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Which artist won DC's "Sensational Reader Poll"? According to Comic Reader Man, "Sadly, NONE of these artists won. Novick did another issue, but Howard Purcell did most of the following books, with nothing spectacular there. That Gene Colan didn't get the job is a real shame, because he then went on to do such spectacular work on the Sub-Mariner for Marvel. Think about how different things would have turned out had he been assigned Sea Devils!"

Pictured below is a page of original art from Sea Devils #16 by Howard Purcell (Pencils), and Sheldon Moldoff (inks).

BELOW: Ad by Ira Schnapp featuring Russ Heath cover art for Sea Devils #17.

With issue #23, the Sea Devils jumped on board the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." craze by repositioning themselves as the International Sea Devils:

In the final Sea Devils ad, seen below, the radical change in the tone of the Sea Devils -- and DC's entire line of comics -- is painfully evident. Gone is the whole “dive into the mysterious depths” approach, replaced by DC’s “go-go” checkered psuedo-grooviness:

Sea Devils was cancelled with its 35th issue (cover pictured in ad above, on left). Recently, Dane Dorrance, leader of the Sea Devils, briefly appeared in the novelization of "Infinite Crisis" by Greg Cox. Sadly, apart from this and a very small number of reprint appearances, and several cameo appearances in Action Comics as part of the "Forgotten Heroes," the Sea Devils have hardly been heard from since their title's cancellation in May, 1967!

THE END!

TO BE POSTED ON OR ABOUT FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2009