Team-up Tuesdays: Steeler Sundays Crossover!

During our last installment, we witnessed the dramatic confrontation between a mind-controlled Sarge Steel attempting to arrest the Sensational Sentinels, and of  singled-minded Steel Sterling's desperate attempt to join the Mighty Crusaders! Let's pick up where we left off, in the next issues of Thunderbolt #58 and Mighty Crusaders #5, respectively:

Steel Sterling allies himself with two other Crusader rejects to form the Terrific Three, and then immediately awakens the ire of the always cantankerous Jaguar over his flippant sense of humour. As the story progresses, they kiss and make up, with Mister Justice primarily focused on the task at hand...fly to the aid of the Crusaders and a 2nd group of  Crusader rejects, the Web, Fox and Captain Flag (that make up the Ultra-Men...you would think that a team of MJ, Jag and Steel would be THE Ultra-Men! Oh well.)

Sarge found himself on the wrong side of the Sentinels, as his  verbal attempt at apprehending the aspiring heroic team was thwarted by the vast mind might of Mentalia. This quickly led to his departure from the strip, as rapidly as he had  just appeared. Yep, no fuss, no muss. Apparently the master villian that sent him, Mind-Bender, knew the Sarge had the stuff necessary to defeat this terrific trio of Charltonians.

Neither Sarge nor Sterling appeared alongside heroic teams following these adventures, at least during the silver age. Apparently they operated best as solo stallions of steel  (sorry) Sarge's appearance served to tie the Sensational Sentinels into the main Charlton universe. Meanwhile, picking up on a thread from last week relating to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, they had an unpublished meeting with the Mighty Crusaders tying them into their universe. Later, the Agents met another heroic Thunder , a Bunny!

But that is another story for another time. Next week, we revisit the original five Crusaders and, well, the strangest assemblage of five costumed crusaders Charlton ever produced...against a stranger foe!

Steeler Sundays: Team-up Tuesdays Crossover!

This week we have a MEGA crossover of massive proportions, as Steeler Sundays and Team-up Tuesdays will chronicle the EPIC clash of our Steelers against the premier teams of Charlton and Mighty, the Mighty Crusaders and the Sensational Sentinels!

First, we catch up with the Sentinels after their battle with the android minion of Mind-Bender, Titan! It appears the Sentinels malignant mental malefactor sent another pawn to bring down the aspiring heroes, our very own Sarge Steel. Here is a rare CIA cover (he used so many over the course of his career), Sarge attempts to bring in the crew:

 

Elsewhere, the Mighty Crusaders are suffering a crisis of their own, as their acclaim as they are now world famous in their exploits, which caused virtually every costumed hero to petition for membership. Including our very own Steel Sterling, who was a trooper at first when his his number one peep, Mister Justice, swallowed a bullet for him, but now is a bit antsy over his competition joining the Crusaders leading to this tiff:

Looks like the Web can take on Sterling in a one-on-one. What becomes of our misguided Men of Steel? Will they cause further anxiety for their fellow do-gooders? Will they play nice come next issue? This we will discover in the next installment of our EPIC crossover, over on Team-up Tuesdays!

Team-Up Tuesdays: Ageless Androids

Last Thursday we were introduced to the forgotten team, the Sensation Sentinels (of Justice, according to Helio when he first named them) and the classic team, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves). And the three graments of power worn by their members created by deceased scientists Doctor Emil Jennings and Professor Jones Kolotov. Let's pause for a moment to consider two extremely resilient androids involved with these teams: Noman and Titan:

Noman was the creation of Professor Anthony Dunn, an aging scientist who discovered the key to immortality in a strong android body that absorbed his brainwaves. He soon joined T.H.U.N.D.E.R. and wore one of the garments of power, a cloak that granted him invisiblity.

 

Titan was the creation of the mysterious Mind Bender, a renegade telepathic scientist whose true identity was never revealed. Titan first appeared opposing the Sentinels and displaying a remarkable level of self-awareness programmed into his strong android body.

These two androids would not, as it turned out, be alone among their kind. Their creators foresaw the need to create multiple bodies to house brain patterns that lost their human form. This proved essential as they were both, well, accident-prone? Or rather, disaster-prone.

Professor Dunn, through his Noman host, had a long and distinguished career serving with his fellow Agents, from November 1965 until November 1968 in all new stories. In 1983, he returned alongside his compatriots. Meanwhile, Mind Bender's plan to upload the minds of Helio and Mentalia of the Sentinels in Titan's two remaining bodies led to his and his creation's doom. Neither were seen again (nor were his foes).

Next week, we'll get back on track as we investigate the other members of these silver age teams and their actual connections to our publishers (and characters) of choice here at CvsMMLJ.

Team-Up Tuesdays: 3 Items of Power

To kick off our inagural Team-Up Tuesday, let's consider a legendary team and an obscure team only tangentially connected to either fictional universe. Both were published briefly by them, and met at least one occupant from Charlton and Mighty. And both met one occupant from Charlton. Oh...huh?

First the legendary team, originally published in the mid-1960's by Tower Comics known as The T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents made Wally Wood a legend with his sleek artwork, and the characters have been resurrected from the publisher netherworld more times by more publishers than just about any other character or group of characters. In the early 80's this included Red Circle (at that time Archie Adventure Series) helped distribute a modest run which climaxed in Blue Ribbon Comics. Herein lies the first meeting of superstrong Dynamo and mysterious mentalist Menthor (and the guy she's speaking to in her head was Janus, the late Menthor that preceded her).

Our other consideration today revolves around perhaps the most obscure of characters over at Charlton (aside from licensed properties), the Sensation Sentinels. Or as the Sentinels...of Justice as de facto leader Helio initially labeled them (a name later adopted by other Charltonites, Charltonoids, Charltonians?). They lasted a whole six issues, never to be seen again despite the promise of continued adventures. They solely resided in the backpages of Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt #54-59. The following panel introduces us to two of the three members, the superstrong Brute and the scintillating psychic Mentalia.

By the way, the villains in the background our Uber-Awesome femme fatale Iron Maiden and an android named Titan. Both teams began their adventures once they obtained three garments of power created by dying scientists. For the agents, it was the Dynamo's belt (superstrength), a cloak (invisibility) used by an android named Nomanm and Menthor's helmet (telekinetic/telepathic abilities). Wait, two androids? Noman AND Titan??? What are the odds in the 60's of androids appearing in comics of that period? heh.

The Sentinels likewise were bequeathed three garments of power, Brute's gloves (superstrength), Mentalia's tiara (telekinetic/telepathic abilities) and a backpack (for flight or rather to "reduce weight" with propulsion added in apparently for good measure). The latter was worn by a member that was out of commission in the above panel.

During our next Team-Up Tuesday, we'll be introduced to an immortals (of sorts) that meet our cold war gladiators.