Tower Comics

Tower Comics was an American comic book publishing company best known for "The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents" by Wally Wood.

The comics were published by Harry Shorten and edited by Wally Wood and Samm Schwartz. Notable creators associated with Tower included Wood, Dan Adkins, Len Brown, Steve Skeates, Larry Ivie, Bill Pearson, Russ Jones, Roger Brand, and Tim Battersby-Brent. Tower Comics was part of Tower Books, a now long-defunct paperback book publisher.

Tower Comics set themselves apart by publishing 25-cent, 64-page comics, during a time of 12-cent, 32-page comics. Their main lines were "T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents", a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and "Tippy Teen", an Archie clone (artist Schwartz had worked at Archie Comics for years).

The company lasted from about 1965 to 1969. At some point in the early 1980s John Carbonaro purchased the rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and associated characters and published them in his JC Comics line.

Titles

* "Dynamo" (4 issues, a "T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents" spin-off)
* "Fight the Enemy" (3 issues, war title)
* "NoMan" (2 issues, a "T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents" spin-off)
* "Teen-in" (4 issues, teen comics)
* "T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents" (20 issues)
* "Tippy Teen" (27 issues, teen comics)
* "Tippy's Friends Go-go and Animal" (15 issues, teen comics)
* "Undersea Agent" (6 issues, minimal ties with "T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents")

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

References

*
* [http://www.twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/14checklist.html Tower Comics Checklist, "Comic Book Artist" #14 (July 2001)]

External links

* [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/t/thunder.htm International Catalogue of Superheroes section for Tower]
* [http://www.thunderagents.com T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents site]