The Joke And Dagger Department!

This is a fabulous collection of one of MAD Magazine's most eccentric offerings. One of the great things about reading MAD Magazine was knowing what you would find between the covers. There was a movie parody by Mort Drucker, some funny observations by Dave Berg, nutty goings-on with Al Jaffee, and insane but irresistible work by Don Martin, among others. And there was always the Rube Goldberg antics of Spy Vs. Spy. 

Spy Vs. Spy was not like anything anywhere else. The distinctive and singular artwork of Antonio Prohias made this regular feature a must read, though "read" ain't quite the best word. Like Henry in the Sunday funnies, the Spy Vs. Spy strip was pantomime, a silent ballet with all the essential information needed to get the gag communicated silently through the spare sharp drawings. As the White Spy and the Black Spy attempted to foil one another endlessly we were treated to a lovely and astonishing dance of danger and death and all to make us laugh.

Produced in the era of extreme political tensions between East and West, this strip poked a hole in the pomposity which often attached itself to that geopolitical struggle and reduced all those endless speeches, proclamations, and maneuvers to a singular struggle between two equally absurd antagonists. The point of Spy Vs. Spy is that no one ever won, not for long anyway. Those days felt like that sometimes.

The conflict between East and West has dimmed in recent decades, so these little visual gags have lost some of their immediacy and some of their poignancy. But the craftsmanship by Prohias during his lifetime run on unquestioned. 

The series like so many of the MAD offerings was collected in a series of successful standalone paperbacks in the days when the spinner racks were teeming with such faire. For me, only the work of Don Martin is more desirable. 

Other artists have taken the helm of the series since the passing of Prohias, most notably Peter Kuper, who has been batting them out for decades himself. Now that MAD has gone into something of a Sleeping Beauty like slumber, mostly reprints, the cache of the magazine loses its luster. But we remember when there was nothing more of the moment than finding out which Spy won this time. 

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Ultimate Flint!

Like many I really love to sit down and watch the infection super-spy adventure Our Man Flint. I hesitate to dub it a spoof, though I won't long argue the point, in that this first Flint outing is only marginally outside the rather wide parameters of straight spy movies as laid down by the world-beating Bond franchise.

By the time Our Man Flint hit the screens in 1966, the Bond movies were already picking fun at themselves, so it doesn't require a parody to do the same. There are aspects of this story which are clearly intended as send-ups of the Bond franchise and the whole schmear would not have existed outside the shadow of Bond, but there's also at its core a real adventure here to hang a hat on.

That feeling comes more than anything from the way James Coburn plays the infectiously attractive Derek Flint, a supremely individualistic hero who works for the government only when it suits him to do so. A man who has a literal harem in his upscale ultra-hip apartment but who nonetheless seems to be totally supportive of the women in his life. Bond used women, Flint seems to really care for them, though the end result can often be the same. There's a core element of sadism in James Bond which is completely lacking in Derek Flint and that makes this rogue someone we can really root for and not merely support.

The story of Our Man Flint (also told in a contemporaneously available novel which I've never read) is that the world's weather is under the control of three scientists who for seemingly benign reasons want to save the world from itself and create their own skewed version of paradise on the planet. That paradise appears to reduce women to "pleasure units" and make men the masters of a sprawling resort. The scheme comes undone when the capable Derek Flint invades the remote volcano island base of operations and defeats the scheme to control the world's weather. There's a dame played by Gila Golan who ends up helping Flint and a nasty villain played by Edward Mulhare who gives him a decent opponent, but mostly this is a frothy adventure which allows us to watch Flint ply his trade, show off his smarts and exude his charm, all to save the world. It's done with a twinkle in the eye and a slight veneer of irony, but only occasionally slips over into parody and then only momentarily.

The movie proved to be a real success, and so much so that a sequel was demanded and made. More on that next time.

When James Coburn had a hit on his hands with Our Man Flint, it was very likely a sequel would be made and indeed it was with the highly memorable title of In Like Flint. This movie unlike its predecessor is an out and out spoof of the spy movies of the era, more broad in its comedy and unfortunately not as successful in keeping much in the way of suspense. It does however tread very close to the themes which had been only obliquely dealt with in the first movie and that forwardness doesn't help this movie which simultaneously wants to send a message of empowerment to women but seems to undermine any such message as well.

The Derek Flint of this movie is more of the classic Bond-style womanizer and less the champion of the many girls in his life. He's just as protective, but somehow his relationship with them seems a bit more utilitarian. To begin, he has a whole new harem, just three now since by his own admission he's trying to cut down, but his first quartet of lovelies have gone on to get married. It's suggested they are happy, but marriage is implied as the proper course.

That's important since the main story has a cadre of powerful women who have arranged world events in such a a way as to lead to a matriarchy across the globe. Their scheme is vague, but it is soundly rejected by Flint, who cannot really find a strong argument against it. All of that comes to naught when the men who have been assisting the scheme turn and try to take control. The women become Flint's allies and the story really degenerates into a proper mess.

The movie lacks the scale of the first one, though it seems it has as much money or even a bit more. The textures of the wardrobe are neatly handled, but the lack of a high-drama setting like the volcano from the first movie is sorely lacking. A health and beauty spa filled with bikini-clad chicks is fine, but there's little time spent selling a location which a super-spy saga needs.

If you didn't know it, and I'm one of those folks who didn't know it, there's actually a third Derek Flint movie. Flint, the charismatic hero of the Our Man Flint and In Like Flint, is the star of a 1975 television movie titled Dead on Target...sort of. The movie ain't a super-spy effort and sadly it doesn't star James Coburn. Actually this is a surprisingly awful movie, a semi-professional feeling outing which is a major snooze.

Derek Flint is played by an actor named Ray Danton, and in this story Flint is a humdrum private dick in the Sam Spade tradition. About the only connection to the two Coburn movies that I can detect is the odd haircut and the penchant of the hero to wear turtlenecks. Beyond that, there is almost no sense that we are dealing with the same guy. The movie appears to have a microscopic budget and there's a dreariness to the entire enterprise which is the very opposite of what one expects from the sleek flights of fancy from the 60's. The action is lame, the acting is often painful to experience and the plot is at once obvious and vague. A businessman is kidnapped by a contingent of Arab terrorists who want a change of government in an oil-rich distant land. They are helped by the attractive Sharon Acker, who is as close to a gorgeous chick as this flick gets. Flint has a rookie helper played by Gay Rowan, but her role seems mostly to wander into danger and get captured. Flint does employ a masseuse/lover, but it feels weirdly tacky, not cool.

If I didn't already own this movie on the Flint collection I bought many years ago, I'd never buy it now and cannot recommend anyone else do so either. I've owned this set for many moons, but never got around to fully checking it out until recently and found this movie nesting in the special features. As a curiosity it's interesting, but what it mostly did was remind how dreary it could be back in the 70's when the world suffered mightily from oil price shocks and run-down streets.

And that's Flint. A lot of fun and some tiny disappointment, but pretty entertaining overall. I think the Flint novels would make a great deal if sold together. I'd sure buy them. 

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Octopussy And The Living Daylights!

I write these Bond reviews with the expectation that everyone has seen all the movies, if not read the all the books. So, tread as carefully as it seems prudent. 

Octopussy and The Living Daylights close out the saga with a quartet of adventures. "Octopussy" is the story of a WWII British vet who has a golden and deadly secret from WWII and who is found out by Bond. The end is garish to say the least. "The Property of a Lady" is a neat little spy tale about Fabrege jewelry and double agents. 

"The Living Daylights" reveals that Bond's cold-blooded nature is challenged when the target is a beautiful woman, one he has fantasized about to boot. It's a delightful story set in what was to become Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. 

Finally, there's the offbeat very short story titled "007 in New York" which is exactly what it says as we get a small tour of the city as Bond has come to break up a love affair since one of the parties is a foreign agent. It originally appeared in Fleming's travelogue book Thrilling Cities. 

The 1983 Roger Moore offering Octopussy adapted elements of both "Octopussy" and "Property of a Lady". You'd think with Louis Jourdan as the top villain this Bond effort would be better. But it's not that good. Maud Adams returns as the titular Octopussy, after having revived after being killed in The Man with the Golden Gun. The states are pretty high as our baddie seeks to cover up stealing a bodacious amount of very famous jewels by agreeing to start World War III for a corrupt Soviet officer.

 

The elements are here, but somehow the silliness factor is high enough to squash any sense of danger. I thought the equipment being tested in the Q sequence was especially stupid and rather offensive this time out. But you cannot fault the film for failing to provide lots of lovely dames to gawk at, as Octopussy herself commands a bevy of ladies, many with unusual and dangerous skill sets. 

The Living Daylights featured Timothy Dalton in his debut as Bond from 1987. I'm a big fan of Dalton's Bond, though alas it seems the larger public was less enthusiastic. He only made one more Bond film in 1989 titled License Renewed. They took this opportunity to recast Moneypenny as well. All of this was necessary to maintain the illusion that Bond was indeed an effective agent. 

This is a wild plot with Bond refusing to shoot a sniper who turns out to be Maryam d' Abo, a pretty actress who I saw for the first in Conan the Destroyer. Her acting has improved somewhat and she's an adequate love interest for Bond. We get two main villains, a deceitful Soviet officer and a mercenary arms dealer. There's lots of mayhem in this one as it sprawls across the globe and even into Afghanistan which at the time was invaded by the Soviets and we were on the side of the Muslim Mujahadin. There are lots of things I like about The Living Daylights, but I cannot say it has aged especially well. But in an attempt to cleave closer to the headlines of the day, it has not aged as well as other Bond outings which exist in a more fantastical arena. 

And that wraps up my month-long look at Bond...James Bond. Not all the movies were reviewed because not all of them are derived from Fleming's original source material. Goldeneye for instance gets its name from Fleming's Jamaican estate, but that's it. A few more bits of silly spy business tomorrow then in October something completely different. 

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Dean Martin Is...Matt Helm!

I suspect one likes Dean Martin's Matt Helm movies or one hates them. These parodies of the spy genre function much like the Flint movies (more on those later this month), though with more cheese and lots more music. I've long wanted to gather these up for my collection but always found them too expensive or unavailable all together. But now I have them for a fair price and they were delightful in that hammy way only Dean Martin could deliver. There is not one moment in a Matt Helm movie in which one feels the hero is under threat. But even so, the movies do provide fun rides. 

Matt Helm was created by writer Donald Hamilton in 1960, and he continued to write new novels in the series for thirty years. The first was titled Death of a Citizen and it was adapted in the first of the Matt Helm movies from Columbia in 1966. 

That debut novel was blended with elements of the Las Vegas night club scene to make 1966's The Silencers, the debut movie. The first one had a big budget of nearly eight million and it's as smarmy as it's possible to be. The films play on the reputation that Martin had of being a drunk, always performing with a drink in his hand. He also, like most spies was supposed to be a dame magnet and with Martin's Helm, that aspect was elevated to absurd proportions. The first movie has a real Las Vegas feel to it, with Martin wandering around various night clubs looking for clues, clues which are usually supplied by some statuesque lady moments before she's killed. He drags around Stella Stevens with him because he thinks she might be in on the plot, though she does prove to be an innocent. She's so innocent that she often wanders off and just as often loses track of her clothes. Victor Buono is the master villain and he's fantastic as usual as the leader of "Big O" (No comment). Cy Charisse is around early as a former partner of Helm's. James Gregory makes the first of three appearances as Helm's boss at I.C.E. (Intelligence and Counter Espionage).

Murderers' Row brings Helm back to the big screen again in late 1966, adapting another novel by Hamilton of that title, a rare one which doesn't have the "The (fill-in-the-blank)"format. Martin uses his clout to give this one a boost when the musical group Dino, Desi, and Billy perform briefly at one point in the film. This time Karl Malden is the big villain and Ann-Margaret has the dizzy dame role who tumbles around with Helm throughout the story. She seems a bit too young for Martin in this one to be frank. The night club aroma is abandoned for a more youthful approach. Big O is using the threat of death ray to blackmail Washington D.C.  Of course, Matt saves the day. 

The Ambushers has a great poster but it's a bit of a bizarre movie. This 1967 film saw the money drying up and it shows as much of this movie takes place on remote and presumably cheaper locations.  This is the first movie not to showcase Helm's round bed that slips him into his pool-sized bath. Janice Rule is an agent and astronaut who has suffered a great trauma. She travels with Helm as they look for a stolen spacecraft, one which can only be operated by women. This film feels more like a regular movie, the glam having flaked off due to budgetary concerns. 

The Wrecking Crew from 1969 is the last Helm movie starring Martin and it's no wonder he stepped away. He really presented as tired in this one, despite being surrounded by the likes of Eke Sommer, Nancy Kwan, and Tina Louise. Despite the smallest budget yet (a third of the first movie) this one gets the old magic back a bit. Nigel Green is the mastermind this time and he's nicely cool and deadly. His scheme is to steal a train load of gold and crash the world economies. He does the first and it's up to Matt to forestall the latter. He gets help from a bumbling agent played by Sharon Tate, and she steals this movie. She's wonderful, adding some zest to the proceedings with her miscues. (This is the movie Margot Robbie is watching in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and sadly the last movie she made.) Dean Martin gets to beat up Chuck Norris in this one briefly as well. Bruce Lee was choreographing the fights as well. 

A fifth movie titled The Ravagers was apparently planned with Tate scheduled to return, but Martin was done. The first three movies advertise "The Slaygirls", the models Helm uses for his calendar work. They playmates and models from across the globe who have obvious assets which make these movies of their time for certain. These Matt Helm movies are delightful and dumb. They feed off the spy craze and at the same time point out the absurdities which came with the genre. Glad I finally got to see them all in wacky original order. 

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The Man With The Golden Gun!

The Man With the Golden Gun brings Bond back for one final bow, and this time he has to try and find and kill a notorious assassin for the other side. It's another jaunt into the Caribbean, clearly Fleming's favorite location for a wild adventure which doesn't make sense all the time, but is a lot of fun. The mission is meant to in many ways rehabilitate Bond after the weird ending of the Shatterhand confrontation in Japan from the previous book have left him a questionable agent. I won't say too much so as not spoil a surprise or two. 

But in this last James Bond novel, published after Fleming's death, our hero is sent to seek out the deadly killer, a cold-blooded maniac who was perhaps driven mad by a tragedy in the circus in which he grew up. Francisco "Pistols" Scaramanga is a contract killer with a tremendous reputation who employs a gold-plated Colt pistol and hand-crafted bullets made of gold inside silver jackets.  

Bond makes contact with Scaramanga rather quickly in the book, pretending himself to be a man named "Mark Hazard", a chap good with guns and looking for a payday. Scaramanga takes him on, though Bond doesn't know if he's being led into a trap or not. Turns out he's put his foot into a mob of gangsters from across the world who have formed a syndicate of sorts and are trying to get a foothold in Jamaica with a hotel which is still only half built. Old allies turn up and the whole thing ends in a bizarre shoot out in the deadly swamps, which are full of twists of all kinds. 

The Man with the Golden Gun is one of my favorite Bond flicks. It's probably my favorite Roger Moore effort. Britt Ekland is both charming and funny as a daffy Bond Girl who brings a bit of slapstick to the project. Herve Villachaize does a dandy job as the secondary villain Nick Nack. The big draw is Christopher Lee as the titular villain. He's fantastic and is probably my all-time favorite Bond baddie. Lee has the stature for such a role and his cold, cruel delivery is compelling. The plot gets a tad goofy when they try to inject a world-beating element to the story. It wasn't needed. The duel between Scaramanga and Bond had sufficient gavitas for my tastes. 

The theme from this one by John Barry gets in my head and tumbles around for days at a time. I'm humming it even now. The attempts to squeeze in some legit martial arts into the movie gets my nod of approval as well. I don't much expect Moore to be adept at it, and neither does the movie. The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu editors had a different idea. All in all, a winner. 

James Bond Returns one final time in Octopussy and The Living Daylights! 

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Sarge Steel - File 113!

Secret Agent Volume 2 #10 is dated October 1967. This is full year after the previous issue. Since that last issue Sarge Steel became a back-up feature in Judomaster, and also guest-starred in a few Thunderbolt issues. I've covered the Judomaster appearances, and I've reviewed his crossover in The Sentinels in Thunderbolt. The cover is by Dick Giordano and the sub-title is "The Iron Man with Steel Fist - Sarge Steel". The story is drawn by Dick Giordano, scripted by Steve Skeates, and lettered by D. Brazycki. Note that the number of this file fits in between the appearances in Judomaster. 

Part I of File #113 "The Case of the Third Hand" begins right in the middle of the action as bullets are fired at Sarge and his date a lovely lady named Linda Velvet. Sarge orders her to stay down as he tries to get at the shooter which he does, wounding the fellow but not before Linda is shot and seriously hurt. Sarge rushes her to the hospital and after seeing to her and making a report returns to the crime scene but is unable to identify the sniper. Filled with guilt he uses all his resources both official and unofficial to uncover the culprit, but he is shocked when his secretary Bessie tells him he has a visitor, an old friend name Lowell Wade from the C.I.A. Wade tells Sarge that Velvet was actually an informant for the spy ring "The Third Hand" and that was why she was shot. Sarge doesn't believe him, but then news comes that the hospital where Velvet is staying is under attack. Sarge and Wade rush to the site, but are too late as Velvet has been killed by a gas grenade attack. Sarge vows to bring the villains to justice.

Part II "Photo Finish" begins with Sarge going to Velvet's apartment to investigate but he finds two thugs there already. After a struggle he is caught in a powerful bearhug by one of the thugs, a giant of a man and knocked out. When he comes to, he finds a beautiful woman kneeling over him. She is Sarah "Sally" Tempest and she claims to be a friend of Velvet's. The apartment has been ransacked. As they talk another man appears, a friend of Tempest's named Hobart Jeffries. All three chat but then Sarge finds a clue a picture of a two-bit gunsel named Johnny Vance. Sarge goes to his own apartment to find it too has been ransacked but the interlopers are still there. The take him at gunpoint to meet with Johnny Vance at his fancy home. After a few questions which Sarge refuses to answer Vance orders his men to attack.

Part III "Blues for Linda" begins with Sarge getting punched around by Vance's thugs, but he turns the tables and using his superior skills defeats the thugs, even getting to Vance who winces from a shoulder wound. Now Sarge knows that Vance was the man who shot Linda and is the man he had wounded. He knocks Vance out and heads back to his office having fully unlocked the secrets. He finds Sally Tempest in his office going through his desk and tells her that he knows the whole story. She is the one involved with The Third Hand and used Linda, playing on their friendship. She had used blackmail to keep Johnny Vance at bay when he wanted her position in the organization and there were documents she had that he wanted. Linda had them and when Vance had learned of her betrayal he had tried to shoot her. The documents were still missing though. While Sarge is relating this tale a hand appears from nowhere and knocks him out. When he recovers he finds Hobart Jefferies has arrived and it was Hobart who had killed Linda with the grenade at the hospital. But Sarge is able get Sally to think that Hobart has betrayed her and when she shoots him, Sarge is able to disarm her and turns her over to the authorities. Later he talks to Wade and shows him a Coney Island plush bunny which had been in his car and had belonged to Linda. The documents were inside all the time. The story closes as Sarge somberly reflects on the romance that might have been.

The back-up feature is Tiffany Sinn. Tiffany Sinn had two previous appearances in Career Girl Romances #38 and #39. 

The story is titled "Muscle Beach Style!". It's written by David A. Kaler and drawn by Jim Aparo. The tale begins with the beautiful Tiffany preparing for a new case while reflecting on her previous ones. As she finishes her make-up, she is anxious to see what the latest C.I.A. caper will bring. She flies to California and on the flight is given her briefing papers by the stewardess and later is given more information by a cabbie. She is to uncover how vital fuel formulas are being stolen and transmitted to foreign agents. After a night's sleep and a shower, she begins her new job at the laboratory and meets Aldo Bateman a handsome fellow who immediately begins to woo Tiffany. They begin to date, and he takes her to the beach where she gets some sun while he goes through a meticulous and rigorous exercise regimen. They date a few more times, each date the same. The agency decides to plant some bait and announces a new formula. Tiffany notices that Aldo is very interested in this new information and on their next date, again at the beach she notes that his exercise regimen, to that time very rigid, was extremely different. She takes note that some men with binoculars are closely watching Aldo as he goes through his moves. Aldo notices her keen interest and suspicious as she attempts to report grabs her up and attempts to carry her out to the surf where he plans to drown her. Others at the beach think they are just two playful lovers and ignore Tiffany's struggles. At last she uses her judo skills to defeat Aldo and drags him back to the beach. It seems his exercises were a complex code he used to transmit the secret information. He is arrested and Tiffany tries to dry off and rest on the beach. Her bosses want her to come back in report, but she says she can't with hair such a mess.

And that completes the run of Sarge Steel/Secret Agent comics. This is a solid issue with a return of the series to a more detective/noir feel. The first-person narration adds to that feel as does the real emotion Sarge seems to feel for Linda. While he is doubtless a cad, Sarge does seem to have some feelings for the women in his life and that has been missing in some of the previous issues. Steve Skeates is pretty wordy in this one, the explanation requiring a lot of exposition. The twists are here, but they are a bit difficult to follow if you don't read carefully. The maguffin, is discovered at the end, but there was not really any real foreshadowing of its ultimate location as there might've been in a tighter mystery story. The Tiffany Sinn story was a lot of fun. Jim Aparo was a dang fine artist and his skills as a storyteller are well on display here. 

Dick Giordano was an amazing talent, tucked away at Charlton Comics, he trudged along for years producing outstanding artwork. In time he'd replace Pat Masulli as editor at Charlton and under his tenure flourished the "Action Hero" line, in all probability the brightest era in the company's long history. He was scouted by DC and became an editor there and eventually a key part of their transformation in the 1980's. DC eventually bought the Action Heroes from DC including Sarge Steel who has gone onto become an integral part of the DCU.  He also became the longtime partner with Neal Adams in Continuity Associates, the premiere stable of artists in the field. 

For now, no more Sarge Steel to come.

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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You Only Live Twice!

I write these Bond reviews with the expectation that everyone has seen all the movies, if not read the all the books. So, tread as carefully as it seems prudent. 

You Only Live Twice is the final of the three Blofeld stories and the most outlandish. Bond ends up in Japan for other reasons, becomes a faux-Japanese only to discover that his enemy is on the spot traveling under the name of "Shatterhand". The coincidence hurts this story a lot, but the action is so over the top that it's hard not to be sucked in. The Garden of Death is a lurid and fascinating invention. The ending is a hoot and a half. The Japanese culture comes in for a lot of knocks, and I can't imagine they feel very warm to this presentation.

Once again, the relationship that Bond has with another man is the key to this story, this time with the head of Japanese secrets named Tiger Tanaka. Bond has been sent to get access to Japanese espionage information, and since he's been in an understandable funk since the death of his wife, this is M's last-ditch effort to save his career. The process by which slowly becomes Japanese in the novel goes down a bit better than the movie which is openly ludicrous. The story makes much more sense than its cinematic offspring. Dr. No had hit the screens before this novel was written and apparently Fleming tried to inject a bit of Sean Connery's lighter-hearted charm into his iconic character. 

You Only Live Twice was the final novel written and published in Fleming's lifetime. He'd already written one more and there were a few short stories still to be published. Those in due course. 

I was very much surprised to discover that You Only Live Twice is my second favorite Bond movie. The movie itself is such a mess in terms of narrative and its painful transformation of Sean Connery into an utterly unconvincing Japanese man is more than a little bit embarrassing. All that said, no Bond movie before or since has a more dynamic finale and the utterly awesome volcano secret rocket base is my favorite set in all the history of film. Roald Dahl is credited with the screenplay, but the haphazard nature of the story makes me imagine things were wildly off the original outline.

This movie is really what most people think of when they imagine the movies of super spies. We have a strong heroic lead who tumbles into a bizarre twisting impossible scheme to hold the world in fear and who by dint of strength, skill and a lot of luck defeats the villains in the most bombastic ways conceivable. That's what defines this movie, a series of strange and sometimes confusing set pieces which eventually add up to a plot to destroy the world. The villain too is a bit weak as we finally meet Blofeld, but as portrayed by Donald Pleasance is not as awesome as the character was in the shadows. Karin Dor is lovely and dies much too soon in this story, but then that's the way this unravels.

We get the ironic Bond in this one, the one who realizes there's some absurdity in all this mishegoss, but when the action starts it's full on and the tempo is wonderful. I realized watching it this time that the story itself makes almost no sense, but the pacing is so good that you have little time to realize it. The idea that SPECTRE could build an entire volcano facility with apparently no hint of it to people on the island is bewildering, but then the decision to invade the island by posing as fishermen is equally absurd. It serves to give the viewer glimpses of Japanese culture, but little beyond that.

And finally in a movie in which Bond is supposedly killed to make his secret agent status a bit more secret, he gets found out and attacked with regularity, though of course as usual others pay the freight. All that said, this one is a blockbuster which despite its myriad flaws offers up a thrill ride of a movie that pays off completely. Watching it now, I see the lines and shapes which informed Jim Steranko in his memorable SHIELD work.

James Bond Returns in The Man with the Golden Gun. 

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Sarge Steel And The Sensational Sentinels!

Above is a delicious pin-up shot of Sarge Steel by co-creator Dick Giordano, from the 1974 CPL Gang's Charlton Portfolio which also sported a wraparound Don Newton cover. Just wanted to share this nugget before we dive into our main course today. 

Thunderbolt #57 is dated May 1967. The Sensational Sentinels appear again in a story titled "If This Be Triumph!". The story is plotted by D.C.Glanzman and the script and the art are by Sam Grainger. Lettering is by A.Machine. The story begins soon after the battle from the previous issue where we find Brute, Mentalia, and Helio in their apartment recovering. Brute apparently survived the fall from the roller coaster by landing in some water. Rick still has amnesia. The android Titan breaks into the apartment to continue the battle and he and Brute exchange blows, with Titan eventually flinging Brute toward a window. But Mentalia exerts her thoughts and is able to stop Brute in mid-air revealing for the first time not only an ability for telepathy but telekinesis as well. The Titan captures Mentalia and climbs down the building with her in tow. Brute follows using his great hand strength to grip the bricks on the side of the building. He and Titan again mix it up until Brute realizes that he was granted great strength over other men and not androids, so he changes tactics and uses a light pole to attack Titan to great effect. Then Brute leaps to attack Titan and Mentalia adds her telekinetic might to the thrust and they severely damage the android who ultimately collapses. 

Returning to their apartment the find Rick still confused but just they are dealing with what that means for the team Sarge Steel appears and announces that the Mind-Bender and Titan were creations of the C.I.A. and that Dr.Kolotov who gave them their powers was a Soviet spy. As the story ends, he is taking the team into custody in order for them to make statements.

 

Thunderbolt #58 is dated July 1967. The Sensational Sentinels return in a story titled "Into the Lair of the...Mind-Bender!". The story features artwork by Sam Grainger, but writing this time is by Sergius O'Shaughnessy a pseudonym for Denny O'Neil. The story picks up with Sarge Steel arresting the trio for spying, saying that Dr. Kolotov who gave them their powers was a Soviet agent. But Steel's aggressive nature and his attempt to shoot the trio in an alley convince them he is being controlled and Mentalia uses her ESP powers to overcome him. 

Then Brute and Mentalia are attacked by a hotdog vendor who they realize must be the Mind-Bender. They repel the attack, but he escapes. They then take both Sarge Steel and Rick Strong, also known as Helio to the hospital where the reports are good for both that they will recover. Then Crunch Wilson and Cindy Carson resume their roles as two-thirds of the Protesters, a singing group and try to perform. But they are attacked by a very hostile crowd clearly under the sway of the Mind-Bender. Helio returns just in time to save them using his flying belt and the trio escape. Later that evening Helio gets a call from Crunch and goes to the location only to find that he and Mentalia are taken prisoner by Brute who is under the power of the Mind-Bender. As the story closes, Helio and Mentalia are strapped to tables while Brute pushes a button which will kill them. 

This saga has a third chapter, but we never see Sarge Steel again. 

More Sarge Steel to come. 

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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