Sarge Steel - The Third Hand!

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. 

To read the complete comic book go to this link. 

More Sarge Steel to come.

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Blue Beetle #5 - The Red Knight!

Blue Beetle #5  featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. Under yet another striking Dick Giordano cover we get the fifth and final issue in Blue Beetle's run. He will return for more adventures, but under different numbering. (More on that next week.) 

We actually get credits this issue featuring writer Joe Gill and artists Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. The Beetle battles an old friend who has come under strange influences and becomes a strangely powered Red Knight. Chess is established as something of an inspiration for this wild story of space travel and world domination. 

In the "Beetle's Nest" this time we get a look at work by Alan Weiss when he sends in a revised Blue Beetle costume. There's a letter by Dave Kaler, a fan who will become part of the Charlton firmament sooner than later on Captain Atom. Read the complete comic at this link. 

More Blue Beetle to come.

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Atomic Reactions - In The Bullseye!

The Captain Atom saga stopped abruptly with the publication of the eighty-ninth issue of the comic, but there had been more work done as so often happened in those halcyon days of comics. The story of Captain Atom, Nightshade, and The Ghost was not finished. But it had been plotted and drawn by the team of Dave Kaler and Steve Ditko. It rested dormant until George Wildman gave some fans the golden opportunity to take the penciled story and apply the finishing touches. The group was the CPL Gang (Contemporary Pictorial Literature) who had proven their worth by publishing the one-shot Charlton Portfolio magazine. Charlton wanted a fan mag like Marvel's FOOM and DC's Amazing World of DC Comics, and so they let the CPL Gang do the honors. So, it came to pass that in the mid 70's the final Captain Atom story "Showdown in Sunuria" was at long last published in two issues of The Charlton Bullseye. The inking was done by John Byrne and the final scripting was done by Jon Michaels and Roger Stern. The outstanding black and white cover was drawn by Al Milgrom. 

So, without further ado, here is the belated "Showdown in Sunuria".  Enjoy! 

Here is the Joe Staton cover of Charlton Bullseye #2 which featured the second half of the story. I finally added this to my collection only this year, completing a search of decades. 

The story was reprinted in the second volume of DC's The Action Heroes. 

Here's a poster image by a young John Byrne and Jo Duffy. 

Here's an outstanding poster image of the good Captain by Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom. That Captain Atom was an inspiration for Starlin's Captain Marvel is all too evident in this magnificent image. 

As the fires of Charlton Comics dwindled, the fate of their properties, in particular the high profile heroes such as Captain Atom and Blue Beetle became uncertain. Prodded by fanboy interest the company published a last-ditch effort in the early 80's called Charlton Bullseye. This second volume of the title featured work by fans using existing Charlton heroes as well as brand new characters. This was primarily a showcase for new up and coming talents, but along the way we got two new action hero stories.

And that was it. DC took over the character and after the Crisis On Infinite Earths (more on that next month) the Charlton characters (who lived on Earth-4 in the DC multiverse, albeit briefly) were fused into the DCU. Blue Beetle got his own series which lasted a few years then he joined the Justice League.

Captain Atom proved to be the most successful of the batch, with a run of his own title which approached sixty issues. He too joined the Justice League and was even a leader of sorts for different versions of the team. The folks at DC seemed oddly ashamed of Cap's origins and wrote off the Charlton stories as mere fantasies concocted by the military to hide the true nature of Captain Atom who was a much more grim character in the slightly darker DC Universe.

Captain Atom remains a reasonably potent part of the DC Universe, getting his own title from time to time. I don't follow these new adventures, so the details are a mystery to yours truly, but the images in which his classic look still supplies the inspiration sure can be compelling.

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Ditko Cover Classics - Captain Atom #89!

Captain Atom #89 is by scripter Dave Kaler and artists Steve Ditko and Frank McLaughlin. The Captain Atom series comes to an abrupt halt with this final issue in the 60's run. Captain Atom must confront his old enemy The Ghost as well as a new magic foe called Thirteen who is aided by his talking cat Faustus. 

You can read it at this link. 

The Nightshade feature closes out as well as we see our heroine battle old foe Jewelee in a story by Kaler and artist Jim Aparo. 

But it's not over, not quite. More Captain Atom this weekend. 

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Ditko Cover Classics - Captain Atom #88!

Captain Atom #88 is by writer Dave Kaler and artists Steve Ditko and Frank McLaughlin. In a truly strange tale with a message, Captain Atom travels to a distant planet in answer to an S.O.S. from long ago. He finds a deadly menace in the form of giant insects. 

You can read it at this link. 

In a story by Kaler and artist Jim Aparo, Nightshade confronts the menace of The Image, who travels through mirrors. There's a distinct Alice in Wonderland aspect to this ongoing tale of Eve Eden. 

More Captain Atom tomorrow. 

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