 |
|
"NoMan: To Be or Not To Be!" |
Backstory: NoMan has two powers. He was Doctor Anthony Dunn, a physicist, but old and feeble. Building a batch of blue-skinned androids, Dr Dunn projected his consciousness into an android - and his body died. He can switch his mind from robot to robot, even over great distances, but can never be human again. In addition, NoMan inherited the Thunder Cloak that renders the wearer invisible. "Mankind has long dreamed of immortality... but would this gift be worth the price of man's humanity? That's the personal question NoMan must answer. And the future of THUNDER depends on his decision..." Three special missions: In Brazil, NoMan guards THUNDER mediators, and is crushed in a riot at the airport. In Vietnam, he recons behind lines, and is cut down by bullets. In Washington, DC, he chases a spy across rooftops, and falls to shatter on the street below. |
|
At THUNDER HQ, the Chief complains. "NoMan is losing android bodies at a fantastic rate!" He's ordered to a doctor and complains he feels tired. That's impossible. Ordered to a psychiatrist, the truth comes out. "All right... If you must know, I'm sick of being a synthetic toy... I want to be human again!" NoMan's frustration has been building since last summer. He met a secretary (Trudy) in West Berlin, and fell in love. He can't forget her, and - he smashes the doctor's desk. "I resign from THUNDER! The devil with you!" |
NoMan awakes strapped to a table, a prisoner. All his other android bodies have been deactivated, so he can't switch and escape. The doctor plays back tapes of Doctor Dunn's final days. "I know this better than you!" snaps NoMan. "I AM Doctor Dunn! I possess his every memory!" |
The shrink replies, "Exactly! But do you recall that final hurtle? To transfer the mind of a living man into their creation?... In minutes, the withering body that had served as your sole fragile thread to life became NoMan!" With incredible android strength. The Thunder Cloak to turn invisible. The ability to survive major wounds. The potential to learn volumes and become the smartest man on Earth. |
All a mistake, decides NoMan. "I've had enough torment!" Tearing free, NoMan rushes from THUNDER HQ. To West Germany, where he intercepts Trudy as she leaves work. And carries her off to the park, where he confesses. "I can offer you less than before... I've left THUNDER... I'm an outlaw.. But... will you marry me?" Trudy promises an answer tomorrow. But thinks, "He's acting so strangely." Alone in her apartment, she frets. "I've always admired him... But is this the right move?" |
The next day, at work, Trudy's boss warns that NoMan might contact her. "He's suffering a nervous collapse... It's imperative THUNDER get him back" for a top-secret mission.  NoMan is actually standing in the room, invisible! "They're trying to use her against me!" |
NoMan meets Trudy in the park. No, she doesn't think he's lost his mind, but... "You're running away from your whole life... I can't marry you!" NoMan receives a radio message to return to the lab. "I promise this isn't a trap. I want to help you!" Transferring to an android stored at THUNDER HQ, NoMan meets Doctor Paschke. He'll help NoMan by destroying all his android bodies so he can vanish. Seeing his doubles shattered brings NoMan to his senses. "Paschke is a threat to the whole THUNDER network!" He nabs the traitor. |
"Menthor: A Matter of Life and Death!" |
 |
(If Menthor's costume looks familiar, it should. Gil Kane designed it for DC's Atom years before!)  |
Backstory: Another weapon against evil was the Thunder Helmet, which gave the wearer enhanced mental abilities: mind-reading, mental command, and more. A Thunder Agent whose profile best fit the tool was selected from the ranks. But John Janus (the names means "two-faced") was a mole planted inside THUNDER working for the enemy. At first Janus planned to use the helmet for evil, and to benefit himself. But something of the inventor's altruism wore off on the villain, and John Janus found himself reforming, enjoying the good fight, and doing something worthwhile for the first time in his life. Then comes the final test... |
"Part of the oath taken by every THUNDER Agent states that he must be ready to lay down his life in the course of his duty, for the cause of mankind... Janus is unaware that today he will make the most fateful decision any man can make..." John Janus, AKA Menthor, gets his helmet back with some new tweaks. Anyone else trying to wear will get a shock. And Menthor will have a safe at work and home that can only open to his fingerprints... "Yes, I get the picture." |
Miles below, the Warlords plot. They believe the key to control of THUNDER is the Menthor's helmet. Their superior science can make duplicates for each warlord. But how to get close enough to steal it? A new device will set up interference and jam the helmet's wavelength. That night, Menthor arrives home and puts his helmet into the safe - as Warlords burst in with guns! Ducking behind the steel door, Menthor dons the helmet and commands the intruder to freeze. "This was almost too easy... It's a trap!" |
A second Warlord fires the interference device. Menthor is swarmed by zombie-soldiers. "The helmet... it's not working!" Menthor brawls but is captured. Len Brown, AKA Dynamo, gets a call about holes in Central Park. He dons his suit and will pick up Menthor on the way. But his apartment is wrecked. Soon Lightning, NoMan, Dynamo, and the Thunder Squad stand over gaping holes in Central Park. "They want a showdown! Well, they'll get one! Let's go!" |
Miles below, a Warlord gloats and dons Menthor's helmet - and gets shocked unconscious! Lacking his helmet, John Janus stands up to the Warlords. The helmet is also broadcasting a signal. "Every available agent is undoubtedly closing in on this spot!" |
The Warlords laugh! They planned this. Lasers are trained on the tunnel. "When anything crosses that electric eye, it is blasted... instantly! Nothing will save them this time. We put an end to THUNDER for good!" Menthor dives for his helmet - and is shot in the side! Wounded, he falls. The radio direction finder reports a group is coming. "Everyone to your stations!" In agony, John Janus rises - and staggers for the laser-trapped doorway. "Must do something... Mustn't black out... Can't let them... kill Len... Kitten... Weed... Guy... Got to warn them!" |
Bullets slam his body over and over, but Janus keeps moving - and tumbles into a bank of lasers. ZZAP! He falls dead at his friends' feet. "Menthor!" "There is no need for words....  |
The THUNDER Agents fight in silent, savage fury, giving no quarter..." Dynamo bursts through a wall, hoists a giant machine, and crushes Warlords. Lightning speeds. Kitten shoots. Soon the green men and their mindless slaves are forced back - to extinction, as they stumble into the laser fire! Finally, Dynamo lifts Janus's still body "as tenderly as a baby" and carries him out, as the others follow in respectful silence. |
 |
John Janus is laid to rest in his home town, a true hero returned from the war. As the THUNDER Agents walk from the grave, they experience mixed reactions. Alice sobs, "Why, Len? Why did he have to die?" Dynamo replies, "He was doing his job, Alice. He knew he didn't have a chance, but he didn't hesitate..." Guy vows, "We'll get every last one of them!" |
And the narrator notes, "Greater love hath no man, than that he lay down his life for his friend." Whatever John Janus might have been, whatever his motives for joining THUNDER, he died a hero. |
Comments THUNDER AGENTS was a cross between super-spies and super-heroes. Cross-genre blends don't usually work, but TA clicked. Maybe because it seemed so realistic. The agents worked for a snarly boss, punched a time clock, made mistakes and got chewed out just like regular people. Occasionally someone got killed, just like real life, and another agent took his/her place. And the boss complained about costs. The comics also had a great sense of continuity. Characters referred to events from issues ago, picking up loose threads, expanding on ideas. It made them seem like a real police or spy outfit, constantly trying to stamp out evil that kept squirting out from underfoot. |
Wally Wood and Co. also got back to basics when comics were getting convoluted. The names, powers, and costumes were simple and striking. Dynamo, super-strong. Lightning, super-fast. NoMan, robot, invisible. Later, Raven could fly. KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Sometimes too simple. Under pressure to churn out tons of pages, the creators made some slip-ups. Villains would look different from story to story. Some backdrops were skipped. Some tales were choppy, even incomprehensible. Still, the books had a raw and vital quality that made them fresh and exciting. |
You can see the themes shoot higher than most comic books of the time. NoMan falls in love and has a nervous breakdown, but pulls out and accepts his fate. John Janus, originally a mercenary, comes to love his fellow agents and dies for them. And Dynamo tries to live as a hero, but makes dumb mistakes that he has to recover. This level of emotional detail, even poetry, that went beyond melodrama made THUNDER Agents great. It's been argued that Menthor was the first superhero to die - ever. Maybe in the 20th Century. In the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th Century, heroes got killed all the time. But we'll give Menthor a tip of the hat. Certainly no one ever died for a better cause. THUNDER Agents lasted about 16 issues, then went into reprints, then folded. A real loss. |
Tower dove into the battle for kids' quarters with two other titles. UNDERSEA AGENT was a companion to THUNDER AGENTS. Davy Jones, the Undersea Agent, worked for a separate organization, and THUNDER was curiously never mentioned: there were no crossovers. Initially UA had no superpowers, but he later gained magnetic powers. UA had beautiful Gil Kane covers but lousy interiors. The art was hideous and muddy, the characters weird and clownish, and the stories patchwork and boring. FIGHT THE ENEMY featured generic war stories from World War II, Korea, and Viet Nam. (Those are bright yellow Viet Cong getting hammered.) Guess no one told the editors that Korea and Viet Nam didn't sell. |
 |