More Fun Comics 74
| More Fun Comics 73 | More Fun Comics | Series | Stories | More Fun Comics 75 | ||||||||||
| More Fun Comics #74 | ||
|---|---|---|
 Aquaman Splash Page from More Fun #74 by Paul Norris | ||
| Title: | Aquaman | |
| GCD Title: | Black Jack | |
| Cover Date: | December 1941 | |
| Anthology: | Seven Stories (Doctor Fate Cover), fourth story | |
| Other Stories: | "Spectre: Introducing Percival Popp, the Super Cop"; "Green Arrow: Silent City"; "Radio Squad: The Case of the Dead Thoroughbred"; "Johnny Quick: Dr. Clever"; "Clip Carson"; "Doctor Fate: Mr Who Lives Again" | |
| Writer: | Mort Weisinger | |
| Artist: | Paul Norris | |
| Editor: | Whitney Ellsworth (credited); Mort Weisinger (actual) | |
| Ship Date: | 23 Oct 1941 | |
| Cover Price: | $0.10 | |
| Page Count: | 8 | |
| Character Appearances: | Aquaman, Black Jack | |
Synopsis
Aquaman stops pirates from attacking a yacht, then fights the pirates and sinks their ship, but the captain of the pirates survives.
Summary
A pleasure yacht is attacked by pirates flying an old fashioned Jolly Roger and wearing traditional pirate costumes. After stealing all the money on the ship, they throw the captain of the yacht overboard. He doesn't touch the water, though, because Aquaman is there and catches him. Aquaman attacks the pirates, and chases then off the yacht. He then follows them onto their ship, and is gassed by Captain Black Jack.
When he comes to, Black Jack offers Aquaman a place on his ship. When Aquaman refuses to join, Black Jack weighs him down with scrap metal and makes him walk the plank. At the bottom, Aquaman cuts himself loose with coral, and heads back to the surface.
In the meantime, Black Jack finds the yacht that Aquaman freed, and decides to torpedo it. But Aquaman spots the torpedo and sends it back to Black Jack. Aquaman then attacks the crew as the raider ship sinks. Black Jack fights him until the ship sinks, and Aquaman congratulates himself on his victory. But Black Jack is alive, and washes up on shore. He swears to get even with Aquaman.
Comments
Nice splash page of Aquaman diving at a very small pirate vessel. There is a signature in the upper right-hand corner: "by Paul".
The pirate vessel is the Nemesis. Nice name, because Captain Black Jack does become Aquaman's nemesis in the Golden Age, appearing quite frequently for a villain of the time.
Black Jack explains to Aquaman that because of the war, pirates can make a good living. He claims that he dresses in traditional pirate outfits to scare people into surrendering.
The crew is very frightened of Aquaman after their first fight, and refuse to attack him when he boards the Nemesis. Black Jack locks himself in a cabin and throws out a gas grenade, which turned out to be a pretty good plan.
This is the second story in which Aquaman is tossed into the sea by people trying to kill him. They clearly don't get it. In this story, though, Aquaman doesn't call in his finny friends at all.
This story has no title. The title used by the Grand Comics Database Project is Black Jack. This title was applied to the story by the indexer, and is based on the first words in the opening text box of the story. It is, however, in no way official.
Other notables about this issue: An ad for Baby Ruth candy bars featuring the over-exploited Dionne Quintuplets, Superman's Secret Message! (Code Jupiter No. 4) NSMR XLI AMRXIV GEQTEMKR FC KIXXMRK E RIA QIQFIV JSV XLI GPYF, An ad for All-Star Comics #8, and a short story called "Kid From Kentucky" by Howard Gilbert.
