comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
publishing company that operated from 1965 to 1969, best known for Wally Wood's ''
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' is a fictional team of superheroes that appeared in comic books originally published by Tower Comics in the 1960s. They were an arm of the United Nations and were notable for their depiction of the heroes as everyday peop ...
'', a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and
Samm Schwartz
Samm Schwartz (October 15, 1920 – November 13, 1997)Social Security Death Index, for SS# 073-14-0718. was an American comic artist best known for his work in MLJ and Archie Comics, specifically on the character Jughead Jones.
Biography
Schwa ...
's ''Tippy Teen'', an Archie Andrews clone. The comics were published by
Harry Shorten
Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the Comic strip syndication, syndicated gag cartoon ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Arch ...
and edited by Schwartz and Wood. Tower Comics was part of
Tower Publications
Tower Publications was an American publisher based in New York City that operated from 1958 to c. 1981. Originally known for their Midwood Books line of erotic men's fiction, it also published science fiction and fantasy under its Tower Books line ...
, a paperback publisher at that point best known for their
Midwood Books
Midwood Books was an American publishing house active from 1957 to 1968. Its strategy focused on the male readers' market, competing with other publishers such as Beacon Books. The covers of many Midwood Books featured works by prolific illustra ...
line of soft-core
erotic fiction
Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feelin ...
aimed at male readers.
Tower Comics set themselves apart by publishing 25-cent, 64-page comics, during a time of 12-cent, 32-page comics. The comics were something of a throw-back to the
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...
, in that they had more pages than most of their contemporaries and usually featured five or six independent stories, with all the main characters coming together for the final story of the issue, a common
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...
plotting device used in team books such as
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
Tower publisher Harry Shorten "cut a dream deal with Wally Wood" in which Shorten would be the managing editor and "Wood would be granted a wide latitude of creative and business freedom devoid of a 9-to-5 office job or hefty administrative duties, and be allowed to concentrate on creating characters and concepts for an expanding line of superhero comics".
When it became obvious Wood could not handle the volume of material Shorten wanted to publish, he hired Samm Schwartz, who Shorten knew from both men's many years at
Archie Comics
Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.''Comic Book Artist'' #14 (TwoMorrows Publishing, July 2001), pp. 12–14. Schwartz handled the scheduling of all the material and assignments of scripts and art other than Wood's own. Schwartz's ''Tippy Teen'', an ''
Archie
Archie is a masculine given name, a diminutive of Archibald. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
*Archie Alexander (1888–1958), African-American mathematician, engineer and governor of the US Virgin Islands
* Archie Blake (mathematici ...
''-style comic about the adventures of a spunky teenaged girl, ran 27 issues. ''Tippy Teen'' and its spin-off, ''Go-Go and Animal'', featured many stories drawn by Schwartz, as well as contributions from moonlighting Archie artists like
Harry Lucey
Harry Lucey (November 13, 1913 – August 28, 1984) was an American comic artist best known for his work in MLJ and Archie Comics. He was the primary artist on ''Archie'', the company's flagship title, from the late 1950s through the mid-1970s.
...
Gil Kane
Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.
Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...
John Carbonaro
JC Comics (also known as JC Productions) was a comic book company primarily involved with the post- Silver Age iteration of the characters the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. JC Comics was owned by John Carbonaro (Sept. 30, 1951 – Feb. 25, 2009).
Histo ...
purchased the rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and associated characters and published them in his JC Comics line.Sodaro, Robert J. "The Resplendent Sound of T.H.U.N.D.E.R.!" ''Comics Value Annual'' (1999). Archived o ThunderAgents.com Accessed Feb. 8, 2014. In 1984,
Deluxe Comics
Deluxe Comics was a short-lived comic book publishing company which published one title, ''Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents''.
History
Deluxe Comics was a division of Singer Publishing, founded by David M. Singer (11 February 1957–24 August ...
launched their own line of new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents stories, claiming the characters had fallen into the public domain. Carbonaro sued, and was eventually awarded full legal rights to the property."Deluxe suspends ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents''", ''The Comics Journal'' #100 (July 1985), pp. 20–22.
In the early 2000s DC began to reprint the original Tower stories as part of their ''
DC Archive Editions
''DC Archive Editions'' is a line of hardcover reprint runs of early, often rare comic book series, titles, and stories which ran from 1989-2014. They include more than 160 Golden Age and Silver Age comic properties currently owned by DC Comics, ...
'', and in 2010 DC began publishing a new ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' series, having announced the year before that they had secured the lawful right to do so.
Titles published
* ''Fight the Enemy'' (3 issues, Aug. 1966 – Mar. 1967) – war title
* ''
T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents
''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' is a fictional team of superheroes that appeared in comic books originally published by Tower Comics in the 1960s. They were an arm of the United Nations and were notable for their depiction of the heroes as everyday peop ...
'' (20 issues, Nov. 1965 – Nov. 1969) – and spin-off titles:
** ''Dynamo'' (4 issues, Aug. 1966 – June 1967)
** ''NoMan'' (2 issues, Nov. 1966 – Mar. 1967)
** ''Undersea Agent'' (6 issues, Jan. 1966 – Mar. 1967) – minimal ties with ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents''
* ''Tippy Teen'' (26 issues, Nov. 1965 – Oct. 1969) – teen comics; includes the unnumbered ''Tippy Teen Special Collector's Edition'' (Nov. 1969); and spin-off titles:
** ''Teen-in'' (4 issues, Summer 1968 – Fall 1969)
** ''Tippy's Friends Go-go and Animal / Tippy's Friend Go-Go'' (15 issues, Aug. 1966 – Oct. 1969)
Paperback collections
* ''Dynamo, Man of High Camp'' ( Tower Book 42–660) 1966 – reprints ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #1
* ''NoMan, the Invisible THUNDER Agent'' (Tower Book 42-672) 1966 – reprints NoMan stories from ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #2–5
* ''Menthor, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent with the Super Helmet'' (Tower Book 42-674) 1966 – reprints Menthor stories from ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #2–5
* ''The Terrific Trio'' (Tower Book 42-687) 1966 – reprints stories ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #2, 3, 6