When this underwater uncanny team debuted in Showcase 27 (July-August 1960), Lloyd Bridges was already starring as former United States Navy frogman Mike Nelson in the popular syndicated series Sea Hunt, and CBS was about to give the idea a try with the program The Aquanauts.
The Sea Devils were “…conventional adventurers — no secret identities, no super powers, no gaudy costumes, just ordinary human beings,” noted comics historian Don Markstein. “And they were the last such conventional adventurers to achieve any degree of success at DC until Captain Storm (1964).”
“This issue was written by Robert Kanigher (Viking Prince, Rex the Wonder Dog) and drawn by Russ Heath (Marvel Boy, Haunted Tank), and starred a team of four scuba divers.”
Comics historian Joe Brancatelli noted that the New York City-born Heath’s work on “…Arizona Kid and Kid Colt Outlaw stands as some of the finest western work ever done in comic books. It was amazingly realistic and Heath’s ability to draw the ‘nuts and bolts’ aspects of costumes, scenery and weapons was unsurpassed… His storytelling style was straightforward and direct, never stooping to gimmicks or frills.”
The realism of Heath’s illustrations helped sell the feature’s more fantastic elements when the Sea Devils were pitted against sea gods, sea serpents, undersea gorillas and giant octopus men.
“The theme was somewhat reminiscent of Frogmen (no relation), which had appeared in one Showcase issue four years earlier before sinking without a trace, but these were new characters,” Markstein noted. “They were Dane Dorrance (handsome, brainy, designed to look like a leader), Biff Bailey (big n’ strong, street-smart, ruggedly good looking), Judy Walton (Dane’s love interest) and Nicky Walton (Judy’s younger brother).”
The most basic formulation of the uncanny team was Leader Guy, Strong Guy, Boy and Girl. The formula worked for Sea Devils, and — combined with super heroics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby — spectacularly well for the team of four explorers that kick-started the Marvel Age of Comics.
Johnny Williams wrote, "That cover was one of the great 'Grabber' covers of its era. Even some who didn't normally buy or read the title were drawn to this issue because of the dynamic cover art."
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