It's Adventure Sunday!
I really want to read this Superboy story. But I digress...
This month, the King of the Seven Seas helps advance the cause of science. But in an exciting way, we promise:
Aquaman helps the scientists again from being sucked into a whirlpool, thanks to some manta rays who have turned themselves into sails. With the island destination only a few miles away, it seems smooth sailing from here. But, of course, it's not that easy:
...and with that, so ends another adventure with Aquaman!
I love the weirdly abrupt ending to this story, which concludes with the villain basically telling Aquaman to go pound sand.
Of course, we don't get to hear Aquaman's response--if this was the 1940s, Aquaman would probably launch a harpoon into the bad guys' stomachs. But the 1950s Ramona Fradon version is a little friendlier, so he probably just laughed, waved goodbye, and plunged back into the sea, having a mysterious desire to purchase Wild Root Cream Oil.
I love the weirdly abrupt ending to this story, which concludes with the villain basically telling Aquaman to go pound sand.
Of course, we don't get to hear Aquaman's response--if this was the 1940s, Aquaman would probably launch a harpoon into the bad guys' stomachs. But the 1950s Ramona Fradon version is a little friendlier, so he probably just laughed, waved goodbye, and plunged back into the sea, having a mysterious desire to purchase Wild Root Cream Oil.
4 comments:
Another story where the villains' favorite Golden Age Aquaman insult, "fish man", is used. Reminds me of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," where it seemed *everyone* in the galaxy (or other realms they encountered---Q, newly-met aliens, etc.) kept calling Data "tin man"... apparently the "Wizard of Oz" is the undisputed most popular book of all time (and space/dimensions/etc.). :-p
Re: Superboy's story: After seeing Superboy rescue a crackpot inventor from his own invention, a crook figures out a way to profit from the situation. From the description I read, the guy on the cover's wearing "seven-league mechanical boots."(?!) Yeah, I want to read this too...
Viva Adventure Sunday!
Count me in for that Superboy story. I'm going to have to track it down. Wonder whose barn that used to be?
Ah, the old vintage DC science/history lesson wrapped in the story trick. Really makes me nostalgic for all of those 100 page super-spectaculars I read as a kid. Aquaman was such a natural for that kind of educational twist.
Where are those sea eagles? I was really growing to depend on them.
James Chatterton
Most likely this story was inspired by the travels of the Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl's expedition across the Pacific. He had no assistance from any finny friends though.
Seconding what Michael Jones said: the documentary film of Kon-Tiki won an Oscar right around the time this story would have been scripted, so it's probably beyond question that was the inspiration...and I'll bet the scripter expected the readers to recognize the allusion.
Post a Comment