Captain Atom and Iron Maiden: Reimagined

A Great Team-Up with Terrific Character Designs - in our dreams!

Ugly Betty Reveals Self to the World!

Bamm-Bamm sez: "Put the helmet back on, Ugly Betty! You just ruined my childhood!"

Friday Fiends: Covert Carrot-Tops

We already met one  sultry scarlet sister of the sinister and then saw how she turned the tables on the bad guy in our last installment to aid our working class heroes. Maybe it was some chick named Black Widow over at another publisher (who makes her big screen debut tonight!), but the trend of red head femme fatale spies with a soft spot for the good guys was not unique to that marvelous comic brand. Over at Tower, they rolled out their own version in the form of Iron Maiden (again with the "Iron" connection).

The Maiden of Ferro never revealed much about herself, so her origin and motivations are left a mystery. Except that she loved the thrill of the dark side, and wearing form fitting armor that would make Doctor Doom drool didn't hurt either. And to continue our tie in with the metallic movie event of the summer, check out this fantastic meeting between our gal and guy of Iron by the fabulous Fred Hembeck! Gotta love it!

Sparks flew when Rusty first met Len Brown's Dynamo alias, and the fire was only stoked further when they were introduced in their civilian duds. While she at first worked for the Warlord and his faction of underworld alien minions, she later freelanced until finally siding with the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in order to stave off an alien invasion. Alas, their romance was doomed to failure due to differing sensibilities for right and wrong.

Charlton decided that after a dozen or so issues of Fightin' Five, the missing ingredient (which perhaps caused them to lose their title and then shack up in Peacemaker's back pages) was the feminine touch. And so, shortly after introducing Sonya in issue #1, they immediately brought her back as a substitute for poor Irv the Nerve who bit the dust last ish. And she continued to assist the Five (actually Four including herself, as team leader Hank operated behind the scenes due to injuries from last issue that killed Irv). Until Peacemaker's final issue she aided the team.

And so, two lethal lasses add their clout to the proceedings aiding a pair of doomed franchises that briefly capitalized on the Cold War spy genre of the day. Not unlike a myriad of other covert carrot-tops back then.

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.