Ripples Through Time - 139

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 #216 (September 1955) - The Invasion of the Sea-Men

Aquaman witnesses a UFO arrive in the water, and learns that the occupants intend to conquer the oceans of Earth.

Finny Friends Report: Aquaman is riding a sea cow at the beginning. Aquaman sends an octopus then a whale against the invaders. He then has a gold fish pose as the king of the sea. Electric eels protect the gold fish. A giant lobster poses as a subject of the king riding a giant sea horse (actually a coral shell shaped like a sea horse), while Aquaman lassos the invaders.

Quotefile: Invader, "L-look what's on the throne -- a gold fish! ... er -- Don't tell us you're the king?" Gold fish, "That's right! Down here, it's the little fish who rule -- not the big ones you handled so easily!"

Aqua-Exclamations: "Great Salmon" yeah, salmon is lovely, particularly when smoked.

Glove Color: Yellow.

Aquaman handles his first alien invasion. He's already visited an alien planet, but he thought that adventure was a dream. This one has no such escapes from the silliness. Aliens actually invade.

As usual, Aquaman uses his brains to get rid of the threat, not brawn. In fact, this story emphasizes that brawn isn't the right course by having the large fish easily defeated by the invaders. It also has Aquaman playing tricks on the aliens, by setting up the gold fish as the king.

This might be the first time that Aquaman refers to his own powers as telepathy. When the aliens land, he can hear them easily and realizes that they are using telepathy to talk. He then uses his own telepathy to speak for the gold fish: "They think the gold-fish is talking to them! Actually, what they hear are the telepathic thoughts I am projecting!"

Have you read this story? What do you think?