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Sunday, July 14, 2013

Adventure Comics #243 - Dec. 1957

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Comics Weekend "Aquaman's Amazing Bets" by Bob Haney(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

Aquaman lets luck be a lady this month...
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And with that little bit of Aqua-moralizing, the Sea King sets out to outwit Kipp. He shows up on Kipp's ship as a new deckhand and quickly gets him to agree to a wager. He also apologizes for his "strange sweatsuit", claiming he went to a masquerade party dressed as Aquaman. Sure, that's plausible!

The wager involves who can nab the biggest fish, leading to Aquaman coming back with a whale, a seemingly-unbeatable feat. But Kipp, with the help of a friend on the sly, comes back with a submarine, also known as a "tinfish." Kipp declares he is the winner!
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...and so ends another adventure with Aquaman!

This is definitely one of the weaker entries, story-wise, but Ramona Fradon does such a good job on the art that she manages to pull this one over the finish line: in particular, the last page is wonderfully moody (aided immeasurably by the colorist), ending with that bright shot of Aquaman triumphant.

I wonder why none of the writers on this strip ever bothered to re-use a character or two? Aquaman has met so many Navy men, would-be pirates, ship captains, and lighthouse keepers that I'm shocked he can keep them all straight. Also, no wonder the United States had a recession in 1957, there's just no way the country could support this many people working sea-based jobs!


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

These old stories may be goofy, Rob, but you are certainly right...the art is beyond awesome!

Russell said...

This is terrible! The author and editor might not know that a whale is a mammal (not a fish at all) but you would think Aquaman would know!!

And doesn't a MAN of war out-weigh a BOY (buoy)?

Yeah, the art is awesome. Story, not so much. No wonder so many kids were reading EC by this point, haha!

Unknown said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

Hard to believe this is the work of Haney. It reads more like Binder's style. On the other hand, nothing really makes sense...

DC must've been slashing Aquaman's budget pretty bad if he couldn't even afford a disguise. I guess that's why he joined up with the JLA a few years later.

I write this on vacation...from the Greek island Hydra, where our little boy learned to swim by himself two days ago! I let him watch some Filmation Aquaman cartoons on Youtube as a reward. It's been an Aqua-centric vacation.

James Chatterton

Joseph Brian Scott said...

@James Chatterton

What a great memory for your son!

Anthony said...

I'm back from vacation as well (albeit somewhere slightly less aquatic, Seattle...though imagine Aquaman might enjoy seeing the Ballard locks. :-) )

Yes, wonder why they didn't create any recurring characters for the Sea King, vs. the endless parade of sea captains/"Modern pirates"...

Re: Superboy: A cache of Kal-El's Kryptonian toys falls to Earth and into the hands of a crook, who sells most of said toys to Smallville citizens.