By Request: Challengers of the Unknown #5

A longtime commenter sent me an email requesting a review of this issue, so I thought I'd tackle it. For starters, the pencils are by Jack Kirby, with inks by Wally Wood, so we're talking two legends of the medium here. Although I am not a huge fan of Kirby's artwork personally, I do think he was the absolute master of page construction. His pages demand that you read them, drawing you through the story like nobody before or since.

I do not classify the Challengers as superheroes, but as an adventure team, much like Sea Devils or Rip Hunter, Time Master. But this issue shows that the line between the two can be rather blurry indeed. As the story begins, a South American train is attacked by a super-powered being. When the guards try to intervene:

Throwing balls of fire would be the hallmark of a character that Kirby would assist in resurrecting a couple years later: the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four.

The Challengers hear about this from June Robbins, who is down in South America on an archaeological dig. It turns out that Vreedl, another member of that party, had stolen a "Star-Stone" from the dig:

So the Challenge in this issue is to prevent Vreedl from getting all four stones (he's already collected one, which accounts for his flame power. But when they pursue him in the jungle, they run into problems. Vreedl starts a fire:

He also starts a stampede, but Red saves them by using an old circus trick. Still Vreedl gets the next gem, and then it's off to India to save a rajah from losing his special diamond. Vreedl's new power from the second gem is that of flight:

But his flying ability is only temporary, and when the Challs close in, he's not above using the superstition of the natives to get away:

The crowd quickly subdues the Challengers and imprisons them. It looks as though they will be unable to get word to the rajah that they are there in time to prevent Vreedl from obtaining the last gem. But, in an amazing coincidence:

She diverts the guards' attention and the Challengers are able to escape. They chase Vreedl to the final gem:

But he escapes with the pearl needed and so (after a battle with some sharks) they chase him onto the land, where he demonstrates his new powers (as shown on the cover). But Ace points out a flaw:

So Vreedl destroys the star stone, and unfortunately for him:

Is Ace making an observation about villains in general, or about comic-book villains?

Comments: Solid, entertaining story with lots of exotic locales and perilous situations. I wouldn't put it down as a classic, but it clearly deserves note as an above-average yarn with way, way above-average art. I like that June plays a fairly prominent role in the story, even if it does seem just a little too convenient for plot purposes.

The GCD does not have a guess for the writer. One thing I noted was the use of the word "fellers". It's not the correct spelling (fellows) or the usual vernacular (fellas). I know I've seen that in other comics but a specific citation is escaping me right now.

Dynamo #1

In addition to launching the THUNDER Agents as a group, Tower also published a few solo books for Dynamo (four issues) and NoMan (two issues).

This one starts out with a Wally Wood-illustrated story. Somebody is bombing radar installations and space observatories. We can rule out the commies:

So it appears to be coming from space. They decide to send NoMan on a one-way trip to the moon, as he can always beam his mind back to another android body on earth. This is an imaginative use for NoMan's powers. They've even planned for the possibility of the rocket crashing early:

However, he does not report back immediately, and so Dynamo volunteers to go on a second rocket:

Just after he blasts off, NoMan returns. He radios Dynamo to land on the light side of the moon, as the dark side is crawling with aliens. However, even on the exposed side there's a welcoming committee:

Using his strength, he hurls a boulder at the alien ship. When robotic tanks arrive, he hops into one of them and gets a ride to the alien HQ. But he is captured and imprisoned in a glass tank without a helmet, so he can't escape. But NoMan pops back up to his android body that is already on the moon and gives him a helmet. Dynamo defeats the aliens and rides back to earth on one of their flying saucers.

Comments: An entertaining story featuring good use of the NoMan character.

The second story is A Day in the Life of Dynamo, drawn by Mike Sekowsky. Len Brown wakes up and decides to ask for a raise due to all the risks he's taking as Dynamo. His boss sends him via a teleporter to Hong Kong, where the local THUNDER office turns out to have been taken over by a communist hero:

The reds have planned this so that Dynamo will be unable to prevent a giant robot from running amok in New York City. But then some apparent THUNDER Agents come up through the floor and chase off the communists. Unfortunately for Dynamo, they're not really with his group:

They have an old acquaintance of his with them:

But when she learns that the Subterraneans' plan is to start a global thermonuclear war, the Iron Maiden frees him. She sends him back to New York via a missile, and he defeats the robot to save the city.
Here's a little cultural reference that non-Boomer readers might miss:

In the 1950s and 1960s, "Made in Japan" meant that the product was shoddy and of inferior workmanship. Of course, ironically in the intervening years it became synonymous with high quality and dependability.

But he gets little respect from his boss:

Comments: Clearly intended to be an off-beat tale. Len never does ask his boss for that raise.

We get a super-villain team-up by Crandall and Wood in the next story, as Demo and Dr Sparta meet:

Dr Sparta's assistant has an interesting way of springing them from jail:

The villains manage to send Dynamo to a valley that time forgot, with cavemen and dinosaurs. But he convinces the cavemen that he's a legitimate god with the strength he gets from his belt and they show him the way out of the valley to where Demo and Dr Sparta are.
Comments: Solid, entertaining story and Crandall and Wood work well together.

The fourth story came as a bit of a surprise. Here's the splash:

I have to admit, I was unaware that Ditko worked for Tower. What a treat the art is in this story! We learn that 20 years earlier, the Subterraneans had captured a human orphan, and raised it to have incredible strength and mental abilities:

But despite his supposed cold-hearted nature, he reacts instinctively to save a young woman:

Who just happens to be a THUNDER agent, getting him into the headquarters, where he attacks Dynamo:

And Dynamo looks doomed until:

Andor returns to the Subterraneans, where he kills the scientist responsible for raising him.

Comments: Beautiful art and an entertaining story. There are hints that Andor might return, but if he did, it was not during the 1960s run, according to the GCD. Correction: As pointed out in the comments by Earth-Two, Andor does return in Thunder Agents #9 in a Lightning story. Discussion here.

The final story is another offbeat tale about Weed, a THUNDER agent with no special powers. He senses this is causing him trouble with the ladies:

Fortunately for him, it's an urgent call requiring the services of Lightning, who was just about to drive away with his "beautiful chick". She decides to go out with Weed instead, and they stop at a nightclub for a magic act:

The magician is a hypnotist, and convinces Weed that he has super-powers like flying and enormous strength. Obeying the comic book law of delusions, the other THUNDER agents humor him:

They follow him back to the hypnotist, but a caught off guard by a sleeping gas.
Meanwhile, Weed has discovered that he doesn't really have super-powers. But:

He rescues Dynamo and Lightning, and in the end he even gets the gal:

Comments: Amusing ending. Weed must surely be one of the very few heroes to smoke cigarettes.

Single Issue Review: THUNDER Agents #1

In the mid-1960s, comics experienced something of a boom due to demographics. This attracted new players to the comics biz. Tower Books, a small publisher, jumped into the fray with a small line of comics, mostly designed around the THUNDER Agents, although they also had a fairly long-running Archie-type series called Tippy Teen. The books were edited (and partially drawn) by Wally Wood.

One oddity about the series is the price: 25 cents. Although both DC and Marvel published annuals with that cost, they were not trying to market an ongoing, regular series of books that expensively.

The first story features the Thunder Agents, a group of UN commandos. They arrive at a mountain laboratory just as the minions of the Warlord have raided the lab and killed Professor Jennings, the scientist in charge. Fortunately, they did not get away with three of his inventions, which the Thunder Group appropriates:



The belt is assigned to a Leonard Brown who becomes Dynamo, virtually invincible and incredibly strong:



In the story, the Warlord's henchgal, the Iron Maiden, pulls off a series of robberies of rare and valuable radioactive materials under cover of a suspicious fog.



Love the belt; it really makes the costume. The Iron Maiden's gang battles Dynamo, and while he at first has the upper hand, he weakens as the belt saps his reserves and they are able to capture him.



This story is continued later in the issue, as we switch to NoMan. Dr Dunn, an aged scientist, transfers his mind into an android. We learn that he can switch to different android bodies at will. He is given the cloak of Professor Jennings, which gives him the power of invisibility:



NoMan is detailed to defeat another Warlord underling called Demo, who has a beautiful assistant named Satana:



The decision to include sultry female villains was inspired. Although this had been commonly used in the Golden Age (see the Catwoman for the classic example), it had largely ceased due probably to a prohibition in the Comics Code against criminal activity being portrayed as glamorous. Note that this comic was dated November 1965, only a few months before the launch of the Batman TV series in which the male villains would all have good-looking female companions.

We learn that NoMan's android body has great strength and fighting ability, so his powers are not solely defensive. The ability to switch bodies is crucial, as we see here:



Although it does require NoMan to be fairly close to his new body to make the transfer, so it's one of those powers that comes with a negative; he has to bring spare bodies with him wherever he goes. In addition, the invisibility cloak stays with the old body, so he has to retrieve it whenever he makes a switch.

The next story features the most interesting of the Thunder Agents: Menthor. Janus (no other name given) is Thunder's highest-scoring recruit ever, with genius level intelligence and an athletic build. But unknown to Thunder, he's actually a double agent working for the Warlord. He volunteers to wear Professor Jenning's weird helmet, which gives him great mental powers:



But it also has a curious side-effect; it changes the character of Janus from evil to good. And Janus is not aware of what he does while Menthor meaning that when he thinks to help out the Warlord by putting on the helmet, he actually ends up defeating his boss' plans.

The next feature is the Thunder Squad, a non-superpowered group, kind of like the old Impossible Mission gang, with varied abilities:



Only a slight variation on the familiar "smart guy, strong guy, woman, kid" formula.

The final story picks up on the imprisonment of Dynamo by the Iron Maiden. She has been unable to get him to disclose the secret of his belt. She fiddles with the controls, not realizing that she is transmitting a signal to Thunder HQ. NoMan, Menthor and the Thunder Squad are dispatched to investigate.

The Thunder Squad does a good job of destroying most of the Iron Maiden's defenses, so she brings out her hostage. But NoMan has recovered Dynamo's belt and manages to get it to him before being shot (he transfers bodies). Now freed, Dynamo destroys the fortress:



Comments: Overall an excellent introductory issue, with art by Wood, Crandall, Gil Kane and Sekowsky. The characters are interesting, especially Menthor.