Made Men - Thunder Agent NoMan!

NoMan might just be my favorite. That sounds weirdly paradoxical, until you know about the THUNDER Agent dubbed "NoMan" who was not human and not even just one being. The THUNDER Agents were created in the laboratory of a great unseen scientist, but we do meet one of his colleagues. Anthony Dunn is an old man and feels that his slipping this mortal coil is nigh, so he transmits his consciousness into an android, one of a host of identical androids he has created for that express purpose. 

Then when he becomes part of the THUNDER program as an agent he is gifted with a cloak of invisibility. It's a brilliant stroke, and we have a hero for the modern age, an immortal man (as long as he can safely transfer his consciousness to a new body) who can become invisible when the need calls for. NoMan was the second most popular THUNDER Agent after Dynamo, but I always liked his moody aspect better.

He was drawn by lots of artists and generally well-served by the talents who worked on many of his stories, both in the main THUNDER Agents title as well as two issues of his comic. When someone other than Wally Wood or Reed Crandall, Gil Kane, Steve Ditko or perhaps John Giunta drew him, NoMan looked a bit too beefy and too much like a typical superhero. But the idea of an experienced and well-trained mind having access to a succession of perfect bodies is a delightful prospect, or perhaps it isn't. Like all the THUNDER Agents there is a cost to his powers and his is the potential loss of his humanity isolated as he has become from the rest of the world.

Still and all, NoMan is exceedingly cool. 

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DD And Dynamo!

Two of Wally Wood's most famous creations collide atop a vintage spare Wood skyscraper. Dynamo is the highest profile hero for the THUNDER Agents and while Daredevil was not Wood's creation, the amazingly effective red costume was (with the addition of the missing double-d emblem). Now for the fans who bought The Rocket's Blast Comics Collector the two heroes clash and Dynamo gets the short end, but that's perhaps to be expected since Wood pitted DD against the Sub-Mariner of all people, and he survived. Daredevil is the ultimate underdog superhero and it's likely Wood identified with that. More Daredevil this weekend amigos.

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Invasions - Agents Of Wood!

I suspect Wally Wood's most famous comic book work is THUNDER Agents. He is renowned as one of the great EC artists, but he's one among several. In this work for Tower Comics produced in the heyday of superheroes and super-spies he and his studio produce the definitive Wood work which will defined him. The THUNDER Agents are assembled to fight a mysterious army which has risen up from beneath the Earth to challenge all the governments of the world. They have machines and weapons of  great power but fortunately thanks to the work of one special scientist America has some weapons of its own.

The Thunder Belt gives its wearer vast strength and makes him or her relatively impervious to harm. The Invisibility Cloak lives up to its name and when used by an army of androids becomes particularly effective.  There is also a helmet which gives its wearer psychic powers and a special suit which gives its wearer great speed. We follow the agents who use these weapons as they struggle against the Warlords from beneath the Earth. Other fine artists contributed to the THUNDER Agents canon such as Gil Kane, Steve Ditko, Chic Stone, George Tuska, Mike Sekowsky among others. But it s the work of Wally Wood which defined the books as is all too readily apparent  by the cover gallery below. It is perhaps the single most compelling run of great covers in the history of the medium. Enjoy.

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