Monday 29 June 2015

Thunder (1970)




Thunder was a very short lived comic launched in October 1970. It lasted just 22 issues in what was then a very crowded market before merging with Lion. It's one of those titles I obviously missed as a kid since I don't remember it all but having purchased the first few issues I have to say worth reading and not too difficult to collect given it's short run.

The stories in this comic are fairly standard fare for the time but quite enjoyable all the same.

The first issue opens with The Terrible Trail To Tolmec described as "the most dangerous journey in the world, Tom Taylor goes in search of his missing father using a map (of sorts) which indicates a number of obstacles and dangers the traveller must fact to get to Tolmec, the forbidden city of gold, oddly situated somewhere in the "Asian wilderness". So off he sets with Dr Wolfgang and his treacherous manservant Troll. Yeah I know... but this was the seventies and this was aimed at kids!

Black Max came up next with an adventure set in the skies of World War One. This featured the evil Baron Maximelien Von Klor who's dark secret is a giant bat he uses to destroy allied aircraft.



Then there was Adam Eterno, "doomed never to die, he wandered the earth for centuries on end" as a result of betraying his "master" all those years ago. He could only be killed by a weapon of pure gold, however such things are never as simple as they seem, hence his longevity.



Other features included the rather charming Fury's Family about a circus boy who takes their animals to a safe haven "hidden" in the hills of England.  Comedy with the Spooks of St Luke's and the Steel Commando, a tongue in cheek story about a robot in World War Two teamed up with the only person who can control him the layabout Ernie Bates.

Like all anthologies there are some strips that didn't really appeal like Dusty Binns (whose dad wouldn't let him play football) and Cliff Hanger which was corny even for the seventies.

There's also a surprise in the form of Sam which is a renamed reprint of Biff from Power Comics Wham!


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