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Sunday, July 21, 2013

Adventure Comics #244 - Jan. 1958

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Comics Weekend "The Copy Cat Creature" by Bob Haney(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

This month in Superboy: Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride guest star as the Kents!


A few pages later, Aquaman gets a pet. Bring a tissue...
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Myron, trying to stop the fire, bites the the top of the lighthouse off, only making things worse! With the help of some whales, Aquaman puts the fire out. He then tells Myron that he has to go, somehow, because he's such a menace.

Myron seems to understand this, and sheds a tear at the news. But this doesn't stop him from getting into more trouble, by imitating some dolphins who are towing a small sailboat trapped in the "graveyard of ships" that is the Dread Sargasso Sea:
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...and so ends another adventure with Aquaman!

Great Neptune, what a sad story. The way Myron is written and drawn, he seems like a sweet, good-natured creature, only wanting to please his new pal Aquaman. Sure, he causes a lot of trouble, but he never actually hurts anyone and for all his troubles he gets stuck back into a sort of living death.

Not to take this story too seriously, but being an animal-centric person my whole life I found this ending actually very upsetting, and left me feeling kinda down after I read it. Some weird part of me wants to write an Aquaman story where he (re)discovers Myron, sets him free, and finds a proper home for the poor guy. If I had a bunch of cash lying around, I'd hire Ramona Fradon to draw it and post the pages here on the Shrine, just to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

On a more positive note, on page four there is a wonderfully iconic panel, one of the single best Aquaman images I think Ms. Fradon has ever done:
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I love the design of this panel, the action, and it pretty much sums up everything that Aquaman is about. I love it love it love it.


7 comments:

Anthony said...

Wonder how Topo felt about his new fellow pet...

Given the various creatures, etc. Aquaman would encounter in the Silver Age, Myron seems pretty tame in comparison. With training, maybe he could've been a help against some of those threats.

Re: Superboy: This issue sees an accident by Superboy burn down the Kent's house and general store. Thanks to a mob of reporters outside their new, run-down dwelling, Superboy is stuck fixing things.

Wonder if the "Adventure" writers were having a bad month (getting rid of unwanted pets, fire rendering people destitute... maybe whatever Green Arrow was up to was a bit more upbeat? :-p ).

Tegan said...

I'm with you, Rob. I'd love to see a sequel in the Silver Age style that gives Myron a good home.

Joseph Brian Scott said...

I dunno, this story had a Bradbury-style poignancy that I kinda dug. It's okay for comics to make you cry as well as cheer, sometimes. Plus, I think this same set-up/resolution was later used for a Jimmy Olsen/Aquaman story, if I'm not mistaken.

Little known Aqua-fact: Gore Vidal penned a sequel to this story in which Myron was released and became "Myra".

Martin Gray said...

I'm putting off reading this one as, coincidentally, I ordered an issue of World's Finest reprinting it yesterday. But it looks amazine, thanks Rob!

Martin Gray said...

I'm putting off reading this one as, coincidentally, I ordered an issue of World's Finest reprinting it yesterday. But it looks amazine, thanks Rob!

Sphinx Magoo said...

I love that Ramona Fradon panel too, but how the heck do you hold onto an eel line?

Unknown said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

Weird, I know I've read this recently. Was it reprinted somewhere? I liked Myron too. Let's face it, he's kinda cute for a big ol' monster. If he was defrosted after the Super-Pets had formed, they could've taken him under their wing. This is the most memorable golden age story I've seen lately.

Are we sure of Haney? I wouldn't be surprised if Binder had written this.

To Joseph "Breckinridge" Scott: Ouch!

Sounds like you've got your next kick-starter campaign mapped out, Rob!

James Chatterton