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Sunday, October 06, 2013

Adventure Comics #255 - Dec. 1958

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Comics Weekend "Aquaman's Double Trouble" by Jack Miller(?) and Ramona Fradon.

It's Adventure Sunday!

This month, Aquaman finds himself with more trouble than he can handle!
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Once again Aquaman finds himself with two emergencies to tackle, one above the sea and one below. With the help of some whales and octopi, Aquaman tugs a storm-tossed freighter to safety, and then turns his attention towards the diving bell:
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...and so ends another adventure with Aquaman!

This story has to win the awards for Most Out of Left Field Resolution. An old man reveals himself to be Poseidon--Poseidon--and Aquaman just accepts this, wishes him well, and that's that! I mean, according to Aquaman's system of beliefs (not that that was ever explored), this would be equivalent of Jesus Christ showing up, telling you he solved your problems, and taking off down the street. I know it probably takes a lot to shock Aquaman, but come on!

I find it amusing that Mike's Amazing World lists Poseideon's next appearance as being in Wonder Woman #131, presumably suggesting that whenever Poseidon showed up in a DC comic, it was all the same guy. I'm not arguing with that assessment, I just thought it was funny.

One final note: Aquaman's strip didn't generate a lot of mail (or, if it did, the editor didn't see fit to print much of it), but this issue features an Aquaman-centric letter that was quite interesting:

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The debut of Aqualad was a mere 14 months away at this point, I wonder if this letter had a little something to do with it?


3 comments:

Joseph Brian Scott said...

He revealed himself to be Neptune, actually; but point taken. Maybe the gas made Aquaman hallucinate that last bit? Certainly a deus ex machina ending if there ever was one.

Fradon really outdid herself on the artwork in this one. Great stuff.

Anthony said...

Wonder if Arthur ever mentioned this to Diana at JLA meetings ("Yes, I met the actual Neptune, to use his Roman name..." "Great Hera!").

Interesting letter. Besides Aqualad debuting, wonder if it also inspired Aquaman's childhood career (on Earth-1) as Aquaboy, also revealed a few years later.

Speaking of Earth-1's only other active major hero during Aquaboy's era...

Re: Superboy: A Martian (presumably no relation to J'onn J'onzz) splits Superboy into two beings with Red Kryptonite: his usual super-costumed self, and an evil non-powered Clark Kent. My source claims this is the first story where Red K in its classic "unpredictable side effects" form shows up.

Richard Pryor said...

Oh lord, the cover is Superman III all over again. I don't need that flashback.