Blue Ribbon Comics #12 [1984]

One of the more temporary stops the THUNDER Agents made over the years was over at Archie. The previous year several comics had been published by JC Comics with new and reprint stories, including one cover by Ditko inked by Willie Blyberg. This issue of Archie's anthology adventure title continues from those, apparently to help save a deadline (there's an ad in here with a cover for BLUE RIBBON #12, but with the cover that eventually was on #14).

Anyway, Ditko art is on the 10-page back-up story, "The Making Of A Monster" featuring the robotic Agent with an invisibility cloak, NoMan, inks by Blyberg, story by John Carbonaro and Charlie Boatner. NoMan goes to a remote island after getting a letter from Wildey, an unstable old associate (who isn't aware of his current robotic state). On the island he finds that his old friend has set himself up as a modern Doctor Moreau, creating hybrid beasts in out of control genetic experiments, and buying human slaves to experiment on.

Some really attractive work by Ditko in this one, with Blyberg's inks really bringing the work alive. I especially liked all the strange creatures. That faceless gorilla is just creepy, and that horned cat looks like something out of WATCHMEN a few years later. There are some more freakish chimera later in the story, and good action scenes of NoMan fighting them.

Not a must have, but definitely one of the better examples of Ditko's commercial work in the mid-80s, worth picking up if you see a copy.

Wally Wood's Thunder Agents #4 [1986]

As mentioned before, Ditko did work on the Thunder Agents for many publishers. This version was published by Deluxe Comics, and it's pretty much accepted now that they didn't actually have the legal right to do so, but the creators at the time obviously didn't know that.

"An Alien Nation" is a 10-page story by Steve Perry with art by Ditko and Greg Theakston, the second part of a NoMan story that began the previous issue. NoMan is of course the robotic member of the Agents who can transfer his identity between various bodies. In this story he's sent, with about 100 spare bodies, to attack a would-be world conqueror with the unlikely name Cyrano de Klopps, who has stolen some Thunder technology, which he's combined in a Thundersuit that one of his hapless minions wears. Fun little story in the vein of the original Agents stories, more than a little intentionally goofy, with some clever stuff involving NoMan switching bodies, and really great inking by Theakston. Well worth it for a Ditko fan to seek these issues out.

Hall of Fame Featuring the THUNDER Agents #2 [1983]

Ditko somehow managed to do original THUNDER Agents work for four different publishers over the years. First of course for the original Tower series with Wallace Wood. This one was for JC Comics, on a series reprinting some of the original 1960s Tower stories. No Ditko reprints in this particular issue, but he pencilled the NoMan cover, with inks by Willie Blyberg. The same image, with slightly different colouring, appeared on the backcover of the issue without logos and such.

Ditko would later do a new NoMan story intended for JC Comics' original THUNDER AGENTS book, but wound up in an Archie comic instead. Then he'd also do a couple of stories for Deluxe's WALLY WOOD'S THUNDER AGENTS.