Gaylord DuBois, the powerhouse writer of so many Dell and later Gold Key comics, created “Captain Venture” to be a back-up feature for Space Family Robinson. (Not to be confused with Captain Venture from Nickel Comics in 1940.)The series began in SFR #6 (February 1964) and ran to issue #14 (October 1965). Space Family Robinson became Space Family Robinson Lost in Space for twenty-three issues (to October 1973) when the the title changed again to Space Family Robinson Lost in Space on Space Station One for a final twenty-two issues, ending at #59 (May 1982). But “Captain Venture” didn’t make that last transition. Issue 36 was his last appearance…sort of.
Through all the changes, one thing did not change. the comic was drawn start to finish by Dan Spiegle. His artwork is loose but detailed. It worked well for this strip because each issue would supply new creatures and people. Occasionally it reminds me of Russ Manning. The art consistency is a nice bonus.
Back-Up Bonanza
In four or five page segments the tale of Captain Rex Venture and his sidekick Scotty (No, not that one!) MacKay unfolds slowly. First, the astronauts are flying through space near the system of Beta 52 when a meteor disables their vessel. They land on the third planet, diving deep beneath its ocean. There they find a vast cavern lit by artificial lights and home to many strange aliens.
The parallels to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Pellucidar (which DuBois knew well from his Tarzan comics) are obvious but the story doesn’t take us in the direction of dinosaurs. But there are cavemen as well as ray gun-toting bad guys. (There is a couple of frames where the two men see giant sloth-like characters but this doesn’t develop into a chase like it does at the beginning of At the Earth’s Core, but ERB fans are waiting for it.)
A World of War
The episodes “Situation Survival”, “The Mystery Planet”, “The Cavern City”, “Pursued”, “Ambushed”, “Up From the Caverns”, “The Jaws of Death”, “Escape”, and “Jungle Ruin” are one rough story-line.
Having arrived in the underwater realm, the two men discover their engine is broken and their space radio is fried. Their only option is to explore the strange realm and meet its inhabitants who might help them. They find a city inhabited by technologically advanced people called the Kroppies. These prove to be hostile so the men run and find another bunch living like cavemen. (I have admit the fact that the bad guys are brown-skinned and the good guy cavemen are blonde and white-skinned makes me a little unhappy. The reason for the difference is that the cavemen eat a root that makes their skin white.)
New World, New Races
The next bunch of episodes were “Sealed Off”, “The Spider’s Prey”, “The Capture”, “Trapped”, “Test Flight”, “Strange Paradise”, “Return of the Enemy” and “Lava Trap”.
The men find a giant spider’s web with a captive, another blond girl, Marna. A Kroppie boats chase them but they get away. Later they are captured without Marna and sent to work in the mines. They encounter a paralyzing robot that belongs to the friendly fish people of Aquaria. The Aquarians help them in their quest but a Trog sub shoots a missile at them. (More brown-skinned bad guys. Did the Kroppies get a re-do?) Rex and Scotty’s ship is crippled and the men end up in a pterodactyl nest. The giant bird doesn’t eat them but drops them near their ship. The ship is sinking in the ground. The two men find themselves in an underground cavern. Trogs attack them, zapping Scotty. Rex takes him to safety.
A Better Ride
Further episodes include “Out of the Depths”, “The Big Wave”, “The Law of the Savage”, “No Escape”, “Savage Attack”, “Abandon Ship” and “Cavern of Ages”.
Rex’s sub gets swallowed by a whale-like creature. Inside its stomach they find a better vessel. They escape with their new dolphin-shaped sub. A whirlpool takes the sub to another part of the underground world. Scotty gets captured by the local green-skinned tribesmen. Rex finds the locals friendly and he and Scotty help them fight off their enemies. Then they meet elephant-men. A massive army of cavemen attack their stronghold and the earthmen help repel them. Finally! Dinosaurs.
No End In Sight
The last bunch of stories were “Island of Nowhere”, “Hunters of the Deep”, “Abandoned”, “City Under the Sun”, “Answer From Space”, “The Man Hunters” and “The Deadly Wall”.
A giant snake, a giant octopus, a return to the fish people and their enemies the Troglodytes, an underwater city filled with frogmen, man-eating tree gets a bunch of trogs, and a final confrontation between trogs and frogs. The episode ends with “To Be Continued” but , nope, didn’t happen. The series doesn’t wrap up Rex and Scotty’s quest to fix their spacecraft and return to earth.
But Wait..There’s More!
I said “sort of” earlier because in 1968 a two issue run of Captain Venture and the Land Beneath the Sea appeared in October 1968 and a year later in October 1969. It is this second issue that gives us our “sort of”. Issue one was made up of reprints from Issues #6-9, 13-14. But the second one was a previously unpublished adventure, “Fall Far…Fall Deep”. The two explorers are off to another strange cavern realm, this time with giant mushrooms. Inside an extinct volcano they find white-haired people who fight with the four-armed apes. The girl Hera learns their language with telepathy before taking them to see her father, Lucan, a great scientist.
Turns out he is a mad scientist who grafts different parts of creatures to make freaks. Rex and Scotty possess superior earth muscles and Lucan wants to graft wings onto them. The two prisoners escape, join the resistance and battle for freedom. They fight the freak monster from the cover before defeating the evil madman. If “Fall Far…Fall Deep” had been done later, then he lost an opportunity to finish off the story with a return to Earth. More likely it was cobbled together from unused episodes from earlier.
Conclusion
And there ends Gaylord DuBois’s Captain Venture, not his greatest achievement in comics, but a fun read. After October 1969, Rex and Scotty sailed off into that comics oblivion that many characters go to. From these plot lines it is easy to see that DuBois wasn’t working from a strong outline but happy to send the two men into new thrills each episode.
