Jet-Propelled Justice: Although this is a rather straightforward story, I did enjoy the space-age version of being hoist by one’s own petard. It was also entertaining the way Black Cobra’s plan both fell apart and came together, sort of like a one man “A Team.”
Torpedoman: What if “The Rocketeer” only “flew” undersea? Torpedoman scuba-dives with a jet-pack. It’s Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt) on steroids. It looks like the story was originally supposed to be both mystery and adventure, but the mystery portion was telegraphed to the reader wiltthout allowing for any detecting.
Eagle of the Sea: This is a nice story based on historical events with the Philadelphia and the Constitution off Tripoli. If you’ve ever wondered about the “shores of Tripoli” phrase in the U. S. Marines Hymn, this is a good place to learn about it. Although the story is correct about not one U.S. life lost, there was one wounded in Decatur’s crew.
Heroes Are Made! This little text story (2-pages) packs a lot into its exposition. At first, one expects a buddy story where the big guy takes care of the little guy and, the little guy ends up saving the big guy. Well, that’s not what happens. There are plenty of twists in this two-pages, even though the alert reader senses what is going to happen.
Danger in Two Volumes: What happens when a superspy’s ruse doesn’t quite work? He quickly adapts it for another, especially if the results have been foreshadowed on an earlier page. I really enjoyed this one, even though there were some pretty weak art panels that seemed hurriedly done.
I probably would have liked this book when I reached elementary school, but when it was published, I was reading funny animal comics and early western tie-ins like Annie Oakley and The Texas Rangers. Of course, my kindergarten self usually had to be happy with what my parents occasionally got me or I could read at my cousins’ houses (I had one cousin who seemed to buy every title he could get his hands on. I loved it when we visited his house because my aunt and uncle made him let me read them.)
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Black Cobra 3
