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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Adventure Comics #221 - Feb. 1956

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Comics Weekend "The Boy Who Refused To Swim" by Jack Miller(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

Why do Ma and Pa Kent have such different skin tones? Is it because Pa is always out in the fields, getting lots of sun?

This month, Aquaman helps a young boy with a particularly Aqua-centric problem:
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The camp counselors are mad at Aquaman for letting Johnny dive before he was ready, which causes the Sea King to wander off in sadness, wondering where he and Johnny went wrong.

Night falls, and Aquaman spies someone swimming alone, at night. He takes a closer look and sees that it's Johnny! He follows the lying little snot back to his tent, and spots a framed picture of Johnny and his Dad, which instantly tells Aquaman was he needs to know.

The next day, Aquaman receives the medal he was scheduled to get. Then he makes a surprising announcement:
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...and with that, so ends another adventure for Aquaman!


Wow, there's a lot of subterfuge going on here, and Aquaman making a ton of assumptions about how people will behave...of course, he's 100% right, because he's Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas!


This week's Fradon-related comment: I love that shot of Captain Hartley on page five, as he tells Aquaman to pound sand. Perfectly executed and dramatic--I can just hear the 1950s TV score behind it.



3 comments:

Anthony said...

Nice Fradon artwork, as usual.

Re: Pa Kent: No fields here---making them farmers again was a post-Crisis idea of Byrne's (for some reason, despite the decline in family-run farms by even the 80s). The Earth-1 Kents seen here sold their farm when Clark started school and ran a general store. Maybe Pa does a lot of yardwork... ;-)

Re: Superboy: Clark's old babysitters return to Smallville and insist they saw Clark do super-feats as a baby, convincing them he's Superboy.

Anonymous said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

Not one of the stronger offerings story-wise, but Fradon never seemed to have a bad day in her career. She's been remarkably consistent over her long career.

I can see why Johnny failed the first round of Aqualad auditions. Attitude is everything.

James Chatterton

Joseph Brian Scott said...

^Wouldn't surprise me one bit if that kid grew up to be a super-villain! Or at least a super-villain's hired henchman.

So, was the idea at the end supposed to be that the kid was afraid Aquaman would drown, or...what? Don't get that part. But seeing him leap up a waterfall is neat.