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"Lightning: The Warp Wizard's Revenge" |
At a government research lab, techies are stunned as a "strange energy portal" appears in one wall. A wild-haired scientist steps out with a gun and, with an evil grin, demands research papers. One techie radios for help and is shot. "No phone calls on my time!" Lightning catches the squeal, and he's glad. "This is my chance to capture my wiley foe! Zooming to the lab, Lightning runs up the wall and bursts through the window. The Warp Wizard is stepping through the portal. Lightning knows "from bitter experience" that he can't pass through the portal. But if the thief can carry a bag, maybe... Lightning grabs WW's leg, and sure enough, tumbles through the warp. |
And is promptly kicked in the face. With his goggles pushed up, Lightning can't see! WW dumps a file cabinet on our hero. "You'll pay for following me, you pest!" Quickly WW opens another portal and dives through - gone. Still, Lightning finds the file cabinet is full of stolen money and jewelry. Lightning calls THUNDER to return the stuff to its rightful owners. But he's still stuck. "How can I capture a master of space warp travel?" |
The next day, Weed (a Thunder Squader) delivers a "Level 7" message to "Swift-Socks." Lightning reads. "By an amazing coincidence, a scientist has devised a gizmo that allows a person to enter any existing space warp! Just what I need!" Lightning races to the scientist's house. There he's given a belt. The red button activates an aura for passing through warps but - "Don't press it now!" The scientist panics because, uh, "the aura shatters glass." Lightning thanks him and runs out. Whereupon the Warp Wizard comes out of hiding with the scientist's daughter as hostage. WW snidely thanks the pair and warps out. |
As Lightning races back to the city, he sees a warp open in thin air. The Warp Wizard taunts him. "I can be out of here before you can move one muscle!" Grinning, Lightning pushes the red button on his new belt - and explodes! WW gloats. "Don't fret, Fastman! It won't kill you! But the flak will shatter your leg bones!" As Lightning lies helpless, the WW warps out "to THUNDER HQ to perpetuate the greatest robbery ever committed!" |
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At HQ, Weed holds down the duty desk. The WW warps in and demands "every secret document within your reach!" Weed snickers. "Cool it, man! You're not laying your paws on anything!" WW threatens to shoot. He'll count to 10. Weed bluffs - and prays - as the gun goes off - - and Lightning catches the bullet! "This uniform, which was designed to protect me from erosion, also works well against flak. I was pretty shaken up, but I wasn't hurt!" He takes WW's gun and clips his jaw. |
Weed asks, "What took you so long to make the scene?" Lightning made a short stop. While they gab, WW dives for his portal - and stops with a CLANG! Lightning just happened to find WW's exit portal, and parked an armored car alongside! WW is out cold. So is Lightning. Weed is astonished. "He was hiding the truth! He WAS hurt in the explosion!" And next issue, while Lightning recuperates, "a new daringly different villain rears his ugly head!" |
"THUNDER AGENTS: Subterranean Showdown" |
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"Ever since the first warlord made his bid for world conquest, the THUNDER Agents have been trying to locate the underground citadel of the subterraneans... until a plan is formed..." At a top-secret government lab, Dynamo is introduced to Doctor Steinmetz, "the most valuable man in the world." The Warlord (green pop-eyed ruler of the underworld) has made several attempts to kidnap Steinmetz. THUNDER will let it happen - to a specially-modified android double with NoMan's mind. Masked goons gas the facility. NoMan-Steinmetz switches bodies, so Steinmetz collapses and is carried off. THUNDER Agents scramble. |
Not far away is a huge hole, "a gateway to the subterranean world!" Soon Dynamo, NoMan, and the Thunder Squad have descended ten miles - where the tunnel forks. Kitten of the Thunder Squad admits she's frightened. Dynamo says, "You should've stayed behind. Even if you do know your business, this is no place for a girl..." (And people wonder why Women's Lib was necessary.) |
Dynamo and Kitten take one fork. They reach a dead-end, then the entry collapses. "This must mean we're on the right track!" They radio NoMan's party. NoMan just switched to the Steinmetz body. It's in a Warlord city, so must be close by. Dynamo decides, "This may be a trap, but I'll try to break through the wall ahead!" He does - and falls into a pit several layers deep. "Oh, no! Help!" Green-faced sub-soldiers find him. They can't remove his belt because it may be boobytrapped. They bind Dynamo's arms and drag him to a futuristic car. |
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Soon, "Like, wow!" Dynamo sees the subterranean Warlord city. (Which looks more like a Frank Lloyd Wright mansion, frankly.) The Warlord offers Dynamo a chance to join his army, and live - as a zombie! Dynamo activates his belt to punchfree - - right into a gang of Dynavacs. One green hooded bruiser almost defeated Dynamo in the past. Now the Warlords mass-produce them. Dynamo is dragged to the Converter. Shock treatment will destroy his identity. It's already killed "Steinmetz" (except Dynamo knows it's an android). He's strapped in. "Easy, fellas... I bruise!" |
NoMan's party breaks through to Kitten. NoMan's been switching bodies back and forth. The time lag is a split-second. "We're almost there!" NoMan switches to Steinmetz and sees Dynamo strapped to the Electronic Mind Scrambler. "There's only one chance for all of us..." The android Steinmetz gets shot repeatedly as he stabs a button on the machine. "Trust me, Len!" The ruined body collapses. NoMan switches back to help the Thunder Squad fight sub-soldiers. Dynamo is amazed to find he's not dead. He's actually stronger, glowing with energy that he hurls like lightning bolts! "I'm a huuman storage battery!" |
Dynamo sees the Thunder Squad rush in. They'll be killed, unless. Dynamo uses his last charge to bring down the roof on the Dynavacs. He then dives after the Warlord, shattering rocks like Hercules, and captures the fiend, who snarls, "I'll tell you nothing, surface dog!" Dynamo wonders how NoMan knew to increase the power surge. "You forget. I was - I am Doctor Anthony Dunn, one of the world's foremost physicists..." NoMan figured the extra charge would provide a "magnetic core of insulation... It was a chance we had to take... I wouldn't recommend making a habit of it." "Next issue: Final encounter with the Subterraneans!" |
Evil wins one... |