Action-Heroes Day!

Dick Giordano was born on this date in 1932. Giordano began his career as an artist, working for Charlton Comics for many years. In the late 60's when superheroes were all the rage, he assumed the role of editor of the comics line. His goal was to create not "super-heroes" so much as what he called "Action-Heroes". These would be heroes, but people with skills and not so much power. Later Giordano was an editor at DC and was a partner with Neal Adams in the art firm Continuity Associates. 

Dick Giordano became editor of Charlton Comics after Pat Masulli. Giordano had made his mark with Sarge Steel, a hard-nosed detective turned super-spy. His artwork was always crisp and attractive. Shifting to the editor's desk, he surveyed the landscaped and decided that if Charlton were to make a move into the superhero market, they would need to find a way to make their heroes distinctive. Some heroes were already around and might need adjusting and new fresh heroes were needed. 

The line-up consisted of Frank McLaughlin's creation Rip Jagger, a WWII soldier who becomes a deadly master of martial arts Judomaster, who battles the Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater with his young partner Tiger. Peter Cannon - The Thunderbolt created by Pete Morisi, is a man trained by Tibetan monks and is possessed of fantastic skills and powers of the mind. Christopher Smith, the Peacemaker created by Pat Boyette and Joe Gill, is a diplomat who realizes that talk alone will fail to solve all problems and uses his technology to fight when necessary to preserve the peace. Giordano inherited Captain Atom, created by Joe Gill and Steve Ditko a decade before. Giordano had the good Captain's vast powers muchly diminished, and Steve Ditko was all too happy to do so. Added to the Captain Atom cast was Charlton's lone female super-heroine of the era, Nightshade. We learn more about her when Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo take over. 

The line-up was completed by the arrival of Steve Ditko's "All-New" Blue Beetle. Ted Kord becomes a Blue Beetle who is not reliant on a magical scarab but who turns to modern technology and fisticuffs to bring villains to heel. With the arrival of Blue Beetle the "Action-Hero" line was complete, just in time for it all to end. Sales were not what everyone hoped for and the super-hero craze which allowed for this flowering of talent and creations withered. The arrival of a new fresh look for Charlton, the big "C" which would in a few years be replaced by the famous Charlton Bullseye badge, marked both the height and the end of the "Action-Hero" line.

Dick Giordano went to DC and took many of his most talented artists with him. He found great success at DC, sticking with the company for decades. DC purchased the "Action-Heroes", mostly as a gift to Giordano, the editor who had made these fondly remembered heroes possible. As we all likely know, the "Action-Heroes" formed the basis for Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbon's The Watchmen, which originally began as a vehicle for the classic Charlton characters, before DC decided to save them for other things. Hence the "Action-Heroes" live on. 

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Charlton Meets The Multiverse!

I picked up Multiversity- Pax Americana for the very simple reason that I love the old Charlton Action-Heroes and this is as close as we're ever going to get to seeing new adventures featuring those awesome characters.

These characters, created largely under the aegis of editor Dick Giordano were a brief but brilliant attempt to mine the superhero market which blossomed briefly during the Silver Age. Captain Atom and Blue Beetle were dusted off and revamped with new heroes such as Peacemaker, Nightshade, The Question and Judomaster brought along to fill in the ranks.

These characters of course these days are mostly remembered as the inspirations for Alan Moore's iconic Watchmen series and many dismiss them beyond that point. Alas, in this story Grant Morrison, a storyteller with stones, tries to revisit these heroes but clearly through the goggles of the Watchmen variations.

We are invited into a complex story, told by Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, which travels back and forth through time and space with all sorts of visual hijinks, all serving to create some larger mystery and make some larger point. The heroes are not as developed as individuals but merely used as elements of the one-shot story which explores the nature of heroes and justice and how the society can best make use of them.

We get good looks at Captain Atom, a man removed from his fellows by the dint of awesome power and who seems lost inside himself and the universe he sees differently from everyone else. The lovely Nightshade is a very young government agent who seeks to find the right way, but seems out of her depth most of the time. Peacemaker is a man on a mission which makes little sense for most of the story. The Question as always seeks answers regardless, while the Blue Beetle is a loyal government man.

We get glimpses of Sarge Steel and while Rip Jagger the Judomaster doesn't make the cut, his sidekick Tiger is around for a few pages as a member of a superhero unit which has a lot of vintage fun picking out a sobriquet.

The story even has a reference to Charlton's first superhero, the Golden Age Yellowjacket.

(Frank Quitely)

This is a complicated yarn, a mystery which has an answer, but which demands mighty attention from the reader and frankly more than one pass through the material. 

At five bucks for a copy, I guess I should thank Morrison and Quitely for giving me a comic which demands to be read more than once, since the density makes the entertainment value rise.

This is a book any Charlton Action-Hero fan should read, if only to see some vintage imagery and old rather obscure Charlton references hanging around in various panels. It has been collected up a few times. 

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Sarge Steel - File 113!

Secret Agent Volume 2 #10 is dated October 1967. This is full year after the previous issue. Since that last issue Sarge Steel became a back-up feature in Judomaster, and also guest-starred in a few Thunderbolt issues. I've covered the Judomaster appearances, and I've reviewed his crossover in The Sentinels in Thunderbolt. The cover is by Dick Giordano and the sub-title is "The Iron Man with Steel Fist - Sarge Steel". The story is drawn by Dick Giordano, scripted by Steve Skeates, and lettered by D. Brazycki. Note that the number of this file fits in between the appearances in Judomaster. 

Part I of File #113 "The Case of the Third Hand" begins right in the middle of the action as bullets are fired at Sarge and his date a lovely lady named Linda Velvet. Sarge orders her to stay down as he tries to get at the shooter which he does, wounding the fellow but not before Linda is shot and seriously hurt. Sarge rushes her to the hospital and after seeing to her and making a report returns to the crime scene but is unable to identify the sniper. Filled with guilt he uses all his resources both official and unofficial to uncover the culprit, but he is shocked when his secretary Bessie tells him he has a visitor, an old friend name Lowell Wade from the C.I.A. Wade tells Sarge that Velvet was actually an informant for the spy ring "The Third Hand" and that was why she was shot. Sarge doesn't believe him, but then news comes that the hospital where Velvet is staying is under attack. Sarge and Wade rush to the site, but are too late as Velvet has been killed by a gas grenade attack. Sarge vows to bring the villains to justice.

Part II "Photo Finish" begins with Sarge going to Velvet's apartment to investigate but he finds two thugs there already. After a struggle he is caught in a powerful bearhug by one of the thugs, a giant of a man and knocked out. When he comes to, he finds a beautiful woman kneeling over him. She is Sarah "Sally" Tempest and she claims to be a friend of Velvet's. The apartment has been ransacked. As they talk another man appears, a friend of Tempest's named Hobart Jeffries. All three chat but then Sarge finds a clue a picture of a two-bit gunsel named Johnny Vance. Sarge goes to his own apartment to find it too has been ransacked but the interlopers are still there. The take him at gunpoint to meet with Johnny Vance at his fancy home. After a few questions which Sarge refuses to answer Vance orders his men to attack.

Part III "Blues for Linda" begins with Sarge getting punched around by Vance's thugs, but he turns the tables and using his superior skills defeats the thugs, even getting to Vance who winces from a shoulder wound. Now Sarge knows that Vance was the man who shot Linda and is the man he had wounded. He knocks Vance out and heads back to his office having fully unlocked the secrets. He finds Sally Tempest in his office going through his desk and tells her that he knows the whole story. She is the one involved with The Third Hand and used Linda, playing on their friendship. She had used blackmail to keep Johnny Vance at bay when he wanted her position in the organization and there were documents she had that he wanted. Linda had them and when Vance had learned of her betrayal he had tried to shoot her. The documents were still missing though. While Sarge is relating this tale a hand appears from nowhere and knocks him out. When he recovers he finds Hobart Jefferies has arrived and it was Hobart who had killed Linda with the grenade at the hospital. But Sarge is able get Sally to think that Hobart has betrayed her and when she shoots him, Sarge is able to disarm her and turns her over to the authorities. Later he talks to Wade and shows him a Coney Island plush bunny which had been in his car and had belonged to Linda. The documents were inside all the time. The story closes as Sarge somberly reflects on the romance that might have been.

The back-up feature is Tiffany Sinn. Tiffany Sinn had two previous appearances in Career Girl Romances #38 and #39. 

The story is titled "Muscle Beach Style!". It's written by David A. Kaler and drawn by Jim Aparo. The tale begins with the beautiful Tiffany preparing for a new case while reflecting on her previous ones. As she finishes her make-up, she is anxious to see what the latest C.I.A. caper will bring. She flies to California and on the flight is given her briefing papers by the stewardess and later is given more information by a cabbie. She is to uncover how vital fuel formulas are being stolen and transmitted to foreign agents. After a night's sleep and a shower, she begins her new job at the laboratory and meets Aldo Bateman a handsome fellow who immediately begins to woo Tiffany. They begin to date, and he takes her to the beach where she gets some sun while he goes through a meticulous and rigorous exercise regimen. They date a few more times, each date the same. The agency decides to plant some bait and announces a new formula. Tiffany notices that Aldo is very interested in this new information and on their next date, again at the beach she notes that his exercise regimen, to that time very rigid, was extremely different. She takes note that some men with binoculars are closely watching Aldo as he goes through his moves. Aldo notices her keen interest and suspicious as she attempts to report grabs her up and attempts to carry her out to the surf where he plans to drown her. Others at the beach think they are just two playful lovers and ignore Tiffany's struggles. At last she uses her judo skills to defeat Aldo and drags him back to the beach. It seems his exercises were a complex code he used to transmit the secret information. He is arrested and Tiffany tries to dry off and rest on the beach. Her bosses want her to come back in report, but she says she can't with hair such a mess.

And that completes the run of Sarge Steel/Secret Agent comics. This is a solid issue with a return of the series to a more detective/noir feel. The first-person narration adds to that feel as does the real emotion Sarge seems to feel for Linda. While he is doubtless a cad, Sarge does seem to have some feelings for the women in his life and that has been missing in some of the previous issues. Steve Skeates is pretty wordy in this one, the explanation requiring a lot of exposition. The twists are here, but they are a bit difficult to follow if you don't read carefully. The maguffin, is discovered at the end, but there was not really any real foreshadowing of its ultimate location as there might've been in a tighter mystery story. The Tiffany Sinn story was a lot of fun. Jim Aparo was a dang fine artist and his skills as a storyteller are well on display here. 

Dick Giordano was an amazing talent, tucked away at Charlton Comics, he trudged along for years producing outstanding artwork. In time he'd replace Pat Masulli as editor at Charlton and under his tenure flourished the "Action Hero" line, in all probability the brightest era in the company's long history. He was scouted by DC and became an editor there and eventually a key part of their transformation in the 1980's. DC eventually bought the Action Heroes from DC including Sarge Steel who has gone onto become an integral part of the DCU.  He also became the longtime partner with Neal Adams in Continuity Associates, the premiere stable of artists in the field. 

For now, no more Sarge Steel to come.

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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Sarge Steel And The Sensational Sentinels!

Above is a delicious pin-up shot of Sarge Steel by co-creator Dick Giordano, from the 1974 CPL Gang's Charlton Portfolio which also sported a wraparound Don Newton cover. Just wanted to share this nugget before we dive into our main course today. 

Thunderbolt #57 is dated May 1967. The Sensational Sentinels appear again in a story titled "If This Be Triumph!". The story is plotted by D.C.Glanzman and the script and the art are by Sam Grainger. Lettering is by A.Machine. The story begins soon after the battle from the previous issue where we find Brute, Mentalia, and Helio in their apartment recovering. Brute apparently survived the fall from the roller coaster by landing in some water. Rick still has amnesia. The android Titan breaks into the apartment to continue the battle and he and Brute exchange blows, with Titan eventually flinging Brute toward a window. But Mentalia exerts her thoughts and is able to stop Brute in mid-air revealing for the first time not only an ability for telepathy but telekinesis as well. The Titan captures Mentalia and climbs down the building with her in tow. Brute follows using his great hand strength to grip the bricks on the side of the building. He and Titan again mix it up until Brute realizes that he was granted great strength over other men and not androids, so he changes tactics and uses a light pole to attack Titan to great effect. Then Brute leaps to attack Titan and Mentalia adds her telekinetic might to the thrust and they severely damage the android who ultimately collapses. 

Returning to their apartment the find Rick still confused but just they are dealing with what that means for the team Sarge Steel appears and announces that the Mind-Bender and Titan were creations of the C.I.A. and that Dr.Kolotov who gave them their powers was a Soviet spy. As the story ends, he is taking the team into custody in order for them to make statements.

 

Thunderbolt #58 is dated July 1967. The Sensational Sentinels return in a story titled "Into the Lair of the...Mind-Bender!". The story features artwork by Sam Grainger, but writing this time is by Sergius O'Shaughnessy a pseudonym for Denny O'Neil. The story picks up with Sarge Steel arresting the trio for spying, saying that Dr. Kolotov who gave them their powers was a Soviet agent. But Steel's aggressive nature and his attempt to shoot the trio in an alley convince them he is being controlled and Mentalia uses her ESP powers to overcome him. 

Then Brute and Mentalia are attacked by a hotdog vendor who they realize must be the Mind-Bender. They repel the attack, but he escapes. They then take both Sarge Steel and Rick Strong, also known as Helio to the hospital where the reports are good for both that they will recover. Then Crunch Wilson and Cindy Carson resume their roles as two-thirds of the Protesters, a singing group and try to perform. But they are attacked by a very hostile crowd clearly under the sway of the Mind-Bender. Helio returns just in time to save them using his flying belt and the trio escape. Later that evening Helio gets a call from Crunch and goes to the location only to find that he and Mentalia are taken prisoner by Brute who is under the power of the Mind-Bender. As the story closes, Helio and Mentalia are strapped to tables while Brute pushes a button which will kill them. 

This saga has a third chapter, but we never see Sarge Steel again. 

More Sarge Steel to come. 

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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Sarge Steel - The Judomaster Years!

When Sarge Steel lost his comic, he became a back-up feature in Judomaster. It was a great fit with Dick Giordano's crisp artwork showing up nice alongside Frank McLaughlin's equally sharp imagery. 

 

A great example of cross-promotion was when Judomaster narrated a piece in Sarge's own mag titled "What is Karate?" Also, the two heroes a villain in the Smiling Skull. 

Judomaster #91 is dated October 1966. The second feature in this issue is the debut of Sarge Steel or really the continuation of that feature sliding from his own book into the back of Judomaster. There are no credits but the feature is certainly drawn by Dick Giordano and GCD says Joe Gill did the script. Titled the "Case of the Double Agent" this is File 110. It begins with Sarge Steel shooting an astronaut as he approaches his rocket. It turns out the victim was a foreign agent posing as an astronaut and he poisons himself before he can be questioned. Sarge knows that the spy was sent by Irena Dubaya, a dangerous foreign agent who just happens to have a bug on Steel and plans to take her revenge. She poses as a replacement secretary for Sarge in his Private Investigator office but he recognizes her and then decides to pretend to become a double agent offering to sell his services to the highest bidder. She eventually offers him a job as a double-spy but not before he has beat up a few of her thugs with his steel fist. She takes a photo of his first payoff and Sarge realizes he is playing a most dangerous game as the first part of the story ends.

Judomaster #92 is dated December 1966. The back up is the second half of the Sarge Steel adventure by Joe Gill and Dick Giordano called File 110 "Case of the Double Agent". The story begins with Sarge and the spy Irena Dubaya on a military base where Dubaya is getting photos of the secure installation with a belt-buckle camera. Sarge is still pretending to be a double agent offering his services to the foreign spy ring. He tries though to turn Dubaya over to the Security chief of the base a Colonel Trask, but it turns out Trask is also a spy and having revealed his true colors Steel is forced to fight Trask saved from a bullet by his steel hand deflecting it. He knocks out Trask, but Dubaya gives him a judo flip and gets him at gunpoint. Then Trask and Dubaya take Steel aboard a jet and overpower the pilots and steal it with the intent of dumping the bodies along with Steel's out the bomb doors. Steel frustrates Trask's attempts to seal him inside a bomb casing using his steel mitt and uses its single-shot .38 gun to do him in. He then uses the hands sleeping gas to overcome Dubaya and take over the plane landing it safely and handing the spies over to the authorities.

Judomaster #93 is dated February 1967. The Sarge Steel story by Joe Gill and artists Bill Montes and Dick Giordano in this issue is File 111 "Case of the Devil's Wife". Sarge Steel is driving through town and comes under gunfire by a pursuing car. He shoots back with special explosive ammunition and disables the enemy's car. He heads to the airport to meet Ambassador Bruyden but is met by a beautiful redhead who gives him a kiss which paralyzes Sarge. Meanwhile the woman and her accomplice take the ambassador away in a wheelchair. When Sarge recovers, he and another agent Lowell Cade check into the woman and Sarge learns she is called "The Devil's Bride" and that she is an accomplished international blackmailer. Sarge threatens some other enemy agents with rough treatment if they do not give him the Devil's Bride's location but when he returns to his own apartment she is waiting. They struggle but her perfume paralyzes him again and he is taken by helicopter to an island estate where he finds Ambassador Bruyden who is carrying an explosive attache case. Sarge takes the Bride hostage but the guards prepare to release guard dogs on him as the story abruptly ends.

Judomaster #94 is dated April 1967. Sarge Steel is back in Part II of File 111 "Case of the Devil's Wife" by the team of Joe Gill on script, Bill Montes on pencils and Dick Giordano on inks. Sarge and the kidnapped ambassador find themselves on an island, prisoners of Satana the Devils Bride. She unleashes her hounds to attack Sarge, but he throws the dog into the shark-infested waters. The Ambassador awakes and denounces the cruelty of the act and Sarge uses his gun to save the dog which comes out of the water shaken. Then Satana rides up on horseback with a lance and begins to chase the pair along with her men and more dogs. Sarge uses his jacket to confuse the horse long to escape momentarily. The Ambassador indicates his case has a bomb inside as they run from the henchmen. They head inside the house on the island where Sarge is at last able to call for assistance and gain the upper hand by dropping a rope over Satana. Holding her captive the pair shoot their way out of the house as a helicopter comes to rescue them and carry them to safety along with the captured Satana.

Judomaster #95 is dated June 1967. Sarge Steel returns for Part I of File 112 "Case of the Village Moneyman". The script is by Steve Skeates, the art by Dick Giordano, and the lettering is by A. Machine. The story begins with Sarge on the ground having been attacked by a couple of thugs, but then he gets up and uses his steel fist to repel his attackers. The thugs did drop a name though, "Eric Summins" a name of a counterfeiter that Steel is familiar with. When he gets to his "pad" Sarge finds a beautiful young girl inside who turns out to be the Bebe Summins the daughter of the aforementioned criminal. Her dad has disappeared and she is being followed. Sarge becomes aware that someone else is in his apartment then a man attacks from the bedroom. Sarge defeats him and then drops Bebe off at the apartment of his secretary Bessie. He then begins the search for Summins checking out leads and various bars and dives. The next day he arrives in the office and Bessie is there saying Bebe slept in. Two CIA men show up and we learn that Sarge no longer works for the Agency full time. They tell him about new counterfeit bills that are surfacing and all agree that it is the work of Summins. When Sarge returns to his apartment he finds a note from Bebe saying "bugged out" and she will meet him at the Silver Spoon in the Village that evening. But Sarge finds evidence of a struggle and suspects foul play. What he doesn't seem to realize is that someone is pointing a gun at him through the window as the story comes to a close.

Judomaster #96 is dated August 1967. Sarge Steel returns in Part II of File 112 "Case of the Village Moneyman" written by Steve Skeates, drawn by Dick Giordano with lettering by A.Machine. The installment begins with Sarge dodging a gunshot from the window of Bebe Summin's apartment and returning fire killing the gunman. Steel finds a typed note from Bebe asking him to meet her at the Cafe Long Spoon. Sarge playing a hunch goes to the newspaper morgue and does some research before meeting Bebe at the cafe. He finds her and a brief conversation in which she tries to get him to stop looking for her dad he says he won't give up the search prompting an attack which he fends off but then guns convince Sarge to follow the men to a a printshop where the mastermind of the operation is waiting. The villain is a guy named Jackson who Steel is familiar with and Sarge reveals that Bebe's dad is in fact already dead, which Jackson confirms. Bebe runs from the building in tears while Sarge beats down the thugs with his steel hand. Apparently making Bebe think her dad was alive was an attempt to create confusion among the federal authorities while the counterfeiting was underway. Sarge comforts Bebe as the story closes.

Judomaster #97 is dated October 1967. Sarge Steel returns in a story written by Steve Skeates, drawn by Dick Giordano and again with A. Machine on letters. The story is title "Case of the Widow's Revenge", and it is File 114. (You'll notice the jump in numbers here. File 113 will show up later.) The story begins with a car trying to run down Sarge at a local newsstand but missing and demolishing the newsstand killing the proprietor a blind man we only see in profile named Old Charlie. Sarge then runs down an alley when he hears footsteps and is soon shot at, but he returns fire and kills his attacker. Returning to his car he finds a beautiful woman wrapped in a fur stole waiting for him. She claims to be the niece of Donald Reynolds a man Sarge sent to prison and who died there. His wife is the one behind the attempts on Sarge's life along with his old partner a man named Ralph Gonner. Sarge then goes to Gonner's house and confronts him becomes convinced he's not involved. Returning home he finds a figure in the dark waiting for him, but quickly turning on the lights blinds the person and after a quick exchange of gunfire he finds the girl who turns to be the daughter of Reynolds and not his niece and she is the one behind the plot. She dies in Sarge's arms, and he reminds us all what a rotten world it is. 

Judomaster #98 is dated December 1967. Sarge Steel turns up one more time in a story with no credits but clearly drawn by Dick Giordano and scripting attributed at GCD to Steve Skeates. The tale titled "Key West Caper" is File 115. It begins with Sarge coming out of the ocean in full scuba gear onto a deserted beach at night. He thinks back to finding his office ransacked and a note saying that Bessie his secretary had been kidnapped and taken to a location off the Florida Keys. He then gets transportation and gets to the Keys as quickly as he can and arrived at that spot. He is attacked by a guard but subdues him and then recognizes the machine gun the thug used. There is another shot and Sarge kills the sniper but others get the drop on him and take him to a house where Bessie is unconscious on a table. The villains turn out to be Eric Rinn and Roja a man and woman team of baddies who had battled Sarge a few times in his own book and had run an operation named POW. They gloat that they at last have Sarge in this power when Bessie awakes and a fight breaks out. Rinn tries to shoot Sarge who shoots him first making his shot go astray and kill Roja. Bessie grabs up a machine gun and after quick tutelage from Sarge levels the other thugs. Sarge then cradles the overwrought woman in his arms as the story closes. 

(Sam Grainger)

And that's a wrap for Sarge Steel as a back-up feature. With the Judomaster lead and the Sarge Steel back-ups these were rock solid comics, some of the best of their era. Sarge will return one more time for Charlton. More later when makes a guest-star appearance even gets his own magazine back for one precious issue. 

More Sarge Steel to come. 

This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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Sarge Steel - File 109!

Secret Agent (formerly Sarge Steel) Vol.2 #9 is dated October 1966. The cover is by Dick Giordano and is a variation of the splash page by Montes & Bache with Sarge in a more active role. The credits list Pat Masulli again as creator, Joe Gill as storyteller, with pencils by Bill Montes, inks by Ernie Bache, and letters by Jon D'Agostino.

Part I of File #109 "The Warmaker" begins with that splash featuring four returning Sarge Steel baddies and one new one. Back for another taste of the steel fist are The Lynx, Ivan Chung (his third appearance), The Smiling Skull (his second Steel appearance but his third Charlton appearance), and Werner Von Hess (who only appears on the cover and the splash). The new bad guy is named Mister Ize, the guy with the wonky glasses. The story begins in a dojo where Sarge is sparring with another karate devotee when that guy suddenly attacks Sarge for real trying to kill him. Sarge defeats him with the steel fist, but when he tries to take a shower hot steam erupts from the nozzle and he is just able to save himself again. In the background of one panel is The Smiling Skull who as Sarge leaves the dojo reports to Mr.Ize. As Sarge is driving away Ivan Chung shows up alongside in another car and tries to wreck Sarge's car, but Sarge is able to wreck Chung's by firing a .357 Magnum slug at him. As Sarge enters his apartment building, Mr. Ize and The Lynx sit outside in a car and follow him in, but after Ize calls Kapitan Werner Von Hess and tells him to keep his forces available for back up (this is the only reference to Von Hess in the story and we never see him). Mr. Ize uses his glasses to hypnotize the doorman and later he uses the specs to burn open the lock on Sarge's door. When Sarge arrives, he knows something is up but before he can do much Mr. Ize hypnotizes him, and the gang of villains leaves with Sarge in their control.

Part II "The Looters" begins with a jet flying over a burning oil tank in the country of Kuwania. The jet lands and Mr. Ize explains to Sarge that the fire was set with weapons to make the leader of Kuwania think his neighbors attacked him from which Mr. Ize will profit. They next use gas to storm the capitol city and take control of the palace to rob it apparently. Sarge follows orders and helps in the attack but during the gunplay a bullet ricochets and grazes his head and they assume he is dead, so he is left behind. He awakes and the effects of Mr. Ize's gaze are gone. But Sarge is captured by Kuwanians and imprisoned, but he quickly escapes by using sleeping gas hidden in cigarettes. He gets to the airfield and uses his steel fist to block bullets while he steals a plane and pursues Mr.Ize and his cohorts. Mr. Ize uses his goggles to shoot Sarge down and he is recaptured but pretends to still be under their influence and control as the whole gang uses a cargo plane to leave the area.

Part III "The Warmaker's Stronghold" is set in the Atlas Mountains where the cargo plane touches down and unloads. Sarge still pretends to be in their thrall, but he is soon discovered by The Lynx as he tries to learn more, and she orders her big cat to attack him, but Sarge dispatches the cat with one steel punch. The Smiling Skull shoots at Sarge but a running tackle takes him out and likewise Ivan Chung is knocked out by a grenade which Sarge throws but doesn't have time to take the pin out of. He gets the drop on the gang and uses grenades to begin to blow up the facility but is confronted by Mr. Ize who again tries to hypnotize Sarge, as he does this he relates how his power was developed while he trying to develop special glasses for surgeons and chanced on the hypnotic goggles which he immediately used to gather up the thugs who told him that Sarge Steel was the one man they feared. Sarge though at the last minute uses the mirrored surface of his steel fist to reflect Mr. Ize's rays back to him and the villain has his own brain warped. Free of Ize's control the other villains immediately scatter and Sarge is sure in time he as a special agent will be able to gather them up so they can face justice.

"Sarge Steel's Scrapbook of Judo!" begins with a new splash page by Frank McLaughlin I suspect (though credit at GCD is given to Dick Giordano) with Sarge and a boy explaining talking how the lessons from previous issues have shown the true nature of judo. After this splash are two reprints of earlier "Sports of Judo" three-page features by Frank McLaughlin from previous Sarge Steel issues.

Clearly the title change was an attempt to spike the sales on the series. The cover advertises a really hair-raising adventure and there is lots of action for sure. But the cheat on Von Hess is strange and even stranger since he's on both the cover and the splash page when clearly he was never in the story to begin with. Both Ivan Chung and Smiling Skull are diminished by their appearances here, two masterminds reduced to henchman duty. The Lynx gets enough space to seem threatening, but the other two not so much. Mr.Ize is a neat and weird villain who reminded me more than a bit of Doc Ock. One thing of note is that the first-person narration dropped in the last two issues of Sarge Steel is back in this one and to good effect.

More Sarge Steel to come.

 This is a Revised Classic Charlton Post! 

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