Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride

March 23, 2013

From 1977 to 1978, Patrick Duffy starred as Mark Harris, The Man From Atlantis in 4 tv movies and 13 tv episodes of the series of the same name. He was a half-human, half-Atlantean hybrid, living on land with little memory of his past.

Hmm. Sounds a lot like Aquaman.

Looks kind of like him too.

So it should come as no surprise that the comic adaptation of the show was published by Marvel Comics.

Not DC? No, why would DC want to publish a pretty clear copy of their own character? Marvel, on the other hand, had no problem with an Aquaman ripoff. And why should they? They already published the adventures of their own sea king.

The comic was not very popular. And while Aquaman had his own Hostess ad, The Man From Atlantis never even got an action figure out of the development stage.

Anyway, the tv show didn’t last long and neither did the comic, tanking after only seven issues.

What the what now? What’s that guy doing there?
Hey, it’s the real Mark Harris, the very flamboyant homosexual who married the very ancient Martha Raye just before she died, slept with her once, and inherited her estate.

Mark Harris. That’s the legacy of The Man From Atlantis.

Tags: Aquaman, Atlantis, bmj2k, comics, DC, hostess, Man From Atlantis, Mark Harris, Martha Raye, Marvel, Mr. Blog, Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride, Mr. BTR, Namor, Patrick Duffy, Saturday Comics, Sub-Mariner