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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Adventure Comics #144 - Sept. 1949

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Comics Weekend "A Martian Adventure!" by Otto Binder and John Daly.

It's Adventure Sunday!

Aquaman, on Mars? Well, maybe:
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Aquaman is told that, even if he helps the Valley People, he is not allowed to leave, ever! Aquaman, hero that he is, decides to worry about that later, and tries helping refill the valley with water.

Later, Aquaman spies a type of fish only seen in Arctic waters, thousands of miles away. He determines that there must be some sort of underground route, which he finds after hours of searching. He then commands some finny friends to tear at the rock wall separating the river and the valley, weakening it enough for some whales to knock it down:
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...and with that, so ends another adventure with Aquaman!


Otto Binder was really swinging for the sci-fi fences with this one: a hidden valley, Aquaman posing as a Martian, etc. I wonder if these easily-fooled Valley People ever reappeared in the DCU?

I have to admit, after reading the title I was really hoping Aquaman would make it to Mars. Maybe we have that to look forward to...


4 comments:

Marc Tyler Nobleman said...

So inventive! I feel a loss with the stories of today - the characters have more personality but many of the situations are not as fresh as this.

Anthony said...

Another fun Golden Age story! Was reminded a bit of the "Tralla-La" story from the 50s Disney Duck comics (Scrooge, Donald, and the boys' trip to a Shangri-La type lost valley)...

And another story where it's hard to communicate with Aquaman!

Re: Superboy: Gangsters try to trick Superboy into believing he's hurting innocent bystanders via using his powers.

Joseph Brian Scott said...

Neat story; funny that everybody's so Mars-happy; guess that a lot of people back then were looking to the Red Planet for some excitement.

I dunno; I'll give them a pass on the shell communique with this one. It's possible, I guess, that they knew of the general area where Aquaman hangs out and so firing a message there would feasibly get to him sooner than later...

...but, one mystery remains: why were the Hidden Valley Ranchers wearing coolie hats?

Anonymous said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

I knew it! Aquaman's a martian. It's the only possible explanation. How else do you explain a guy with yellow gloves who breathes underwater? And talks to whales?

FBI Agent #1: 'Hmm, what we need is someone we can push out of a plane a few miles over those canals."

FBI Agent #2: " How about that Aquaman guy?"

FBIFBI Agent #1: "I was thinking more along the lines of Green Arrow, but hey, Aquaman might actually survive the fall."

More of Binder's Captain Marvel influence: the mudflap seems like the type of situation Binder used to inflict on the Big Red Cheese.

James Chatterton