Image of Trashman

Counterculture Era

Of the 36 characters below, the Counterculture era is best represented by Octobriana and Trashman, both subversive underground comix from Russia (or Prague) and San Francisco, respectively. Most works produced during this era were published well after the current U.S. public domain cutoff of 1930, and those listed here, like the Tower Comics line, entered the public domain only because their copyrights were not properly secured, renewed, or maintained under the laws then in effect, according to research conducted by folks associated with the Public Domain Super Heroes Fandom Wiki.
Era Counterculture Era (1964 – 1972)
Alternative Names Counterculture Movement, Swingin’ Sixties
Total Entries 36
Articles
Counterculture of the 1960s – Wikipedia
Octobriana – Wikipedia
Trashman (character) – Wikipedia
Description Of the 36 characters below, the Counterculture era is best represented by Octobriana and Trashman, both subversive underground comix from Russia (or Prague) and San Francisco, respectively. Most works produced during this era were published well after the current U.S. public domain cutoff of 1930, and those listed here, like the Tower Comics line, entered the public domain only because their copyrights were not properly secured, renewed, or maintained under the laws then in effect, according to research conducted by folks associated with the Public Domain Super Heroes Fandom Wiki.

The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement… It began in the mid-1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is often synonymous with cultural liberalism and with the various social changes of the decade. The effects of the movement have been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the civil rights movement in the United States had made significant progress, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and with the intensification of the Vietnam War that same year, it became revolutionary to some… As the era unfolded, what emerged were new cultural forms and a dynamic subculture that celebrated experimentation, individuality, modern incarnations of Bohemianism, and the rise of the hippie and other alternative lifestyles… Post-war affluence allowed much of the counterculture generation to move beyond the provision of the material necessities of life that had preoccupied their Depression-era parents. The era was also notable in that a significant portion of the array of behaviors and “causes” within the larger movement were quickly assimilated within mainstream society, particularly in the United States, even though counterculture participants numbered in the clear minority within their respective national populations… ~ Counterculture of the 1960s – Wikipedia
The Collected Trashman (1969) | Spain Rodriguez
The Collected Trashman (1969) | Spain Rodriguez

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American Eagle (Charlton)

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Captain Fort, a.k.a. The American Eagle, was an Air Force officer who fought in World War II against both the Japanese and the Nazis, with assistance from his crew the Eagles. The Eagles were Reb […]

Entry American Eagle (Charlton)
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Captain Fort, a.k.a. The American Eagle, was an Air Force officer who fought in World War II against both the Japanese and the Nazis, with assistance from his crew the Eagles. The Eagles were Reb […]

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Andor (Tower)

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Andor was raised from infancy by an underground race of aliens who used their technology to make him into a super weapon. Although trained to hate and destroy humanity, after meeting a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad agent […]

Entry Andor (Tower)
Description 

Andor was raised from infancy by an underground race of aliens who used their technology to make him into a super weapon. Although trained to hate and destroy humanity, after meeting a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad agent […]

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Blue Beetle (Charlton I)

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The Silver Age version of Dan Garrett was an archaeologist based out of Egypt, who discovered an ancient tomb of the Pharaoh Kha-ef-Re which housed a magical blue scarab. The scarab gave Dan super strength, […]

Entry Blue Beetle (Charlton I)
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The Silver Age version of Dan Garrett was an archaeologist based out of Egypt, who discovered an ancient tomb of the Pharaoh Kha-ef-Re which housed a magical blue scarab. The scarab gave Dan super strength, […]

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Blue Beetle (Charlton II)

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Ted Kord became the Blue Beetle after his former mentor and original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, was killed in battle with androids created by Ted Kord’s Uncle Jarvis in order to take over Earth. As […]

Entry Blue Beetle (Charlton II)
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Ted Kord became the Blue Beetle after his former mentor and original Blue Beetle, Dan Garrett, was killed in battle with androids created by Ted Kord’s Uncle Jarvis in order to take over Earth. As […]

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Demo (Tower)

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Demo was one of the Warlord’s most formidable agents. He had an underground lair, an assistant named Satanna, and an army of humanoids called sub-men. In his first appearance, he sent his sub-men to steal […]

Entry Demo (Tower)
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Demo was one of the Warlord’s most formidable agents. He had an underground lair, an assistant named Satanna, and an army of humanoids called sub-men. In his first appearance, he sent his sub-men to steal […]

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Dynamo (Tower)

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Formerly a corporal in the U.S. Army, Leonard “Len” Brown was an employee of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. who was stuck in a desk job and not happy about it. But T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s inner council called upon him to […]

Entry Dynamo (Tower)
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Formerly a corporal in the U.S. Army, Leonard “Len” Brown was an employee of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. who was stuck in a desk job and not happy about it. But T.H.U.N.D.E.R.’s inner council called upon him to […]

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Honey Island Swamp Monster

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The Honey Island Swamp Monster, also known as the Cajun Sasquatch and, in Cajun French, La Bête Noire, is an ape-like humanoid cryptid creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, purported to inhabit the Honey Island […]

Entry Honey Island Swamp Monster
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The Honey Island Swamp Monster, also known as the Cajun Sasquatch and, in Cajun French, La Bête Noire, is an ape-like humanoid cryptid creature, similar to descriptions of Bigfoot, purported to inhabit the Honey Island […]

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Iron Maiden (Tower)

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Iron Maiden was one of the world’s most renowned criminals, who at one time worked for the Overlord. She was romantically interested in Leonard Brown, a.k.a. Dynamo, one of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. She had captured […]

Entry Iron Maiden (Tower)
Description 

Iron Maiden was one of the world’s most renowned criminals, who at one time worked for the Overlord. She was romantically interested in Leonard Brown, a.k.a. Dynamo, one of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. She had captured […]

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Judomaster

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Rip Jagger was a skilled boxer who joined the Marines after Pearl Harbor and was sent to the Pacific. There, he encountered a group of Japanese refugees who had fled from the mainland rather than […]

Entry Judomaster
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Rip Jagger was a skilled boxer who joined the Marines after Pearl Harbor and was sent to the Pacific. There, he encountered a group of Japanese refugees who had fled from the mainland rather than […]

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Kecksburg UFO

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The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred on December 9, 1965, at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, United States, when a fireball was reported by citizens of six U.S. states and Canada over Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. Astronomers said […]

Entry Kecksburg UFO
Description 

The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred on December 9, 1965, at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, United States, when a fireball was reported by citizens of six U.S. states and Canada over Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario. Astronomers said […]

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Lightning (Tower)

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Virgil “Guy” Gilbert was the leader of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad until he was given a uniform that gave him super-speed so he became the member of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents known as Lightning. However, each time […]

Entry Lightning (Tower)
Description 

Virgil “Guy” Gilbert was the leader of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad until he was given a uniform that gave him super-speed so he became the member of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents known as Lightning. However, each time […]

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Menthor (Tower)

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John Janus was a double agent really working for S.P.I.D.E.R.. When given the Menthor helmet, he acquired mental powers with a side-effect: the helmet made him good, and the effect slowly became permanent. He was […]

Entry Menthor (Tower)
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John Janus was a double agent really working for S.P.I.D.E.R.. When given the Menthor helmet, he acquired mental powers with a side-effect: the helmet made him good, and the effect slowly became permanent. He was […]

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Moon People

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Major Rex Costello of the “U.S. Army Outerspace Reserve” goes on a secret mission to the Moon. His missile/rocket leaves on April 12, 1967, launched from a uninhabited location in New Mexico. He reaches his […]

Entry Moon People
Description 

Major Rex Costello of the “U.S. Army Outerspace Reserve” goes on a secret mission to the Moon. His missile/rocket leaves on April 12, 1967, launched from a uninhabited location in New Mexico. He reaches his […]

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Mothman

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In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a humanoid creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register, dated […]

Entry Mothman
Description 

In West Virginia folklore, the Mothman is a humanoid creature reportedly seen in the Point Pleasant area from November 15, 1966, to December 15, 1967. The first newspaper report was published in the Point Pleasant Register, dated […]

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Mox

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Major Rex Costello of the “U.S. Army Outerspace Reserve” goes on a secret mission to the Moon. His missile/rocket leaves on April 12, 1967, launched from a uninhabited location in New Mexico. He reaches his […]

Entry Mox
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Major Rex Costello of the “U.S. Army Outerspace Reserve” goes on a secret mission to the Moon. His missile/rocket leaves on April 12, 1967, launched from a uninhabited location in New Mexico. He reaches his […]

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Nightshade (Charlton)

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As a child, Eve Eden’s mother, Magda, revealed to her and her brother, Larry, that she was a princess from the Land of the Nightshades. Magda was forced to flee from her dimension and come […]

Entry Nightshade (Charlton)
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As a child, Eve Eden’s mother, Magda, revealed to her and her brother, Larry, that she was a princess from the Land of the Nightshades. Magda was forced to flee from her dimension and come […]

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NoMan (Tower)

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Anthony Dunn was a scientist and employee of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. who sought to escape his aged body and become immortal by transferring his consciousness into the “electrical impulses” of an android brain. This consciousness could also […]

Entry NoMan (Tower)
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Anthony Dunn was a scientist and employee of T.H.U.N.D.E.R. who sought to escape his aged body and become immortal by transferring his consciousness into the “electrical impulses” of an android brain. This consciousness could also […]

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Octobriana

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Octobriana is a Russian comic superhero created by Petr Sadecký by modifying the work of Czech artists Bohumil Konečný and Zdeněk Burian for an unpublished comic book series Sadecký commissioned them to do, under the […]

Entry Octobriana
Description 

Octobriana is a Russian comic superhero created by Petr Sadecký by modifying the work of Czech artists Bohumil Konečný and Zdeněk Burian for an unpublished comic book series Sadecký commissioned them to do, under the […]

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Ōgon Bat

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Ōgon Bat is a being from ancient Atlantis who was sent forward in time 10,000 years to battle evil forces threatening the present day. He has a golden skull-shaped head, wears a green and white […]

Entry Ōgon Bat
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Ōgon Bat is a being from ancient Atlantis who was sent forward in time 10,000 years to battle evil forces threatening the present day. He has a golden skull-shaped head, wears a green and white […]

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Peacemaker

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The Peacemaker was a hero who “loved PEACE so much he was willing to FIGHT for it!” The Peacemaker is Christopher Smith, a pacifist diplomat so committed to peace that he is willing to use […]

Entry Peacemaker
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The Peacemaker was a hero who “loved PEACE so much he was willing to FIGHT for it!” The Peacemaker is Christopher Smith, a pacifist diplomat so committed to peace that he is willing to use […]

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Question

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Vic Sage was heavily influenced by his creator’s objectivist views and espoused a firmly objective standard of ethics. In his first appearances, Sage had very little backstory, and was often ruthless in his treatment of […]

Entry Question
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Vic Sage was heavily influenced by his creator’s objectivist views and espoused a firmly objective standard of ethics. In his first appearances, Sage had very little backstory, and was often ruthless in his treatment of […]

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Raven (Tower)

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After Menthor’s death, Craig Lawson, a skydiver and mercenary with a shady past, became the Raven, thanks to an experimental rocket pack. Note: Tower Comics did not include a correct copyright notice on their books […]

Entry Raven (Tower)
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After Menthor’s death, Craig Lawson, a skydiver and mercenary with a shady past, became the Raven, thanks to an experimental rocket pack. Note: Tower Comics did not include a correct copyright notice on their books […]

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Ravenna UFO

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From the Project Blue Book report: “A report of a UFO was received from Mr. Dale F. Spaur, Badge #15, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Ravenna, Ohio., 17 Apr 66. Sighting between 0300 and 0600 hours. […]

Entry Ravenna UFO
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From the Project Blue Book report: “A report of a UFO was received from Mr. Dale F. Spaur, Badge #15, Portage County Sheriff’s Office, Ravenna, Ohio., 17 Apr 66. Sighting between 0300 and 0600 hours. […]

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Rex Costello

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Category Rex Costello
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Major Rex Costello of the “U.S. Army Outerspace Reserve” goes on a secret mission to the Moon. His missile/rocket leaves on April 12, 1967, launched from a uninhabited location in New Mexico. He reaches his […]

Entry Rex Costello
Description 

Major Rex Costello of the “U.S. Army Outerspace Reserve” goes on a secret mission to the Moon. His missile/rocket leaves on April 12, 1967, launched from a uninhabited location in New Mexico. He reaches his […]

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Sarge Steel

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Sarge Steel was originally a private eye and Vietnam veteran who lost his hand during a fight with drug lords. His left hand was replaced with a new metal one. Many of Sarge’s cases involved […]

Entry Sarge Steel
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Sarge Steel was originally a private eye and Vietnam veteran who lost his hand during a fight with drug lords. His left hand was replaced with a new metal one. Many of Sarge’s cases involved […]

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Shape

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The Shape was an artificial lifeform created by Professor Scuba S. Duba by exposing a statue made out of special chemicals to “super hyperintensity white aura-light” and “ultra-ebonized light.” However, the professor’s nephew Kevin Boyd […]

Entry Shape
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The Shape was an artificial lifeform created by Professor Scuba S. Duba by exposing a statue made out of special chemicals to “super hyperintensity white aura-light” and “ultra-ebonized light.” However, the professor’s nephew Kevin Boyd […]

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Socorro UFO

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From the Project Blue Book report written by Eric T. de Jonckheere, Colonel, USAF: “a. At appoximately 1745, 24 Apr 64, while giving chase to a car in Socorro, Mr Lonnie Zamora heard what he […]

Entry Socorro UFO
Description 

From the Project Blue Book report written by Eric T. de Jonckheere, Colonel, USAF: “a. At appoximately 1745, 24 Apr 64, while giving chase to a car in Socorro, Mr Lonnie Zamora heard what he […]

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Spookman

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Museum owner Aaron Piper was transformed by the Moonstone Amulet into the Spookman. While wearing the amulet, Spookman gains the ability to travel through time. Piper and his British assistant Crispin X use the amulet’s […]

Entry Spookman
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Museum owner Aaron Piper was transformed by the Moonstone Amulet into the Spookman. While wearing the amulet, Spookman gains the ability to travel through time. Piper and his British assistant Crispin X use the amulet’s […]

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T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (Tower)

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T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves) is a secret organization formed after World War II to fight covert threats. When UN special agents storm a Professor Emil Jenning’s mountain laboratory to drive off […]

Entry T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents (Tower)
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T.H.U.N.D.E.R. (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves) is a secret organization formed after World War II to fight covert threats. When UN special agents storm a Professor Emil Jenning’s mountain laboratory to drive off […]

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T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad (Tower)

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Joining the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad, a special team of agents who fight the Warlord. This team included James “Egghead” Andor, a brilliant strategist (Andor dies in issue #2, reappearing as a villain […]

Entry T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad (Tower)
Description 

Joining the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents were the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Squad, a special team of agents who fight the Warlord. This team included James “Egghead” Andor, a brilliant strategist (Andor dies in issue #2, reappearing as a villain […]

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Tarantula (Tower)

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Tarantula was a giant, green-skinned mutant with multiple arms. A foe of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent called NoMan, his base of operations was Scorpion Island. Note: Tower Comics never registered its titles with the US copyright […]

Entry Tarantula (Tower)
Description 

Tarantula was a giant, green-skinned mutant with multiple arms. A foe of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent called NoMan, his base of operations was Scorpion Island. Note: Tower Comics never registered its titles with the US copyright […]

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Trashman

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Trashman is a hero of the working classes and a champion of the radical left causes. The Trashman stories are set in a dystopian near-future America, which after having been ravaged by nuclear weapon attacks, […]

Entry Trashman
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Trashman is a hero of the working classes and a champion of the radical left causes. The Trashman stories are set in a dystopian near-future America, which after having been ravaged by nuclear weapon attacks, […]

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Tyro Team

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David Scott, John Anders, and Warren Blaine also known as Swift, Spec, and Creep were a group of college students with the ability to communicate to each other telepathically. Together they were the Tyro Team. […]

Entry Tyro Team
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David Scott, John Anders, and Warren Blaine also known as Swift, Spec, and Creep were a group of college students with the ability to communicate to each other telepathically. Together they were the Tyro Team. […]

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Undersea Agent (Tower)

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Davy Jones was a former navy lieutenant who joined U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. which stood for United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis. This Atlantis was a research facility on the seafloor built on […]

Entry Undersea Agent (Tower)
Description 

Davy Jones was a former navy lieutenant who joined U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. which stood for United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis. This Atlantis was a research facility on the seafloor built on […]

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Warlord (Tower)

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The Warlord is the enigmatic leader of a terrorist group during the Cold War, intent on conquering the world through all scientific developments. His initial appearance is marked by his troops attacking a United Nations […]

Entry Warlord (Tower)
Description 

The Warlord is the enigmatic leader of a terrorist group during the Cold War, intent on conquering the world through all scientific developments. His initial appearance is marked by his troops attacking a United Nations […]