ENERGY DRAINERS
Membership: Cold Air Crook, Doomsday Man, Thermal Thief, Wattage Waster (see comments)
Purpose: To drain and waste energy
Aliases: Terrible trio (nickname used by Captain
America)
Affiliations:None
Enemies: The Campbell Kids (Clean Clara, Reading
Ricardo, Soap Box, TV Tanya), Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly the Energy Museum
First Appearance: Captain America and the Campbell
Kids I#1 (1980)
History:
(Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Doomsday Man
formed the Energy Drainers along with Thermal Thief and Wattage Waster.
They shared a common goal: to waste as much (man-made) energy as
possible. They planned to attack the Energy Museum's science fair and
steal secret weapons that would allow them to drain the energy of the
entire world.
(Captain America and the Campbell
Kids I#1 - BTS) - Unbeknownst to the Energy Drainers, Captain America
had been invited to give a guided tour of the museum to Clean Clara,
Reading Ricardo, Soap Box and TV Tanya. These four, bright kids had
each come up with an energy based science exhibit that was on display
at the fair.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1) - Thermal Thief was the first to make his presence
known. Appearing on top of the museum's hydroelectric exhibit, he
instantly drained all the ambient heat in the hall to fuel his blazing
body. As a result, even the water in the exhibit turned into a frozen
waterfall. Witnessing the Thief's arrival, Captain America climbed the
waterfall while evading his opponents' thermal blasts and icy barrage.
(Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1) -
Cap managed to knock out Thermal Thief by kicking him
off the dam, only to be instantly attacked by Wattage Waster. She
siphoned off power from the dam's electrical generators to fire bolts
of electricity at the Avenger, leaving him open to the Doomsday Man
who drained Cap's own energy with his touch.
(Captain
America and the Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - Cap was
saved by Soap Box who pedaled his soap box race car at full speed
towards the nearby geothermal exhibit. The car slammed into the
geyser, which led to a blinding steam cloud filling the room,
distracting the Energy Drainers long enough for Cap to break free.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1) - Using his power to create a floating disc of
solid, negative energy, the Doomsday Man carried off the other Energy
Drainers, telling Cap and the kids about the secret weapons hidden in
the museum that would allow them to rule the world. As they flew off,
they dared their opponents to find a way to defeat them before they
located the weapons.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - In preparation for their final showdown
against the Energy Drainers, Cap took the four kids to their exhibits.
He showed them the various ways in which they could have conserved
energy. Cap reasoned that the key to beating the Energy Drainers was
by becoming Energy Savers. Captain America left the kids in the
relative safety of their exhibits while he went looking for the
villains.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1) - Thermal Thief attacked Captain America when he
entered the museum's wind power exhibit. Floating near a Darrieus wind
mill on a disc of negative energy, he manipulated cold and hot air
currents to sweep Cap off his feet. Thermal Thief planned to kill the
hero by hurling him into the blades of the mill, but Cap used his
shield to bounce off the device and on to the Thief's platform. The
villain was once again tossed to the ground and knocked unconscious on
impact.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - Wattage Waster had drained the energy from
the nearby nuclear exhibit in preparation for her fight against
Captain America.
(Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1) -
Dodging the Wattage Waster's attacks, Captain America realized she was
guiding him towards the recycling exhibit. She eventually managed to
pin him down on the conveyor belt headed for the trash sifters, even
using her powers to speed up the process. She watched Cap get covered
in waste and crushed by the trash sifter's teeth.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - Captain America kept himself safe by
crouching down beneath his shield which was easily able to withstand
the trash compacter.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1) - Wattage Waster got so distracted when she didn't
spot Cap's mangled corpse in the trash sifter, she failed to notice he
had snuck up underneath her energy disc. He knocked over the platform,
causing her to fall in a nearby garbage container.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - Clean Clara, Reading Ricardo, Soap Box and
TV Tanya watched Cap's fight against the Energy Drainers from a safe
distance.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1) - The Doomsday Man appeared, directly fueled by the
sun's solar power, as well as the various energy exhibits at the
museum. Captain America could not dodge his solar bursts and was
knocked out while the four kids watched in horror.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - The Doomsday Man carried the defeated
Captain America up towards the Energy Museum's huge skylight. There,
he used his powers to tie Cap to a solar space station, a bank of
solar panels, that turns sunlight into usable energy which he fed into
a huge negative energy disc that he figured would make him unbeatable.
(Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1) - The Doomsday Man
continued to gloat, taunting the helpless hero until he suddenly
experienced a loss of power. The four kids were busy shutting down the
energy museum's exhibits. Realizing who was behind this attack,
Doomsday Man tried to fry Reading Ricardo, Clean Clara and Soap Box
but they managed to get away to continue their work.
Unable to chase them all at the same time,
Doomsday Man couldn't prevent Clara from deactivating the
hydroelectric generator. He also didn't catch up with Soap Box and
Ricardo before they shut down the wind power, geothermal and synfuel
exhibits. Doomsday Man went after Soap Box, even destroying his race
car, but not before the young boy closed the solar skylight's shades.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1 - BTS) - Without access to any direct source of
power, Doomsday Man instantly dropped to the floor unconscious. As a
result, Captain America was also freed from the solar space station.
(Captain America and the
Campbell Kids I#1) - Moments later, the Doomsday Man wasted away.
Without power to steal or energy to drain, he could no longer hold
himself together. As he vanished, he begged for someone to help him
but Cap and the kids simply watched him perish, all the while
congratulating themselves on a job well done.
Comments: Created by Bill Mantlo, Alan Kupperberg,
Herb Trimpe, Dan Green.
The Energy Drainers were created by Marvel for a special
educational campaign launched by the U.S Department of Energy in
association with.. erm, the Campbell Soup Company? Guess Chef Boyardee
was busy. They also appeared in a
televised PSA that featured a slightly different line up from the
comic. The Doomsday Man was replaced by a character called 'Cold Air
Crook' and Cap referred to them as 'The Energy Wasters'.
For a bunch of throwaway villains, the Energy Drainers actually look
pretty decent. There's nothing in the story that explicitly prohibits it
from taking place on Earth-616, so Thermal Thief and Wattage Waster
might still be out there. It's even possible the Doomsday Man was able
to eventually reform himself using negative energy.
This story was aimed at kids, so of course these crooks were beaten
pretty easily. But a group of villains that actively consume all sources
of energy should theoretically be unbeatable... and pretty terrifying.
Not as terrifying as Cap having kids watch a man beg for his life and
fade away into nothingness, but still.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Energy Drainers have no known connections to:
Cold Air Crook
The Cold Air Crook, and his fellow energy wasters Thermal
Thief and Wattage Waster, were wanted by the U.S. Department of Energy.
They hid from the law in the suburbs where Captain America eventually
caught up with them. Cap was able to easily defeat the Cold Air Crook by
shutting him inside the refrigerator so he could no longer waste
valuable frigid air.
-- U.S. Energy Department Public Service Announcement
(1980)
images: (without ads)
Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1, p3, pan1 (main image)
Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1, p13, pan (caught in steam)
Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1, p13, pan3 (escape)
Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1, p30, pan1 (versus Campbell
Kids)
Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1, p32, pan4 (defeated)
Captain America PSA (Cold Air Crook)
Appearances:
Captain America and the Campbell Kids I#1 (1980) - Bill Mantlo (writer),
Alan Kupperberg and Herb Trimpe (pencils), Dan Green (inks)
First Posted: 07/01/2024
Last updated: 07/01/2024
Any additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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