Undersea Agent
Entry updated 20 October 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1966-1967). Tower Comics. 6 issues. Artists include Ray Bailey, Gil Kane and Wally Wood (a cover only). Scriptwriters include D. J. Arneson, Gardner Fox, Don Segall and Steve Skeates. 68 pages (except #6, with 52); comprising 3-5 long strips, plus shorter non-fiction pieces on ocean related matters as filler.
Undersea Agent had a fairly forgettable lead character, which the upgrading of their abilities failed to improve; this hindered the comic from developing much of an identity, but the artwork was often good and the stories were busy, making it a lively read.
US Navy jet pilot Lt Davy Jones is ordered to join U.N.D.E.R.S.E.A. (the United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis), based at a large complex Under the Sea headed by Professor Weston, who explains it was built on the ruins of Atlantis (discovered by him), for the purpose of researching solutions for humanity's peaceful colonization of the sea. Another Scientist, Dr Fang, had been conducting a similar search for Lemuria, and was also successful; but his undersea continent was still inhabited by a Lost Race. Using these people and aided by Chinese funding, Fang is preparing to take over the world. Jones had been identified as the man to stop him, aided by Professor Weston's Inventions – such as a thin diving suit that enables him to both survive the pressure of the depths, and breathe without scuba tanks (it allows oxygen from seawater to pass through it), while an energy cell powered by sea water (see Power Sources) not only heats the suit but enables him to swim speedily. For long distance underwater travel he uses a flying-saucer-shaped "Sea Saucer" (see UFOs); Fang's troops use a similar machine. Jones is aided by comic relief "Skooby" (see Humour) and the competent Renata Del Mar, but the latter disappears after #2 – though #4 introduces Dolph, a female dolphin (see Women in SF). Weston looks a lot like Santa Claus and smokes a cob pipe; Fang is very much the "cunning" fiendish oriental stereotype (see Yellow Peril).
Adventures follow, though Fang dies in #2's opening story. In "The Secret of the Flying Saucers", Aliens from another galaxy use an undersea base on Earth for refuelling on their journeys "to the edge of the universe – and beyond!" They sneer at Jones' assumption that they are from Mars, pointing out that it is uninhabited. In another story Jones is stung by an electric eel, which – in combination with his unisub's "new energy converter engines" – turn him into a walking generator and electro-magnet (see Superpowers). Though this is temporary, Weston provides a belt that reproduces the effect, with Jones now being compared to a T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent.
In #3 we discover Fang's organisation continues under the new leader Tyro, a Lemurian. Despite turning giant squid mad and having a Robot, he lasts only one strip. The issue also introduces Dr Mayhem, who has a "matter displacer" (See Matter Transmission); Dr Malevolent with his "will warp Ray" (see Psionics) and an unseen foe who uses Androids. There are also "panther whales", giant whales with the faces of panthers: "Obviously they're some Miocene bred species that's been disturbed by the bomb tests," explains Weston. #4 has another Mad Scientist, General Zomba, who creates Zombies and uses both paralysing and Death Rays. Additionally, Skooby's clumsiness near one of Weston's experiments turns him into a Monster.
"Born Is a Warrior" (#5) has alien amphibians planning to conquer the Earth, but Skooby realizes salt water will kill them (something they seemed unaware of), like freshwater fish. This issue introduces a new character, Merman. With a communist nation (see Cold War) announcing they have colonized Venus and claiming ownership, Professor Weston uses gill transplants to turn Olympic swimmer William Fields into "the first truly amphibian man", thus enabling him to breathe on the planet's surface where the atmosphere is "approximately 60% the density of our water". He and Davy Jones (who relies on oxygen tanks) take a three-month journey by rocket to Venus, whose landscape is swamp and water: their mission to destroy the communist bases (no specific reason is provided and the morality is not addressed) is achieved with the help of Venusians. In #6 Weston invents a "molecular densifier" that enables Davy to survive the pressures of the ocean depths, plus pills that will adjust his metabolic rates for 30 minutes and allows him to breathe underwater (presumably these are considered an improvement on the suit the professor gave him in #1). Nonetheless, currents created by a seaquake forces him so deep he loses consciousness, to be saved by the scientifically advanced people of Antor (see Lost Races; Utopia), who originally dwelt on a mountain and were led by the wise "Placrotese", but moved underground, to be pushed deeper by shifts in the Earth's crust. Davy finds love here, but another seaquake forces him back to the surface world, unable to return. There is also an attempt to conquer the world with a growth hormone that will create an army of giants (see Great and Small); Merman fights a scientist who has trained giant lobsters to kill. [SP]
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