWith stories all shaded in favour of fast pace, knowing wit, sparse dialogue, explosive action and breathtaking visuals, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents <\/strong>was decades ahead of its time and informed everything in Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights comics that came after it. These are truly timeless comic classics which improve with every reading, so do yourself a favour and add these landmark super-sagas to your collection.
\nT.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Classics volume 5 \u00a9 2015 Radiant Assets, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Wally Wood, Steve Skeates, Jerry Siegel, Ralph Reese, Dan Adkins, Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska, Frank Giacoia, John Giunta, Ogden Whitney, Chic Stone & various (IDW) ISBN: ?978-1-63140-182-4 (HB) eISBN: 978-1-62302-754-4 This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. The meteoric lifespan and output of Tower Comics is one of the key creative … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents Classics volume 5”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,78,332,125,108,107,169,144,167],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-comic-strip-classics","category-gil-kane","category-humour","category-miscellaneous-superhero","category-science-fiction","category-spy-stories","category-steve-ditko","category-thunderbolts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-88E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31297,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31288\/revisions\/31297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}