Showcase Presents: Sea Devils, Volume 1

This cover is an example of the beautifully painted covers that
adorned every issue.

The Sea Devils is a series that I remember as a kid- not because I was around when the series was originally published in the early 60s but as I remember reading some of these that my dad had as a kid. I also remember liking the Sea Devils so much that I went out and found a copy of my own (Issue #6 for which I paid $6) at a used book store.

The Sea Devils are four professional skin divers who tour the world putting on charity diving events while saving the seven seas from danger ranging from gigantic oceanic terrors of the deep to water breathing UFOs to a raging Neptune, god of the sea. The archetype of the characters are the leader Dane, whose a sort of master skin diver, his unrequited love, Judy, a former actress and model, her kid brother whose a man under the water, and Biff, the clumsy galoot on land but agile as a sea horse in the water. If this line-up seems to resemble a certain team of adventurers who wear the number “4” on their chests, you’re not far off. However, Sea Devil made on to paper a good year before the Fantastic Four did.

I really enjoyed this treasury of the Sea Devils first couple of dozens issues. They art is in the classic 1960s DC style that I enjoy and there’s evidence of the legendary editor Julius Schwartz’ influence in a trio of issues that team the divers with the artists who draw their exploits for DC Comics. However, the action in the tales is so jammed packed that the writers seem to have trouble pacing themselves thus the conflict resolution is rushed and usually left to only the last couple of panels.

Besides that, the biggest problem I have with this series is how the team communicates under water. In every issue, these four explorers seem to know exactly what their teammates is saying. It’s almost as if they communicate underwater. However, they spoke with thought clouds (a designate comics device to symbolize the thoughts of a character), so how is this possible for Dane to think something and Judy to reply to him? In a couple of issues, the team is given the powers of telepathy by aliens- so that’s excusable. In one issue, the team has underwater microphones in their masks, but their communication is assigned with a word balloon that looks jagged like static. So, there are about 18 issues in which the team is underwater, talking to themselves by thought and there’s no reason given as to why the other 3 Sea Devils know what’s being communicated. Talk about a nit that size of a whirlpool.

Despite my problems with this series, the book brought back great memories of my childhood experiences with comics. That alone was worth the price of the book. The series isn’t bad; it’s just got some plot flaws that were seriously overlooked. I enjoyed this book enough that if they ever publish a volume 2, I will buy it. I just don’t expect that issue to be perfect. I’m not saying this is a comic to be avoided. Not at all, it’s just that this book is the equivalent of a 1960s B-movie in which it’s a classic but due to budget constraints (and probably a rushed schedule to the printers) some technical errors got past the editors.

Worth Consuming.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.