Title:
The Sea Baron! Part 1
Date of Publication
December 1989
Cover Price
Our Rating:
Credits:
Gabriel Morrissette
Penciler
Andy Kubert
Cover Penciler
Comic Book Synopsis / Plot
In the North Atlantic, a tanker is struck by a mysterious underwater object, causing a major oil spill. Doc Savage and his aides arrive to assist the cleanup crew from Project Seaprobe with a solvent created by Doc. They are introduced to Vanessa Barron, wife of Seaprobe’s head, and their chief assistant, Evan Samuels. Doc also meets Dr. Ellen Larke, chief investigator for Petrocorp, which owns the tanker, and she suspects sabotage. That night at dinner, Doc’s team meets Seaprobe’s head, the wheelchair-bound Conrad Barron, and discovers the hostile relations between Seaprobe and Petrocorp. Barron gives Doc Savage a tour of Subbase One, including a demonstration of an exo-skeleton that enables Barron to function normally. A sudden explosion tears through the base and Doc narrowly manages to rescue Barron, who suspects Petrocorp of planting a bomb. Doc and his team explore the nearby ocean in their submarine, the Helldiver, and are attacked by a giant tentacled creature. Though they manage to fight the monster off for a time, eventually Doc and the aides are captured by the creature and taken to its controller, the masked Sea Baron, who demands to know what they have learned about him. To make his point, he chains Doc to a winch and plunges the Man of Bronze into a shark-filled sea.
Leave your comments about this comic using your Facebook account:
Reviews
By Peter Silvestro
A rather pedestrian story, with an environmental message that is new to Doc Savage but old hat for comics in general in the 1980s, with a bit more of a whodunit aspect. The new art team takes some getting used to: the faces don’t look right e.g. Doc on pages 1, 11 (panel 4), 25 (panel 4). On the other hand there are some nice sequences, like Doc’s underwater rescue of Barron and the reaction at the bottom of page 20.
Score: 3 (out of 5)