This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will look at the world of Iberia Inc. Since the 1990s those Spanish-made superheroes and the detailed world surrounding them have made them – in my opinion – Spain’s premier home-grown comic book I.P. since 1996. Sadly, there’s been no new material since 2009.
TRUENO (Thunder)
Secret Identity: Miguel Angel Roldan
Debut Year: 1996
Origin: Miguel Roldan was a two-time winner of the Nobel Prize in physics. After a laboratory accident destroyed both his hands and part of his arms, he designed cybernetic replacements that he customized with potent superweaponry. From then on he went into action as the superhero Trueno.
Powers: Trueno’s cyborg parts possess superhuman strength and can shoot energy blasts of varying levels. They can also generate a force field around him. If he is separated from his artificial arms he is able to control them remotely.
Comment: This hero was the leader of the superhero team called Iberia Inc. (Named, of course, for the Iberian Peninsula.) The group was headquartered on Isla de la Cartuja in Seville. Continue reading
DUNE: THE OPERA – Previously I wrote about how Philip Wylie’s science fiction novel 
STORY: My fellow Dune geeks may get annoyed with this change, but remember, adaptations for staged performances have to be made very tight. I would start out at the Arrakeen Great Hall as the family and court members of House Atreides have just arrived on Arrakis/ Dune, the desert planet. All the scenes that the book covered while the Atreides family were preparing to depart their home on Caladan would instead play out shortly after their arrival on their new planetary fiefdom. 
LEOPARD GIRL 
Powers: Leopard Girl employed her supernatural “cry of the leopards” to use a small army of leopards to help her fight the forces of evil in Africa. She could interact with the Dark Continent’s ghosts, who saw her as an ally. 
Comment: In her secret identity as “Gwen”, Leopard Girl worked with research scientist Dr. Hans Kreitzer. Her fellow assistant was named Peter, whom she once carried with one arm while swinging through the jungle. 
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 15 (May 1974) 
NOTE: This K’un-Lun is not THE K’un-Lun from Chinese mythology but it uses the same name and many of the inhabitants go by names corresponding to Chinese gods. Yu-Ti is one of them, Lei Kung the Thunderer is another. This K’un-Lun is an enchanted city that appears on Earth only once every ten years before returning to its pocket dimension home for another ten.
CAPTAIN ATOM 
ATOM-GIRL 
Powers: John Grant’s discovered “ray” gave Lynn a degree of super-strength and made her invulnerable to bullets, other weaponry and deadly gasses. 
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – This is Part Two of 
I’ll spare all of us any details of the actual cockfights. When the fighting was over, the family whose cock lost the fight welcomed the winner’s family over to their home. The winner’s family brought along all of the food they had prepared for this eventful day, and the two families feasted and drank together the rest of the day. 
FLASH Vol 1 #155 (September 1965) 
If you enjoy serious analog horror like 
Around 2012 Richard Littler began mocking up some fake 1970s public health posters and government pamphlets for schools and general consumption. He presented them with an enjoyably twisted slant that perfectly captured the vaguely menacing, often insulting approach of such material. 
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – By Simon Tyssot de Patot. Supposedly written in 1710 but not published until 1714, this novel dealt with the travels of the title character to exotic lands. 
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