The House of Secrets #131 - May 1975

Okay, some of you might be wondering, what was the point of posting this brief (if delightful) vintage horror story on the Shrine? Well, let's take a look at the first panel:

Arthur Curry? Well, that's an unusual name for a protagonist in a DC horror comic, since of course these stories generally didn't take place the mainstream DC universe. Who wrote this?

Steve Skeates, explain yourself!

"This is one of the numerous times I wrote this particular story--the initial one being for Charlton, entitled The Girl in the Dream, and making the scene in The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves! I also used the same basic plot for a Kid Flash tale, a mystery piece for Marvel that was nicely illustrated by Jim Starlin, and even a Tweety and Sylvester story for Gold Key, not to mention variations for Warren and Gold Key's Twilight Zone, and others!

Things got out of control when I wrote it the third time, the aforementioned version for Marvel, due to Tony Isabella taking me to task for having sold the same story three times; my reaction: 'Oh yeh? I'll show him! I'll write and sell it seven more times, make it an even ten!' which I then proceeded to do! None of which admittedly speaks to my tossing Aquaman in there; guess I was still smarting about the Aquaman book being cancelled, especially since having learned that sales of that book were up, yet Carmine decided to do in the book anyway thanks to various disagreements he had had with Dick G."

We should have known! Steve has always shown to have an impish disregard for some of the "sacred" rules of self-serious superhero comics, so having "Arthur Curry" get it so unceremoniously in a completely unrelated DC book makes total sense. It also speaks to Aquaman's civilian ID being generally unknown, even to DC editors. After all, you couldn't name a random character Clark Kent or Bruce Wayner and get away with it. Nice job, Steve!

I had never known of this story's existence until newest F.O.A.M. member Ned Sanyour pointed to me a blogpost over on Slay, Monstrobot of the Deep!, who brought it this little gem to light. Thanks fellas, and welcome to F.O.A.M. Ned!

For Further Reading: You can read another delightful three-pager written by Steve, this time starring Aqualad, by clicking here. I miss the days when comics could feature such things!

Teen Titans #36 - Dec. 1971

Comics Weekend "The Girl of The Shadows" by Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo

You find the coolest stuff buried inside old DC Comics!

While I've read a lot of classic 1960s Teen Titans comics in my time, I haven't read every single issue. I was rooting around in them, looking for some Random Panels, and buried in the back of TT #36 is this awesome little mini-adventure starring Aqualad (who had long since left the team by then), written by Steve Skeates and drawn by Jim Aparo no less!

It's only three pages, so here's the whole adventure, first panel to last:

...and that's it! AFAIK, the young blonde and her alien captor were never seen before or since. Aqualad stumbles into this adventure, it's over, and he jumps back into the sea, The End.

I absolutely love weird little bits like this, the kind of thing that mainstream superhero comics just really don't do anymore. But let's not turn another post into a harangue of modern comics; let's just enjoy this fun little diversion for what it is: the classic team of Skeates and Aparo presenting us a bonus little Aqua-Adventure!

Bonus: I asked the legendary--and Friend of the Shrine--Mr. Skeates the hows and whys of this little story, and here's what he said:

"Rob--it was indeed originally produced for the Aquaman book! Dick [Giordano, Aquaman editor] came up with the idea of doing up a bunch of one-, two-, and three-pagers that, just in case my main story worked out to be a few pages short, we could toss in as a back-up! Besides this one, the two-page Aquagirl tale entitled "The Cave of Death" which showed up in our final Aquaman outing, and the two-page text story (illoed by Sal Amendola and Dick himself) that made it into the Aquaman annual (or whatever that was) were in the batch I came up with! Murray [Boltinoff, Teen Titans editor] inherited 'The Girl of the Shadows' from Dick; it sat around in Murray's slush pile for years, whereupon in a moment of weakness he threw it into the Teen Titans book!"

Steve is being way too modest; I think "The Girl of the Shadows" is a delightful throwaway; its brevity makes it perfectly charming. I could read a whole book of these things! 

Sub-Mariner #72 - Sept. 1974

Comics Weekend "From The Void It Came!" by Steve Skeates, Dan Adkins, and Vince Colletta.

For those of you who read the post from earlier today and are here to read Part Two--yes, writer Steve Skeates cheekily decided to follow up his story "The Creature That Devoured Detroit!" from Aquaman #56...in the pages of the Sea King's Marvel Comics counterpart book, The Savage Sub-Mariner!

Of course, there was almost a four-year span between the the two books, making it relatively certain that no one at Marvel caught on. Back in those days, there was much less back-and-forth between the two companies, so continuing a story across two different titles like this would have been verboten. So Skeates had to be a little crafty--even so, we'll see how he pushed the envelope here:

Yep, those last two panels are virtually the exact same panels from the last page of Aquaman #56--that's even the Sea King right there, except his glove is blue, not green. Skeates sidesteps who the Neptune that guy is in the next panel, with a narrator that tells us "Who that man is...and why he wished to destroy the satellite...that need not concern us!"

With that bit of business out of the way, the story takes off on its own unique turn, with the alien glob that has attached itself to the satellite falling to Earth. It lands in the ocean, and starts to work on creating a body for itself, which takes over two years. Now ambulatory, it heads toward land.

Not too far away, two local lunkheads run afoul of the Sub-Mariner, who is watching the water, minding his own business. One of them, the lunkier of the two, decides to challenge Namor to a fight...if you call kicking a guy in the head a "challenge":

This of course enrages Namor, who grabs the guy and hurls him like a rag doll, not noticing the muck-encrusted creature that has shown itself. When the other surface dweller angrily tackles Namor in retaliation, he knocks them all back into the water. The creature then attacks Namor:

The creature uses its powers to stare into Namor's eyes, causing him to go blind! This doesn't stop the Sub-Mariner, who squeezes his foe so hard that it pops the thing's head off, and watches as it hurtles off into space:

Unfortunately, Namor is still rendered sightless, and he gets down on one knee, furious at himself that he rushed to fight the creature instead of trying to understand it. Thankfully, the creature shows mercy, and from thousands of miles away restores it's foe's sight.

Namor decides to head back to Atlantis, where a terrible vision awaits him:

...and with this classic, melodramatic ending, Sub-Mariner as a title ended. Yes, Steve Skeates wrote part one of this story in the final issue of Aquaman, only to do part two in the final issue of Sub-Mariner. What symmetry!

Of course, I can't possibly be objective when comparing these two issues, because I'm always going to pick Aquaman over Sub-Mariner. That said, I really do feel like these two issues reflect each other quite well; "The Creature That Devoured Detroit!" is a very DC-esque story, while "From The Void It Came", with its navel-gazing internal drama, is very Marvel. Its a testament to Skeates' skill as writer that he could write in two different "house styles", not to mention the fact that he was doing it within the same story! (The art, however...well, I think we all can agree who wins that little face-off between the two books)

But regarding the story as a whole: this DC/Marvel "crossover" is wonderfully goofy; having Aquaman unofficially appear in Sub-Mariner, only to tell the reader don't worry about it, let's just move on, is the equivalent of playing a trick on them--but the kind of trick you don't mind being played on you. Nowadays, that gloved character would be given half a book's worth of back story, because a lot modern comics' readers just wouldn't accept not knowing who it was.

Of course, it's a shame that Aquaman and Sub-Marine don't actually meet here; that would have been a bit much to pull off, even for someone as clever as Steve Skeates. For that, fans of the two companies' Sea Kings would have to wait over twenty years!

Aquaman (Vol.1) #56 - April 1970

Comics Weekend "The Creature That Devoured Detroit!" by Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, and Dick Giordano.

The Shrine covered this issue of Aquaman previously, way back in 2007, but it was long before I thought to give the proper spotlight on the art contained in any given comic, so the recaps were very abbreviated affairs (what can I say? I was new at this). So since there's new issue of Aquaman or Justice League to talk about this week, I thought why not give this story--and its unique place in comics history--its proper due. It's a doozy, in more ways than one!

Aquaman #56 opens, not with Aquaman or any members of the Aqua-Family, but with a married couple not quite overwhelmed in marital bliss:

But Aquaman isn't the only costumed superhero in Detroit! Across town, another vigilante is on patrol:

The Crusader gets into a nasty, bare-knuckle brawl with the gang of crooks, while Aquaman's search for his friend is halted when he talks with a policeman about the creeping algae. Aquaman is told that they are spraying nearly-frozen water onto the algae, which seems to halt it's growth...temporarily.

Aquaman asks about his friend Don Powers, and is told Powers run a big-time private investigation firm downtown. The Sea King is directed to the building, and is impressed by the scale of it. When he enters, Powers recognizes his old friend, and is given a tour of the place.

Powers reveals that the satellite that has been creating all the forced daylight in Detroit is his doing! Thanks to the permanent daylight, crime is down a whopping 38%, which is music to Powers' ears! Aquaman tries to reason with him, telling him what ecological damage the satellite is doing. But Powers doesn't care, concerned only with the crime rate.

Their argument becomes heated, and some of Powers' men try to restrain Aquaman when he lunges for the satellite control room:

We follow Powers, and see him change into the costume of The Crusader!

As he suits up, we learn that Powers' eyesight has been deteriorating, and the constant daylight has been helping him with his superhero duties. He goes out on patrol:

Meantime, Aquaman wakes up on a nearby beach, in time to see a young girl about to be swallowed up by a wave of the green goop. When it crashes down upon her, Aquaman steps in:

Aquaman heads back town, and sees the police huddled around a dead body...the body of The Crusader!

Apparently, while on patrol, The Crusader missed the building he was aiming for, tripped, and fell to his death. When he is unmasked, Aquaman immediately recognizes him as his friend Don!

Aquaman heads back for Powers' lab, and punches his way into the satellite's control room:

...The End!

Man, there is so much to say about this story I'm going to have to fight to get it all in. First off, you have to appreciate the sheer impish rule breaking going on here, courtesy Steve Skeates (and editor Dick Giordano)--Skeates makes all this effort to introduce a new superhero, even giving him his own logo (which I assume was the work of artist/letterer Jim Aparo, doing his usual tremendous job), only to kill him off a few pages later. And not only does The Crusader die, but he dies because of his lousy eyesight, a mordant gag if I ever saw one.

If this story seems to end a little abruptly, that's because...well, it does. One of the reasons for that is Aquaman was unceremoniously cancelled by then-DC head honcho Carmine Infantino, partly due to in-house squabbling with editor Dick Giordano. This turned out to be the last issue of the series, until it was briefly resurrected seven years later.

To rub salt in the wound, this issue features one of those "Statement of Ownership" thingies that comics used to run all the time, and we can see for ourselves just how well Aquaman was selling:

So, at the time, Aquaman was selling about 160,000 copies per issue. Certainly not a best-seller by 1970's standards, but it's funny to compare those numbers to today. If the current Aquaman series was selling 160,000 copies an issue, it would be--by far--DC's #1 title.

As I mentioned above (and you can see with your own, hopefully-better-than-The-Crusader's eyes), Jim Aparo does a superb job on the art on this issue. Of course, he did that for every issue, but Aparo excelled at gritty crime comics, and here Skeates' script gives him all kinds of fun film noir stuff to work with, even though there's not a single scene at night! This comic manages to mix urban grit and goofy sci-fi, all in twenty or so pages, an amazing feat (also--I want that shot of Aquaman punching the algae monster as a t-shirt).

In any case, Skeates did have a second part of this story in mind, and didn't let a little thing like cancellation stop him! He did write a Part Two, which appeared in...well, for those of you who don't know, I don't want to spoil the surprise. Come back at Noon today to find out!

Teen Titans #29 - Oct. 1970

Comics Weekend "Captives!" by Steve Skeates and Nick Cardy.

On Tuesday, in honor of Aqualad's birthday, we took a look back at a rare Aqua-centric issue of Teen Titans, which concerned Garth having to drag his former teammates into investigating a mystery that we now know involves his mentor's old foe, Ocean Master!

That first installment ended with Aqualad storming off in disgust, finding a clue that led to a shadowy figure knocking him out. When Garth woke up, he found himself tied to a tree, with the time to replenish himself with water almost up:

Meanwhile, across town, two other Teen Titans, Hawk and Dove (in their civilian identities) are investigating this mystery on their own, wanting to get out from "the shadow of the Titans."

Some armed goons arrive, and Hank and Don change into their costumes. Don, in his role as Dove, is his usual useless self, and soon Hawk is knocked out and dragged out of Sharon's apartment. Dove goes and finds the Titans (so much for the "Let's do this ourselves" plan), and they engage the bad guys as they spy Hawk being dragged off a pier:

Turns out Sharon saw the aliens' transformation, and that's what has been making her so unnerved--not knowing whether what she was was real or whether she was going crazy. Hawk is skeptical, but nevertheless they use teamwork to try and escape, stumbling into a room where Ocean Master and one of the aliens are plotting:

Ocean Master, playing both ends against the middle, zaps the in-disguise alien with a ray gun, transforming back into his true form. Then the Teen Titans show up moments after Orm's alien accomplices do, and the whole thing becomes one giant chaotic fight. Aqualad takes a specific interest in taking out Ocean Master:

Back at Titans HQ, Aqualad tries to talk the Titans into resuming their roles as superheroes, but he does not get the answer he wants:

...awk-ward!

Despite this grim ending, this was of course not Aqualad's last work with the Titans. While I generally agree with his sentiment, he's such a jerk about it to his fellow pals that its surprising they kept hanging out with him. But the Titans are a forgiving bunch, I guess.

After such an Aqualad-centric first installment, this second chapter is much more about Hawk and Dove, two of the more ridiculous characters in the DCU. I was thrilled to see Steve Skeates tie in story elements from Aquaman, which was still kind of an unusual thing to do in comics. On the art front, Nick Cardy doesn't quite get as much of a chance to shine in this issue--except on the cover, where he was, as usual, brilliant.

Teen Titans #28 - Aug. 1970

According to the 1976 DC Comics Calendar, today, March 6, is Aqualad's birthday! Since Garth generally gets the short shrift--both by the Shrine and DC Comics--I thought we should take at least a moment or two following Mera Month to talk about the first member of the extended Aqua-Family.

Instead of a piece of merchandise or a series of goofy random panels, we're going to look back at this issue of Teen Titans, which judging by the cover certainly seems like a big moment for Aqualad!

This issue's story, "Blindspot", is by two gentlemen well-versed in Aqua-History, Steve Skeates and Nick Cardy. The artwork by the latter is so drop-dead gorgeous that I'm going to present the first chunk of it as is, sans commentary:

Aqualad goes looking for Robin, showing up on the grounds of his college campus. But without even trying, he finds the Boy Wonder--engaged in a fight with several men!

Aqualad helps his teammate take the gang of toughs out, telling him about Sharon, who is Donna (Wonder Girl) Troy's roommate. Garth says one of the goons chasing him was a minion of Ocean Master, which means big trouble! So Aqualad is turning to the Teen Titans for help.

But Robin says that the Titans might not be able to get involved. Aqualad demands to know why, and Robin says all will be explained shortly:

Aqualad wants to tear into the lot of them, but Donna Troy steps in and says that the team took a vow, a vow to never use their super-powers again after their involvement trying to contain a riot caused the death of an innocent man. Aqualad, who has not been with the team for several months, is shocked at his former comrade's decision, accusing them of being "chicken."

Aqualad does convince the Titans to suit up and come visit Sharon, thinking hearing her story will change their minds. They agree, and the empath Lilith attempts to peer into Sharon's mind to see what she saw:

Aqualad feels that Sharon's plight is compelling, and asks again for the Titans to intervene. When they once again seem unwilling, Garth flies into another rage and takes off, determined to get to the bottom of this case himself.

He goes back to the proverbial scene of the crime, and finds his first clue:

Wow! Flying into a rage, Ocean Master, getting hit in the head...it's like reading a regular Aquaman comic!

All seriousness aside, this is one fun comic book story. Everybody's emotions--especially Aqualad's--are cranked up to 11, and the artwork by Nick Cardy is some of his best, and that's saying something. Aqualad--after having been away from the title for a while--returns to take center stage, and fighting a classic Aqua-Villain, to boot.

But since this is Aqualad's birthday, we're not going to leave poor Garth tied up against that tree, no sir! We will be covering Part Two of this story this Saturday, March 10, so make sure you come back for the gripping conclusion, entitled "Captives!"