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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Adventure Comics #201 - June 1954

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Comics Weekend "The Stars Who Couldn't Swim!" by George Kashdan(?) and Ramona Fradon.It's Adventure Sunday!

This month's cover makes me laugh. As Superboy ponders revealing his secret identity, Lana is ripped apart, slowly and painfully.

Anyway, this month Aquaman gets involved with Hollywood again (oh, this won't end well):


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Aquaman figures out that the water being used in the film is so laden with salt that the actors couldn't drown(?), and wonders why "Channel Charlie" would do such a thing. Hiding nearby, he overhears the crooks' plan to replace the highly-buoyant water with fresh water. Following the pipeline, he finds a giant salt filter and gets an idea...

The next morning, filming resumes, and Channel Charlie dives into the water. It's here that Aquaman figures out what's going on:
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...and with that, so ends another adventure for Aquaman!

I guess in the 1950s, pretty much any venture had fedora-bedecked crooks lurking on the edges, ready to sabotage it at any moment. Maybe that was a natural effect of having less superheroes around---there was only so much ground Superman, Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Johnny Quick could cover.

3 comments:

Anthony said...

Think it's more the popularity of crime comics (and mobsters in general in entertainment) during the 1950s as for why they seemed to be everywhere in the superhero books. See also the same era's weird hyper-obsession with anything remotely to do with the Western/cowboys no matter how forced (even in superhero stories)...

As for Johnny Quick, he won't be covering much ground for much longer come several issues from this point... ;-)

Re: Superboy: This issue's plot: Superboy is convinced Prof. Lang is affected by "jungle fever" and is stealing animals from private zoos to use in the construction of robot animals. That's what my source says... I couldn't make that up if I tried. :-p

Joseph Brian Scott said...

Loved it. Loved the artwork, especially the panel of the tortured, hair-pulling director. Loved the go for broke/"What're YOU looking at?" spirit of the story, that would use such contrivances as a film industry without stunt performers and rival moviemakers who are willing to go to ludicrous effort to scuttle a competing film. Loved the omnipresent, jack-of-all-trades octopi; the motto of every '50s Aquaman story could be summed up as "Cherchez le poulpe."

Unknown said...

Viva Adventure Sunday! (he said oas Monday turned to Tuesday)

I love it! "I can't swim. I didn't know I'd have to." I just figured I'd do this high-dive and...oh right, water.

The climactic scene that we only get one shot at was also a major plot point in Tropic Thunder. Obviously, they appropriated the idea from here. Wonder if Ben Stiller has a secret stash of mint Adventures in a vault on his compound? Hmmm, it might explain a lot. I better re-watch Dodgeball.

James Chatterton