Adventure Comics #447
Title: Prelude to Armageddon
Cover Title: none
Cover Date: September-October 1976
Anthology: 2 Stories
Other Stories: The Creeper: Death Walk!
Writer: Paul Levitz (plot) and Martin Pasko (script)
Art: Jim Aparo
Colorist: Carl Gafford
Editor: Joe Orlando
Cover: Jim Aparo
Cover Price: $0.30
Page Count: 11 pages
OVERVIEW:
Black Manta reports to his master... in the throne room of Atlantis. Meanwhile, Mera and Artie Jr are attacked by sharks. Aqualad and Tula head off on a secret mission, while Aquaman goes to find the factory that made the laser-rifles Manta was running to Atlantis. He finds the factory, sure enough, and the Fisherman is running it. Aquaman, after stumbling into a trap, defeats the Fisherman.
Back in Atlantis, Karshon awaits Aquaman's return, knowing that the disappearance of his wife and son will throw him into a rage.
COMMENTS:
Nice dynamic cover, showing Aquaman decking the Fisherman. It must be hard to talk while in the position the Fisherman is in, bent over backwards and falling.
The sharks that attack Mera are enhanced somehow, and are able to break Mera's hard-water creations. We are not told in this issue whether the sharks left Mera and Artie Jr alive.
Aquaman gets assistance from the Coast Guard in finding the weapons factory. He easily sneaks in, but the Fisherman has set up a nice little trap for him. Aquaman escapes the death trap by releasing steam, then fights the Fisherman in the gloom. Aquaman's thought balloons indicate that he is an extremely good fighter in the dark, that he's use to "cloudy waters" and the fight is like a blind man battling a sighted person in the dark.
CONCLUSION:
Karshon managed to get Black Manta and the Fisherman helping him. Ouch.