Thunderbolt #56 is dated February 1967. Once again the feature is credited as created, written, and dawn by Pete Morisi under his P.A.M. pseudonym. Morisi did the cover too as he has done all the covers for the series so far.
Special Case Number 0007 from T-Bolt's Personal Files is titled "Beware...The Cobra". It begins in Peter Cannon's secluded mansion outside New York City where Peter and Tabu are sparring in judo. After the bout, they again talk about Peter's responsiblity as Thunderbolt to his fellow man with Tabu urging him to take a greater role. Tabu also asks about the nature of Peter's power which Cannon explains as tapping into that unexplored reserved that all human beings have. He is vague and says the way it's tapped must remain a secret. The origin of "Thunderbolt's Personal Files" is revealed as Tabu announces that he has been recording Thunderbolt's adventures. What follows is a two-page review of the previous issues with a panel devoted to each of the previous six cases.
The scene shifts to the waterfront area where a mysterious bearded man named Cobra meets with some eccentric looking types and conducts a slave auction, offering up men who are compelled to follow orders because they've been given some drug derived from cobra venom. The Cobra makes one hundred thousand dollars from the auction and has his henchmen go out into the city to get more potential slaves. What follows is a wave of kidnappings that terroize the city and attract the attention of Peter and Tabu. Again Peter is reluctant to investigate until Tabu tells him that one man who has disappeared is a surgeon who is the only man able to cure a young girl currently waiting for the operation. She has only a day left to live.
With that deadline facing him Peter becomes Thunderbolt and heads through his hidden tunnels into the heart of the city. He leaps about on rooftops for a time looking for clues. He at last finds an area that seems suspicious and investigates further finding the prisoners and the Cobra and his men. He attacks but the Cobra shoots him with darts coated with the drug and has him tied up. While he is bound, the Cobra unleashes a real cobra into a room with T-Bolt who uses his teeth to subdue the deadly serpent. Shocked the Cobra attempts to cajole the Thunderbolt into being his partner but a punch sends him falling and he lands on the fangs of the dead cobra, and is killed. Tabu and Peter discuss the case later and Peter urges Tabu to end the installment with "The End", but Tabu insists on "To be continued".
"Thunderbolts" offers up four letters from fans. There is praise for The Sentinels save for one writer who wants them replaced with Nightshade. It's noted that a number of fans have become writers for Charlton in recent months and that is encouraged. One writer apparently knows the identity of P.A.M. and uses his name in the letter though Dick Giordano edits it out. Speculation about P.A.M.'s job though is erroneous. The new Blue Beetle book is announced as well as a new showcase-type book which certainly must be Charlton Premiere though the title is not mentioned. It is also announced that the next issue of Thunderbolt will be by Pat Boyette, filling in for Morisi.
The Sensational Sentinels return in a story titled "Where Walks...The Titan!" written by Gary Friedrich and drawn by Sam Grainger. Dick Giordano is listed as editor. This story is advertised as "Another Cataclysmic Charlton Classic", a bit of a stretch even for a diehard like me. The story begins with Ed Sullivan introducing the Protesters who sing a fairly lame song about being in jail and throwing a pie in the warden's face. They are nonetheless mobbed by girl fans. Their manager the Colonel is happy and takes them out to eat, but they bicker as usual.
Meanwhile at Coney Island a young boy (who looks like Billy from the last few issues) and his grandmother find themselves in harm's way when an orange giant appears demanding to know the whereabouts of the Sentinels. The man who calls himself Titan begins to wreak havoc in the park. TV news informs the Sentinels who don their garb and head on over to face the threat. Helio flies up but he is unable to control his flight and Titan smacks him hard to the ground. Mentalia finds that as with the Mind-Bender's robot she is unable to effect this Titan with her ESP. That leave Brute to confront the foe and they have a knockdown dragout fight for a few pages until finally Titan throws Brute from the top of the roller coaster. In the last panel Helio awakes but apparently is suffering from amnesia. The story ends at this point.
I liked the idea that the comic is developed from the records kept by Tabu. This gives a neat meta-fictional twist to the proceedings, not unlike the mechanism used by Arthur Conan Doyle with Watson and Sherlock Holmes. It's a clever bit. The story though, like last issue felt a bit rushed. With a lot of page count used in reprise, this left precious little time for the story unfold. It's not really clear how Thunderbolt found the Cobra, he just sort of does it.
One neat thing though is a panel by Morisi showing Thunderbolt biting the cobra which is clearly a swipe/homage to Bill Everett's Amazing-Man cover from Centaur Comics. Thunderbolt is clearly inspired by Amazing Man in many ways, though perhaps streamlined a bit for the 60's, and it's nice that Morisi pays tribute to his inspiration. Here's some more information about Amazing-Man.
More to come.
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