Monday, December 04, 2006

Ripples Through Time - 033

I'm reading every Aquaman solo adventure in publication order, one per day. After I read each story I'm going to post the cover/splash page and a few thoughts on the story.

More Fun #104 Aquaman Splash Page
More Fun #104 (July 1945) - The Great Goldfish Bowl!

A message in a bottle brings word of a lost goldfish, with a young boy's happiness riding on whether or not Aquaman can find it.

This is a pretty straightforward tale. Ronald, recently orphaned, loses his pet goldfish. His current guardian, Spencer, wants to keep control of Ronald because Ronald is due to inherit a huge fortune. So Spencer contacts Aquaman to find the goldfish, which managed to get into the river. In the meantime, Spencer's cousin Wilbur wants to protect Ronald from Spencer's money-grubbing and is trying to get custody. So Spencer has to impress the court that he's serious about making Ronald happy. Aquaman isn't inclined to go goldfish hunting, so Spencer offers a huge reward to the charity of Aquaman's choice.

The catch is that Spencer doesn't have the money for the reward (and can't use Ronald's money, even if he gets custody), so he wants the fish to stay lost. So naturally he hires thugs to take out Aquaman. Like that ever works.

Finny Friends Report: A fish gives Aquaman the message in the bottle that kicks off the adventure. Aquaman chats with some fish to find out if the goldfish was seen. Aquaman fights off a couple of large fish, rescuing the school of fish the goldfish is part of. He feeds the fish larvae to bring them back after they've scattered. Then he gets some large, angry-looking turtles to scare Spencer's thugs.

Captured/Knocked Out report: Aquaman is caught in a net, but the thugs get too close and he battles his way out.

Quotefile: Narration, "With strange gifts, possessed by him alone, Aquaman is able to communicate with the creatures of the sea!"

Have you read this story? What do you think?

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