Wonder Comics #53 - 1971

Comics Weekend I thought I'd do something a little different for today's installment of Comics Weekend--instead of profiling a particular Aquaman comic or story, we're taking a look at a foreign edition, one of the couple I have in my collection but just haven't gotten around to talking about yet.

Wonder Comic Monthly hailed from Australia, was printed by the K.G. Murray Publishing Company, and was made up entirely of reprints from American DCs.

As you can see from the cover, WCM was more free-flowing in its mix of characters and content. Superman may be presenting the title, but its clear Aquaman is the star of this particular issue.

This issue kicks off with "Underworld Reward, Part 2" from Aquaman #45:

...as we can see, Jim Aparo's work looks just as good in b/w as it did in color. Of course.

Why K.G. Murray (or any foreign publisher, for that matter) didn't just use their American cousin's titles (Action, Detective, Adventure, etc.) I know not, but it occasionally made for some funny juxtapositions:

...I love how aggressive and angry this particular Aquaman page is, yet its paired with an ad for the mushy-gushy Magic Moment Romances comic.

But that's not all little Aussie kids got for their 20 cents! Inside this (and every) issue of WCM is a whole pile of material, culled from the far corners of DC's publishing ventures:

Wow, selections from Stranger Adventures, Action Comics, a one-page gag from The House of Mystery, Tomahawk, Gang Busters, and another tale from The House of Mystery! Whew!

I'm intrigued by the idea that foreign publishers must have assumed their readers wanted a lot more variety in their comics, since you hardly ever saw this kind of genre-hopping in American comics.