Thunder Agents Classics Volume Two!

The second volume of THUNDER Agents Classics from IDW is chock full of vintage Silver Age goodness. With artwork by a who's who of the time, the reader can feast on some of the core stories which created the myth of this Tower Comics phenomenon. Wally Wood continues on the lead feature, but finds more help from Reed Crandall, Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska, Gil Kane, John Giunta, and especially Steve Ditko and Dan Adkins. Many of the stories are credited to Steve Skeates, something of a surprise to me.

The real surprise is the key story in this collection which includes THUNDER Agents #5, 6, and 7 along with the debut issue of Dyanamo is a blockbuster tale titled "A Matter of Life and Death" written and designed by Dan Adkins, drawn by Steve Ditko and inked by Adkins and Wood.  This is the story upon which much of the Agents reputation sits, the story which changed the game. Early in the series Egghead,  a member of the THUNDER Squad died with little fanfare, but in this story one of the headline members of the agents meets his maker as Menthor is killed in action.

Unlike the ballyhooed and bombastically hyped "deaths" in modern comics which seem to occur on nearly a monthly basis, this demise was a true surprise. Heroes didn't die in the Silver Age, at least not mainstays like Menthor seemed to be. He was one of the original three THUNDER Agents before the advent of Lightning. Raven would hop onto the scene soon after, filling the void somewhat, but there was no denying the death of Menthor was a big deal in the Silver Age of comics.

Here are the covers of the issues included in the second volume.

Upcoming is the third volume of IDW's reprint series which debuts the weirdness of Manny Stallman and the end of the the threat of the Warlords and their minions. 

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The Lady Is A Swinger!

As it turns out Wally Wood worked on several spy themed comics in addition to the THUNDER Agents. I will look at the hard-nosed Cannon later, but today we're looking over The Adventures of Pussycat. These are the zany misadventures of a ditzy but sexy young lady named Pussycat who ends up working for an organization called S.C.O.R.E. (Secret Council Of Ruthless Extroverts)fighting a gang dubbed L.U.S.T.(Legion of Undesirable Sinister Types). Turns out most if not all of the lust from both sides is directed at our lovely Pussycat who will in the fight against worldwide crime slip out of her duds at a moment's notice, in the cause of justice of course. 

This one was developed by Wally Wood and later produced by Bill Ward and later still by Jim Mooney for some of men's magazines that Marvel's parent also produced. Wally Wood's debut story hit the stands buried up in Male Annual #3. That sounds like stuff too good to remain hidden and this is one comic with its Bill Everett cover that needs a larger modern audience. Despite today being filled with "woke" folk, I'm all for a bit of this old-fashioned misogynistic Dadaistic entertainment!

Turns out these stories have been reprinted twice. Once by Marvel in 1968 as The Adventures of Pussycat, and much more recently by Mini-Komix under the title of Pussycat Tails. The reproduction ain't the greatest but the stories are bursting out with frothy inappropriate and mildly naughty entertainment. 

Pussycat Tales, a reprint of Marvel's vintage Pussycat magazine reprint keeps the tasty Bill Everett cover and all. It's a nifty package (ahem) and despite the somewhat smaller dimensions is still a bargain for anyone with a hankering for wacky misadventures of a well-drawn dame. Wally Wood leads the way, but it's the artwork of Jim Mooney and especially that of Bill Ward which makes this one a dazzler. I never get tired of looking at Ward's distinctive interpretations of modern women, women who are hyper sexual and almost always extremely powerful in their way. And Jim Mooney ain't no slouch either. 

In addition to the eleven little stories in this tome we also get some pin-ups. First a gallery dedicated to Lily St. Cyr, the real life inspiration for Pussycat according this tome. Also there is art by Wood, Mooney and especially Ward. They don't make comics like this anymore in these "woke" days but part of my caveman mentality wishes they did, especially as well crafted as these.

Check out this link for more details. It looks like there are a few versions.

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Thunder Agents Classics Volume One

The first volume of IDW's THUNDER Agents reprint series (produced in conjunction with yet another attempt to revive the team some years back) contains the first four issues of the original THUNDER Agents run where we get to meet Dynamo, Menthor, Lightning and my favorite Agent NoMan. There is death, destruction, and international intrigue galore.

To be honest the Agents were a flawed masterpiece in the beginning. Wally Wood's stories are slick and the tone is uptown for sure. But alongside that are stories drawn by veterans Gil Kane and Mike Sekowsky and George Tuska which are much more classic superhero action yarns. Some of the characters are not drawn to model which must've been unclear for the varied assignments at the time. But as the series continues things tighten up nicely. That first issue though almost feels at times like there were two separate Agents projects which just got jammed into the one twenty-five cent comic book.

I enjoy Dynamo, he's such a goofball, and they way that Wood presents him time and again as a weapon, a thing to be deployed is fascinating.  I completely adore the whole concept of NoMan, one of the great comic book heroes. But I've never been a big Menthor fan, until this reading gave me a new appreciation of the arc he goes through. I always forget too, that Lightning is a later addition like Raven to the team. And the Iron Maiden is in the running for sleekest and possibly sexiest character Wally Wood ever drew. It was way cool though to read those stories again after all these years. I put together a collection of the original comics many years ago, but these days I love to read trades and this gives me the chance to comfortably read some classic tales. Here are the covers. 

Coming up in the second volume, the most significant story in Tower Comics history and Dynamo gets his own series.  

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The Atomic Hercules!

I don't think there's been a bigger comic book and certainly never has there been a bigger comic book bargain. Wham-O (Yes that Wham-O) wanted to get into the comic book biz but took a non-traditional route and literally put all their eggs in one enormous basket. Giant Comics #1 lives up to its name and offers up a heaping helping of entertainment. Three precious pages were reserved for the great Wally Wood and he delivered as he so often did to these off-the-wall projects. Radian, the Atomic Hercules is a classic Silver Age Wood hero, with an origin much like Dynamo of the THUNDER Agents. The Steel Skull seems quite familiar as well.  Enjoy!

I can find no indication that Radian has ever been reprinted. A pity since the original comic is a pricey item. This is some Wood storytelling that needs a new presentation, and the chance to find a new audience. 

And Giant Comics featured an amazing wraparound cover filled with a teeming crowd of heroes, villains and all the sorts in between.

Note: This post originally appeared at Rip Jagger's Other Dojo. I will be transferring some of those posts over here as the month goes on. 

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The Spy Who Came In From The Wood!

With this month beginning a bit late, I've altered my plans a bit. I started re-reading the THUNDER Agents from Tower Comics as part of a larger project but became so enthralled once again with the art and storytelling of Wally Wood, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, John Giunta, Mike Sekowsky, among many others that I've just focused on those again. It's been many years since I last read through these vintage Silver Age wonders and they continue to hold up quite well. I'll be brushing off some reviews I did for the IDW reprints some time back and seeing if I still agree with myself. 

Also on tap this month are some reviews and whatnot about Wally Wood that I first did for my now defunct sister blog "Rip Jagger's Other Dojo" which came into service briefly when this one became inaccessible for a time. I want to import the best of those here. 

And I don't rule out a few brand new items of interest as the month tumbles along. Wally Wood was a tragic genius in comic art and the more I read by him and about him, the more fascinated I become. 

See you all as the month unfolds.

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Dojo Regeneration!

Well the Dojo is back, running now with the assistance of a brand new shiny computer. I opted for a new desktop model given my mostly sedentary ways. It suits my situation quite nicely. I realized after purchasing it that I have not had a completely new computer of my own since before this century started a few decades ago. I've made do with hand-me-downs from my daughters or mismatched bits and parts from various and sundry computers from second-hand stores and such. This is a sleek new package entirely. I have alas lost years of stored images which I have used to decorate my mutterings and musings. So I will begin anew, and that's not a bad thing at all. It will affect plans I had for upcoming projects but then I'd have likely changed my mind about those anyway. 

Also the Dojo has been or tried to be a daily blog and that has become increasingly difficult to accomplish. In the past year I have more and more relied on vintage posts from the archives to fill in the weekdays at times. Going forward don't be surprised to see a day or perhaps two slip by without a new post. I want to loosen up in that regard and not make the blog such a seeming chore a times. I still have lots of fun here and want to stick with it as long as it makes sense. 

So bear with me as I learn to steer my brand new craft into the sometimes choppy waters of the internet. 

Glad to be back. 

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Dojo Discontinuity!

Due to some peculiar technical problems with my antique computer (my one and only at the current time) I am putting the Dojo on a little hiatus for a short time until I can either get this relic repaired or more likely get a new computer purchased and installed. 

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who follows the  Dojo regularly and even those who do so only occasionally, and I hope you'll check back in when the place is up and running again at full speed. It should be relatively soon. In the meantime feel free to check out the archives if you need a quick Dojo fix. 

In the words of General Douglas McArthur (who like Rip Jagger the Judomaster battled the Axis powers in the Pacific) -- "I shall return."

Until then...

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