T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

[Jeff of Earth-J]

When I was young, I had always heard that the prerequisite for comic book fandom was owning a complete set of All Star Comics featuring the JSA, and that for second generation fandom it was Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. Because we now live in the Golden Age of Reprints, I am able to own both of those series, in hardcover. [NOTE: the title is an acronym for "The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves," but don't expect me to continue putting the periods behind each initial throughout this discussion.] DC started releasing the series in archival format in 2002 (wow, has it really been 20 years?), but I only ever got as far as midway through volume three (which I know because my bookmark is still in that volume where I left off and volume four is still in its shrinkwrap). Because the first  of my Comic Collecting Precepts is "Don't buy what you don't read," it is my intention to read my way through volume eight during the course of this discussion.

I have a bad habit of, when returning to an abandoned reading project, starting over at the beginning. Or I should say I used to have that problem, because I resolved in 2009 to always pick up where I left off when returning to an unfinished project. I have been pretty good about adhering to that plan over the intervening years, but this time I am going to start at the beginning because it has been so long since I last attempted it. I have read this first volume at least three times, IIRC: once when it was released, once when v2 was and once when v3 was. So I've read v2 twice, but only the first half of v3. In addition, I have read T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents - Best of Wally Wood hardcover at least twice. 

But because I have started a discussion of the series, I shall start with issue #1. I don't know how much I'm going to have to say about these early issues, but here we go.

ISSUE #1:

"FIRST ENCOUNTER": The four-page introductory story (by Larry Ivie and Wally Wood), sets up the premise: Professor Jennings has been killed by the forces of the Warlord, but a United Nations task force manages to salvage prototypes of three devices the professor had been working on: an "electron molecular intensifier belt," an invisibility cloak and a cybernetic helmet designed to amplify the wearer's brain power.

DYNAMO: Len Brown is chosen to wear the "Thunder Belt" (as it has been dubbed). "Len Brown" is also the name of the scripter; the artist is Wally Wood. The first thing Brown (the fictional one) does with the belt is to punch through a brick wall, a Wally Wood trademark. This story also introduces Dynamo's femme fatale, the Iron Maiden, one of the Warlord's lieutenants. He can wear the belt only for a short time without causing damage to his body. At the end of this first story, he is captured.

NOMAN: Doctor Dunn is the aging scientist who invented a series of androids into which a human mind can be transferred. The catch is, although the mind can be transferred from android to android, the switch from human to android is one way. Dunn transfers his mind into one of the four android bodies shown, allowing his human body to die. For some reason, in addition to having an android body, it is decided that Dr. Dunn also receive the invisibility cloak. He adopts the identity of "NoMan" and is perhaps the most inept agent in all of THUNDER. 

I don't know how much these android bodies cost or how many of them there are, but the one thing I remember about NoMan from the few issues I have read is that he loses a body in almost every story. In this story, NoMan is sent after the Sub-Men of Demo, another of the Warlord's lieutenants. He sets out in a car with a spare body in tow, almost as if he expects to lose a body. (The spare body is incorrectly drawn with a one-of-a-kind invisibility cloak of its own.) NoMan is defeated, his body's "mechanism's demolished." He transfers his mind to the spare body waiting in the car (now correctly drawn sans cloak). He returns to the lab to find Demo and his assistant fled and to retrieve the cloak.

The art is by Reed Crandall and Wally Wood. So far, the agents are oh for two. A text story follows, but I never read those.

MENTHOR: Mr. Janus, the man chosen to wear the cybernetic helmet, is a double agent for the Warlord. You'd think the name "Janus" might have clued someone in, but the Guardians didn't pick up on "Sinestro" so maybe not. Like the thunder belt, the helmet cannot be worn for long without damaging the wearer. It gives him telekinesis and the ability to fire "brain blasts." One more thing: the "H" in Menthor is silent, pronounced "mentor" (but that spelling means something else). I can't tell you the number of time I've heard someone pronounce the "TH" as in "menthol" rather than "Neanderthal." The art is by Gil Kane (with George Tuska and Mike Esposito).

THUNDER SQUAD: A non-powered group of operatives (Guy, Dynamite, Kitten, Weed and Egghead) with art by Mike Sekowsky. 

DYNAMO: The conclusion to the Dynamo story earlier in the issue, in which Menthor, NoMan and the THUNDER Squad team-up to save him. NoMan loses another android body, the second in a single issue.

I've never seen an actual copy of issue #1 (outside a bag), but I am disappointed at the reproduction value of this entire first volume; it's kind of murky.

[Richard Willis]

ISSUE #11:

DYNAMO:

They also send a giant mechanical spider-robot to attack New York to distract the real Dynamo, who makes quick work of the robot-spider …..

  … by throwing a random parked car at it. It wasn’t enough to crunch it, it had to explode too. Will the poor owner get reimbursed in time to take care of important business? Inquiring minds want to know.

At that point, the real Dynamo breaks out of his cell only to run into the Beck/Dynamo.

At that point he ditches his Dr Miller disguise. I can buy that his Dynamo costume is under the suit, but his bulky boots under the dress shoes???

In the meantime, the NoMan Dynamo gets shot.

Of course he does.

They appear on the scene and the Beck/Dynamo gets shot dead. Then NoMan, in his regular body, remotely detonates the booby-trapped fake belt worn by the NoMan/Dynamo which the head SPIDER is fleeing with via helicopter.

The copter had three belts in it. The real one, Beck’s fake one and the bomb-one. Weed announces that the real belt is beat up, but OK. Overall, not a bad story.

LIGHTNING:

A mad scientist named Dr. Forkliff contacts a criminal named Dirk Rawson to sell him on the idea of his latest invention, a helicopter which creates tornados.

Dr Forkliff was driven mad by all the ribbing about his name. Even my spellchecker wants to change it to Forklift.

(which raises the question of why Forkliff needs Rawson in the first place). "With my scientific knowledge and your daring," he continues

Dr Forkliff isn’t the daring type. If he’d done the robberies himself, he’d be the one in jail.

The Chief is concerned that "his fantastic weapon might fall into the hands of enemy agents!" (I guess a bank robber is okay.) 

Well, THUNDER’s mission is (inter)national security, not stopping robberies. (Though they seem to do that, too)

Back at work, Guy no longer treats Kitten as "one of the boys" but rather as one of the secretarial pool, handing her a stack of paper with the instruction, "Would you mind typing these up? They're urgent!" 

She’s an agent. They must have office staff working there, though we never see them. What happened to Alice? She seems to have disappeared.

NOMAN:

This story begins in medias res with NoMan already the captive of a man wearing a high school drum major's uniform. NoMan is strapped to a chair with solid steel bonds too strong for him to break, and a "mento-barrier disc" prevents him from changing bodies.

These people seem to be unaligned with SPIDER, yet they know about NoMan’s body switching. They also know about his cape (page 4).

Because his android body is essentially immortal, he will spend the rest of eternity trapped in the cell once the Drum Major leaves.

I think at some point this side of eternity the building will need to be demolished. On page 3 they say it’s a condemned warehouse*. Also, I suspect that THUNDER can locate the android bodies with some kind of tracking.

*Where would bad guys be without empty warehouses.

He turns the key and the car explodes, but NoMan survives because "the bomb was fixed to explode downwards into the earth and yet have enough violence to stun him.

He had no reason to start the car. Actually, they detonate the bomb from inside the warehouse.

I have no idea what "Plan W" is, but it must have something to do with convincing all of the world's unaligned countries not to shoot down missiles aimed at them and to allow THUNDER jets into their airspace.

This version of the United Nations is ridiculously united. All the “magno-jets” have a version of Iron Man’s repulser rays, forcing the missiles into the sea.

The plan works and THUNDER is able to triangulate the DM's castle by tracing the missiles' paths back to their point of origin. 

Fortinately, the location of the castle is also the point of origin of the missiles..

No mention is made of NoMan's cape, which was presumably left behind at 29 West Waterford Street.

This is a plot hole. Why would a criminal who knows about the cape leave it behind?

DYNAMITE:

Dynamite offers to stand in as Dynamo's replacement, and the Chief orders Dynamo's belt reconfigured for Dynamite.

Another new THUNDER fact. Previously it was said or implied that once they paired the belt with Len Brown it couldn’t be changed. If THUNDER can tweak the belt to work for someone else, then a bad guy could do it too.

Dynamite's costume consists of a black leotard with red gloves and red pirate boots, and a white "D" on his chest. His "cape" is an ordinary dress shirt tied around his neck with a piece of rope.

Why in the world would anyone have a shirt flapping around as if it was a cape?

Most of the gags center around not knowing his own strength and weighing 1000 pounds when the belt is activated. At one point, the light plane Weed is piloting cannot take off with Dynamite's weight, and when he deactivates the belt, the resultant energy feedback destroys the plane. 

They seem to write characters as dumb when it suits the story. As many times as they’ve said that Dynamo was dumb, they occasionally have him running an operation and sounding smart and organized.

RAVEN:

Once again I find it difficult to believe that this cartoony farce is part of the same team as the other THUNDER Agents. I don't think another agent has ever been shown in Raven's feature, and Raven has rarely appeared elsewhere. Raven is, for all intents and purposes, self-contained. Mayven is back. (Didn't she die?)

In his second story, Raven teared up (for some reason) after it appeared that she died. At the end of the story she was shown alive.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

DYNAMO #3:

This cover is one of the prints included in that IDW Artist's Edition portfolio. If you think this cover looks good, you should see the "original" (or close to it) art.

1ST STORY: This is a follow-up to the "Moon" story a few comics back. THUNDER has sent up another NoMan android on a survey mission. They could have saved the expense of sending another rocket, I suppose, by simply having NoMan transfer his mind to the body he left behind, but "writer's fiat" demanded that another rocket be sent to bring back an alien machine. They have no idea what the purpose of the machine is, but that doesn't stop them from reassembling it in the NYC HQ and turning it on.

(Before I get to that, though, I have noticed, from Reading Richard's responses to my posts, that I have been guilty of filling in gaps in plot and logic that aren't really present in the script. For example, no mention is made of retrieving the body NoMan left behind, but I assume he did.)

The machine ends up being a transmat device which transports robots to attack THYUNDER HQ from within. The robots destroy cars, passersby, planes flying overhead and all adjoining buildings before NoMan transfers in. His duplicate body is destroyed almost immediately, but the robots don't destroy the others unless they pose a direct threat. NoMan transfers in again and again until he has lost a total of at least six bodies. With only one NoMan body left outside, Dyamo gets the idea to borrow the cloak and attack them invisibly. He succeeds in destroying the remaining robots, and the Chief resolves to "send an agent... someone who stands a good chance of coming back, to go on a scouting mission... to this unknown world." Dynamo wonders who that might be, but the operative phrase here is "unknown world." I don't think they've thought this plan through.

Total NoMan bodies lost: 40

2ND STORY: "Bad Day for Leonard Brown"

"Breathes there a man with soul so dead

He never to himself has said

'Today I shoulda stood in bed'?"

In this story, Alice returns. It begins with this scintillating bit of dialogue:

"Alice... I..."

"Yes, Len?"

"Er... Have you, that is, do you know how I... uh..."

"Yes, Len..."

"Oh, what's the use - Alice! Will you marry me?"

"Yes, Len!"

Just then, Diana Dawn (from the "Red Dragon" affair) pops in.

"LEN! Baby!"

At that point I thought the story was going to be a Betty/Veronica/Archie triangle, but that all we see of Diana Dawn in this story. At that moment, THUNDER is attacked by Iron Maiden and her forces. Richard pointed out that SPIDER should have been able to figure out her betrayal, and this story confirms that they actually did. They've been after her ever since they found out she let Dynamo escape, and she's apparently been working freelance ever since. In this story, though, Demo betrays her and she is captured. Rusty apparently enjoys herself making Alice jealous. She knows SPIDER's plans, however, and tells Dynamo where Demo can be found for "an hour's head start" (which the Chief approves). 

Dynamo confronts Demo, who convinces him to turn off his belt for a "fair fight." Dynamo loses his belt and is almost knocked out by the Sub-Men, but he eventually gets his belt back and radios THUNDER to bomb the premises. He is injured in the process.  Kitten visits him in the infirmary and is in the process of giving him a get-well kiss when Alice enters, misunderstands, and breaks off their engagement. The story ends with the Chief chewing out Len for turning off his belt to grant Demo a "fair fight" (which is one of the few things in this story that makes sense).

THIRD STORY: Another story borrowed from the Bible, "The Feats of Samson." It takes place in the middle eastern country of "Israebia" which, instead of being depicted as a modern, contemporary city, looks like something from the middle ages, with seers and prophecies and unpaved streets and people riding camels and a caged lion being carried through the city by hand. Because Dynamo is being cast as Samson, you might think the villainess is Delilah, but it's even worse: Phyllis Tyne. 

The story begins with Guy giving Len some spectacularly bad advice on how to deal with women. When he tries it on Alice, she snubs him. The Chief sends Dynamo to Israebia undercover to overthrow Queen Tyne. Disguised, she encounters  him in the street and seduces him into revealing the secret of his belt. He feels free to fool around because Alice jilted him but, to be honest, it didn't take much effort on Tyne's part. Before her men can grab the belt, Dynamo fights back, and Queen Tyne (temporarily) blinds him with a "sun-ray" gun. Later, he defeats her by using his strength to bring down the palace by toppling the columns supporting the ceiling, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Back home in the infirmary, Alice forgives him. 

FOURTH STORY: "Honeymoon of High Noon?" begins with the wedding of Len Brown and Kitten. It's fake, of course, but Alice doesn't  know that. A spy has infiltrated THUNDER, and for some reason two agents married to each other will cause less suspicion than two agents who are not married. "We've got the perfect cover," Len admits to Kitten (which right there should tell you how good of a plan this is), "but what did you have to be from Texas?!" which is not the kind of thing one should say to a Texan.

SPIDER has been running a protection racket in the vicinity of Kitten's hometown, but her childhood sweetheart, "good old  Luke," is the only rancher who hasn't been shaken down. Luke puts them up (because it makes perfect sense that two newlyweds would want to spend their honeymoon at an old boyfriend's ranch), and the two men take an immediate dislike to each other. they each suspect the other of being a SPIDER operative. 

That night, four SPIDER "frogmen" emerge from an oil pipeline near the ranch. Dynamo goes to investigate, and Luke sees his silhouette prowling around. Dynamo does not prevent the SPIDER agents from sabotaging the oilfield, drawing everyone to the scene... except Len. Luke accuses Len of starting the fire, and Kitten apparently believes him, but Len is too dim to realize she's just playing along. 

"Fooey!" concludes Len. "Even Kitten is against me! This whole thing is stupid, anyway!" [As childish as he sounds, I've got to agree wit him there.] "Hey - Now that the mission is fouled up, I guess there's no reason I can't call Alice!" Good idea! Meanwhile, Alice has met Len's replacement ( guess at his desk job...?), Jim Battersby. "Hey," thinks Alice. "He's cute!" She's about as loose-lipped as you would expect, but Jim doesn't really learn anything... until Len calls and he overhears Alice's side of the conversation. Alice, of course, obligingly repeats all of the key information in a loud voice: "Not married?! A Secret? But why...?" Jim is, of course, the spy, and he clues his bosses, "If you have any operations going on out in Texas, watch out for him."

By this time, Len is staying in a hotel, but Luke is keeping a close eye on him. when SPIDER agents kidnap him, Luke follows and helps Dynamo save the day. Back at THUNDER HQ after it's all over, Kitten bats her eyes at Len and suggests making their "playing house" permanent, but Len chooses Alice. The story ends with the Chief chewing Len out for shooting his mouth and endangering the lives of others and jeopardizing the success of the mission. I must admit, he does have a point.

WEED: Kitten on a mission on the island republic of San Forizo where she confirms that the government forces, led by the Generalissimo,  have been taken over by SPIDER. Her presence is discovered and, as she flees, she is "rescued" by Emiliano Huevas, a.k.a. El Capitan, the leader of the liberation army. Little does she know that the rebels are under the control of the Red Star.

Meanwhile, back in the states, Weed has allowed himself to be shot by Red Star himself with Weed's own gun, which is loaded with blanks. Weed follows Red star to San Forizo, where his plane is shot down by government forces. Allying himself with the Generalissimo, he leads an attacks against El Capitan's forces. By this time, Kitten has notified THUNDER that the government is under the control of SPIDER and has requested reinforcements. The Generalissimo has supplied Weed with a supply of "Mentanil" gas, which "reduces a person temporarily to the mental level of a retared tree toad!" This takes most of the rebel forces out of the fight, except for Dynamo, who jumps out of his plane in order to bring down Weed's. 

Weed realizes that Dynamo is fighting on behalf of SPIDER, so he makes his way to the capital, contacts THUNDER and informs the Chief, who responds,  "Yeah? Well, you are working for SPIDER! You must get to Dynamo and explain the whole situation... Good luck! Over and Out!" It strikes me that these field agents have a whole lot of latitude when conducting missions of foreign soil. Dynamo leads the THUNDER Agents and the rebels against the Capital while the Generalissimo prepares to defend. In order to avoid a massacre (and possible international incident), Weed drives a motorcycle through town spreading the Mentanil gas. After the THUNDER Agents have recovered, they expose and capture all of the Red star and SPIDER agents and restore order.

Raven appears in two panels, neither time using his powers, and once (from behind) mis-colored yellow as Lightning.

[Dave Palmer]

Steve Skeates must have really liked Dr.Forkliff

since he kind of reappears years later 

by then, instead of fighting it, Forkliff embraced the mispronunciation of his name and became Dr. Forklift

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Coulda been worse.

He could have been Dr. Faceliff, the plastic surgeon. 

[Richard Willis]

DYNAMO #3:

1ST STORY:

They have no idea what the purpose of the machine is, but that doesn't stop them from reassembling it in the NYC HQ and turning it on.

Turning it on was reckless and proved to be a disaster.

(Before I get to that, though, I have noticed, from Reading Richard's responses to my posts, that I have been guilty of filling in gaps in plot and logic that aren't really present in the script. For example, no mention is made of retrieving the body NoMan left behind, but I assume he did.)

Their self-imposed 10-page limit for each story doesn’t really allow the “elbow room” needed to provide clarifying details. For example, it’s unclear to me whether sending the parts of the device back was done by the first android or the second android. If it was the first android, why didn’t NoMan take advantage of the return rocket to return himself?

2ND STORY:

"Oh, what's the use - Alice! Will you marry me?"

"Yes, Len!"

That part isn’t indicating a bad day. Chic Stone’s Alice also doesn’t look as good as Wally Wood’s.

Demo betrays her and she is captured. Rusty apparently enjoys herself making Alice jealous.

The last we saw of Demo, THUNDER had captured him. I guess the lack of space meant they couldn’t explain why he is free. As for Alice, newly engaged, she needs to develop her BS detector.

Dynamo confronts Demo, who convinces him to turn off his belt for a "fair fight.

Len gets to demonstrate his dumb side.

Dynamo loses his belt and is almost knocked out by the Sub-Men, but he eventually gets his belt back and radios THUNDER to bomb the premises. He is injured in the process.  Kitten visits him in the infirmary and is in the process of giving him a get-well kiss when Alice enters, misunderstands, and breaks off their engagement. The story ends with the Chief chewing out Len for turning off his belt to grant Demo a "fair fight" (which is one of the few things in this story that makes sense).

Alice says she’s giving back his ring. What ring? As soon as she said yes they were off to the races. No ring was apparent when she accepted his proposal and there was no break in the action until he was in the hospital. The breakup was in full view of the Chief, who didn’t react, so I would say he definitely isn’t Alice’s father. (Of course, they aren’t models of consistency at Tower.)

THIRD STORY:

Another story borrowed from the Bible, "The Feats of Samson." It takes place in the middle eastern country of "Israebia" which, instead of being depicted as a modern, contemporary city, looks like something from the middle ages….

Sounds like the way the Middle East was depicted in our movies from the 1920s to at least the 1950s.

The story begins with Guy giving Len some spectacularly bad advice on how to deal with women. When he tries it on Alice, she snubs him.

He’s bemoaning not getting a date, not his failed engagement.  It’s like the stories are all ten pages so they could slide whichever ones are ready into the latest issue. (Alice’s dress looks remarkably like the Dynamo costume.)

The Chief sends Dynamo to Israebia undercover to overthrow Queen Tyne. Disguised, she encounters  him in the street and seduces him into revealing the secret of his belt.

This is the version of Dynamo who is either stupid or stuck mentally as a 12-year-old. He tells her (before she even kisses him) that the way to defeat him is to tie him up so he can’t turn on his belt.

Before her men can grab the belt, Dynamo fights back, and Queen Tyne (temporarily) blinds him with a "sun-ray" gun.

In the interim, with his hands tied behind his back, Dynamo says that standing close to the fire enabled him to free himself. Huh? With his belt turned off (but stupidly left on his person) he presumably had the fire burn the ropes from his wrists. Must have felt really good. As for the sun ray non-lethal gun, using it to defeat the defenders on page 2 seemed out of character for her forces. (Too nice)

Later, he defeats her by using his strength to bring down the palace by toppling the columns supporting the ceiling, thus fulfilling the prophecy. Back home in the infirmary, Alice forgives him. 

Thinking back to the story of Samson, he used the bumper from the jeep instead of the jawbone of an ass to beat her men. They used the sun ray gun to blind him instead of gouging out his eyes. Why would he expect to die with his belt turned on as the palace collapsed after surviving the onslaught in the previous story didn’t kill him? (non-continuity)

FOURTH STORY:

"Honeymoon of High Noon?" begins with the wedding of Len Brown and Kitten. It's fake, of course, but Alice doesn't  know that.

Not telling Alice was probably the best way to get a convincing reaction out of her. If Len had a brain, he would realize that.

Paul Reinman is also no Wally Wood when it comes to Alice,

A spy has infiltrated THUNDER, and for some reason two agents married to each other will cause less suspicion than two agents who are not married. "We've got the perfect cover," Len admits to Kitten (which right there should tell you how good of a plan this is), "but what did you have to be from Texas?!" which is not the kind of thing one should say to a Texan.

I guess if two THUNDER agents showed up without this cover story, SPIDER would be more suspicious than with the cover story. Chances are they'd still suspect two known THUNDER agents.

Not unlike the Middle East story, the depiction of Texas is “just like in the movies.”

That night, four SPIDER "frogmen" emerge from an oil pipeline near the ranch.

Wow! How much do you have to pay someone to swim in an oil pipeline? I doubt this would be healthy.

Luke accuses Len of starting the fire, and Kitten apparently believes him, but Len is too dim to realize she's just playing along. 

Alice, of course, obligingly repeats all of the key information in a loud voice: "Not married?! A Secret? But why...?" Jim is, of course, the spy, and he clues his bosses, "If you have any operations going on out in Texas, watch out for him."

Alice and Len are made for each other.

They seem to think that setting a fire on the surface will burn up all of the oil underground. It wouldn't.

By this time, Len is staying in a hotel, but Luke is keeping a close eye on him. when SPIDER agents kidnap him, Luke follows and helps Dynamo save the day.

He’s in bad. They slug him and knock him out. Then this exchange:

“Get him into the car”

“Can’t we kill him now?”

“No. It’s too public here.”

It wasn’t public when he was in bed!

When the guy throws a simple match into the gushing crude oil, it bursts into flames. The match would have been flushed out. Crude oil isn’t gasoline! Even diesel fuel is hard to light.

Back at THUNDER HQ after it's all over, Kitten bats her eyes at Len and suggests making their "playing house" permanent, but Len chooses Alice.

I like to think that Kitten was joking. Len is no bargain.

WEED:

Meanwhile, back in the states, Weed has allowed himself to be shot by Red Star himself with Weed's own gun, which is loaded with blanks.

In an earlier story we saw Red Star shot to (apparent) death. So this is either a different guy taking over as Red Star or he got better.

The Generalissimo has supplied Weed with a supply of "Mentanil" gas, which "reduces a person temporarily to the mental level of a retarded tree toad!" This takes most of the rebel forces out of the fight, except for Dynamo, who jumps out of his plane in order to bring down Weed's. 

This is the Alternate Dynamo who is intelligent and competent. They missed a bet here by not having Dynamo impervious to the gas since he’s already as dumb as he can get.

They show Lightning and NoMan captured and recovering from the gas. Once again, why is NoMan affected?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Chic Stone’s Alice also doesn’t look as good as Wally Wood’s."

Whose does?

"This is the version of Dynamo who is either stupid or stuck mentally as a 12-year-old."

He is like Billy Batson in this respect, who could tap the wisdom of Solomon, but still got all flustered the the presence of an adult female, especially if she flirted with him a little. I forget... was it even established that the belt increases Len Brown's intelligence? (Then again, he was powered up when Phyllis Tyne came on to him.)

"As for the sun ray non-lethal gun, using it to defeat the defenders on page 2 seemed out of character for her forces."

Maybe it had multiple settings. "High" could burn to a crisp but "low" would cause only a mild sunburn.

"Thinking back to the story of Samson, he used the bumper from the jeep instead of the jawbone of an ass to beat her men."

I caught the blinding reference but missed the jawbone of a ass/bumper.

"Paul Reinman is also no Wally Wood when it comes to Alice,"

Who is?

"How much do you have to pay someone to swim in an oil pipeline?"

I would think the smell along would be enough to capacitate someone. Also, those access hatches aren't designed to be opened from the inside.

NOMAN #2:

(Uh, oh... that cover story doesn't look good for NoMan's body count. Let's get right to it.)

FIRST STORY: During a board meeting at "SPIDER Central," the wheelchair-bound Dr. Cyber relates his plan to capture  NoMan, THUNDER's "most elusive agent", to their leader, whom Dr. Cyber addresses as "Mr. Secretary." (I might argue that, with a missing body count at 40, NoMan might be considered THUNDER's least elusive agent, but that's just me.) they begin their attack on THUNDER West, whose security protocols are about as strict as those of THUNDER East. Agents "Al" and "Larry" arrive in a jeep carrying a man on a stretcher. "I know we shouldn't have brought him here," says Al (or Larry), "but we couldn't just leave the poor guy." "Let them in!" says the agent in charge.

Let's just pause here for a moment. Al and Larry... what? Find a guy lying unconscious in the desert and decide it's a good idea to bring him to a secure (?) government facility? Did they hit with the jeep? I know, I know... "only ten pages"... but I wanna know!

No sooner do they get him inside than the "body" begins to dissolve into gas. "Hey! There's something funny about this--Sound the alert!" (as if there wasn't something "funny" about the whole situation). The gas knocks out the entire  base "and soon, SPIDER moves in on the defenseless HQ." Expecting NoMan to arrive first, they point a ray at his rack of waiting bodies. When one begins to show signs of life, the ray paralyzes it and traps his consciousness inside. then Dr. Cyber connects himself and NoMan to a device which transfers Cyber's mind into one of the other androids. (Apparently he had to be connected to the real NoMan for the transfer to work.)

We must be dealing with compressed time here because, as soon as the transfer process is complete, one of the henchmen announces, "Dynamo's coming, doctor!" Dr. Cyber (as NoMan) attempts to convince Dynamo that there was "a little trouble... but it's over now." 

"Wait!" says Dynamo. "You know a good agent never takes anybody's word for anything." (This must be a new policy, instituted after multiple instances of agents taking everybody's word for everything.) Cyber/NoMan shoots Dynamo point blank from behind, but only manages to wound him in the shoulder before Dynamo activates his belt... which raise the question whay, when responding to an alert, wasn't his belt activated in the first place? 

Back in New York, not only has THUNDER East not heard back from either NoMan or Dynamo, but an agent in a suit rushes in and declares, "Chief! NoMan's bodies are gone!" D-oh! The Chief checks with the guard to see how many times NoMan has been through, to which the guard replies, "Let me see... come to think of it, he's gone out six times, but I haven't seen him come in!" (Apparently the guard didn't find that at all suspicious.) After a quick check of "all top-secret files, plans [and] blueprints," it is discovered that "there's a whole list of stuff missing!" The Chief concludes that NoMan is a traitor. No, NoMan is an idiot, but THUNDER's lax security protocols should bear some of the blame.

Back in the southwestern desert, Dynamo is still on the run. SPIDER has scrambled three jets in pursuit, each manned by a pilot and a NoMan android. First one, then another pilot ejuects as Dr. Cyber/NoMan guides the plane into Dynamo. (The second one takes him out.) It's nice to know that SPIDER is no more cautious of NoMan's android bodies than THUNDER is,

SPIDER takes his belt and binds his wounds, but Len regains consciousness, beats up the two agents and regains control of his belt. Then Dr. Cyber/Noman, who now has the cloak as well, attacks Dynamo invisibly, deactivates the belt, and takes him back to the lab. In a last ditch effort, Len throws himself at the machinery allowing Cyber to control the androids, but is shot in the back in the process. Dr. Cyber wheels away in his chair, with NoMan in pursuit. SPIDER take NoMan down with a spray of machine gun fire, but also take out Dr. Cyber. Just then, the THUNDER Squad arrives. Later, Len recuperates in the infirmary, Alice commiserates and the Chief grouses.

Total NoMan bodies lost: 43

SECOND STORY: "The Weird Case of the Kiss of Death" is unusual in that it is narrated in the first person by NoMan. Other than that, it's an unremarkable comic book horror story, despite the claims of the introductory caption: "the folowing story is so fantastic that THUNDER officials, after determining that NoMan, its narrator, was not hallucinating, hushed it up. This is NoMan's confidential report."

NoMan is sent to investigate a string of deaths following the discovery of the mummy Ankhara,  a priestess of "Issus" (that's the way it's spelled). the first death is the curator of the Museun of Natural History, Mr. Fossilman. NoMan drives there with his duplicate in the back seat... for safety purposes, I assume. Inside he finds a woman claiming to be Ankhara herself, and four of her followers. "They've got me pinned down," NoMan laments, "so I can't turn invisible." I'm not sure why being pinned down would prevent him from turning invisible; perhaps he meant it wouldn't do him any good to turn invisible. He transfers his mind to the duplicate outside and the henchmen "slay" the body. Ankhara gets away.

the next day, she shows up at THUNDER HQ in civilian clothes asking to see NoMan, but he doesn't recognize her, even though she passes herself off as a descendent of Ankhara. She says her life is in danger and that she has proof she can show him if he accompanies her to her home. "I--well, okay!" is NoMan's considered reply. He doesn't tell anyone at THUNDER where he is going, but she lives in an Egyption temple under construction "pretty far out in the country." As soo as she changes clothes he recognizes her, but it's too late! She's hypnotized him! she then administers the "Kiss of Death," but it doesn't work.

After NoMan defeats her followers, she relates her origin. Basically, she can steals the lifeforce of a man with a kiss, which she must do once each day or die. when the Pharaoh's troops come for her, she takes a potion which puts into suspended animation and instructs her men to entomb her, because even "the Pharaoh's men would not defile my sarcophagus." Now that NoMan has thwarted her plan, she withers with age and crumbles into dust.

Total NoMan bodies lost: 44

LIGHTNING: The story begins in medias res in a "far from deserted ghost town somewhere in northern Arizona" which SPIDER has been using as a base of operations. Lightning escapes SPIDER's assault troops and makes his way to the nearest THUNDER facility, in Phoenix. In order to conserve his lifespan, he stops moving at high speed one he gets within the city limits. "I'll travel by the back alleys and make it to the base as inconspicuously as possible," he decides ("as inconspicuous as possible" while wearing a bright yellow leotard, that is). Once there, he is ambushed by two Spider agents who fire an exploding dart at him, burying him under a brick wall. It should be noted that SPIDER already knew  the location of THUNDER's Phoenix HQ, not surprising given their level of security.

The two men admire their handiwork until one of them says, "Oh, well... c'mon! We'd better head back to the base! They probably have other assignments for us!" Or maybe you should finish this one first, as Lightning was merely knocked unconscious. He does awaken with partial amnesia, though, and cannot report on SPIDER's ghost town base. Back in New York, "in a coffee shop near THUNDER HQ," Kitten and Weed openly discuss Lightning's condition, including the fact that he cannot recall the location of their base and that he's being treated at Phoenix General Hospital. The busboy is a SPIDER agent and he relays this information to the SPIDER leader (referred to as the "Head Man" here, not "Mr. Secretary" as earlier in this same issue). Is it any wonder that SPIDER knows where THUNDER HQ is?

Two SPIDER agents arrive at the hospital in street clothes and carrying flowers. (Even the hospital has more security than THUNDER; although she ultimately lets the men pass, a nurse at least challenges the two man she's never seen before.) They look for the room being guarded by the police and release poisonous gas from their bouquets as they pass. The "second squad" arrives wearing suits of armor, but guy heard the guards fall to the ground and, although still weak, is prepared to meet them. He fights them off, barely, then collapses to the floor. When he awakens, he discovers that the exertion has cleared his amnesia and THUNDER clears out the ghost town without a fight. 

FOURTH STORY: This story also begins in medias res. "NoMan has assumed the identity of an intended victim of an international crime organization." On the run from assassins, he dons his cloak and defeats them with invisibility. the assassins work for a Western European organization know as "Reconquer"  whose "mysterious leader, whose identity is still unknown, intend to unleash the greatest menace the world has ever faced in over twenty years." Resuming his "victim" disguise, NoMan checks into a hotel near the area where Reconquer is known to be headquartered. A female CIA agent recognizes NoMan's disguise, however, and queers his attempt to be captured. 

"As a THUNDER Agent," thinks NoMan, "I cannot reveal the true nature of my mission... not even to the CIA!" (so at least someone is learning about security). No sooner does the woman return to her room however, that she receives a telegram from Washington informing her of his identity. she is then captured from behind by a brutish thug.

Later, room service arrives in NoMan's room with a dose of poison gas. As NoMan's "victim" body dies, he transfers his mind to his regular body hidden in the closet. Invisible, NoMan rides alongside his would be assassin to a cave laboratory hidden in the side of a hill. The brutish thug is there and ushers the assassin to his "Master," who loks like a cross between Bela Lugosi and Gomez Addams (but with pointed ears). The scientist is at work unthawing a man who has been in suspended animation for over 20 years. "When he awakes," the scientist cackles, "we're going to set out to conquer the world together, just as he promised years ago, when I built this 'freezer' to save him! Heh-heh!"

There plan is to use the scientist's "reverse evolution" formula to change man into helpless subhumans. When he attempts to try it out on the CIA agent, NoMan kicks the syringe out of his hands, and it breaks against the assassin's face. Apparently it doesn't need to be injected after all, because it turns the man into an ape, who heads for the scientist. Meanwhile, NoMan punches the thug in the gut.

"Oof!"

"Owtch!"

"Gleep!"

"Gasp!"

The man emerges from the freezer and removes the towel from over his head.

"It can't be!"

"Eeek!"

"At last!"

"Aargh!"

(Want to guess who it is?)

It is the thuggish brute who rebels, saying, "All along you say... bring 'great man' back to life... but you not say who he is! Him not 'great man' but devil... him must stay dead!" He hurls the scientist against the machinery causing an explosion. NoMan and the CIA agent escape. the scientist and his subject both die. the thug lives. I'm not sure about the man-ape.

Total NoMan bodies lost: 45

FIFTH STORY: Dr. Winson is working late while his daughter, Judy, is out on a date with her boyfriend, Lex. A guy who looks like a professional wrestler comes into the room, knocks Winson out, and kidnaps him. "Subsequently, at a hidden lab in the nearby hills," we learn that the "wrestler" is actually a android named "Robo". Dr. Forester, a "thermodynamicist", has been missing for three weeks. His "mind" has been transferred into Robo to construct the basis for a mad scientist's experiment, but it must have been his knowledge, because clearly Dr. Forester wouldn't be helping voluntarily. The scientist now needs an atomic physicist, which is where Dr. Winson comes in.

Dr. Forester's body is in a glass cylinder attached to to another, slightly larger one, for Robo. "There!" declares the scientist. "It's done! Dr. Forester's mind is now his own again." Then he orders Wilhelm, his assistant, to "take Forester out somewhere and dump him! And hurry!" he cautions. You've got exactly fifteen minutes before he regains consciousness! Meanwhile, I'll get to work on transmitting Dr. Winson's mind into Robo!" On the way home from their date, Judy and Lex find Dr. Forester wandering in the woods. He's been missing for weeks but, as far as he knows, he was in his study a short time ago. 

Back at THUNDER HQ, they somehow mysteriously deduce that the next scientist to be kidnapped will be Dr. Jonston, a cyberneticist. They create an android duplicate of Dr. Jonston's body for NoMan to occupy and place him in the Conecticut facility, where apparently Judy and Lex both work as scientists. Judy is suspicious of Dr. Jonston, who is not acting himself. She and Lex are even spying on Jonston's house when the mad scientist sends Robo to kidnap him. But NoMan has transfered his mind back to THUNDER HQ to make a preliminary report to the Chief. (What, he couldn't have just phoned?) Robo end up abducting the android duplicate of Dr. Jonston with no mind in it.

Judy and Lex (who are described as ":teenagers," BTW) follow Robo to the mad scientist's lab and are discovered just as he's in the process of transferring her father's mind back to his own body and (what he thinks is) Dr. Jonston's mind into Robo. Just then, NoMan transfers back into the duplicate Jonston's android body and starts fighting the scientist's thugs while Dr. Winson flees. NoMan/Jonston is shot and tries to transfer his mind back to THUNDER HQ, but winds up in Robo instead! He cleans up the case is Robo's body and everything works out.

Total NoMan bodies lost: 46

This is the last issue of NoMan's solo series, and the end of archive volume four.

[Richard Willis]

"This is the version of Dynamo who is either stupid or stuck mentally as a 12-year-old."

He is like Billy Batson in this respect, who could tap the wisdom of Solomon, but still got all flustered the the presence of an adult female, especially if she flirted with him a little. I forget... was it even established that the belt increases Len Brown's intelligence? (Then again, he was powered up when Phyllis Tyne came on to him.)

Having carefully read this so recently, I can say that the belt only increases his density and strength. His intelligence ebbs and flows according to the demands of the story.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Yeah, I didn't think so. That's just me, filling in gaps again (or trying to).

[Richard Willis]

NOMAN #2:

FIRST STORY:

Let's just pause here for a moment. Al and Larry... what? Find a guy lying unconscious in the desert and decide it's a good idea to bring him to a secure (?) government facility? Did they hit with the jeep? I know, I know... "only ten pages"... but I wanna know!

Are we sure this isn’t Curly and Larry?

These guys must have always taken the same route or SPIDER wouldn’t have known where to place the fake body. THUNDER should have had a policy in place about when, if ever, to admit outsiders to the facility. The agent in charge should have more sense. The thing to do would be to send a medical tech out to look at the “man.” They could have determined that he wasn’t an injured man before he was inside.

SPIDER is remarkably touchy-feely in that they are apparently using non-lethal gas against THUNDER personnel when other times they kill people wholesale.

After a quick check of "all top-secret files, plans [and] blueprints," it is discovered that "there's a whole list of stuff missing!"

Nothing is said about these files again. Were they recovered? Were they copied?

SPIDER takes his belt and binds his wounds, but Len regains consciousness, beats up the two agents and regains control of his belt.

After being shot in the shoulder and being hit with a plane, beltless Dynamo is still able to beat up two healthy agents. Righttt!!!

Binding his wounds after trying to kill him becomes clearer after Dr Cyber tells Dynamo that they want to use him like they have NoMan. Why? The belt is the only thing special about Dynamo and they already have the belt. Since in the Dynamite story they established that the belt can be reprogrammed to work for anyone, I’m sure that SPIDER could figure out how to do the same.

In a last ditch effort, Len throws himself at the machinery allowing Cyber to control the androids, but is shot in the back in the process.

The SPIDER people have aim as good as the Star Wars Stormtroopers. When Cyber shot him in the shoulder the intent was to keep him alive. After that they were trying to shoot him to death. Like in the movies, braining people with crowbars and shooting them multiple times has only temporary (momentary?) effect on their minds and bodies.

SPIDER take NoMan down with a spray of machine gun fire, but also take out Dr. Cyber.

Even though it looks like he’s dead, they didn’t actually say that. They could still bring him back.

SECOND STORY:

This might as well be a horror story that ACG artist Ogden Whitney repurposed as a NoMan story.  He may be the unknown writer.

"They've got me pinned down," NoMan laments, "so I can't turn invisible." I'm not sure why being pinned down would prevent him from turning invisible; perhaps he meant it wouldn't do him any good to turn invisible.

Once before I think they showed NoMan wearing his cape while being bound. I gather there is some switch(?) on the cape that he has to engage. They’ve never actually shown him doing it.

LIGHTNING:

The two men admire their handiwork until one of them says, "Oh, well... c'mon! We'd better head back to the base! They probably have other assignments for us!" Or maybe you should finish this one first, as Lightning was merely knocked unconscious.

For an evil organization, they pass up a lot of opportunities to kill THUNDER agents.

He does awaken with partial amnesia, though, and cannot report on SPIDER's ghost town base. Back in New York, "in a coffee shop near THUNDER HQ," Kitten and Weed openly discuss Lightning's condition, including the fact that he cannot recall the location of their base and that he's being treated at Phoenix General Hospital.

In the previous story, NoMan says that THUNDER isn’t known to the general public. Really? So two of the agents, in uniform, discuss confidential information in a nearby coffee shop where anyone can eavesdrop.

This time the gas they use on the guards is lethal. The "second squad" arrives wearing suits of armor, but guy heard the guards fall to the ground and, although still weak, is prepared to meet them.

The guys in armor say they are there to “grab Lightning.” Earlier they were happy to kill him. Why kidnap him?

FOURTH STORY:

Later, room service arrives in NoMan's room with a dose of poison gas. As NoMan's "victim" body dies, he transfers his mind to his regular body hidden in the closet.

Here I go again. It doesn’t make sense that android bodies are affected by gas designed to affect humans.

The scientist is at work unthawing a man who has been in suspended animation for over 20 years.

Over 20 years? In 1967? Who could it possibly be? 

”When he awakes," the scientist cackles, "we're going to set out to conquer the world together, just as he promised years ago, when I built this 'freezer' to save him! Heh-heh!"

Who? Who?

The man emerges from the freezer and removes the towel from over his head.

"It can't be!"

"Eeek!"

"At last!"

"Aargh!"

(Want to guess who it is?)

Another ACG horror story from Ogden Whitney.

FIFTH STORY: 

But NoMan has transfered his mind back to THUNDER HQ to make a preliminary report to the Chief. (What, he couldn't have just phoned?) Robo end up abducting the android duplicate of Dr. Jonston with no mind in it.

Robo knocks out the already unconscious Jonston android and carries it off. NoMan’s regular androids are stronger and heavier than humans, but Robo wouldn’t question this since he’s only following orders. It tickles me that, in the last panel on page 6, the Chief stresses making the report quickly so he can be back in the Jonston android. Then he drones on long enough for the bad guys to accomplish a lot. In this story, when he has a pipe, the Chief takes it out of his mouth when talking. Before this, he was somehow talking and keeping the pipe in his mouth.

Just then, NoMan transfers back into the duplicate Jonston's android body and starts fighting the scientist's thugs while Dr. Winson flees.

His success in fighting the thugs proves that the Jonston android is likely as strong and heavy as NoMan’s regular androids.

NoMan/Jonston is shot and tries to transfer his mind back to THUNDER HQ, but winds up in Robo instead! He cleans up the case is Robo's body and everything works out.

Interesting that his mind went to the compatible Robo android. Steve Skeates writes a much more interesting story than the ones that probably were written by Ogden Whitney.

[Dave Elyea]

I believe the clasp on NoMan's cloak is the power dial that activates it, much like the buckle on Dynamo's belt, but now that you mention it, I don't recall actually seeing him use it as such on panel. It's certainly possible that it's just more of the head canon I've been using to fill in the gaps in these stories since the sixties.  Sometimes, I think we readers put more thought into these stories than most of the writers & editors involved....

[Dave Palmer]

Issue #1

Dave Elyea said:

I believe the clasp on NoMan's cloak is the power dial that activates it, much like the buckle on Dynamo's belt, but now that you mention it, I don't recall actually seeing him use it as such on panel. It's certainly possible that it's just more of the head canon I've been using to fill in the gaps in these stories since the sixties.  Sometimes, I think we readers put more thought into these stories than most of the writers & editors involved....

[Dave Palmer]

Later in the same issue