Redondo Komix #45 (1965), page 25 by Alcala

Cover date January 5, 1965. Series title is "The History of the Submarine Wahoo" ("Ang Kasaysayan Ng Submarinong Wahoo"), according to a list of Alcala Filipino comics compiled by Tristan Lapoussière. The series, written by Alcala, ran in Redondo Komix #38-#50, 1964-65.

Physical or digital copies of the comic are hard to find. I've uploaded the cover that celebrates the new year, as well as Redondo Komix #39's Wahoo cover and story page.

Alcala saw World War II up close and personal. According to Mark Evanier, "In his pre-teen years, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines...He would ride his bicycle past Japanese camps — facilities where you'd be shot if they caught you with a camera. Once out of range, he would sit down under a tree, haul out a pad and draw what he'd seen, from memory."

Mark also recounts a story about Alcala's prodigious output, let alone his talent: "Orlando was naturally impressed with the quality of the work he was shown. He told Alfredo that DC would hire him and asked how many pages per week he could produce.

'Forty,' said Alfredo.

The editor was startled. The least exhaustible DC artist would be hard-pressed to pencil and ink ten pages in a week. Then he realized that Alfredo probably assumed he would only pencil or only ink. 'No, no,' Orlando said. 'We want you to do all the art…pencil, ink, even lettering.'

'I see,' Alfredo muttered. 'I pencil, I ink, I letter?'

'Yes,' Orlando nodded. 'Now, how many pages per week do you think you can do?'

'Forty," said Alfredo.

Again, the editor was startled. Obviously, there was some sort of misunderstanding here. He figured that the artist before him was thinking in terms of very simple pages with only two or three panels on each and no detail. Fortunately, Orlando had brought along with him, several dozen pages of original art from past DC books. He showed Alfredo pages by Neal Adams, Joe Kubert, Curt Swan and others. 'We want work like this…these many panels per page, and this detailed,' Orlando explained.

'Oh,' Alfredo nodded. 'You want me to pencil, ink and letter pages like this?'

'Yes.'

'Well,' Alfredo explained. 'That changes things.'

'I would think so,' Orlando sniffed. 'Now then…how many pages a week do you think you can do?'

'Eighty,' said Alfredo. Skeptical and disbelieving, Orlando put Alfredo down for 40 pages per week. Soon after, when Alcala pages began arriving at DC at that rate, it was assumed by some that 'Alfredo P. Alcala' was the joint moniker of perhaps a half-dozen hands. Not so — as anyone who later saw Alfredo sketching at a convention can attest."

Text: Chapter 8

Previously: The submarine Wahoo went to the East China Sea and Yellow Sea, encountered inter-island ships, and did not fire on them. A few days later they arrived at Shantung Promontory and saw a ship at sea.

(Now:) Commander Mush Morton sights the Nanka Maru-type freighter. A torpedo is fired...

A few minutes later, they realized that the name of the freighter was Zogen Maru.

Historical note: The Wahoo sank the Zogen Maru during its fourth patrol in March 1943. The Japanese sank the Wahoo during its seventh patrol in October 1943 in the La Pérouse Strait/Soya Strait (between Hokkaido, Japan and Sakhalin, Russia). Wikipedia entry on the USS Wahoo's patrols during World War II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wahoo_(SS-238)