Comics That Time Forgot: Showcase #48

Showcase #48

Creative Team:

Writer: Bob Haney
Artist: Lee Elias

Editors: Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan

Publication Date: Jan/Feb 1964

Spurred by the success of the Challengers of the Unknown, DC tried out some other sci-fi series including the Sea Devils, Rip Hunter, and Cave Carson. I've seen Cave pop up here and there with the Forgotten Heroes, or helping out in Metropolis, but I've never read a solo Cave Carson story, so when I saw Showcase #48 at my local comic shop for a reasonible price, I thought I'd give it a look. Especially since, if you google "Cave Carson", you'll find several images of this very cover.

Characters:

Cave Carson
Bulldozer Smith
Christie Madison
Lena the Lemur
Emile Basto

The cast is visually uninteresting, even with the new French costume Christie has designed while in...France. Cave isn't sporting his beard and moustache that he sports when he's revived in the 80s, and in flashback sequences involving Johnny Blake, Carson and Blake are almost interchangeable visually.

However, the characterization, which I would argue is more important, brings this team to life. Cave is the confident, but conservative, leader. Adept at spelunking (what a great word), but reserved personally. One of the things clear about Cave Carson and associates is that they are a team, not just a guy with stragglers-on that need rescuing every adventure. Ok, I've only read the one, but I would assume that the motif carried throughout these early adventures. Even Lena the Lemur saves the day in one of the problems they encounter in this adventure.

Bulldozer Smith is the loyal muscle man useful when things get too physical. We learn in this issue that he's got a criminal past, but Cave stands by Bulldozer strengthening his already strong dedication to Carson. Bulldozer almost seems like an innocent child looking up to his "father", Cave Carson, and was ashamed when he "learned" of his past mistake. Cave, of course, knew all along.

That would make Christie Madison the "mother" of the group. Unfortunately, she spends this adventure as the stereotypical damsel in distress. Christie is also Cave's unrequieted love interest. All the more frustrating for Cave is that the only thing keeping things from being full requited is her devotional love to missing spelunker Johnny Blake. It's her passion that is so easily manipulated by villain Emile Basto. Lee Elias does a fine job making her an attractive piece of eye candy, however.

Which leaves our villain. Emile Basto. This is Basto's only appearance, but we learn not the first time Carson has foiled his plans. In a French spelunking competition, Basto sabotaged the competitors' equipment so that he would win. Unfortunately for Basto, Cave learned this and exposed him. He's a pretty good schemer, however, and pretty good with genetics, so he hatched this plan to gain his revenge on Cave Carson.

Character Rating: 1/2 a Worm...loss of 1/2 worm for stereotypical female lead.

Plot

Cave Carson is in Paris for an International Spelunkers Convention when, it just so happens, a gigantic glowing bison ransacks the small town of Sarlac. I wondered if this was where George Lucas got the name of the Sarlacc Pit, what with the suggestion that Star Wars was inspired by Jack Kirby's Fourth World titles, though I find that claim a bit of a stretch. But if Bob Haney made up the town Sarlac, as so many DC cities are made up, then it would strengthen that claim, in my opinion. However, googling Sarlac, France, while not bringing a lot of information, I did find a couple of references to Sarlac, France. Google, however, would prefer if I was looking for Sarlat, France which is in the same province as the town in Showcase #48. So I now have more questions that before...back to the story.

The French ask Cave for assistance, which at first seems odd because a bison is not an underground dwelling animal, but the glowing bovine came out of a cavern and returned to it after plundering the town. The French are uncomfortable letting Bulldozer go because of his criminal past, but Carson hardlines them saying, "Either he goes along...or we all stay here!" Bravo, Mr. Carson.

Upon reaching the cavern, Bulldozer get caught unaware by the glowing bison and grabs its horns to avoiod being trampled. To save Bulldozer, Cave lassos the beast with a cable-winch stopping the beast and giving Bulldozer the opportunity to get off safely. The cable breaks and the bison returns to the depths of the cave.

Following the bison into the cave, the team encounters giant beetles, giant spiders, an anti-magnetic cavern which pins our heroes to the ceiling, and freshly painted scenes forecasting those dangers. The trio also discover a pick with the initials J. B. on the handle. Clearly the pick of Johnny Blake, Christine's long lost love, because, I guess, no one else in the international speluncking community have the initials J. B. Also, it proves he's alive down there because, I guess, if he was dead, then he wouldn't have left the pick.

Ok, yes, it's a convenient plot device, but also shows why Christine and Cave aren't quite a couple.

Having survived the perils, they discover the painter of the precognitive art pieces is Emile Basto, a rivel of Carson's who was shamed by him when Cave revealed he was sabatoging equipment in a spelunking competition. Basto discovered the strange caverns around Sarlac and found within them a group of "molemen" and a giant dragonfly encased in ambur. Using blood from the giant insect, Basto created the other giant creatures in the cave. He was also able to revive a prehistoric mastodon. Mimicing Greek myth, to an extent, Basto ties Christine to the bison's horns and sends it into a maze for Bulldozer and Cave to chase after. Lena the lemur saves the day, untying Christine. However, they still have a rampaging bison to avoid and they soon learn a mastodon as well. They hide in a crevice and the beasts create a crack in the ceiling wall above them. Soon, the ocean floods in washing away the cavern's creatures and our heroes swim to safety.

A lot of people complain about pseudo-science in comic books, but the application of science facts in creative ways can be fascinating, as I feel Haney did here. Granted the solutions to the trials that Cave and team went through were simplistic and sll too convenient, the tale was still entertaining. Especially interesting, I find, is that this tale is like an early version of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. I don't know how often ambur encased insects have been used in literature as a vehicle for genetic manipulation to create monsters, but I'd speculate this was an early attempt at that plot device.

Plot Rating: 1 1/2 Worms...loss of half a worm for simplistic solutions to the problems...loss of half a worm for a deus ex machina resolution. added half a worm for creative use of science.

Art

To be honest, I'm not sure how much credit Lee Elias gets. The art is good, I feel, though I'm not real familiar with the standards of the day. Some of the shots, however, seem too far back making some of the detail too minute. Part of the problem, though, may have been a conscious manipulation of the pnels as, when the team goes into the cave the panels become broad and short, creating a feeling of constriction and tightness. When a danger has passed, the panels open up a little and more close-ups are used, helping relax the tension. Whether that came from Elias or Bob Haney, I can at least say Elias handled it well considering the difficult nature of the art necessary for these thin panels.

Art Rating: 1 1/2 Worms...loss of 1/2 worm for panels pulled too far back from the displayed images.

Overall Rating: 3 1/2...Mildly recommended for adventure comic fans, silver age fans, and readers not distracted by pseudo-science.