Aquaman News

Saturday, November 04, 2006


Ripples Through Time

I'm reading every Aquaman solo adventure in publication order, one per day. After I read each story I'm going to post the cover/splash page and a few thoughts on the story.

I'm going to test drive this feature name for awhile. It's based on two of David Oakes' suggestions. If you absolutely hate it, please let me know.

More Fun #76 Aquaman Splash Page
More Fun #76 (February 1942)

Aquaman spots a sinking ship and suspects foul play, his hunch is confirmed by the captain of the salvage ship.

It's amazing how much story is crammed into eight pages. This one is considerably better on this reading than it was on my first read through. For one thing, we get a bit of Aquaman the Detective in it, then we get a weird menace in the form of the evil diver, and Aquaman gets to show off both his strength and his finny friends' assistance.

The evil diver outfit worn by Captain Skover was a great Golden Age design. It would've been nice to have more than one page of it. If the Golden Age Aquaman had a trophy room, that outfit would belong in it.

The one really false note in the story is the airtight cabin that the cabin boy and jewels are in. I found it slightly odd that any merchant ship would have such a specialized room, even if they were carrying jewels. Then again, this is Golden Age, so I'll let that bit go.

Captain Skover doesn't recognize Aquaman, nor does his crew... Let's see, Aquaman's had a sledgehammer dropped on him, he's been gassed, and now he's thrown in a decompression chamber that is then emptied of air. He pretty much rips through the wall of the chamber to get out... Aquaman's finny friends are able to get the wreck out of the mud, but they can't raise it to the surface. Aquaman uses the anchors of the ships surrounding the area to do that job... Only one panel of Aquaman's finny friends in this one... Aquaman refuses a reward, telling the Navy man to divide it amoung the honest men who tried to raise the wreck.

Have you read this story? What do you think?

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