The Perpetrators:
Writer – Bill Mantlo
Artist – Frank Robbins
Inker – Frank Springer
Letters – Tom Orzechowski
Colors – Janice Cohen
Editor – Archie Goodwin
Publisher – Marvel Comics

The Plot:
Mark Harris, a survivor of Atlantis who is has a host of typical sea-centric powers (breathe underwater…swim long distances…webbed hands…communicate with sea-life…blah blah) and is just high-lariously naive in the ways of humans, must help the U.S. Navy solve the mystery behind a nefarious white mist causing disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle.

The Deal:
The ’70s are really such an incredible wealth of amazing crap, aren’t they? According to Wikipedia, NBC’s short-lived sci-fi/superhero seriesMan from Atlantis (starring Patrick Duffy — but you just KNOW they wanted Mark Spitz!) sprung out of four highly successful TV movies.

The series never made it past one season, but that didn’t stop Marvel from trying to have their very own Aquaman-that-wasn’t-Submariner…for seven issues. Comic/TV tie-ins have never had a very high success rate, I guess. Although it’s somewhat humbling to think this comic probably sold more issues than like Secret Invasion #1.

The Verdict:
Doofy, but less a quick, cynical cash-in than one might expect thanks to some above-average art and the most hilariously rampant homoeroticism this side of that last James Bond movie.

The Dialogue:
Dr. Elizabeth Merrill: “Mark, you never cease to amaze me! You have eyes like an eagle!”

Mark Harris: “No — more like a dolphin!”

Random dude: “That was what we call a figure of speech, Mark!”

The Wtf Moment:
Page 23, when the villainous mastermind behind the evil mist reveals he’s kidnapping sailors and brainwashing them into helping him build Seatopia: a “self-sufficient city beneath the sea.” Of course, Seatopia will also double as the world’s food supply since the villain plans on wiping out all of earth’s produce with man-made natural disasters so that he can corner the market on global nutrition. Yep.

Spread the word!