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
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. 
FLASH Vol 1 #155 (September 1965) 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #58 (January 1967) 
WONDERMAN 
ACROMAID 
Powers: Acromaid was in peak physical condition and excelled at unarmed combat. She was as agile as an acrobat and was also very skilled at knife-throwing. In addition, Acromaid carried vials of truth serum with her so she could inject it into criminals she was interrogating. 
TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #97 (January 1968) 
Jasper Sitwell, S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to Stark Industries, tries to revive the fallen hero while a crowd gathers. Iron Man (believed back then to simply be “Tony Stark’s high-tech bodyguard”) has a sleazy cousin named Morgan Stark. Morgan ran up a huge gambling debt with the Maggia (Marvel Comics’ version of the Mafia) and, to save himself from harm at the hands of their thugs, betrays Iron Man into their clutches by transporting the nearly motionless hero to where he told Sitwell that Tony Stark was waiting to repair the armor. 
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #437 (November 1973) Later reprinted multiple times in Trade Paperback collections of the entire new Manhunter saga. 
Christine travels to Nepal to investigate this new Manhunter’s recent actions which saved the life of a wealthy philanthropist. Via flashbacks from her informant, she learns that the new Manhunter has been battling an organization which made several clones of Paul Kirk and has been using them to carry out the assassinations that Manhunter is blamed for because the clones wear blue costumes like his red one. 
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the early stories during the time when Daredevil and the Black Widow were a team, like 
DAREDEVIL & THE BLACK WIDOW Vol 1 #92 (October 1972) 
Balladeer's Blog 