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It begins with a team of special agents for the United
Nations, assaulting a remote mountain laboratory in an
attempt to rescue a kidnaped scientist. He is Professor
Jennings, "the greatest mind in the free world", as one of
the anonymous agents puts it. Dead, at the hands of a man
known only as the 'Warlord', whose goal, it seems, is to
"steal every scientific development he can". The only
consolation is that they were able to recover many of Prof.
Jennings' inventions, which will become the arsenal they
will use to fight the mysterious 'Warlord'.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents number one, starts with a bang. It
was November, 1965, the Cold War was in full swing and an
atmosphere of intrigue infected popular media, from
television and movies, to books, magazines and comics. A
total nineteen issues, in the original series,
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents has had a lasting impact on comics.
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents melded two genres, espionage and
super-heroes, like no other comic book I've seen. The Higher
United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves operated outside
the boundaries of national interest, working to achieve
world peace. From among the more numerous T.H.U.N.D.E.R.
personnel, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were recruited.
The first was Leonard Brown, who was chosen to wear
"electron molecular intensifier belt" which miraculously
increased his molecular density to many times normal, giving
him extraordinary strength and durability, but only for
thirty minutes at a time. Code-named "Dynamo", he functioned
as the de facto leader of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents.
Next came the aged Doctor Dunn, who transferred his mind,
electronically, into a series of blue-skinned androids. In
addition to android strength and durability, Dunn, calling
himself "No-Man", could transfer his mind to a new android
in the blink of an eye, should his body become damaged. To
add stealth to his already formidable abilities, he was
given a cloak of invisibility, allowing him to become
invisible for ten minutes before it needed recharging.
The third T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent, John Janus, volunteered to
test one of Prof. Jennings' mysterious inventions, a strange
blue helmet, the purpose of which was unknown. Donning the
helmet for the first time, Janus stood rigid for ten
minutes, without so much as blinking, leading one observing
scientists to think him dead. He surprised the man by
replying, "You're wrong, Doctor, I'm not dead!", having read
the man's thoughts. They soon discovered that the helmet
stimulated the brain of the wearer, granting him telepathic
and telekinetic powers. As with the other devices, the
helmet had limitations. Seconds after saving a couple of
fellow agents from a falling computer, Janus collapsed, when
the helmet was removed, he recovered quickly, but without
any memory of his actions, while wearing the helmet.
Code-named "Menthor", he would become the first of the
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents to die in battle. The fact that the
character was named "Janus" is no coincidence, he was as
two-faced as his mythological namesake, having joined
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. as a spy for the Warlord. An unexpected side
effect of the helmet, was a subtle influence on the wearer's
personality, pushing him toward doing good. Menthor
sacrificed himself to save the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents,
redeeming himself.
Next came Guy Gilbert, whose code-name, "Lightning" was
derived from the superhuman speed his costume granted him.
Like the others, his power had limits, in this case, his
super-speed shortened his life span.
Last of the original agents, was Raven, whose real name I
was unable to find. His power of flight came from the
blue-and-black costume he wore. Often called "the forgotten
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent" according to some sources, he
certainly has the least imaginative costume of the bunch.
You'll notice something different about this column. I'm
not here to do my own version of these characters, for a
change. Instead, I decided to simple introduce them to folks
who might never have seen them before. Fortunately, back
issues of these books are not especially expensive, and I
have had little trouble tracking them down, myself.
There were twenty issues in the original run, published by
Tower Comics. Various revival attempts over the years have
met with failure, leaving the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents with a
reputation as a cursed franchise. The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
are currently owned by John Carbonaro, who has made many
attempts to get the series back into production. I wish him
all the luck in the world. Who knows, one day, I may get a
chance to draw a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic.
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