How nice. Peter got himself a pet. Where are the dragon’s eyes?
Thunderbolt #57
Charlton Comics Group (May, 1967)
“Face Of The Dragon”
CREATOR: P.A.M., who according to a note on the opening splash is busy “doing research” and couldn’t work on this issue.
WRITER/ARTIST: Pat Boyette, working off of Tabu’s files according to the same note.
Sentinels: “If This Be Triumph”
WRITER: D.C. Glanzman
ARTIST: Sam Grainger
LETTERER: A. Machine
A nearly-dead man ends up outside the gates of Peter’s mansion, frozen in the cold. In his hand is a griffin statue marked in a way that Peter assumes there’s trouble at the man’s Himalayan village, close to where he and Tabu grew up. They journey there and meet up with the Dragon, a cheap magician in a mask that Peter knows is a charlatan. To expose his tricks, Thunderbolt uses an ability he learned from the scrolls, mentally creating a real dragon to scare the villains off.
What they got right: No dumb catchphrase and it takes less that a week for Peter to go help? If it wasn’t for the rest of it (although I do like the artwork), I’d almost want to see Boyette take over the actual writing and let P.A.M. come up with the plots.
What they got wrong: Not that this plot is bad, but with the Sentinels eating up pages there wasn’t time to add in the attempts to get to the villain’s palace. This new power feels at odds with everything Thunderbolt has done previously. Also, did he just transform into Thunderbolt? I don’t need (or want) to hear about Peter’s muscles and sinew anymore, but that’s how things look. I’m not even sure he needed to change. He was doing just fine being Peter Cannon considering how far away they are from anyone who would care.
Speaking of the Sentinels, Helio is still amnesia-ridden and the android decides to attack the heroes (such as they are) in their own apartment. During the Brute’s latest fight, Mentalia learns that she also has telekinetic powers in addition to mindreading. Together they bring the robot down…and then something odd happens even by this comic’s standards. Sarge Steel shows up, claiming to be from the CIA and that Mind-Bender was created to lure out the Sentinels because the old man was a Chinese spy and they’re convinced the Sentinels are the man’s accomplices? What?
First of all, Sarge Steel doesn’t work for the CIA beyond taking cases for them sometimes. Creating a supervillain to lure out three superheroes who didn’t exist until the old man died seems like such a dumb idea I know it’s going to be a lie later on, but this is a very stupid ending to a very bland story.
What I think overall: If it wasn’t for the Sentinels story there might have been more time to make the title story more interesting. There’s only a few issues left and I won’t miss this series. Even the guest writer is having trouble making this work.
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