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August 1966 |
What's gone before... T.H.U.N.D.E.R. stands for The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves. (And hereafter ye webmaster will render it THUNDER without all those picky periods.) In the first issue, a brilliant scientist was murdered by enemy agents. He left as his legacy unique devices that grant the user super-powers. THUNDER had previously been the enforcement arm of the United Nations, just infantry peacekeeping forces. Now, by giving the devices to handpicked agents, THUNDER gained a force of super-agents. Dynamo's story opens with our hero sitting in a sewer, filthy and unshaven, "hunted like an animal, even by my fellow agents." Dynamo had been one of THUNDER's top agents. Wearing the Thunder Belt, he gains super strength and invulnerability for a short period. Dynamo, AKA Len Brown, explains how he was framed as a traitor... |
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Arriving at THUNDER HQ, Dynamo was shown a hole in brick wall and a vault with the door torn off. Dynamo wonders, "Only someone with tremendous strength could have done it. Who do you suppose..." Then he blushes, catching on. (Len Brown was chosen to wear the Thunder Belt based on his physiology, not his brains.) Dynamo's boss, the Chief, a real hardnose, "doesn't know what to think." Dynamo's fallen uder the influence of villains before, so he'll be tailed. "Nothing personal, of course." In civvies, Len Brown gets tailed even on a date with Alice, a knockout brunette secretary. Once he asks the tail, "Do you expect me to sell secrets on 42nd Street?" Then Len stops short. A redhead bombshell "hauntingly familiar" urges Len to follow. "I'll help you lose him." They step through a revolving door, and the woman jams in a wedge, trapping the tail. |
Her friends call her "Rusty." In her apartment hands Len ginger ale - and calls him Dynamo! She's the Iron Maiden! "You're the one who's framing me!"  Then he blacks out, his drink drugged. |
He wakes up bound in a cell. Rusty has donned her iron suit.  (From a pinup later in the book. Her dossier notes she's worked for The Warlord and Doctor Death, but "at present seems to be operating independently..." Bad news for Dynamo. How "Rusty" manages to look so sexy in a suit of armor is beyond me.) |
Len thought she was dead, shot, but her armor deflected the bullet and she got away. IM had a small 'dozer to rip through walls and vaults. She's also got a thug named Charlie to pass for Dynamo in his stolen suit. Len objects, "He can't use the belt - you know that." (The Thunder Belt has to be laboriously calibrated to the wearer.) IM explains, "He doesn't need to. The 'dozer will do the work. He just needs to be seen... And your name will be mud." Len recounts how IM held him prisoner - so no alibi - while her crew and 'dozer robbed banks. Charlie the Double then left the scene "doing a Peter Pan leap with the aid of wires." IM presents Len with a newspaper. "Here it is, baby. Read it and weep! DYNAMO WANTED FOR TREASON." Why the smear? "Can't you guess, handsome? You and I are going to team up." Dynamo adds, "And then they let me go!" He's not sure why, until cops pull guns. Dynamo activates his super-belt with a CR-RACK! and runs. When another cop asks, "Which way did he go?" the first cop blandly points to holes in brick walls. "Offhand, I'd say he went that way." |
Dynamo walks into THUNDER HQ. "They'll listen... and believe me!" Not quite. The chief demands Len "turn over the belt, then we'll talk." Even Alice wonders, "Oh, Len! Why did you do it?"  More agents pour in, Lightning and NoMan. They call for Menthor, the mentalist. |
Len recalls, "I was full of bitterness and rage... I wanted to lash out that them! Afraid of my own violent feelings, I got out... fast!" He bursts through the wall to escape.  |
And ends up in the sewers, where our story started. Len waits for dark, "so I can take the last chance left to me... I have a date... with the Iron Maiden!" Len meets up with Rusty. She's smoking and smug. "Hi, lover. I trust you've come to the right decision." Dynamo has decided to "throw in with" IM. "I'm fed up with THUNDER. Those dirty rotten ingrates! After I've risked by life time and again..." Rusty is suspicious. "I'm almost inclined to believe you." Len's sincere. "That was some near frame you hung on me... I've decided to put my power to good use... for myself!" Rusty wants a kiss. Len balks. "I said I'd join you. I didn't say I love you." IM smiles. "Ohh! You make me so mad sometimes... I could kill you... or kiss you..." |
Outside, the THUNDER Squad has heard enough. The raid is on!  (Love the Thunder Squad's outfits and gear. 1960's ultra-hip jackets, tight pants, and Beatle boots - and World War II surplus equipment.) |
Iron Maiden whirls on Len. "You did this! How?" The Thunder Belt has a built-in radio. THUNDER heard Rusty's confession. Thugs go to jump him before he can turn on the belt. Len doesn't need super strength. He wallops a thug in the gut - and nearly breaks his hand. They're wearing armor under their clothes! Len retorts, "You may have an iron suit, but you've got a glass jaw!" He flattens the biggest guy. Criminals pull guns. Len twists the dial on his belt... |
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Man-made lightning knocks out the crooks. Len quips, "They've all gone to sleep. Must be bored with my company." He asks Rusty, "Did you think it would be that easy to make me turn crook?" No, but IM figured it was worth a gamble. "It would've been lovely if it worked out. Au revoir, Len. You'll never be rid of me." IM steps into a hidden elevator. A Thunder agent shoots, and IM shoots back. "You'll never take me alive!" Super Len dives into the hail of bullets, letting them bounce off. Rusty escapes. Len swears he tripped. The Chief doubts it. "She saved your life in the stronghold of Doctor Death!" Anyway, Len is cleared. Alone, Len reflects, "Okay, Iron Maiden, the score's even! Next time, you won't be contending with Leonard Brown, the man, but Dynamo, the THUNDER Agent!" |
Carry on the neverending battle against evil... |