Coming back with another look at the characters from my favourite annual of my childhood, made different from any other look back of mine as i've got a direct link to what i was thinking when i was nine, in that i'd numbered them in order of preference on the brilliant frontispiece.
So, we're at Number 5 and Electro. Guessing on par with Magento for "Rubbish Name For Someone Who Has Electrical Powers", he's just about the most derivitive of all the hero's in this book.
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His origin is pretty close to DC's the Flash but, minus the chemicals addition in Barry Allan's case, he's just some poor bod who gets hit by lightning. While standing on a power plant. Its not explained why he wasn't just fried, not even his clothes are singed, especially as he's just taken "a billion volt blast of electricity" but live he does and "he's charged with enough electricity to light the whole city!" Just some lame-o comment of "maybe the generator he was working on set up some kind of counter current." Hmmmm....
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Anyway, he's soon well, and seems to now have the powers of Marvel's Magneto. Which is noticed straight away by the Super Security Bureau, a sort of Man From Uncle for superhero's whose recruits so far include (shout their names with pride) "Mini Man", "Mr Whizz", "Flame Man" and, my favourite, "Iron Dog."
Eddie's recruited and, to not make him stand out, is given the equally rubbish name of "Electro - The Power Man".
And as soon as that happens, he then comes to the attention of "The Great Dynamo", Surf City's number one villain, with just as rubbish a name and a look totally swiped from Janus Stark:
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Like many of these tales, the set-up is the most memorable and the rest of the story is a bit of a plod. With this one, the sequence that i remember the most is this three panel affair, introducing the Dynamo's "robot creatures shaped of solidified electric current" (double hmmm...) and his nifty wheel vehicle:
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Other than that, we've just got Electro's brillaint penthouse pad which, for some unexplained reason, is made all of glass:
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And that's it, the rest is just dull. I'm guessing i put him at Five because of the art, which is lovely, and the quirky designs but i don't think i'dve been a fan of the character if he'd have continued, which he didn't, although it sure ends like the Dynamo would have been Electro's nemesis a la Lex Luthor or the Joker:
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