Heroes Inc – Issue 19 – East and West

Heroes Incorporated, Issue 19: East and West

Appearing in this issue: Playboy, Human Jackrabbit, Kid Comic, and Plasma-Man with Lt. Steele. Guest Appearances by: Rebel and Torch.  Villains: The Grandmaster, various Russian Marines, and a huge atomically mutated armadillo.

Cover: Split Cover, on the left a Soviet submarine on the left a pastiche of the cover of Fantastic Four #1 (except with the Heroes Inc team in Las Vegas fighting a giant mutant armadillo) with East and West emblazoned across the bottom.

Opening page: The DISC (Diamond Industries Submersible Craft) cutting through the icy waters of the North Atlantic.  Caption: Two Hundred miles East and four hundred feet down from New York City . . .

First Story: “East.” The DISC closes with a Soviet submarine and initiates boarding.  Kid Comic and Plasma-Man cross over and fight their way through a horde of Elite Soviet Marines, including two with minor superpowers.  They then rescued Jack, retreated to the DISC and fled back to the United States.

Second Story: “West.” Opening splash page divided into four parts: Jack playing the piano and entertaining at the Sands (looking close Torch’s secret identity can be seen in the crowd).  Human Jackrabbit playing an entire row of slot machines (lots of speed lines).  Plasma-man flying above the neon lights of Las Vegas.  Rebel performing on a Los Vegas stage with dancers behind him.

Next page explaining that Jack is in Nevada opening a new Diamond Industries research station and new he, and the team, are enjoying a well earned vacation in Los Vegas.  (Notes saying: 1- that Janice is holding down the HQ in NY with 54-40 and X.  And 2- That Lt. Steele has been transferred to active duty with the US Army forces serving in Vietnam.)

The characters are enjoying a relaxing night in one of the casinos, when screaming from the front of the casino bring the characters running.  (Jack Diamond: “Human Jackrabbit, give me a lift?”  Human J-R: “Hop on!”)  Outside there is a huge hole with a giant atomic mutant armadillo crawling out of it.  Human J-R and Plasma-man attack while Jack studies the problem.  Rebel and Torch fly out of another section of the Casino and join the battle.  (Rebel: “Just like old times, Jack!”) Rebel get smacked back through a wall by the armadillo.  (Jack Diamond: “Just like old times.”) The character coordinate their attack and topple the armadillo into the fountain outside of the casino where its armored scales begin to dissolve (they were made of a crystalline salt compound).

Final scene: The mutant armadillo is being carted away by two heavy lift US Army helicopters.  The characters watching.  Inset is a black and white news photo of the characters posing in front of the defeated monster.

Flip back to Issue 18.

Sideways and back to Heroes Inc 80-Page Giant.

Onward to Issue 20!

Back to Heroes Inc Roll Call.

Notes: Back to classic Silver Age craziness.

Photos: Sands Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas (circa 1967 as Buddy Greco performed at Sands in 1967, and the hotel had recently been reopened with a new tower) found on Wikimedia Commons and is in the Public Domain.