Flash (2) #66
Title: Fish Story
Cover Title: The Race you Demanded! Flash vs. Aquaman ... Not!
Cover Date: July 1992
Writer: Mark Waid
Pencils: Michael Collins
Inks: Roy Richardson
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Lettering: Ken Holewczynski
Editor: Brian Augustyn
Cover: Collins and Jose Marzan Jr.
Cover Price: $1.25
OVERVIEW:
Wally West, the Flash, is on a cruise with Linda when the ship they are on is forced onto an island by whales. Before he blacks out, Wally recognizes Aquaman on the rocks.
When Wally awakens, he's dangling over a tide pool filled with sharks. He easily frees himself, but is unable to free his fellow hostages. It turns out that the Marine Marauder is in charge of the operation, and she also can control sea life. She's looking for the lost crown of Enlil, an artifact that gives its wearer complete dominion over the seven seas. After a lot of research she discovered that the crown is in a palace underneath the island. Once on the island, she realized she needed help, so she started to wreck ships to gain human helpers, and used her powers to call in fish. To her surprise, Aquaman answered her call and pitched in to help.
She tells Wally to help out, as the Flash, or she will stop controlling the sharks and let them feast on the hostages.
With the Flash helping, Aquaman quickly gets into the palace, and recovers the chest with the crown. After Aquaman rips the lid off, he intends to snatch it away so the Marine Marauder can't use it, but to the surprise of both of them, Aquaman grabs it and puts it on.
The Marine Marauder wasn't controlling Aquaman. The spirit of Enlil was. And now Enlil is free and has the crown. Oops.
Wally tells MM to get the people into the cave and safety from the rising waters (controlled by Enlil) while he tries to deal with Enlil. He manages to knock the crown off Aquaman's head, and break the control. MM has come out, though, and snags the crown. Flash pulls Aquaman into the cave and shores it up as the waves come crashing down.
The Marine Marauder isn't so lucky...
COMMENTS:
This is a great story! The cover is an all-time classic! The characters are spot on! This book is great!
Ahem. Can you tell I liked it?
Let's start with the cover. Aquaman and the Flash at a starting line. Aquaman is saying "NOT!" and there's a warning in the lower left: "Warning! This scene does NOT appear in this issue!" Heh heh. I love it. This cover became my December 1997 Cover of the Month, I liked it so much.
Aquaman is the strong silent type throughout the book. But then, he's possessed, so it makes sense.
The Marine Marauder is a great character. In a quick conversation with Wally we learn that she's nuts, and in a flashback we learn that she's a librarian-type character who studied hard to find the crown. Her all too typical villianly greed gets her in the end.
I'm not terribly used to seeing superheroes running around in public like Wally does. Everyone knows who he is! It doesn't seem to cramp his style much. And I suppose that it is something that he and Arthur have in common, except that Wally is much more of a normal guy.
The coloring on Aquaman changes when he's wearing the crown. Very effective.
CONCLUSION:
Rating: 9
Pick this one up if you can find it. A well-crafted stand alone story that is fun to read.