For those of you in the know, DC has apparently announced that they’ve gotten the rights to reprint the old Tower Comics T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents stories!!
The first archive volume is due out this winter and will reprint T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents issues 1-4.
For those of you NOT in the know, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was a comic put out by Tower Comics in about '66: the peak of the Silver Age. They lured some of D.C. and Marvel’s most stylish artists to work for them: Gil Kane (at his peak), Steve Ditko (at his peak), Wally Wood (almost at his peak…his EC stuff was better. But only just barely), Mike Sekowski (sp), Reed Crandall and so on.
The premise was cooooooool. Imagine it: It’s the '60s and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is hot. So is Marvel’s more adult approach to super-heroes. Tower Comics got the bright idea to combine the two: The Higher United Nation Defense Enforcement Reserves were a bunch of Our Man Flint/James Bond types. But someone had invented super-power gadgets and they got spread out amongst the agents. Les Brown got a belt that increased his stregnth and density to become Dynamo. Another agent got a super-speed uniform…that aged him every time he used it. Another got a gliding belt, another got a telepathic helmet. One of 'em ended up (by accident) with his mind transferred into a robot. There were thousands of this particular model of robot and he could transfer his mind between any of 'em. Plus he had an invisibilty cloak.
The other thing that’s wonderful about these books is they’re so much a product of their time. Like early '60s Marvels and '50s DCs, it’s impossible NOT to know when they were written and drawn. There’s this brash quality (Steranko-esqe, although Steranko had nothing to do with them) to the books. The only drawback is if you’re one of those unfortunates who’s put off by “dated” references (The THING and the HUMAN TORCH MEET THE BEATLES! ) these may annoy you.
The stories are good, but the art is stunning and there’s a…stylishness about them that can’t be beat.
I’ve got every issue of every non-Teenybopper book that Tower put out, and I’ve reread 'em so many times that my copies are starting to get ragged. I can’t wait for the archives!
Are these the same comics that were reprinted in “High Camp Superheroes”? These comics seem to be little more than parodies of Marvel’s “bathetic” style. I much prefered the '80’s redux.
Back in the early 80’s, during the indy boom, someone reprinted a few issues of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. I think they were drawn by Wally Wood.
That’s been my only exposure to them so far. I look forward to these Archives editions.
Hmmm…Spirit, Plastic Man, now T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. It seems odd to me, although for no good reason, that DC is publishing so many Archive editions of properties that weren’t originally published as DC comics.
Furryman & Shodan: actually, I think that there were crappy black and white paperback book reprints (cut all to hell, panels out of order and rewritten) of the individual T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents that were stuck with the label of “High camp” superheroes. But until you’ve seen the whole story, unedited, in color, you haven’t really seen 'em.
And don’t forget: These were published in 1966 or so. “High Camp” wasn’t a bad thing, then. (And it was better than D.C.'s “Go-Go” checks or (gag) “Marvel Pop-Art Productions”)
Fiver: The reprint series in the early '80s was part of a flood of semi-legal T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents stuff: I’ve heard a rumor that Tower was doing well in the '60s and A) DC and Marvel did a joint lawsuit to limit use of the term Super-Hero aimed at Tower. B) DC (or Marvel…but not both…probably D.C. who was still the 600 LB gorilla in those days) threatened to fire anyone doing any work for Tower. C) The Batman craze died out and each issue of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was the size and cost of one of Marvel’s annuals. Anyway, Tower ceased publication and apparently something weird happened with the copyright.
In the early '80s, there was an idea that the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were public domain. I have a ton of illegal T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents: T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents meet Thunderbunny, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents meet Justice Machine, The beautiful Perez/Giffen stuff, the Reprints, the (surprisingly good) Solson (“Reagan’s Raiders”. Solson was THE schlockmeister of the '80s black and white boom) issue of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. etc.
Anyway, turns out that a fan(?) John (something like) Carbonaro had purchased the rights and spent the next few years stomping out all the illegal T.H.U.N.D.E.R. stuff. He’s held the rights closely ever since.
I’m really hoping that D.C.'ll have the rights to do a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. series (as long as it’s NOT in the main DC universe!)
Ehh. I’m not so jazzed to see new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. material. I’ll be pleased to read the reprints, but the concept belongs so much to its time that I doubt new stuff could be any fun without changing the concept beyond recognition.
This thread has reminded me of the great, short-lived Pacific Comics from the early 80s. It was one of the first “ground-level” companies that bragged about letting its creators retain rights to their work.
Sergio Aragones’s Groo the Wanderer got started there, and Jack Kirby’s last work, Captain Victory came out under its logo. As did the action miniseries Edge of Chaos by Gray Morrow.
Dang, what would it take to get those reprinted? I’m sure it’d be complicated, with all the individual rights to be negotiated, but I’d love to see the Pacific series come back to light.
The stories may be a little corny, but it’s the art that’ll keep you coming back. T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were created by the late, great Wallace Wood, and feature work by Gil Kane, Reed Crandall, and Mike (Justice League of America) Sekowsky.
I still own an old copy of something labelled “High Camp Superheroes”, but it only covers (IIRC) the Web, Fly-Man, the Shield, and Steel Sterling. All pretty lame, I agree, but I thought that Jack Kirby was involved in their creation. I never saw any actual comic books of any of the heroes involved.
Was “High Camp Superheroes” a series, and covered other superguys as well as the ones I have?
The characters you list are all Archie characters. The were an attempt by Archie to try to cash in on the Batman craze.
They were old Golden-Age characters who had been updated for the '60s. I haven’t read many of them but the ones I’ve read WERE lame.
On the other hand, there was an issue of…um…the Hood? The Black Hood? by an early Neal Adams and Jim Steranko had something to do with The '60s Fly. Simon and Kirby created the Golden Age versions of some of these characters.
These guys are a completely different kettle of fish from the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, although they were contemporaries.
I think the “high camp” phrase was an attempt by 50/60 year old men to be “hep” and “with-it” so they could “rap” with the “groovy cats and chicks” in comixland. :rolleyes:
Of “Red Circle Comics” or of the Archie Super-Heros?
I’m pretty certain (tho’ not positive) that “Red Circle Comics” was a product of the late '70s. The Archie Super-characters were revived in the early '80s under DC’s “Impact” line
I just went and looked.
You were completely right and my memory was horribly off.
“Red Circle Comics” was circa '83, impact! Comics was early '90s.
Fenris
I ain’t gonna give you a dollar, but I won’t edit out my disagreement at the beginning of the post, so you can snicker at how wrong I was!
You know me, Fenris. I spend half my time snickering at how wrong you are.
And it rarely has anything to do with Red Circle Comics.
P.S. My next tattoo will be a panel from Understanding Comics. Suggestions? It has to go on my bicep, and I don’t work out, so something long and narrow, I’m thinking.
