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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Adventure Comics #183 - Dec. 1952

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Comics Weekend "The First Undersea Jail!" by George Kashdan(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

"Dear Daily Planet Forum: I never thought this would happen to me, but..."

Aquaman's efforts to build an underwater Main Street, U.S.A. continues!
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Captain Fleet, upon hearing about Aquaman's undersea jail, hatches a plan--to bust open the place, which will distract the Sea King, leaving them free to "knock off" the Annabelle!

Fleet and his crew board the Annabelle, but they are surprised to see Aquaman waiting for them! But he's outnumbered, so they grab Aquaman and, at gunpoint, tie him up:
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...and with that, so ends another adventure with Aquaman!


It seems like whoever was writing these stories (George Kashdan? Jack Miller?) was pretty much just spinning the dial, dropping in different nouns following the words "The Underwater ____________." To be fair, each story takes a slightly different tack, if you can say Aquaman foiling yet another sea pirate can be called "different" in any way.

As usual, Ramona Fradon does her usual excellent job, really making these stories come alive. They are a pure pleasure to look at.

5 comments:

Anthony said...

More sea eagles finally appear! :-p

Do have to wonder (per the scene with Arthur noting he "couldn't speak to them") when exactly did his ability to communicate with sea creatures become full-fledged telepathy (vs "speaking their language" a la Dr. Doolittle)?

Re: Superboy: The plot: Superboy claims the only girl he'd be interested in is Cleopatra, and a professor says he has a time-machine that could bring her to the present. Apparently the story's plot was recycled later on, with Prof. Potter specifically used there.

Joseph Brian Scott said...

I'm sure glad Mera came along, eventually. Things were getting weird down there.

Russell said...

I really missed his green gloves in this story for some reason. The yellow gloves just look wrong here somehow.

Andy Luckett said...

@ Anthony: I was wondering the same thing about Aquaman's abilities. If in the Golden Age he actually vocally spoke to the sea creatures, that seems much more limited than telepathy. If any creature was out of earshot, or Aquaman's mouth was covered (as it was in this story), or even if he got laryngitis, the Sea King might be out of luck in that department.

Still, these stories are definitely goofy, but very charming nonetheless. Especially with Ramona Fradon's art, they highlight the fun side of being friends with everything in the sea.

Unknown said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

Goog thing Aquaman didn't have to lock up any catfish. Take it from experience: cats never learn their lessons.

Another problem with Aquaman's verbal communications: Ever try talking underwater? Good luck with that.

Finally! We get a real villain with Capt. Fleet. I'm sure we'll be seeing much more of him.

Despite my snarky comments, I confess a real affection for this period of Aquaman history. Fradon reprints form the 50's were some of the first Aquaman stories I saw as a kid in the 70's. God bless those 100 Page Super Spectaculars! We're in the goofy but fun period now. And I'm having fun.

James Chatterton