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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Adventure Comics #136 - Jan. 1949

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Comics Weekend "Water Boy!" by Otto Binder(?) and John Daly.

It's Adventure Sunday!

Great Superboy cover by George Roussos!

This week, Aquaman meets a strange young lad, an Aqua-Lad, you might say:
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Aquaman goes searching for the boy, and finds himself in the middle of some very choppy water. While its not a problem for the Sovereign of the Seas, young Finn is quite literally over his head!

Aquaman rescues him, and Finn tells him how and why he got forced into this criminal act. That gives Aquaman an idea:
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...and so ends another adventure with Aquaman!


"One thing's for sure, I'll never waste my time with teenage sidekicks. They're trouble!"--Golden Age Aquaman.

After the last couple of stories being more of a sci-fi/fantasy bent, this one feels decidedly old school, kind of like an adventure out of Boys Life with a superhero thrown in. I'm not saying its bad, at all, just a little less fanciful than the last few.

I can't confirm this story was written by Otto Binder; maybe the change in tone indicates someone else stepped in to write this issue.

5 comments:

Anthony said...

"[Sidekicks are] trouble!"? His Earth-One counterpart would have some choice words to say about that, I'd imagine. :-p

Noticed it's another story where someone gets in touch (right away at that!) with Aquaman via a message in a bottle...

Re: Superboy: Yes, nice cover, and reversal of the order of the usual "faster than a speeding bullet..." phrase. (Though wonder if any kids reading were thinking "they didn't have jets when Superman was a kid!"). The story this issue: Superboy helps a reform school graduate get a new start on life, despite a school bully.

Anonymous said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

It's a shame Roy Thomas never happened upon this story. Chuck Finn could have been an interesting addition to his Earth-2 series in the 80's. I do miss the radiation from last week, though. Hey, maybe if Chuck were bitten by a radioactive seahorse....

So Rob, I threw a bottle with a message into the SF bay tonight. Has your octopus pal retrieved it yet?

rob! said...

James--

you live in SF? color me jealous...

No, the bottle has not arrived yet, but our rivers tend to get clogged with debris (medical waste, stoolies), so it may take a while.

Joseph Brian Scott said...

Adam Sandler went pretty far afield when he adapted this story for the big screen.

You know, I can suspend disbelief for the idea of guy who can swim faster than a speedboat, breathe underwater, and command aquatic animals, but the notion that a message-in-a-bottle thrown into a river will reach a specific person somewhere in the ocean in a timely fashion ... I, I just can't get past it.

Aaron said...

That Chuck Finn is a caution!