Gwandanaland Comics #578

I really enjoyed this book. As ever, being a denizen of an anthology comic, The Red Torpedo does take some odd twists and turns. Which is why I appreciated that it actually held some continuity. The first two or three stories are somewhat tame. Jim Lockhart wants to build a torpedo that a man can drive, but the US Navy says no. So, he resigns, builds it himself, dons a red mask and costume, and starts helping the allies in various theaters of war. The wonderful "navigable torpedo" is "the most powerful weapon afloat" (in later stories: "the most powerful weapon in the world"). It can submerge like a submarine, or fly through the air like a plane.

Then there's this odd turn where he gets attacked by a giant lobster with a long rhino horn, and is rescued by the Mermazons of Merezonia. He goes back to their Crystal Citadel, and meets their Queen Klitra (look, I can't make this stuff up. ...Okay, that's a lie. I certainly CAN make this stuff up, but I didn't).

Eventually, he runs into a villain in his own sub named The Lone Shark. In the next story, his name has inexplicably changed to The Black Shark. I'll admit: The Black Shark is a way cooler name, but the wordplayer inside of me loves The Lone Shark just a little bit better. The name aside, The Red Torpedo battles him for the rest of his series- to the point that the last few are actually titled "The Red Torpedo Versus The Black Shark."

Red Torpedo's apperance stays pretty consistent throughout, but The Black Shark... mmm, wellll... He's bald with a white goatee when we first see him. Later, he has a black beard and full head of black hair. Of course, with the time being what it was, he was a white guy, so maybe the change to black hair was to help explain why he was called The Black Shark? I mean, personally, I just assume it was as an opposite to "Great White Shark," but whatever. His appearance changes.

Black Shark is an interesting character when you think about him. Throughout, he has a fleet of black subs. Some are U-boats provided by the enemy, and some bear a skull and crossbones, appearing to be his. He also comes up with a bat-winged plane with no explanation of why the plane needed bat wings, and later a red amphibious tank. So, he's apparently quite the inventor, although the stories don't really focus on that point.

There were two other incidental characters that didn't make the cut. In the first story, Jim's fiancee Meg helps him build the navigable torpedo. Once it's built, she's never seen again. In a later story, he has very minimal help from an assistant named Peggy Morse. After that help at the beginning of the story, she's also never seen again. "Meg" and "Peg" can both be short for "Margaret," but there's no indication that they're the same character. Beyond that, Red Torpedo runs into the aforementioned Mermazons, and two or three random island girls. None ever seem to be love interests beyond Meg being called his fiancee in the narration.

Overall: the Mermazons seemed really out of place in this series, but I love the fantastical stuff like that, so I enjoyed their appearance. It was also nice that Red Torpedo had an arch nemesis in Black Shark througout. The stories alternate as "by Drew Allen" and "by Roy Larken." I don't know if they were writer/artists, or writers only. The art is great though.

The Gwandanaland book suffers in that a few of the stories are blurred microfiche scans, but they work with what they have available. When (or if) better scans become available, they update the books. For the score: five stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Note: Originally posted February 20, 2022 under my cbishop account. I moved it here, and the original has been deleted.