New "Facts Page" for this issue

SUMMARY:

A movie producer gets Aquaman to swim around the world in seven days, and Black Jack offers a half million dollar reward to the pirate who kills Aquaman.

OVERVIEW:

A Hollywood movie producer wants Aquaman to swim around the world in seven days. Aquaman's journey will be filmed, and the profits will go to the Navy Relief Fund. Aquaman agrees, but Black Jack has put a half million dollar reward on Aquaman's head. Various pirates around the world are intent on making sure Aquaman doesn't make it.

Off the coast of Baja California a pirate spills oil in the water and sets it ablaze. Aquaman dives under the problem, but the pirates aren't as lucky. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope, another pirate tries depth charges. Aquaman sets one underneath that ship and neatly escapes. In the Indian Ocean, Japanese pirates drug the water and bring a woozy Aquaman aboard. The fresh air revives him, and he escapes, sending back one of their torpedoes as a parting gift.

In a muddy channel near Australia, Aquaman is held up by the difficulty of having to swim through half-dried mud. To make matters worse, Japanese bombers attack. Luckily for Aquaman, American fighters arrive and help him out. With plenty of time to spare, he approaches the final camera crews off the coast of California... but they are Black Jack's men and they try to shoot him. He hides under their ship and hitches a lift back to the harbor... making it in less than six days.

COMMENTS:

The splash page shows Aquaman diving across the globe, with fighter planes above him and the startled pirates below. The very first story panel, on the page, shows Aquaman striding through Hollywood as people wonder at the sight of him.

They have some fun with Aquaman in Hollywood. "Hedy Hepburn" asks for Aquaman's autograph (Hedy Lamarr and Katherine Hepburn amalgamated). A champion swimmer (who says he's just broken the world's record) asks for swimming advice. American flags have 48 stars. In the final panel, Aquaman, dressed in a tux, tells reporters that he's going home to take a bath because it's Saturday night.

An early panel shows where each of the pirates has staked out, except that it leaves out Black Jack himself and the Japanese bombers. The Japanese pirate is an insulting caricature, and as always I recommend that anyone reading this story remember the time it was written. The Japanese pirate mentions Pearl Harbor as an example of how clever the Japanese are. He also says that he plans to sell Aquaman to the Japanese Navy so they can use him to sink American ships. At one point he exclaims in Japanese characters (no, I don't know what, if anything, he said).

There is a nice use of simple maps to show where Aquaman is at each point in the race. Even so, it's not very clear where the muddy channel is, just that he was approaching Australia when he went into the place. There is also a panel of people around the world talking about Aquaman's attempt. There are eskimos sitting outside an igloo, Indians in Bombay, and Black Jack in San Francisco.

Again I'm not too fond of Cazeneuve's work on some parts of this story. All his beach-going women look exactly the same, and one of the three pirates bears a very close resemblance to Black Jack himself. The Japanese are absolutely beyond your average caricatures: they look more like the early Ferengi from Star Trek The Next Generation than humans.

This review was made possible by the Microcolour microfiche reprint of this issue.

No secret messages in this issue. There's a short text story "Back in Harness" by Ed Selby and an ad for Ralston breakfast cereal that offers a free comic book.

CONCLUSION:

An ok story with lots of interesting extras.