Appearing in "The Devil and the Deep!"[]
Featured characters:
Supporting characters:
- A woman in a bikini
Villains:
- Slaymaster
- Konrad Kharkov, a shipping magnate
Other characters:
- Herr Kraus, a factory owner
- King Mbotu
- Sheik Hassan
- Mr Adams, a US senator
- Mr Yashobi, a businessman
Location:
- The sea
Items:
- Giant robot octopus
- Golden griffin
- Racing car with gold-plated engine
- Rare Spider-Man comic
- Priceless samurai sword
Vehicles:
- The Mako, a yacht which can turn into a submarine
Synopsis for "The Devil and the Deep!"[]
Captain Britain is injected by the giant robot octopus and paralysed. He is brought aboard the yacht and put in its ballast tank. The yacht can turn into a submarine: as the ballast tank floods, the yacht will submerge and Captain Britain will drown. Just to be absolutely certain, the evil shipping magnate Konrad Kharkov has also put some piranha fish in there too. (I do like a villain with a belt-and-braces approach.)
Kharkov has several guests on his yacht-cum-submarine. He plans to use the items Slaymaster stole for him to bribe them. This is a plan so gloriously barmy it deserves to be described in detail:
- Herr Kraus collects golden artefacts. He will get a golden griffin, "most perfect work of the goldsmith's art," if he agrees that his factories will buy no more British steel.
- King Mbotu, who loves racing cars, is promised a Grand Prix winner with a gold-plated engine if he cancels his contract to buy some British aircraft.
- Sheik Hassan will get a chained woman in a bikini (described by Kharkov as a 'houri') for his 'harem' if he stops selling oil to Britain. Apparently this woman is from the 'collection' of rock star Luke Lane, mentioned in a previous episode: "Lukie boy collected girls! He had dolly birds by the bushel!"
- Senator Adams is offered a rare Spider-Man comic to cheer up his poorly son if he votes against a US loan to Britain. This has got to be the weakest bribe of the lot, unless the comic has previously undisclosed mystical healing properties... and this story is daft enough for that to actually be the case.
- Mr Yashobi will receive a priceless ancient samurai sword if he cancels his plan to build a new electronics plant in England.
Kharkov's plan is to ruin Britain's economy, because the British (a) called him a "dirty foreigner," (b) refused him a bank loan and (c) sent him to prison for embezzlement.
In the ballast tank, Captain Britain is fighting for his life against not only the rising water and the piranha fish, but also the giant robot octopus, which has somehow made its way in there.
Kharkov tries to kill Slaymaster with a booby-trapped safe rather than paying him, probably because he spent all his spare money on a giant robot octopus, but is foiled when it turns out that Slaymaster is wearing a bullet-proof vest. The assassin throws his ex-employer overboard to feed the sharks.
Captain Britain escapes from the ballast tank in time to confront Slaymaster, who fends him off by grabbing the bikini-clad woman by the ankles, whirling her round and round in a circle, and throwing her at Captain Britain. This is probably the only time that Captain Britain has ever been hit in the face by a flying sex slave.
Despite this cunning tactic, Slaymaster is defeated and falls off the yacht (which apparently hadn't finished turning into a submarine) into a school of sharks. Captain Britain flies away, having radioed the Royal Navy. The end.
Notes[]
Published by Marvel UK in the week ending November 2nd 1977.
Trivia[]
This episode surely marks the nadir of the portrayal of women in Captain Britain. However, it is unlikely that any readers will be offended by it, because they will be laughing too hard.
Recommended reading[]
The next comic in this series.
Links and references[]
See also: Captain Britain trade paperback.