House of Mystery #170

House of Mystery #170 (On Sale: August 17, 1967) has a Dial H for Hero cover by Jim Mooney.

"Thunderbolt's Secret Weapon" is the Dial H for H.E.R.O. story written by Dave Wood and drawn by Jim Mooney. While on a European cruise ship, Robby Reed overhears a coded radio message sent by agents of Thunderbolt. Robby becomes the super-hero Baron Buzz-Saw and tries to stop the criminal organization from stealing a construction machine known as Whrrr.

Robby fails to prevent the theft, but he continues to track them as another hero, Don Juan. He locates the crooks, disguised as gypsies, but the Spanish women nearby attack him. Robby changes to another hero, Sphinx-Man and follows the gang to their secret base.

The back-up feature is "The Martian Double-Cross" starring the Martian Manhunter and it's by Jack Miller and Joe Certa. Mr. V, the leader of Vulture, summons Marco Xavier to a meeting. He shows Xavier films on the Martian Manhunter in action. Each time J'onn is weakened temporarily. Mr. V instructs Xavier to find the cause of the weakness.

Since Xavier is really the Manhunter he is hesitant to tell Mr. V the truth. However, he realizes that they will figure it out eventually anyway, so he reveals that Manhunter is weakened by fire. Mr. V then prepares a special opponent to defeat J'onn using the new information.

Edited by George Kashdan.