The cartoon was not only a favorite of mine as a child, but of my late father's as an adult. There were the gimmicks of where every phone booth he heads into to change from Shoe Shine Boy to Underdog explodes, as well as how he always crashes through roofs and walls even when there are door or window openings nearby, as well as his talking in rhyme. But what makes the comic work is the witty writing.
Examples include how he makes Simon Bar Sinister dizzy by flying in circles around him, thus preventing him from using his snow gun, or the clever ways he defeats a flotilla of alien flying saucers, or how he makes the Wicked Witch of Pickayoon wealthy by compressing lumps of coal into diamonds, or how he sends villains directly into confinement or jail. Too bad the DC Superman didn't have that level of cleverness...but then he didn't have Underdog's computer brain.
Examples include how he makes Simon Bar Sinister dizzy by flying in circles around him, thus preventing him from using his snow gun, or the clever ways he defeats a flotilla of alien flying saucers, or how he makes the Wicked Witch of Pickayoon wealthy by compressing lumps of coal into diamonds, or how he sends villains directly into confinement or jail. Too bad the DC Superman didn't have that level of cleverness...but then he didn't have Underdog's computer brain.