Fightin' 5 issue 41
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"Monster from the Abyss" is the 41st and final original issue of Charlton Comics' Fightin' 5, with a cover date of January 1967. It was written by Joe Gill, writer of Charlton's Gorgo comic series, and features art by Bill Montes and Ernie Bache, who were credited for illustrating numerous issues of Gorgo. The comic is notable for featuring a monster nearly identical to Gorgo. Two back-up stories are also included: "The War Peddler," starring the superhero Peacemaker, and a non-illustrated short story titled "Expendable Except."
Plot
"Monster from the Abyss"
The comic begins with a introduction to the principal characters of the story, a prehistoric sea monster that is sleeping on the ocean floor, a nuclear-powered submarine laboratory, the U.S.S. Plankton, that is on her maiden voyage and Dr. Aquilla who, along with a group of henchmen, is successfully extracting gold and silver from sea water, as well as oil from the ocean floor, in an underwater city. The U.S.S. Plankton notices the city's buildings but not the operation and sets its destination to the city; fearing that it will discover his operation, Dr. Aquilla sends his henchmen to attack the U.S.S. Plankton. The crew of the Plankton stop the engines, allowing Aquilla's henchmen to entangle the propellers with a net, making it unable to move. The captain of the ship, Captain Wing, orders the control-man to send a distress signal to give their position and ask for a hunter killer sub to be sent, but Aquilla anticipates this and his henchmen chop down the antenna, leaving the crew helpless, with two of them pointing out how Dr. Aquilla was a former member of their team. Dr. Aquilla welcomes them to the underwater city and tells them that he will need their laboratory and that they are now his prisoners. The Plankton launches a torpedo at Aquilla, which he quickly dodges.
Meanwhile, on a nearby power boat owned by the American super-team the Fightin' 5, Hank is questioned by two other team members about the deep sea diving equipment he has; Hank says that gold and other precious metals are appearing from the seas in vast quantities and that, in the past, Dr. Aquilla wanted the government to aid him in the project but was turned down, so after learning that Dr. Aquilla had equipment in the area, he traveled here. The torpedo that Aquilla dodged earlier continues to sink into the ocean depths until it lands on the sea monster's head and explodes, knocking it out cold. Right after that it awakens, now enraged. Captain Wing orders the Plankton to fire another torpedo but it, too, misses and falls into the abyss only to directly hit the monster once again, prompting it to seek out the source of the torpedoes at the same time that the Fightin' 5 arrive on the scene.
The sea monster arrives at the underwater city and lets out a roar, making Captain Wing notice it while the Fightin' 5 continue swimming to the scene. The submarine is helpless against the monster as the nets tangling its propellers don't allow it to move and the monster grabs the submarine, opens its mouth, and prepares to bite into it. Luckily, Granite and Hank distract the monster long enough for Hank to pierce his weak spot with a harpoon, his tongue; this causes the monster to let out a roar of pain and almost deafens Hank. The monster attempts to eat Hank, but he leaps away just in time. Dr. Aquilla watches the battle and orders his henchmen to stay clear of them and then eliminate them when the battle is over. Each member of the Fightin' 5 distract the monster by allowing him to bite at them and then quickly swimming away from its jaws, which proves effective. With the Fightin' 5 preoccupied with the monster, Aquilla's henchmen board the submarine and Aquilla tells its crew to surrender.
Now having to deal with two threats, Hank decides for the team to switch their priorities over to Aquilla. When asked about what they will do about the monster, now dubbed "Junior" by the team, Hank tells them that they will use Junior to their advantage. They goad Junior into chasing them and eventually reach Aquilla's underwater city and guide Junior through it, causing Junior to stop chasing them and start wrecking it. As Aquilla tells his forces to attack Junior instead, Hank sees the opportunity to tackle Aquilla, but he misses, then Aquilla shoots him and a cloud of darkness surrounds Hank's face. As he is about to shoot Hank again, Junior comes from behind and starts chasing Aquilla while the rest of the Fightin' 5 chcck on Hank. One of the Fightin' 5 reassures the crew of the Plankton that they will help repair their submarine while Aquilla hides from Junior. The Fightin' 5 decide to save Aquilla from Junior and they bring a bomb with them. They find Junior and throw the bomb into his mouth, where it explodes inside his jaws, causing water to exit from his nose and ears. Junior then retreats with a severe case of hiccups and the Fightin' 5 apparently deal with Aquilla off-panel. After this they leave the scene, once again having prevailed over evil.
Appearances
"Monster from the Abyss"
Monsters
Weapons, vehicles, and races
- U.S.S. Plankton
Characters
- Captain Wing
- Dr. Aquilla
- The Fightin' 5
- Hank Hennessey
- Granite Gallero
- Frenchy the Fox
- Irv "The Nerve" Davin
- Tom-Tom
Locations
- Underwater city
Trivia
- Fightin' 5 was titled Space War for its first 27 issues, picking up as "Fightin' Five volume 2" with the 28th issue. The stylization changed to "Fightin' 5" with issue #40.
- Whether or not the sea monster in this issue is Gorgo remains unconfirmed. However, its appearance comes less than two years after Charlton canceled its Gorgo comic series.
- Gorgo's distinctive ears, which this monster is depicted as having throughout the story, are absent from the issue's cover art.
- Issue #21 of Charlton's Gorgo comic series features a similar premise involving Gorgo and a futuristic underwater city.
- Peacemaker, who debuted in a back-up story in Fightin' 5 #40, would go on to star in his own five-issue comic series following this issue. He was one of many Charlton superheroes acquired by DC Comics in 1983 and integrated into the DC Universe.[1]
External links
References
This is a list of references for Fightin' 5 issue 41. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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