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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Adventure Comics #247 - April 1958

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Comics Weekend "Aquaman's Super Sea-Squad" by Otto Binder(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

As you can tell from the cover, nothing new or significant happens with Superboy this month, so let's see about Aquaman:
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To save precious time, Aquaman gets the help of some giant lobsters to carry the projectile across the island, and then across the water by some swordfish. As night falls, a group of phosphorescent fish surround Aquaman and the missile, to prevent other ships from ramming into them.

Despite all this, Aquaman realizes he's not going to make it in time. But then he sees a tidal wave, and gets an idea:
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...and so ends another adventure with Aquaman!

Boy, Aquaman was really putting a lot of faith in that whale at the end, guessing that he'd be able to catch the missile at the exact right moment, using the exact right amount of water pressure...I mean, that whale is good.

I liked this story for its (relative) change of pace: no mistaken motivations, no crooks working a scam: just Aquaman having to get from A to B, and using his wits and knowledge of the sea to do it. All that, and a random sea creature from the bottom of the depths! Early Trench?

6 comments:

jim said...

Even as a kid (& I'm OLD!!), I always got a big kick out of this cover.

Cosmic Boy, Lightning Boy (aka- Lad) & Saturn Girl failing Superboy for his "ordinary powers".

The key word is "powers". CB, LB & SG only have ONE (!!!) power each!!! Superboy has like a dozen powers!!!! Inculding flying on his own, without the aid of a Legion flight belt/ring!!

Ordinary, my ass!!!

What a bunch of snotty futuristic brats. ha ha ha

Anonymous said...

They're lucky they met Superboy before he became a complete psychopath...he would've roundhoused their asses!

Earth 2 Chris said...

I always liked Lighting Boy and Saturn Girl's early costumes...but what's with Cosmic Boy's fish bowl helmet?

The Legion tricking Clark by rejecting him falls under the usual Weisinger "super-dickery" category, but this time Supes gets the raw deal!

Chris

Anthony said...

Yes, a nice Aquaman story, and one that isn't "crooks running a scam."

The "Aquaman pulls something heavy behind him in his slipstream" feels like something Flash would've done...

Re: Superboy: This month, uh...yeah, you all know what happens.

Uh, since when did Superboy grow up to be a "psychopath"? I know everyone's obsessed with that dumb "Super-d*ckery" site ("out of context covers from 50 years ago *clearly* prove Superman's a d*ck! Ignore Batman's behavior in the 90s and 2000s being the poster child for misanthropic!"), but geez...

Anyway, I still wonder who the "Unknown Spaceman" statue was supposed to be. Could imagine a later story showing it was Adam Strange or Tommy Tomorrow or something.

Also of interest: Saturn Girl summons a sea monster at one point with her telepathy. Maybe it's related to the same one Aquaman met in this issue's story? (If it were a modern story, they *would* be related... with a six-part dragged-out crossover delving into such :p )

Joseph Brian Scott said...

^Good catch, Anthony. Gives the book a kind of sea monster mini-theme.

Unknown said...

Viva Adventure Sunday!

This story is above average from what we've seen lately. I am impressed with that whale's aim. He should've taken over as Number One Sea Friend.

James Chatterton