Peacemaker - Collector's Edition!

The Peacemaker Vol.3 #1 is dated March, 1967. Pat Boyette is the artist on the first two stories and the cover. There is no writer listed for the stories but presumably Joe Gill is responsible.

The first of two Peacemaker stories is titled "The Killer on the Reef!" and begins with American envoy Christopher Smith heading to the west coast and boards a trawler to investigate recent mysterious incidents of vandalism and destruction among the fishing fleets of the world, and the sinking of ships is attributed to some power other than the governments of the world. As the trawler heads to its location a scuba diver begins to destroy the nets with explosives and attaches one to the ship itself. The scuba diver then announces to the ship's captain that "The Commodore" is responsible and the ship will be destroyed in one minute.

Christopher Smith becomes Peacemaker and using special undersea gear dives into the sea to confront the attacker and prevent the bomb from doing its deadly work. He detaches the bomb and sends it into a school of deadly sharks. He follows the deadly diver to a mysterious submarine and after dispatching him goes himself into the sub to confront The Commodore. He meets the leader who claims all the wealth of the oceans is his and he will kill to maintain his claim. Peacemaker uses his helmet laser to destroy key equipment and the sub begins to suffer small explosions. It surfaces and the men disembark just before the whole shebang goes up. The Commodore, now in custody, explains that in mere days he would've met another at the south pole and together they would've ruled the world. Smith ends the story wondering about this new threat.

"Peacemaker Patter" written by Dick Giordano, the editor, explains how Peacemaker is a revised version of the defunct Fightin' 5 comic which had featured Peacemaker in its last few issues. Now the tables are turned and Peacemaker is the lead and a revised Fightin' 5 is the back-up feature. There is also a biography of artist Pat Boyette (presumably written by the artist himself) along with a photo.

The second Peacemaker story is titled "The Hidden Power". It begins with Christopher Smith getting slapped by the ambassador of a seemingly innocuous Balkan country under the sway of the Soviet Union. This challenge is inexplicable unless the country has gained some great power, and reconnaissance does indicate that the country has new planes and nuclear capabilities. Becoming Peacemaker, Christopher Smith uses his own experimental jet to fly to the area where he encounters a cargo plane he finds curious. He follows it and discovers a base at the south pole, an expansive base hidden in the depths of the ice.

His plane is detected and a heat-seeking missile is dispatched, but Peacemaker cuts off the power to his plane and deploys a flare which lures away the missile and in fact brings it to home where it destroys those who launched it. Meanwhile Peacemaker's plane uses a parachute to land safely. On the ground he encounters troops but uses non-lethal nerve gas to defeat the guards and he descends into the complex through a shaft which becomes a hellish endurance test as massive heat from the nuclear furnaces is vented through there. He survives the ordeal and arrives at the bottom and quickly destroys the facility and returns home. With the capability destroyed the Balkan ambassador is quick to apologize to a polite Christopher Smith.

The Fightin' 5 are back in a story titled "Ruler of Darkness" presumably written by Joe Gill and featuring artwork by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache. The action begins right in the middle as a Balkan dictator named Leontid Jrozva has his agent Sonya hold Hank Hennessey(FF4), the leader of the F5 at bay while he describes his attempts to pressure the major powers to go to war as they ought. Sonya shoots Hennessey, but it proves to be a ruse as she radios Irv "The Nerve" Haganah (FF2) that he should meet her at a graveyard where they uncover Hennessey's casket to find him rather fit. Hank radios Frenchy the Fox(FF1) who is flying above and who lands to pick them up. An enemy jet appears and Hank fires a pistol but one loaded with special anti-aircraft ammunition that destroys the enemy.

The team then heads back to base where they debrief Sonya who indicates that the dictator has missiles and that they should both inform their respective governments. The Fightin' 5 plus Sonya then parachute back into the region and Hank and Irv destroy the dictator's capability to fire missiles by destroying the master communications array. But the electricity involved is deadly and kills Irv and seriously injures Hank, destroying his arm and one eye. Sonya then uses a destruct switch to destroy the dictator's base. The Fightin' 5 carry their dead and wounded home as the story ends.

This comic was reprinted in the late 70's under the Modern imprint.

This is a solid issue of entertainment. Pat Boyette produces some dandy work. The plots are a wee bit creaky in places, presumably rushed given the length of the stories. Either of these stories could easily have been expanded to fill the whole issue. I assume these are stories already produced for back up in the cancelled Fightin' 5 comic. There is less braying about peace in these tales, and Peacemaker comes off as what he mostly is, a private soldier and agent who acts in what he believes to be the immediate best interests of world order, if not world peace necessarily. It is peculiar that in the second story he's actually fighting to maintain the balance of terror between the superpowers.

The Fightin' 5 story suffers from some clumsy storytelling but does pack a lot of change to the status quo into a very few pages. The death of Irv was a big deal to me when I first read this issue many years ago in the Modern reprint. Even at that late date the unheralded death of a main character was very unusual, and I can only it was more so in the 60's when this story first appeared.

Read the complete comic book here. 

More to come.

Rip Off

Thunder Agents Classics Volume Six!

This is my review of the sixth and final volume collecting up the original run of Tower Comics' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (including spin-offs Dynamo and NoMan) as collected by IDW. While these reprints are not ideal in every way, they are handsome enough and offer the vintage 60's saga in a handy-to-read format unlike any I've possessed.

These tales are less impressive than their mighty legend, not unlike the beloved EC Comics, but nonetheless they are worthy stories which showcase the strengths and weaknesses of Silver Age comics thoroughly. Wally Wood and company (Dan Adkins and Ralph Reese mostly) are at their best as are Steve Ditko, Gil Kane, Chic Stone, Reed Crandall, and so many others. Artistically George Tuska and Mike Sekowsky turn in some strong work but alas the stories lack much of the spy glamour which attaches to the more atmospheric Wood stuff.

Here are the final issues of the classic original run which are included in this latest volume, which sadly does not feature one of these great recreation covers by Ryan Brown. This one is only credited to Wally Wood, though clearly it's been given a brush up. All the new material from the final issues is here right up through the finale which featured only a few pages of fresh material.

There was a delay of many months between issue seventeen and eighteen of the run. The cover of the eighteenth issue is by Reed Crandall and the nineteenth is a composite. 

A full year passes before issue twenty hit the stands. It's almost all reprints with only one new quick story reprising the origins of THUNDER and Dyanano. The cover is by Chic Stone. 

Next week the focus will be on that other Tower super agent. 

Rip Off

The Fightin' 5 - Monster From The Abyss!

Fightin' Five Volume 2 #41 is dated January,1967. The Executive editor is Pat Masulli and the Managing Editor is Dick Giordano. The script is by regular writer and creator Joe Gill along with Bill Montes and Ernie Bache on the artwork. The cover is by Rocke Mastroserio. This is final original issue of the Fightin' Five to be published.

The "5" are Frenchy the Fox, Irv "The Nerve" Haganah, Granite Gallero, Hank Hennessy, and Tom-Tom. Designated according to the first letter of their name, they formed "America's Super Squad" and the word "F.I.G.H.T.", hence Fightin' 5.

"Monster from the Abyss" begins under the ocean when Dr. Aquilla and his scuba-wearing henchmen try to take control of the nuclear submarine and underwater laboratory the U.S.S. Plankton. Aquilla has established a base under the sea where he mines precious gems and minerals. He perceives the Plankton as a threat and orders his men to take control of it. In the course of that a missile is sent astray which ends up going deep into a trench. Meanwhile the Fightin' 5 approach the area concerned over Aquilla's activities. The missile goes to the bottom of the trench where it explodes just above the head of a gigantic sleeping reptile. The ancient creature is understandably upset and rises from the depths to see what has awakened him and encounters another missile which explodes on contact.

"Aquilla's Doom" begins as the creature attacks the U.S.S. Plankton and the Fightin' 5 arrive on the underwater tableau. They begin to try and distract the mammoth creature and do draw its attention away, but it then seeks to attack them. Aquilla sees this and is happy to see the creature handle his enemies for him. The Fightin' 5 try to draw the beast away and succeed, but when Plankton crew try to emerge to effect repairs, they are attacked by Aquilla's men who issues an order for them to surrender their ship. The Fighitn' 5 though manage to turn the sea monster and it starts to destroy parts of Aquilla's undersea base. Aquilla's attempts to attack Hank with a squidlike ink gun only attract the creature to him and he has to swim for his life hiding in the coral. To save the undersea despot the Fightin' 5 use a small bomb and get the creature to swallow it. It explodes but only gives the monster the hiccups. This does though distract him, and he swims away while the Fighitn' 5 go to rescue the crew of the Plankton and capture Aquilla.

"Expendable Except" is a one-page text story set during WWII in which a scientist uses his wits and a wine cellar to enable himself and his daughter to escape the Nazis with an O.S.S. agent and emigrate to America.

The Peacemaker has a second installment this issue. The writing is by Joe Gill and the art is by Pat Boyette.

"The War Peddler" picks up the action from the previous issue with Peacemaker having just been shot from the sky by Emil Bork an evil arms dealer. But Peacemaker recovers in the nick of time just missing the ground when his jets restart. Later aboard his own jet he seeks out Bork who is trying to instigate a war by initiating conflict with his own men and equipment and tricking two bordering nations. Christopher Smith learns of his plan, confronts Bork but it is to no avail who escapes in his own helicopter. Smith then becomes Peacemaker and takes to the skies reaching the site of the impending battle. Using his ability the electronically scramble communications and some paralyzing nerve gas he incapacitates both armies. Bork seeing this, shoots four missiles at Peacemaker. Peacemaker uses his helmet laser to destroy three of the missiles and sends the fourth into Bork's own plane killing the amoral war peddler. The blurb promises for Peacemaker adventures in the next issue of Fighin' 5 but there will be no more. Instead, Peacemaker will get his own book. More on that later.

It has long been noted that the sea monster awakened in this issue of Fightin' 5 bears a striking resemblance to longtime Charlton monster-character Gorgo. As can be seen above in this cover by the Montes and Bache team for an issue of Gorgo, the resemblance is amazing. In fact, inside the issue the beast looks even more like Gorgo with the nifty little ear fins added which are missing from the cover.

This is the last regular issue of the Fightin' Five. The title is cancelled, and its place is taken by the debut of a new Peacemaker comic a few months later in 1967. It will be over a decade before the title is revived picking up the original numbering but using only reprints. Those have been covered in previous reports. While Peacemaker takes the lead, the Fightin' 5 are given the back-up position with some few new adventures. 

Read the actual comic book here. 

The Fight Continues in the pages of Peacemaker. 

Rip Off

The Fightin' 5 - The Agents Of Death!

Fighitn' Five Volume 2 #40 is dated November 1966. The Executive Editor is Pat Masulli and the Managing Editor is Dick Giordano. The story was written by Joe Gill with the regular team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache doing the art. Montes and Rocke Mastroserio did the rather striking cover this issue.

The "5" are Frenchy the Fox, Irv "The Nerve" Haganah, Granite Gallero, Hank Hennessy, and Tom-Tom. Designated according to the first letter of their name, they formed "America's Super Squad" and the word "F.I.G.H.T.", hence Fightin' 5.

"The Agents of D.E.A.T.H." (Dedicated Enemies of And Traitors to Humanity) are five rich international criminals who have banded together to take vengeance on the world for a multitude of reasons. The story opens with the Fightin' 5 taking a day off at Cape Cod with their girlfriends. But a relaxing day at the beach changes suddenly when a mysterious but beautiful woman appears and touches Hank who immediately follows her without explanation. She is Lady Dawn, a member of the Agents of D.E.A.T.H. The other members are Enrico Cuomo - an Italian treasure hunter, Anton Vidrian - appliance manufacturer, Thomas Lash - disgraced U.S. military man and financier, and Hans Muller - former boy genius for the Nazis. Aboard their high-tech and high-speed boat they plot the theft of secret submarines from the New London boatyards. Hank appears to be under Lady Dawn's control.

"Candidate for D.E.A.T.H..." begins with the raid which succeeds with the theft of one nuclear sub. While that one is leaving Lady Death and Hank stay to steal another. The other members of the Fightin' 5 though have figured out what must've happened and get their won submarine and use a steel-twine warhead to trap the escaping sub.

"Murder, My Friends" has the Fightin' 5 infiltrate the New London base and Hank appears to gun them down with gas when they emerge from the water. But it's a ruse as he is actually protecting them from the murderous gang. Hank, Lady Dawn and Enrico Cuomo head off in the other stolen sub to their villainous launch. Once there, they try to escape but Hank looking for an opportunity uses his knife to short-circuit the boat's electronics and quickly defeats Cuomo. As Lady Dawn prepares to shoot him he unleashes a smoke grenade and leaps off the boat. Enrico and Lady Dawn escape but the Five imagine they will return.

Debuting in this issue is The Peacemaker. Created by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette, this is a new hero in Dick Giordano's "Action Hero" regime.

In "Introducing: The Peacemaker" we meet Christopher Smith, international envoy to the Geneva Arms Conference and dedicated man of peace. On his way to the conference, he is waylaid by arms dealer Emil Bork and his henchmen, and his top-secret papers are stolen. Later Smith attends a dinner party with Bork where Smith weighs his options. Seeing no way to stop Bork by negotiation he puts on his Peacemaker gear and using jet takes to the air. Peacemaker then stops Bork's me from kidnapping three of the conference attendees. A twin-jet bomber takes to the air, and Peacemaker takes chase but seems to be shot down as the first half of the story closes.

This comic has not been reprinted to my knowledge.

 Read the actual comic book here. 

The Fight Continues. 

Rip Off

The Fightin' 5 - Five Trails Of Death!

Fightin' Five Volume 2 #39 is dated September, 1966. The Executive Editor is Pat Masulli and assuming duties as Managing Editor is Dick Giordano. The script for this issue was by the always reliable Joe Gill and like the art inside was provided by Bil Montes and Ernie Bache. The cover is by Montes with inks by Rocke Mastroserio.

The "5" are Frenchy the Fox, Irv "The Nerve" Haganah, Granite Gallero, Hank Hennessy, and Tom-Tom. Designated according to the first letter of their name, they formed "America's Super Squad" and the word "F.I.G.H.T.", hence Fightin' 5.

"5 Trails to Death" begins with an ending of sorts. The Fightin' 5 team battle aboard a Soviet sub to capture Zero, a weirdly costumed and bald mastermind. They succeed and haul their captive to a U.S. base in the Everglades. But Zeru effects his escape almost immediately by using a foggy gas which incapacitates the whole base. But as Zeru runs through the swamp to find his comrades, he is followed by Frenchy who was using scuba gear during the escape. He follows Zeru to a Soviet sub and tags along until the sub eventually docks at what is called "Death Island". He is detected though and the twin dangers of sharks and scuba-wearing opponents appear to kill Frenchy. Zeru checks with his henchman and learns that the island is fully stocked with deadly creatures such as spiders, crocodiles, insects, and fish in addition to high-tech equipment. Meanwhile the Fighitn' 5 have recovered from the gas and begin a search for Zeru. Irv "The Nerve" flies out in a small plane and finds "Death Island" but is shot down by a deadly missle. 

"The Bicycle Soldier" is a one-page text story which discusses the various ways soldiers have been transported over the centuries, including on foot, the use of camels, and such. The focus though is one the Japanese use of bicycles to effectively wage the war in Malaya.

The remaining Fightin' 5 continue to search for Zeru and to that end Granite uses a jet to reach "Death Island" and parachutes in. He battles some crocodiles and is discovered by enemy soldiers and seems to be killed when he responds with a hand grenade. Hank and Tom-Tom have taken a launch and are too heading for the island when they detect a woman in scuba gear beneath their boat. The capture her and head on to the island but the boat is then blown up by Zeru's forces. With all of the Fightin' 5 seemingly dead, Zeru gives the go ahead to his leader that the United States can now be effectively blackmailed using lethal atomic missles located on the island. Then we see Hank walk out of the surf and he quickly obtains contact with Frenchy, Irv, and Granite, who have all likewise survived despite appearances. Then Tom-Tom emerges carrying the girl enemy agent.  Then the members reveal how they survived. Hank and Tom-Tom had an armored cockpit in the boat which protected them, Frenchy was saved by his nylon armor and shark repellant, Irv used a rocket-belt to escape his plane, and Granite used his nylon armor and a handy ditch to evade the explosion. Reassembled, Hank is then seemingly capture and confronts Zeru. At the last moment he grabs an enemy weapon and destroys the command console for the deadly missiles eliminating the threat to the United States. In a furious counterattack the Five appear to kill all the enemy agents including Zeru, though he is not shown. The Soviet ambassador is summarily kicked out of the office once his threat is rendered harmless.

"Experiment 74" is a three-page story drawn by Montes and Bache which describes a nuclear test which after the first part causes a scientist and his military liaison to check out a cave in the blast zone. The stumble upon a large reptilian creature immune to bullets. The escape, but just as the second part of the nuclear test happens, destroying the cave and the presumably the creature too.

This comic has not been reprinted to my knowledge.

Read the actual comic book here. 

The Fight Continues as the Fightin' 5 are joined by The Peacemaker.

Rip Off

The Fightin' 5 - The Plans Of Satan!

Fightin' Five Volume 2 #38 is dated July 1966. The issue was edited by Pat Masulli and written by Joe Gill. The art as usual was by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache. The cover was done by Rocke Mastroserio.

The "5" are Frenchy the Fox, Irv "The Nerve" Haganah, Granite Gallero, Hank Hennessy, and Tom-Tom. Designated according to the first letter of their name, they formed "America's Super Squad" and the word "F.I.G.H.T.", hence Fightin' 5.

"The Plans of S.A.T.A.N." begin with an introduction to the organization S.A.T.A.N. (the meaning of the letters is never revealed but I think of them as Sabotage, Arson, and Terrorism According to Nico) and its leader, a former WWII double agent named Nico. The story begins when the Fightin' 5 defeat, they think, a Communist plot for smuggling but find themselves ambushed by Nico (dressed in a devilish costume and using a trident with electric rays) and agents of S.A.T.A.N. They are not killed but given a warning to stay out future dealings with the terrorist gang. When they recover Hank and the rest immediately begin tracking the terrorists and describe how Nico was both effective as an agent for the Allies and the Nazis.  Nico explains his plan to his men and sends bombers to the Riviera aboard secret submarines and on motorcycles. These explosions draw the Fightin'5 to Monaco while Nico and his men use a fake subway train to infiltrate the New York Stock Exchange where they force the employees to give them access to the wealth there. Their escape is masked by the use of the fake subway car which is confronted by the military while the gang use a helicopter disguised as a tour ride to leave town. The Fightin' 5 realize they've been decoyed.

"American Ingenuity" is a one-page text piece which talks about how U.S. troops in Vietnam have to use their wits to fight effectively, specifically the use of metal soles in shoes to avoid spikes and the use of hatchets to better wage hand-to-hand warfare in the dense jungles.

"Planned Disaster" begins with the Fightin' 5 being blown up by one more charge in Monaco. They recover, regroup and try to anticipate Nico's next move. The demonic leader reveals to his men a triple-prong attack against Venice, Berlin, and Marseilles. Knowing Nico's flair for the dramatic, Hank plays a hunch he will truly attack the canals of Venice and the team heads there aboard their jet bomber. Using his submarines and a small army of sharks Nico prepares to loot Venice. First a tanker spills fuel into the water of the canals and then it lit afire.

"City in Flames" sees the Fightin' 5 in scuba gear descending into the canals of Venice to confront Nico and finding mines and sharks. They fight their way through and confront the S.A.T.A.N. forces who are busy looting the various museums of the area. Nico tries to stun the team again with his pitchfork, but they are prepared and fake him out by only pretending to fall prey to it. When he and his men have left Hank and the other members regroup and counter attack eventually defeating Nico's forces. Nico himself leaps into the canals to escape but is surrounded by sharks. His fate is unknown as the story ends.

"Man to Man" is a three-page story written by Joe Gill and drawn by Montes and Bache which shows how United States troops must alter their tactics to be effective in Vietnam by adopting a more individualized and stealthy approach to warfare.

The issue is reprinted in Fightin'5 Volume 4 #49 dated December, 1982, the final regular issue of the run. The text page is missing and the "Man to Man" is replaced by "The Enemy", a WWII story about PFC Billy Trent learning to deal with the greatest enemy a soldier has to battle, even in the Pacific Theater, fear. The art for this story is in my estimation by the "Nicholas Alascia" team. Note how the devilish face of Nico has been removed from this version of the cover.

A version of the cover was used on 1998's The Power of Five from ACG.

And the lead story appeared in 2000's Heroes Ink #1 from ACG.

This is the second straight Fightin' 5 adventure which as the team battling enemies in jaunty jumpsuits. Unfortunately like most old-fashioned artists, Mones and Bache are much better at drawing actual people in realistic clothes than in super-suits. This tendency makes Nico and his henchmen look like what they are, men in costumes which often look somewhat silly. Modern artists often have the reverse problem, less able to draw realistic clothes than costumes.

The series came to a final end after its 1981 revival, sadly before all of the Fightin' 5 stories could be reprinted. We'll take a look at the last several. 

Read the actual comic book here. 

The Fight Continues. 

Rip Off 

The Fightin' 5 - Reign Of Evil!

Fightin' Five Volume 2 #37 is dated April-May 1967. The book was edited by Pat Masulli and written as always by Joe Gill. The regular art team of Bill Montes and Ernie Bache were back after one issue absent from the assignment. And for the first time they supplied the cover art themselves for the comic.

The "5" are Frenchy the Fox, Irv "The Nerve" Haganah, Granite Gallero, Hank Hennessy, and Tom-Tom. Designated according to the first letter of their name, they formed "America's Super Squad" and the word "F.I.G.H.T.", hence Fightin' 5.

"Reign of Evil" begins with a description of Alexander De Groot, a somewhat foppish descendant of European royalty, long deposed and looking to take his vast accumulated wealth and make himself ruler of the world. To that end he as assembled a small army of soldiers all wearing green jumpsuits with the family crest on the chest. Meanwhile the Fightin' 5 are training in their headquarters, specifically testing out a new bulletproof fabric. Hank briefs the team on De Groot who he says is very dangerous and will begin his reign of terror by stealing the old family crown now kept in France. A few days later De Groot does just that, using a helicopter and sleeping gas to pilfer the crown. Grimsby, the CIA liaison for the Fightin 5 arrives at their HQ and gives them the mission to go to Murania (De Groot's small country) and deal with the threat. The team board their B-58 Hustler jet and head to Europe. They are recognized but allowed to penetrate the Muranian border as part of De Groot's scheme to trap them.

"Water Wins a Victory" is a one-page text story about how a man named Peter Rustain gives the Allies critical information about water supplies in the North Africa deserts enabling them to successfully defeat the Nazi commander Rommell.

Part II "Decreed to Die" picks up the action as the Fightin' 5 attack De Groot's castle but they are anticipated and are swiftly captured. But Granite tricks a guard and the team is able to escape using a car to leave the castle full of enemies. A De Groot jet fires on them, but is only able to destroy part of the castle. The team return to their jet and fly away leaving De Groot, the Monarch of Murani to move onto his next plan for world conquest.

"Part III While a City Sleeps" shows how De Groot's forces are able to infiltrate the Paris sewers and send a powerful gas into the air which puts nearly the whole population to sleep. The Fightin' 5 fly into the area and Hank and Frenchy parachute into the slumbering metropolis. Using jet belts they attack De Groot's forces, once again forcing the leader to flee in his helicopter. Meanwhile Granite, Irv the Nerve, and Tom-Tom have dispatched more of De Groot's mercenary force. The whole team regroups and flies again to Murania only to find the De Groot castle has fallen in completely after its earlier damage. De Groot was inside and Hank suggests the petty ruler now has what he long wanted, complete control, but only of ancient ruins and dungeons deep beneath the Earth.

"Sport of Judo" is a three-page story by Frank McLauglin describing in detail two judo throws -- specifically Kata Gurama (Fireman's Throw) and Uchimata (Upper, Inner Thigh Throw). Sarge Steel narrates these instructions.

This comic has never been reprinted to my knowledge. The costumes that De Groot and his men wear seem oddly out of place for a Fightn' 5 adventure, more appropriate for a superhero comic. This is another sign that the series is seeking a bit more glamor in its action. The annual notice of publication is included in this issue and suggests that the comic is averaging over 230,000 copies per issue in circulation. Average for the time and a blockbuster run in today's diminished marketplace.

Read the actual comic book here. 

The Fight Continues. 

Rip Off