More Fun Comics 81
| More Fun Comics 80 | More Fun Comics | Series | Stories | More Fun Comics 82 | ||||||||||
| More Fun Comics #81 | ||
|---|---|---|
 Aquaman Splash Page from More Fun #81 by Paul Norris | ||
| Title: | Aquaman: Champ of the Waves | |
| Cover Date: | Jul 1942 | |
| Anthology: | Six Stories (Green Arrow Cover), fourth story | |
| Other Stories: | "Green Arrow: Adventure of the Bankrupt Heroes"; "Doctor Fate: Hall of Lost Heirs"; "Radio Squad: Strange Accidents"; "Johnny Quick: Code for Conspirators"; "Spectre: Case of the Scholarly Spendthrift" | |
| Artist: | Paul Norris | |
| Editor: | Whitney Ellsworth (credited); Mort Weisinger, (actual) | |
| Ship Date: | 21 May 1942 | |
| Cover Price: | $0.10 | |
| Page Count: | 10 | |
| Character Appearances: | Aquaman | |
Synopsis
After another man claims to have saved a woman that Aquaman just rescued, Aquaman starts to give swimming lessons.
Summary
George can't swim, but his girlfriend Dotty thinks he can. So he enters a swimming marathon to impress her, and Aquaman agrees to help him learn how to swim. Unknown to Aquaman or George, his competition, Humber, is working for the mob. Thinking that George could win and disrupt their plot, they decide to kill him after he refuses to take a bribe.
Aquaman rescues George, and convinces him to train in secret until the final race. When he shows up alive, the bad guys try to kill him during the race, but Aquaman is there to protect. Humber gets to go for a ride, and George gets the girl.
Comments
The Splash page shows Aquaman going after the bad guys while George swims, but more interesting to me is the shadow of Aquaman's home at the bottom of the page. In the first story panel, he is at the door of his home when an orange fish alerts him to someone in trouble.
Aquaman actually rescues Dotty, but because she wakes in George's arms, she thinks George saved her. This gets Aquaman interested in the situation, because George doesn't deny it.
There is a major plot hole in this story. Humber is teasing George about not being able to swim, and Dotty defends him. Right? But Humber has to win the swimming competition, so why does he suggest George enter the contest after learning that George is possibly a good swimmer after all? Humber brought his "ride" at the end of the story down on himself very firmly.
