Thunder Agents Classics Volume Three!

THUNDER Agents Classics Volume 3 is a rock solid collection of Silver Age superhero action with a vintage espionage flavor. At this point the agents are firmly developed. The sometimes dim-witted Len Brown as Dynamo continues to succeed, sometimes in spite of his efforts in classic tales by Wally Wood. NoMan, the android able to switch bodies on a whim continues to use his invisibility cloak to good effect in stories drawn exceedingly well by John Giunta. Lightning, a capable agent and former leader of the THUNDER Squad uses the life-destroying speed suit and fights a wide variety of unusual threats in wacky stories by Mike Sekowsky. With the death of Menthor, a new agent is introduced. Raven joins the team, though after the initial story drawn by George Tuska he seems to be operating in a whole other world than the other agents thanks to some wild stories and wilder artwork by Manny Stallmann. Steve Ditko did not contribute the issues in this collection. 

The threat of the Subterraneans, the threat which has motivated THUNDER since the first issue is finally laid to rest after the eighth issue, though echoes of the struggle keep popping up here and there, especially in stories featuring the superhuman Subterranean creation Andor. But that aside, the new menace is S.P.I.D.E.R. This super-organization of human criminals stands as the opposite of THUNDER in many respects as reflected in their name Secret People's International Directorate for Extra-legal Revenue. The switch is not immediately apparent in the tone of the stories since many of the villains formerly associated with the defeated Subterraneans switch over to SPIDER such as Demo, Dr.Sparta, and even the Iron Maiden. New baddies do emerge such as Tarantula and Mayven.

There are some real gems in this particular collection, my favorite story being "The Black Box of Doom" which has the whole team (minus Raven) trying to keep the enemy world powers from getting their mitts on a mysterious but deadly box from space. Other offbeat highlights are some lighter-toned stories by George Tuska in a broader style featuring Weed of the THUNDER Squad which give the books some needed laughs.

Solid entertainment! Here are the covers of the issues in this third volume. 

In the fourth volume we'll see that NoMan gets his own series.

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Blue Beetle #54 - Eye Of Horus!

Blue Beetle #54 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Novice writer Roy Thomas writes the script for the last issue of the classic Blue Beetle from Charlton. The team of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico are still on hand to supply the artwork. 

Thomas creates a story which delves into Blue Beetle's origins and features the curse of the Eye of Horus. Beetle must seek wisdom from the ancient pharaoh who was himself Blue Beetle and defeated the Eye. This story has a real classic Shazam feel to it and I'm certain that if Thomas had been given a few more issues, he'd have given Blue Beetle a partner in the form of a young boy who gets zapped in the course of the story. 

This one features another great house ad. In the modern day of the internet, it's difficult I guess for fans to recollect just how evocative these ads could be. Often a fan would see a comic which was long gone and out of reach. It was gratifying to get my mitts on all of the classic comics featured in these Charlton ads. 

And this ad just cracks me up. It's just bizarre. For just a buck one could have their dreams shattered. Ain't capitalism a blast! 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

The all-new Blue Beetle makes his debut next time. 

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Blue Beetle #53 - The People Thieves!

Blue Beetle #53 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill is the scripter and Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico supply the artwork for the insides as well as the stark cover. This was my very first issue of Blue Beetle and is marked in my young memory. 

Hunter Mann The Praying Mantis Man returns and this time his scheme is to use giant insects to eradicate the human population, and he will restart society using selected humans he has frozen in advance. The Blue Beetle gets involved and saves the day yet again. 

I was most eager to get my mitts on the comics featured in this ad. It would be decades before I got to read them all. "The Beetle's Nest" is gone and replaced by one of Charlton's typical prose pieces.

Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle tomorrow. 

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Blue Beetle #52 - Magno Man!

Blue Beetle #52 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill writes the script and Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico supply all the artwork for this one. The cover is perhaps their best. It's certainly a dramatic one. 

Magno is one Dr. Forte, a scientist who is desperate to prove that mankind evolved underground. When he's embarrassed by Dan Garrett, he begins a reign of terror as Magno who uses his knowledge to form a gang of men and create earthquakes beneath Europe and the United States. Blue Beetle has all he can handle in putting this madman down, even with the assistance of Renee Du Bois. 

This is one of my favorite ads from Charlton. I still remember getting excited when I saw these images of comics I'd have to wait until I was an adult to find and read. 

"The Beetle's Nest" is still up and running. This installment features a letter by Tony Isabella, a pro who has long praised Charlton's efforts. Charlton's two martial arts characters -- Judomaster and Thunderbolt get a plug. 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle tomorrow. 

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Blue Beetle #51 - Mentor The Magnificent!

Blue Beetle #51 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill is the writer and the team of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico supply the art for both the cover and the interiors. 

We meet the obnoxious Dr. Jeremiah Clugg, who is a professor who feels belittled and so uses his talents to implant his mind into a robot named Mentor the Mighty. It's up to Clugg's colleague Dr. Dan Garrett the Blue Beetle to stop Mentor who proves to be a menace to the entire world. It's too bad that Clugg doesn't know that the love he craves is to be found in the lovely Miss Appleton. 

Charlton's band of action heroes continues to grow. 

"The Beetle's Nest" holds on for another issue but it's days are numbered. Tarzan gets some love as does Charlton's underrated western hero line-up. 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle tomorrow. 

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Blue Beetle #50 - Mister Crabb And The Scorpion!

Blue Beetle #50 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Joe Gill is the writer and Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico are still in charge of the artwork as the series moves to a new home. That team also takes up the challenge of supplying the cover art. 

In this colorful adventure Blue Beetle battles the crimson Mr. Crabb and his mechanical Scorpion. The threat is to the oil supply and Beetle gets involved as Dan Garrett and then as his superheroic self. 

The house ads are hyping the adventure and superhero series that Charlton is launching. In this ad we see Captain Atom resurrected and Blue Beetle gets a logo mention. Sarge Steel and The Fightin' 5 will get a look in the coming months as will Son of Vulcan, one of Charlton's earliest Silver Age efforts in the arena. I might even get a chance to revisit Charlton's brief but contentious handling of Tarzan. 

Charlton is still trying to connect with its readership in much the same manner as Marvel and DC, but with each issue the effort shows less and less support graphically. The editors address the bizarre numbering change, a commonplace in Charlton lore. 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

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Blue Beetle - The Movie!

Blue Beetle the movie came out in 2023, and I finally got around to watching it. It ain't bad, not bad at all. My hesitation in catching a movie starring such a revered comic book name came because I was almost totally unfamiliar with the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle introduced into the comics in 2006 in Infinite Crisis. I left the new comics sphere in 2007, and aside from that appearance I have never read a single comic featuring this rather successful version of the character. I have no idea how he integrated with the earlier versions of the hero and if he was connected to Dan Garrett or Ted Kord at all. So it was with an almost utterly open mind that I approached this flicker. And I liked it. 

I'm not one of those crusty fanboys who thinks heroes need to be frozen in amber and never change with the times. The shift in the last several decades to give us heroes from a range of cultures and with a range of skin tones and gender identifications is a positive move and showcases how comics can be a force for positive social change, leading the way by showcasing such varied identities for readers who might not otherwise have any familiarity with such  differences. So, I'm totally accepting of the Jaime Reyes version of Blue Beetle, I was just not familiar with it. 

I don't know how accurate the movie is to the comics, but I liked how the movie did tie the scarab to the earlier incarnations and I was especially gratified to see so much of Ted Kord's technology on display, especially The Bug. I am curious to know if Jaime's family play as important a role in the comics as they do in the movie, a big and pleasant surprise. I imagined they'd show up for a the first third of the movie then fade into the background, but that was not the case at all. I winced when I saw George Lopez in the cast, but I soon learned he was a fun character and added some spice to the proceedings. It was a strong cast, and the grandmother was a hoot. 

The movie features the classic wealthy maniac as the villain, and I for a time found this to be a bit of a cliche, though often accurate. With the way of the world now, with regular folks in a pitched battle with billionaires to retain their own sovereignty, I'm much more sympathetic to the rich asshole as baddie trope. Susan Sarandon was sufficiently malignant as a corporate overlord with no regard for the little people she crushed to consolidate her power and wealth. 

Overall, I give the movie a strong "B" grade. It's not a perfect film, but it has enough strong beats and enough cool callbacks to Blue Beetle details I personally love, that I was entertained. It didn't hurt that Jack Kirby's OMAC got a shout out as well. 

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