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Sunday, July 12, 2009

World's Finest #147 - Feb. 1965

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Comics Weekend "The Underwater Olympics!" by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon.

After a little over three years of running as an alternating back-up in World's Finest with Green Arrow, Aquaman ended his run in the title with this story, reprinted from Adventure Comics #277:
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Aquaman wins the drawing to see where the Underwater Olympics will be held, and he picks the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the many spectators is Bart Horval, who Aquaman knows as "The robber baron of salvage operations." Horval trash-talks Aquaman, saying he hopes Aqualad wins. Crooks were a lot nicer back then.

The first event features dueling swordfish:
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You haven't lived until you've attended a boxing match featuring a walrus fighting an octopus.

Next up is a water polo game, which brings the score to a tie. The next set of games feature underwater skills, and Aqualad has to retrieve a lead crate from the bottom of the ocean!

Aquaman has to perform the same talk, but begs off, claiming he and his team have failed--Aqualad wins this round. Next is stopping some smugglers, and Aquaman loses that contest, too--what's going on here?

Next is a tug of war between the two heroes:
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...so Aquaman took a hit, purposely throwing the Underwater Olympics, just to help his friend Superman! What a pal--I hope he mentioned this to Kal the next time they got together at the JLA Secret Sanctuary.

A fairly goofy story with an off-beat, out-of-left-field ending, this is Aquaman at his self-sacrificing best. My hero!

2 comments:

Dixon said...

I love this story! Truth be told, I love any classic story which focuses on Aquaman and Aqualad involved in fun and games, as long as it includes as many of their finny friends as possible! These adventures, as you pointed out, were so innocent and so much fun. Walruses boxing octopi? Bloody brilliant.

Russell said...

Great adventure; one of my favorites.

But Rob, what the %^## is Superman doing to Robin and Jimmy Olsen!?!