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Sunday, September 04, 2011

Adventure Comics #138 - March 1949

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Comics Weekend "Marooned in the Deep!" by Otto Binder and John Daly.

It's Adventure Sunday!

Once again, Aquaman faces off against his ever-optimistic foe, Black Jack!:
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Black Jack is having a good laugh at Aquaman's expense, but the tables are turned when Aquaman commands an octopus to reach up and grab some of Black Jack's henchmen!

Black Jack manages to escape, getting aboard his ship. He dumps a barrel of black dye into the water, which surrounds Aquaman in an inky cloud! But of course Aquaman is resourceful--he reaches onto a nearby dock, snatching a scuba suit. But he uses it in a way no one would imagine:
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...and with that biting piece of social commentary, so ends another adventure with Aquaman!


Otto Binder must have had a tough time coming up with a story for this month's issue, since he basically just flips the plot of "Exiled From The Sea!", again using Black Jack, in the exact same, destined-to-fail way.

That said, its still a lot of fun, and it gives Aquaman the chance to be clever in a kind of Batman-esque manner, always figuring a way out of a jam. And once again, artist John Daly (as well as the unknown colorist), brings the good, delivering some really smashing visuals. Well done fellas!

2 comments:

Anthony said...

A fun tale, even if it's a recycled script.

Aquaman at this point can't survive (for long) the pressure at the bottom of the ocean? Guess the writers increased his powers through the 50s (similar to the increases given to his pal Superman)...

Nice that they note "Aquaman is always news"!

Re: Superboy: More flying Superboy tours, as we get the second "Adventure" cover with the familiar traditional Superboy logo---Superboy's self-titled solo comic debuted the same month as this "Adventure" issue. Plot: a cranky bus driver is forced to drive a busload of town-not-yet-named-Smallville students on a cross-country bus trip, while Superboy shows up to stop a counterfeiting gang.

Anonymous said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

Myrtle the Earth-2 Turtle: "Can you believe this guy? Everytime he's in a sword fight, does he ever once think to pick up a sword? Nope, reach for the turtle. Let the turtle do all the work. Look at all these scratches."

Swordy: "You think that's something? Let me tell you about my day."

I think there was a similar Batman story within a few years of this one. Batman spent too much time in an underwater scuba chase, and had to decompress. The crooks figured they had a free pass to mount a crime wave, but Batman fooled them by piloting a pressurized bat-sub through Gotham's sewers. Without any turtles, by the way.

I may be slow, but I'm just starting to figure out why ol' Blackjack was never invited to any Injustice Society meetings.

James Chatterton