Showdown in Seatopia!

MAN FROM ATLANTIS — Issue no. 3, January 1978

Book: Man From Atlantis

Issue No.: 3

Published: January 17, 1978

Title: “Showdown in Seatopia!”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Digital scan

I played guitar and sang (yes, really) in a band called Band From Atlantis in the mid-1990s, when bands with cheeky pop-culture-reference names were common. I was pretty proud to come up with a band name inspired by a TV show, Man From Atlantis, that I remembered fondly, if vaguely, from my childhood. But the name was perhaps too obscure even for the mid-1990s. And since Atlanta, Georgia, is only a couple of hours away from central Alabama (my home then, as it is now), people thought I was saying “band from Atlanta.” “What’s your band?” “Band From Atlantis.” “No, I didn’t ask where you’re from. I asked the name of your band.” It was like I was living in a bad Abbott and Costello routine.

Man From Atlantis was less obscure in 1978. It was at least well-known enough that Marvel published a short-lived comic book adaptation of the show. I watched the show because it was basically NBC’s take on a sci-fi superhero in the Aquaman/Sub-Mariner tradition, and sci-fi superhero shows were rare on TV in those days. Especially compared to today, when we get a new Marvel-inspired series every few months on Disney+.

This issue kicks off with Mark Harris, the titular man from Atlantis (which is really just a nickname, nobody knows where he comes from or why he can breathe underwater), in the clutches of Mr. Schubert. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the TV show, but I looked it up, and Mr. Schubert was a recurring bad guy on the show. You’d think they could come up with a name a little more menacing than “Mr. Schubert” for a recurring bad guy. But anyway, Harris is a captive in Seatopia, Schubert’s underwater city (always cool when the bad guy has his own underwater city), and Harris’ friend Elizabeth is under mind control because of some electronic gadget. Schubert commands Elizabeth to cut Harris up with a scalpel (ouch), then Schubert leaves the two alone, assuming everything will go to plan.

Anyone who’s ever seen a James Bond movie should know better. And you’d think that Schubert, of all people, would have seen a James Bond movie. I mean, come on, he’s a megalomaniacal bad guy who has his own underwater city. Needless to say, everything does not go to plan. Harris uses a sonic scream to release Elizabeth from Schubert’s mind control. The scream also breaks a big outside window, flooding a section of Seatopia.

After rescuing several folks from the flooding, Harris goes after Schubert. Then Schubert releases a super-weapon, some kind of mist that disintegrates anything it touches. Schubert figures that it’s worth destroying Seatopia if he can kill Harris in the process. I guess Schubert really hates Harris. Of course, Harris (along with Elizabeth and the rest of their friends) manages to escape, and it is Schubert who falls victim to his own super-weapon.

(Probably-more-timely-now-than-it-was-45-years-ago reference alert — when talking about computers, Schubert says, “They make fewer demands — work longer hours without stoppin’ to eat or sleep — never talk about unions — an’ even make other machines to replace themselves!” I guess we know which side of the current actors/writers strike that Schubert would be on.)

Crazy Magazine

I don’t usually cover Crazy magazine — as I’ve mentioned before, Marvel’s 1970s take on a Mad-style comedy magazine just isn’t my cup of tea. Though seven-year-old me probably would have found it pretty hilarious — that might give you an idea of the type of humor the magazine delivers. But I thought I’d at least skim Crazy no. 36 since it is the first Crazy issue of 1978.

Crazy is an interesting time capsule — whatever the magazine’s staff was taking the time to make fun of was likely popular, or at least newsworthy, at the time. For example, the cover of this issue features a caricature of (hugely popular at the time) actress Farrah Fawcett drying her famous blond hair, and her hair dryer is plugged into the Six Million Dollar Man’s bionic leg. And the issue is hyped as the “Sensational ‘Let’s Save Energy!’ Issue.” The Six Million Dollar Man (AKA Steve Austin) was a popular TV character played by actor Lee Majors, who was married to Fawcett at the time. And there was an energy crisis at the time because of various geopolitical factors.

Items inside the issue include “The Hardy Bores and Nancy Drag Mysteries” (a spoof of the late-’70s Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew TV show), “A Crazy Look at Recreational Vehicles,” and “Crazy Goes to a Mafia Convention.” In a bit of merry Marvel cross-promotion, there’s an “Other Versions of Howard the Duck” gag that, truth be told, isn’t nearly as funny as the stuff in Marvel’s actual Howard the Duck comic book.

One of the best jokes I saw in this issue of Crazy is on the subscription page. The headline reads, “If you don’t want to be ripped off on the street — subscribe to Crazy.” Then, much smaller print states, “(and be ripped off right in your own home!).”

Also slightly noteworty… the cover price for Crazy is, as of this issue, sixty cents. That’s a good bit cheaper than Marvel’s one-dollar black-and-white magazines like Savage Sword of Conan. Though it looks like this is the last bargain-priced issue of Crazy— issue no. 37 has a one-dollar cover price.

Next time — Hulk! And my week three wrap-up!