Voyage to The Bottom of the Sea

In many ways, scuba diving began to be a major part of pop culture by the late 1950's and early 60's. During this time Hollywood released more than twenty movies where scuba diving was integral to the plot. Television shows like Sea Hunt and the Cousteau documentaries were bringing the adventures of scuba divers into the homes of Americans. Magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Argosy were following the sport's growth and writing about the adventures of divers. Words like skin diver, frogman, aquanaut, scuba diver, and nitrogen narcosis began to become part of the vocabulary of the American public. The adventures of scuba divers also began to appear in another important medium of the time, comic books. They made up an entire sub genre of the medium, and proved to be well represented by many titles during this period, such as The Sea Devils, Frogman comics, and Fighting Undersea Commandos.

In 1961, Hollywood released the movie Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in theatres. It became a surprise a hit that summer. The movie followed the adventures of the crew of a nuclear powered submarine. It was soon followed in 1964 by the television show on ABC. The show ran for four seasons, and viewers were able to follow the adventures of the Seaview and its crew of aquanauts as they journeyed across the world. The idea behind the movie and television show was not as far fetched considering the times. Two milestones in underwater exploration were achieved in 1960, the year before Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was released in theatres. In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Lieutenant Don Walsh (USN), in the bathyscaphe Trieste, made the first descent to the bottom of the Challenger Deep. Located in the Mariana Trench, it is the deepest surveyed spot in the world's oceans. Also during 1960, the submarine USS Triton, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach Jr, made the first submerged circumnavigation of the world. Hollywood had real life material to draw upon.

A common practice of the time for many movies and television shows was to license their material to comic book publishers. It was an opportunity for these publishers to supplement their own titles with such fare. Dell publishing led the way. They published comic book versions of such popular shows and movies as 77 Sunset Strip, the Searchers and Zorro. Scuba divers were also well represented with Sea Hunt and the Aquanauts. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea was also licensed to Dell Publishing during this period. The first issue of the comic was published in 1964, and the series ran for 16 issues.

Recently on a visit to my local comic book store, I was surprised to see among the weekly new tittles, the release of a new compendium of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Published by Hermes Press, it is the first of a two volume set that will contain the entire comic series. The collection has been digitally remastered to look better than when these comic books originally hit the stands. For a present day scuba diver such as myself, it was the opportunity to experience the adventures of Admiral Nelson, Captain Crane, and the rest of of the Seaview crew on the printed page.

The stories definitely have a very 1950s-1960s sensibility. The Seaview, with its science and technology, can always save the day. The covers of the time were beautifully illustrated and striking, echoing the pulp science fiction covers of the 40's and 50's. This compendium appears to have been painstakingly restored to look as good as the original comic books. Original covers, inside cover artwork, and pin-ups are prominent throughout. Stories have the Seaview crew facing tsunamis, exploring shipwrecks, and fighting giant deep sea monsters. Most of the stories have scenes of scuba divers facing undersea dangers. The stories were well paced, and create the scope and look of a theatrical movie.

One story in the compendium has a diver being 'saved' from a tsunami by his scuba gear. In another story two divers catch a prehistoric giant fish with just a net. In yet another story, a diver comes across a Portuguese galleon from the 1600's. Lucky for him it has an air pocket 'in which he can breathe in'. Obviously these stories are a bit far fetched. Their main purpose was to make each undersea adventure as exciting and colorful as possible. Individual issues did have small back up features that portrayed in comic strips some of the actual undersea discoveries happening during this time. Project Mohole and Jacques Cousteau's Red Sea Consehlf Two projects were both portrayed.

Prior to the release of this compendium, vintage scuba bibliophiles would have had to trawl the back issues bins of comic book conventions to find old frayed copies to read these stories. The new release of this collection gives the present day diver the opportunity to enjoy this pop culture icon of yesteryear.

For more information see http://www.vttbots.com , http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2009/09/22/scotts-classic-... , and http://www.comicvine.com/voyage-to-the-bottom-of-the-sea/49-2210/.