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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Adventure Comics #187 - April 1953

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Comics Weekend "The Queen of the Sea" by George Kashdan(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

Wow, check out the proto-Legion of Superheroes!

Speaking of proto-characters, this month's Aquaman adventure features a very different Queen of the Seas most Aqua-Fans are familiar with:

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Aquaman is sure that Ann has come up for air, and is shocked to learn that she hasn't! When she finally surfaces, Aquaman is left speechless. In short work, news of Ann's underwater feats spread across the globe, via newspaper and radio.

Aquaman, confused and slightly despondent, ponders the situation by sitting by himself under the sea, at the very spot that Ann made news. But then he notices something--a nearby school of fish seem to avoiding the area on porpoise. What's going on here?
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...and with that, so ends another adventure with Aquaman!

Aquaman is a bit of a jerk in this story; he's rude to Ann, and check out that jackass smirk he's rocking on page two! I wouldn't be surprised if he was written that way just to better contrast his comeuppance later in the story.

Ann Collins is the first significant female character to appear in the Aquaman strip in months. Brought adorably to life by Ramona Fradon (dig that profile in panel 5, page 3!), Ann would have been a great addition to the strip, had that really been a consideration at the time. It almost feels like they were setting Ann up for such a thing, having her and Aquaman reconcile at the end of the story. But, sadly, Ann never appeared again--the Earth-2 Aquaman was destined to be a confirmed bachelor.

4 comments:

Anthony said...

Again, I wonder why they were satisfied with not giving Aquaman any regularly-appearing supporting cast members during most of the 50s (at least until Topo came along). They may as well at least have kept Black Jack...

Re: Superboy: The plot this month sees Clark yanked forward in time by a "time ray" into the 25th century, where most people don't believe a Superboy existed.

Unknown said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

It's amazing how such an affable guy as the Earth-2 Aquaman couldn't keep a decent supporting cast together. I would love to have seen more of Queen Ann (as well as the Sea Sleuth). Oh well. We still have an "Aquagirl" story coming up as I recall.

Some stellar art by Ramona Fradon here. She always seems to inject just the right mix of cartooniness in her design work.

Now, where do I get one of those nifty miniature submarines?

James Chatterton

Wich2 said...

>the Earth-2 Aquaman was destined to be a confirmed bachelor<

No, that's the new-and-improved Alan Scott.

Aaron said...

This was recycled in Adventure #274. Some panels are almost word-for word! "Uh-oh! You've made yourself a powerful enemy, Aquaman! That's Dale Conroy, the wealthy heiress! She's got more dollars than there are fish in lake Erie!"... "Too bad she's such a sore loser! But I wasn't asked to pick the richest girl! Just the best all-around aquatic performer! And she is anything but that!"
Dale Conroy also cheats via a "midget submarine with powerful propellers" and is foiled when she slows down for some fish. Aquaman lets her win, yadda yadda... apart from shoehorning Aqualad into ot, it's pretty much the same comic :)