Showcase #79
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeShowcase #79 marks the sole Silver Age debut of Dolphin, an aquatic superheroine who represented a genuine genre hybrid — part undersea adventure, part romance comic — at a time when DC almost never blended the two so openly. The issue stands apart in the entire Showcase run as a self-contained love story rather than a conventional superhero tryout, making it tonally unique among the series' 104 issues. Though DC did not immediately greenlight an ongoing series, the character's emotional resonance proved lasting enough that later writers returned to her repeatedly over five decades, ultimately weaving her into the core Aquaman mythology as a key Atlantean figure. The issue is also a minor artifact of DC's broader 1968 editorial shake-up under Carmine Infantino, when the publisher was actively seeking fresh voices and experimenting with tone across its line.
In "The Fantasy at 14 Fathoms!", a group of US Navy frogmen explore a sunken WWII vessel and make a startling discovery: a white-haired girl with gills, mysteriously alive at the ocean's depths. Written and illustrated by Jay Scott Pike, with cover art by Pike and Dick Giordano, this 1968 Showcase #79 delivers a quiet, haunting encounter between the sea and the surface world. As storm clouds gather and the wreck begins to sink, the girl—known only as Dolphin—makes a choice that redefines her place in the world.
In "The Fantasy at 14 Fathoms!" from Showcase #79 (1968), a team of US Navy frogmen exploring a sunken WWII vessel stumble upon a mysterious white-haired girl at the ocean floor—only to discover she has gills and turns blue from lack of air when brought aboard. As she slowly learns English and forms a quiet bond with frogman Chris during their deep-sea dives, her true origins remain a mystery. When a storm threatens the wreck and it begins to collapse, Chris sends Dolphin to retrieve the documents, and though the ship vanishes into the abyss, she surfaces with a smile—knowing she can’t stay, she dives back into the deep, returning to the world she belongs to.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 19 grades ▾
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Jay Scott Pike — a Marine veteran of WWII and a veteran commercial illustrator primarily known for his glamorous romance work at Atlas/Marvel and then DC — conceived, wrote, and drew the entire lead story himself, an unusual degree of solo authorship for a DC try-out slot. At the time, Pike was a regular contributor to DC's romance anthology titles like Heart Throbs and Secret Hearts, and Showcase #79 reads as a natural extension of that sensibility into the superhero genre: the debut story is structured around an unrequited love between a navy frogman and the mysterious white-haired girl he names Dolphin. Dick Giordano, who had recently joined DC from Charlton and was editing the book, is credited (with some uncertainty about his exact contribution) as either editor or cover-ink assistant. The backup slot was filled not with new content but with a reprint of Aqualad's origin from Adventure Comics #269 (February 1960), thematically anchoring the issue within DC's underwater mythology from the outset.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First and only appearance of Dolphin in the Silver Age; published with a cover date of December 1968 (on sale October 22, 1968).
- Dolphin was entirely created by Jay Scott Pike (September 6, 1924 – September 13, 2015), who served as sole writer, penciler, inker, and cover artist on the lead story.
- Lead story title: 'The Fantasy at 14 Fathoms!' — U.S. Navy frogman Chief Petty Officer Chris Landau discovers and names Dolphin while recovering classified documents from a sunken WWII vessel; she departs at story's end, unable to live on land.
- Dick Giordano is credited as editor; letterer was Ben Oda. At least one comics historian (Nick Caputo) has suggested Giordano may have also contributed inking alterations to the cover, particularly on Dolphin's face.
- Backup story 'The Kid from Atlantis!' is a 7-page reprint of Aqualad's origin from Adventure Comics #269 (February 1960), written by Robert Bernstein and drawn by Ramona Fradon — explicitly linking the issue to DC's Aquaman mythology.
- Dolphin went nearly a decade without a follow-up appearance, resurfacing only in Showcase #100 (May 1978) in a cameo that connected her to Aquaman. Later appearances included Action Comics #552–553 and DC Comics Presents #78 (February 1985) with a redesigned costume.
- In post-Crisis continuity, Dolphin became a full supporting character in the Aquaman titles, eventually marrying Garth (Tempest, the former Aqualad) in an Atlantean ceremony attended by the Teen Titans, and giving birth to a son, Cerdian.
- Dolphin was reimagined and reintroduced in DC Rebirth's Aquaman vol. 8 #25 (2017) by Dan Abnett and Stjepan Šejić, retconned as a natural-born Atlantean mutant rather than an alien-experiment survivor. She also appears in the animated series Young Justice, voiced by Tiya Sircar.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Adventure Comics #269 (1960)
Reprinted in Superman Presents Wonder Comic Monthly #105 (1974), Mi Gran Aventura #122
Key issues in Showcase
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.