Thursday, February 15, 2007

Ripples Through Time - 081

I'm reading every Aquaman solo adventure in publication order. After I read each story I will post the cover/splash page and a few thoughts on the story.

Adventure #148 Aquaman Splash Page
Adventure #148 (January 1950) - Cowboy of the Coral Seas!

When Cheyenne Charlie has to leave his beloved Wyoming for moister climes, he takes up ranching sea life.

This one has more awful cowboy-speak than I've seen in many Western comic books. Cheyenne Charlie is a happy cowboy, enjoying life until a doctor tells him that he has six months to live if he stays in dry Wyoming. When Charlie learns that seals travel in herds and are valuable to circuses and aquariums, he decides to open a sea-ranch. Wearing the same gear he used to wear as a cowboy. I'm not sure how he stays on his surfboard with those boots.

Black Jack gets involved, as a seal rustler! Once again, Black Jack has Aquaman caught, but doesn't kill him, just puts him in a motor boat and expects him to die from the crash. Villains in the Golden Age never figured out that a bullet was better than rich revenge.

Finny Friends Report: Aquaman rounds up Charlie's scattered seals for him. A bunch of sea-horses chew through the ropes Aquaman is bound in. And octopus threatens Black Jack and his crew as Aquaman takes them underwater, and a sawfish destroys Black Jack's rifle. Aquaman ties up the bad guys with eels.

Captured/Knocked Out report: Black Jack throws a grenade at Aquaman, and he's too close when it goes off and is knocked out by the blast.

Quotefile: Black Jack, on his devious plan to get rid of Aquaman, "Look at that Bronc, bucking like mad! But Aquaman is staying on... till he crashes full speed into that coral reef! It'll smash him to bits!"

Have you read this story? What do you think?

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