Story title: "Dangerous Seas"
Cover Date: October 1937
By: Norman Daniels and Fred Guardineer
We're back to Funny Pages #2 for another Dave Dean story, this time (finally) in comic format, so let's get going.
Dave and Shorty are sailing the high seas, transporting a Russian guy this time. He's paid them well to Siberia, where his friends are waiting for him, however, Dave doesn't trust him! I mean, of course not, 'Muricans don't like Russians...
Actually, forget that, I don't trust him either. He's rocking that villain look tho.
The Russian guy is rushing (pun not intended) Dave, but his ship can only go so fast.
I agree, this is all very laughable.
They eventually reach their destination and all of these weirdoes are waiting for them.
The Russian even calls the woman his love, but she doesn't seem very happy to see him.
Then, Dave says he'll need two trips to get everyone to the ship, but Mr. Glasseye (by the way, didn't one of the villains from the previous story also have a glass eye?) here doesn't want to wait.
Seriously tho, you could've waited a little more to reveal your evilness.
Then, some Cossacks are seen aiming at the ship from an island, but more interestingly, look at this weird paneling.
The whole story is divided into six square panels per page, so some of the larger illustrations are weirdly cut in half. I guess it must've cost more to do custom paneling or something. Although "paneling" might be a generous term for most of the stuff we've seen from the time. Anyway, it's understandable, the medium was still in diapers after all.
It's revealed then that the bad guys of the story are prison escapees who have taken the director's daughter hostage. I say "It's revealed" but really Dave just pulls the reveal out of thin air (I'm trying to be graceful here, but it's an asspull).
Then this guy who looks like he was born and raised in Springfield grabs the girl.
I don't know, you tell me!
This doesn't sit well with Dave and Shorty, so fighting ensues.
After this, to prevent further setbacks, the gang leader ties Shorty to a mast and starts whipping him.
Guys, this is hardly the time to play happy couple.
The yellow giant is Ivan (he was very clear about it).
The leader is Kamroff.
The girl is Natalie.
At night, Natalie gives Dave a clue: there's a bag of jewels that the Russians are fighting over, so Dave just has to push them a little.
Seriously tho, not the time.
Dave gets on his yellow suit for just one panel and heads to free Shorty.
It's quite simple, really. Everyone knows sailors, prisoners, and hooligans will fight over anything, so they just have to "turn off the lights".
They run upstairs with the jewels and they rush to get Shorty tied up again. When the Russians come in, for some reason they suspect Shorty (who doesn't have the jewels) and trust Dave (who tells them that the guard probably took them.
Very "devil-whispering-over-your-shouldery".
So, Kamroff kills the guard who "stole the jewels", but then Ivan goes nuts.
Can't blame him, must be the hepatitis messing with his head.
When both men are weakened from the fighting, Dave and Shorty swoop in like the kill-stealers they are and easily subdue them.
And that's the end...
Oh no! But what about the S.S. Happy-Go-Lucky... Actually, yeah, replace that shit.
Kind of an anti-climactic ending, but it does its job.
You can read this story here.
Let's see the ratings!
Quality/Enjoyment: 2/5
We've definitely seen worse storytelling, but this is just boring and also pretty uninteresting. I guess I could praise the setting (I do enjoy the high seas), but it's not enough to lift the whole thing up. Also, the generic paneling doesn't help either, especially when considering some of the stuff from Federal Men from around the same period.
Historical/Cultural/Narrative Significance: 1/5
That's it then. For next time there's another Dave Dean story, in comic form thankfully, so I'll see you then. Thank you for reading and have a nice rest of your day!
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