House of Mystery #168 (1967)
by Dave Wood & Jim Mooney
Guys, there’s no reason to fight: you both look horrible.
You might remember that Robby’s nemesis from the start of the series was Mr. Thunder, who hasn’t made an appearance in a while.
Well apparently he was unmasked OFF-PANEL by the authorities! And his real name was Erick Bolton, because of course it was.
But Mr. Thunder was a super-scientist (apparently), and he has a secret lab that the authorities didn’t discover. So he plans to create an army of supervillains.
He won’t.
However, since there is a full Moon during the explosion, this SOMEHOW give him superpowers.
Ah yes, of course. Moonlight + explosion = gravity.
Well there’s your problem: don’t look for “idiotic henchmen” ON PURPOSE!!!
So the former Mr. Thunder reimagines himself as Moon Man, crashing a space-themed fair and using his power of being ridiculous to its full extent.
Just kidding. His actual power, in addition to gravity manipulation, is to generate “lunar hysteria”, whatever the heck THAT is supposed to be.
Robby transforms into the Hoopster, which is one of the worst names he’s picked up so far.
Hoopster’s power is to create hoops that can do whatever the plot needs. This includes making people dizzy…
…electrical hoops that deflect “lunar beams”…
…and turn into anchors!
Finally, the civilians have the proper reaction to the superpowers of this series.
And they haven’t even seen the Hoop-A-Jet yet!!!
Next, Moon Man decides to rob a telescope. You can’t say he’s not on brand.
Everyone makes fun of Green Arrow for his boxing glove arrow, or of Green Lantern for creating giant boxing gloves. Both are still significantly cooler than the Boxing Glove Hoops.
Moon Man’s powers are ALMOST as random as Hoopster’s…
…but come on. Robby is the master of pulling new powers out of his ring.
They’re not enough to contrast Moon Man’s ability to twist his body into a horrifically uncomfortable position.
Moon Man flees the scene AGAIN, and Robby has to go back to his regularly scheduled dinner scene.
Robby’s first transformation, Giant Boy, has already returned. It’s time for the return of the other two transformations of House of Mystery #156… TOGETHER.
It feels extremely random, but since this is the final confrontation with Mr. Thunder… under his new name… I guess it’s fitting to use the first superheroes who fought him.
Moon Man wanted to use his gravity powers to force the landing of the plane carrying the ruby he wants to steal, but instead he’s going to use them on Mole-Cometeer.
Joke’s on him, crashing into the ground is what Mole-Cometeer does best!
So he knocks out Moon Man, warning the police to never make him look at the Moon again.
Historical significance: 1/
Slightly bumped for being the defeat of Robby’s first enemy. The fact that he’s NEVER been brought back in any way tells you how much he was important (they brought back Bug Baron!!!)
Silver Age-ness: 10/
Only in the Silver Age moonbeams could be THIS magic without being actual magic.
Does it stand the test of time?: 0/
A real disappointment. Mr. Thunder wasn’t particularly interesting, but he WAS the first villain and he came back a couple of times… but in his last story he has a completely different identity, motivation and incredibly random powers! The idea of combining two previous heroes is interesting, but nothing is done with it.
Dial S for SOCKAMAGEE! : 70
Just three catchphrases.
Dial I for superhero identities: 33
Of couse I’m counting Hoopster, but how to deal with the mixed-up heroes? “Mole-Cometeer” is not technically the Mole or Cometeer, so I’m counting this as a separate transformation.
Dial C for the superpowers count: 56
Hoopster can create rings out of nowhere, so I’m adding “ring creation”. While I can accept the anchor is part of the hoop, I think creating boxing gloves is funny enough to count as a separate power. Generating electricity was already in the count since House of Mystery #157, but causing dizziness is a new one. I wouldn’t count the Hoop-A-Jet as a separate power if it appeared together with Hoopster, like I didn’t count the horse that appeared together with Chief Mighty Arrow… but he SPECIFICALLY uses a ring to make the jet, so I’m still adding “Jet creation” as a separate superpower. Adding wind generation to that, and he adds a whopping 5 superpowers!
By his very nature, Mole-Cometeer doesn’t add anything.