Bob Sodaro informs me that his friend John Carbonaro passed away on February 25 at the age of 58. John was a devout comic fan who turned publisher in 1981 when he acquired the rights to the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comic which had been published in the sixties by Tower Comics. Bob wrote the story of this enterprise up for this article but basically, John bought the property and then launched into a series of unsatifactory arrangements, sometimes publishing new T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comics himself and sometimes licensing the characters out for others to market. He also fought and won several battles to prove he owned the property and that it was not, as some claimed, public domain.
I knew John a little and was involved with some of his plans. He struck me as an enthusiastic lover of comics who was as interested in seeing Dynamo, NoMan, Menthor and others treated right as he was to make money off his investment. His quest to achieve both did not always result in either but he kept at it, always trying to find the right place for the material.
Bob says that while he is unaware of the details, he knows Bob made arrangements for the disposition of the property after his death. I hope whoever winds up with the rights will do right by the franchise. That's what a lot of fans of those characters would like to see and that's what John sure wanted.