[MarkWarner]

Last week we were successfully fighting crime on the railroad, but the general mood was a bit flat about the book. So I was thinking that maybe it's time for a change of elements! And luckily a very mysterious forum member (who we will call Mr X) suggested this comicbook and story! So let's read about:

"Daring Exploits With Today's Fish-Men In The Watery World Of The Seas!!"

Blimey, it sounds really exciting! The book can be found here https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=15337 and the story we are concentrating on is the first one: Dan Durkin Frogman in "Operation Ravage". I thought this was about divers but with a title like that I am now not so sure!

[SuperScrounge]

Operation Ravage - Okay, I guess... I do wonder why Durkin and Ames are on the same team though. Aren't there mutilple frogman teams? Two characters who don't like each other and are always fighting just seems like a recipe for disaster. (And unlike characters like McCoy/Spock or Human Torch/Thing there doesn't seem to be any indication that they actually like each other under the bluster.)

Underwater Trapper - More fun than the first story, although some of the art & word balloon placements created some oddities. Is yelling across open water about needing an undercover man and being the government's best agent really a good way to keep something a secret? How come the porter didn't hear the conversation coming from behind the mirror?

The Iron Prowler - Nice little fact page.

I don't normally comment on the ads, but how many kids reading this book needed to worry about trusses??? 

Willie Needs Us - Willie seems like an egotist. This story just didn't grab me. An okay, straight-forward story where frogmen have a mission and they do it and... um... yeah. I may not have cared for Durkin & Ames fighting in the first story, but at least they had personalities. The frogmen here... pretty darn generic.

Operation Demolition - Okay, but predictable. I mean starting off with the crew upset about the "freeloaders" it was obvious that there would be a change of opinion by the end.

The Frogman Takes A Bunker - Wow, that Lt. is a jerk. That final panel was just too goofy & silly for the serious tone of the story. Otherwise not a bad story.

Double-cross In The Deep - Pretty good.

[narfstar]

I really enjoyed the art on Operation Ravage. First I remember seeing this Mike S but I like his work. Dynamic with some cool angles. The story sucked. It looks like the writer did a little research but was never in the military. Ames was a bungler from the start and would have been court marshaled or kicked out. If Ames had been the best then maybe they would have let some things slide. But it made no sense to choose an insubordinate incompetent, who was only an E3 to go on an important mission with an E7, who he disrespected, and Osa. Who the heck was Osa and why was his rank not stated like the others. In the end, once again, Durkin proves himself by saving Ames. The only good thing about this story was discovering Mike S art. I enjoyed the Iron Prowler fact page.

[paw broon]

As a fan of Sea Hunt - comic and tv show - I was looking forward to this and it proved reasonably entertaining. The main problem for me was that the stories were all a bit too short and seemed very condensed, especially as they approached the ends.  Durkin and Ames weren't the best characters and behaved like numpties.  What military organisation would have put a pair of chancers like that on vital missions?  The action panels are well done but, as narfstar says, "Who the heck was Osa and why was his rank not stated like the others"  That's an example of what I meant about being a bit compressed.  The scripter seemed to leave chunks out for space reasons.  The 3 pager, "Frogman Takes a Bunker", could easily have been omitted from the comic.
My favourite story was "Underwater Trapper", apart from that coincidence of the hero just happening to walk into the bad guys house.  That seemed a coincidence too far. 
Got fed up with Double Cross in the Deep.

[MarkWarner]

This looks like it is going to be a fun read, well it is certainly a bit different anyway. So let

[crashryan]

I missed this one so I'm going back to cover yesterday's fish-men. I was a big "Sea Hunt" fan as a kid, but "Sea Hunt" this ain't.

Everybody else has it pegged: the stories are too short, so their setups burn up most of the pages and their conclusions are rushed.

One bickering-servicemen story would have been enough but here we have three. I found myself thinking about how common this sort of story was in old comics. Usually it was an enlisted man and someone slightly higher in rank, e.g. a corporal and a sergeant. They'd argue and insult each other and fight over the same woman. But when duty called they'd merrily team up to whup the enemy, often doing things that would have got real soldiers court-martialed. Klaus Nordling did a ton of these. "G.I. Joe" and "Joe Yank" carried the trope into the 1950s. Someone once told me that all this dates back to "What Price Glory" (play, 1924, movie, 1926) in which Capt. Flagg and Sgt. Quirt "comically" bicker and battle. But I wonder if it goes further back. At any rate, I never got into the genre. To me the men act like adolescent morons.

Some nice artwork here. Mike Suchorsky's stuff is beautiful, and John Prentice is no slouch either. But the editor was asleep at the switch: the frogmen's breathing gear keeps disappearing and reappearing. The frogman who grabs onto the keel of the boat apparently makes his entire journey while holding his breath!

[bowers]

I've been wondering if we were going to do a book from the war genre and here it is. Really enjoyed the Suchorsky art on the cover and "Operation Ravage". The panels were so full of action one could almost follow the story without any dialog. Not a bad story at all. I agree with previous comments about the "bickering servicemen" theme in three of the stories. This probably was just a reflection of some of the period's popular frogman movies, such as "Deep Water" and "The Frogmen", which use the same plot device. "The Underwater Trapper" had adequate art, but the story was just so-so. "The Iron Prowler" feature was pretty good for a one-page fill. My second favorite story was "Willie Needs Us"- art not as good as the first story, but good enough for this pretty fair tale. "The Frogman Takes A Bunker" was just another three page backup story, but not bad for what it was. Good to see some of Jack Abel's earlier inks. "Double- Cross in the Deep" had a fine story and I've always liked Paul Reinman's work. This one could have been a Pat O'Brien and Wallace Beery movie! Cheers, Bowers