The first impression I get from this comic is that it's designed to appeal to the same audience as the men's "sweat mags" which were big at the time, albeit without the sleaze. Common to all the stories is the theme of he-men doing he-man things, having he-man conflicts, and beating on each other in a he-manly fashion. A woman is a prize for two he-men to fight over. At the center of each story is a he-man job: building skyscrapers, hunting whales, drilling for oil, digging tunnels.
The first three stories are so over-the-top that they're almost funny. "Blubber" takes the prize for excess. How can one take it seriously? Two guys send each other to the sharks and maim each other with blowtorches in the name of bringing home the most whale meat. They end up scarred, maimed and betrayed by the fickle dame they did it for. The skyscraper and oil stories are less exaggerated, though not by much.
The only story with redeeming value is "Sandhog." It helps that there's no overwrought man-to-man competition. In fact the story resembles Harvey Kurtzman's later EC war stories in which a green recruit becomes a man by atoning for some terrible mistake. The author has obviously done his research and gives an interesting picture of how underwater tunnels used to be dug. He draws upon a true incident (back in the 1930s, I believe) in which a sandhog survived being sucked through a hole in a tunnel wall. The big-mistake scene needs either better writing or better art. It's unclear just what sets off the "fireworks." Does the kid shovel something into the torch flame which causes the fire (in which case he is REALLY an idiot)? Or is he amused by seeing "fireworks" without realizing they're a sign of imminent danger?
The text feature is strange. It's almost a safety lecture. In couple of spots I expect a bar chart. The muddled conclusion seems to be that most industrial accidents, even in dangerous industries, are caused by reckless employees.
Artwise the comic is a mixed bag. Don Heck was doing much better stuff than this at the time (see later issues of "Danger"). Here he seems rushed. Pete Morisi delivers solid work, especially on "Sandhog."
I speculate that Pete Morisi wrote his own stories. They exhibit some of his stylistic quirks (like people saying "Unnnnn" rather than "Ungh" or "Ugh" when they're hit). Additionally, other stories from this period which Morisi definitely wrote were plagued by the near-hysteria evident in "Blubber." Thankfully Morisi learned restraint as his writing matured.
Overall opinion: an interesting artifact, but not a very satisfying comic.
