“The Undefeated” is a story in the comic anthology Tales from the Depths, based on the Gerry Anderson television series Stingray.
2024 marked the 60th anniversary of Gerry Anderson’s super-submarine and I contributed to new stories celebrating that event; in the show, the crew of the titular atomic submarine (Captain Troy Tempest and sonar operator “Phones” Sheridan) guard the oceans as part of W.A.S.P. – the World Aquanaut Security Patrol – defending the surface world from a rogue’s gallery of undersea troublemakers intent on wreaking havoc.
For Stingray‘s diamond anniversary event, Gerry Anderson Productions launched a multi-media crossover project called Stingray: Deadly Uprising, which began with a live audio drama performance and then spread out over a series of all-new Stingray novellas and comic anthologies.
My first contribution to the project was “The Undefeated“, a comic story for Stingray: Tales from the Depths featuring art by Matt Brooker (aka D’Israeli), released in September 2024. The first of a pair of comic anthologies, Tales from the Depths continues the Deadly Uprising narrative. Collected for the first time since publication, these anthologies contain comic strips from TV Century 21 plus ten brand new comic strips, each featuring a different undersea race – some from the TV series, some new – along with stories and background articles to put the Stingray material in context.
The classic comic strips, illustrated by legendary artists such as Ron Embleton, Michael Strand and Jon Davies, will plunge you back into the pulse-pounding aquatic adventures of Captain Troy Tempest, Lieutenant Phones and the mysterious Marina. Experience thrilling confrontations with monstrous sea creatures, alien-induced climate chaos and deadly underwater espionage as these iconic characters battle for survival beneath the waves.
In addition to the TV Century 21 strips, this volume’s new stories – written by top talents James Swallow, Ian Edginton, Chris Thompson, Jack Knoll and Ben Wolf Page – have been brought vividly to life by renowned artists Brian Williamson, Keith Burns, Matt Brooker, John McCrea and Lee Sullivan. The tales stand alone as exhilarating underwater adventures, each featuring a different undersea race – some familiar from the television series others entirely new, and also link together to form a larger narrative culminating in a dramatic cliffhanger where Stingray unwittingly plays into Titan’s sinister plans, forging a powerful alliance of oceanic adversaries.
Tales from the Depths is followed by Stingray: Battle Lines, which concludes the plotline from “The Undefeated” in the story “Triple Cross”.
This “Marine Minute” micro-episode from Anderson Entertainment also provides a bit of context for the comic stories…
AUTHOR’S NOTES
Click here to read my author’s commentary on “The Undefeated”.
GALLERY
