Last time we saw the Copperhead he was being blown up in a mine due to some slapstick involving a barrel of gun powder and a torch. Not to mention general lameness not being able to shrug off a fairly small plank.

But hurrah for the Copperhead. He manages – at the last moment – to free himself from his burden and dive – at the last moment – out of the blast zone to freedom.

These men think they have won. They have not been paying attention.

Bob takes his mask off and looks morose for a while. He’s probably worrying about his hair. I want to tell him it is fine but seventy years and six thousand miles separates us.

Now there’s a bit of luck – a completely undamaged clue lying amidst the rubble.

Doctor Satan gets some good news – the tungite has arrived. He phones this complex to dish out his orders. It looks like a dozen sherbet fountains left upside down in a tiny car park.

This man answers the phone. In no way is he acting suspiciously. Not in the least.

I still chuckle when he says things like "This is Doctor Satan speaking".

These men are working in Dr Satan’s smelting plant. This chapter holds the record for the most uses of the word "smelting" in a family drama. Fact.

Bob, Speed and Lois get together for a pow wow. Bob claims the Copperhead was gone when he arrived. I don’t think we’ve ever been told why Bob maintains his poor quality charade. Certainly Lois (and probably Speed) would’ve slept with him by now if only they knew.

After a few more mentions of smelting, they agree to go to the address listed on the card that the Copperhead so conveniently found and (according to Bob) so foolishly left behind in the ruined mine.

They meet up with a guy who works at the plant. I don’t imagine for one second he’ll be just like the similar man who worked at the station and who betrayed them to his evil paymaster, Dr Satan.

An evil truck arrives. By which I mean a truck in the employ of evil. The truck itself is just obeying orders.

"Can I use your phone?" asks the henchman. "Sure – it’s in the office" replies the helpful plant worker. The office is where Bob and Speed are hiding. With nowhere to magically change into the Copperhead, is this really the end for our heroes?

No.

There is a cupboard.

But Speed knocks a bucket over and the baddie hears the racket. There is only one thing for it.

A fight breaks out.

It goes on for ages. At one point Bob jumps up onto a shelf to avoid the low swing of a baddie with a blunt object. It was impressive. Like CB Fry jumping onto his mantelpiece.

Bob wins! He watches the truck drive off with the ore though so he loses as well. But it’s better to win the battle than the war. That’s what they say.

But Bob is not beaten – he loves nothing more than jumping and almost flying like the hero he almost was. So he dives onto the bags of tungite (which must hurt) and the game is not yet truly lost.

Meanwhile, the fight is still going on even without Bob. Speed is getting his ass handed to him on a plate.

Bob Wayne amidst several bags of ore. Bob is the one in the middle.

This man has no idea that Bob is on board his truck. I pity the fool.

The magical transformation! At last.

Rather than risk being found amongst the ore, the Copperhead slides down and under the truck where no one will look for him. Let’s hope the truck doesn’t drive off at any point. That would be terrible.

He emerges when the men have gone and takes up a position behind a wooden post. Bob is the one on the left.

Bob watches some men go into a building. He locks them in. It’s nice to see he hasn’t lost his sense of humour.

These are the two men who were in the fight with Bob and Speed. One of them seems to be unconscious. I can only assume he slipped and fell on his way out.

The Copperhead uses his telepathic super powers to send a message to Lois.

Lois is startled to hear from the Copperhead.

He tells her to send help to the smelting plant. He finishes the call and some men pop out and hold him at gun point. It would’ve been better if they’d stopped him before he made his call but they nipped back into the shadows and waited for him.

Bob escapes from his captors and a fight breaks out. In a smelting plant. I hope no one falls into boiling hot liquid metal.

The fight moves up a level.

They run past pipes and valves while the music gets more and more excited.

The baddie runs across a narrow beam. Bob Copperhead has to do the same. My that’s high.

And dangerous when the baddie is loosening the ropes which hold the narrow plank in the air (and the beam he’s walking on).

The Copperhead not only runs across the beam but does so in a camp way which openly mocks his opponent.

The rudo responds by sending a pulley thing swinging into Bob. It hits him in the stomach. He goes down.

And down.

And down.

Closes in? How much closer can it get? He’s just plunged two hundred feet, head first, into the ground. Copper bag over his head or not, Bob’s now three feet tall, buried in a one-foot hole and dead as dead can be. Have I ever been wrong before?