Supercar #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeIn "The History of Flight, Number 9: Brainstorming and Record Making," Supercar races through a blizzard to deliver life-saving serum to a Pacific island, only to find the grateful nurse, Nellie, hiding a dangerous secret. As Mike is drawn into a suspicious tour of a restricted air base and a hidden underwater city, strange clues begin to surface—no patient, a hidden radio wire, and a brooch that’s more than just jewelry. Written by Paul S. Newman and illustrated by Ray Osrin, with a cover by Mel Crawford, this 1963 adventure blends daring flight with a web of deception, all while Supercar’s magnetic net proves once again that even the smallest detail can hold the key to the truth.
When Supercar delivers life-saving serum to a remote Pacific island, Nurse Nellie Lang’s gratitude feels genuine—until her charm begins to feel like a trap. With Mike Mercury eager to help, she guides him on a tour that leads them straight into a restricted air base and then beneath the sea, where a hidden city pulses with secrets. But when Mitch the chimp discovers a hidden radio and no child patient, the truth starts to unravel: Nellie’s smile hides a spy’s game, and her brooch is more than just jewelry. With the island’s secrets at stake, Supercar must outwit deception before the truth is lost underwater.
Robert and his parents are camping when a forest fire breaks out, testing their courage and the unlikeliest of heroes—Robert’s robot. With the forest ranger unable to work through the smoke, the robot proves essential, guided remotely to clear a fire line. The ranger, impressed, tells the parents the robot may be the true protector in the flames.
In the China Sea, a passenger ship is seized by the enigmatic Dragonmen, who abduct Professor Hardley—key to the space program—demanding a million dollars or his fate to the Red Chinese. Supercar races to Hong Kong, tracking the ransom signal to a fleet of junks, only to find a hidden hydroplane within. When the Dragonmen kidnap Dr. Horatio Beaker and replace him with a double, Mitch exposes the impostor, and the two escape with a smoke grenade. As Supercar pursues the fleeing hydroplane, it submerges—crushing the craft and rescuing Professor Hardley from the depths.
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We Buy Collections ▸Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August 1963 by Gold Key (Western Publishing Company, Inc.); the indicia publisher is listed as K.K. Publications Inc., Western's standard imprint vehicle.
- This is the final issue (#4) of the series — explicitly noted in Grand Comics Database records as the 'last issue' — making it the concluding chapter of the only American comic book adaptation of a Gerry Anderson Supermarionation series produced during that franchise's original broadcast run.
- The issue contains two main stories: 'Tricked and Trapped' (14 pages), in which femme fatale spy Nellie Lang manipulates pilot Mike Mercury into exposing a secret underwater city, and 'Captive of the Dragonmen' (13 pages), in which the crew rescues a kidnapped space-program scientist from Hong Kong-based criminals — both scripted by Paul S. Newman and drawn by Ray Osrin.
- Characters featured throughout the issue include series regulars Mike Mercury, Dr. Horatio Beaker, Professor Rudolph Popkiss, Jimmy Gibson, Mitch the chimp, and recurring villain Masterspy — the full core cast of the Gerry Anderson TV show.
- The cover and back-cover pin-up (depicting Mike Mercury and Nellie Lang) were painted by Mel Crawford, consistent with Gold Key's signature practice of using painted covers with the same image reprinted without trade dress as a back-cover pin-up.
- A one-page 'History of Flight, Number 9: Brainstorming and Record Making' feature, drawn and inked by Dan Spiegle, appears on the inside front cover; a companion 'Number 10' installment appears on the inside back cover — part of a recurring educational series running through the four-issue run.
- Writer Paul S. Newman was the credited Guinness World Record holder for most prolific comic book writer, with more than 4,100 published stories; he was a core Western Publishing/Gold Key writer whose other credits include Turok Son of Stone, Doctor Solar, and The Lone Ranger.
- The Supercar TV series that inspired this comic was Gerry Anderson's first half-hour Supermarionation production (1961–62, AP Films/ITC), and the Gold Key comic was noted by TV Tropes and multiple Anderson reference sources as the only Supermarionation series to receive its own dedicated American comic book adaptation during the show's original run.
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Reprinted in Domingos Alegres #664
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