Ending the Golden Age...
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.
Captain John is surprised when his contribution to charity, a series of carved driftwood figures, is purchased in advance by a rich Mexican.
Quotefile: Captain John, "*Gulp* Aquaman must be half fish himself, the way he gets these marine creatures to do anything!"
Glove Color: Green. With one panel yellow.
Aqua-Exclamations: Captain John: "Jumpin' Jellyfish!"
Finny Friends Report: Octopuses hold luminous squid above the water to light up the area of the fleeing robbers. A whale lifts and stops the boat. Later a flying fish takes Captain John's signal and a group of flying fish form an SOS. Aquaman rides a swordfish after the bad guys. A wall of turtles stops them. Octopuses return the carvings to Captain John's boat.
There is a small flaw in this story, as there's no indication of how the robbers duplicated Captain John's carvings nor how they made the originals sink. The carvings were made of driftwood, after all! You would think that John would take one look at the replacements and realize they were fakes.
Not all of the carvings are named, but I identified Hanno, Noah, John Paul Jones, and Columbus. Reese says that Noah, Columbus, and John Paul Jones hold the stolen and smuggled diamonds. Hanno just doesn't get any respect.
I love the shadow on the wall in the splash page. True, nothing like that happens in the story, but the menacing shadow is pretty cool nonetheless.
To earn money for the charity, Captain John and Aquaman prep his carvings and set them up as a Floating Hall of Fame, then Captain John sails from port to port charging admission for people to see them. Reese offers John $50,000 for the entire collection after the tour is completed.
Special Note: This story is, by my count, the final Golden Age Aquaman tale. It is now official: The Golden Age Aquaman had no one hour time limit. He could exist indefinitely on land. More on the Silver Age changeover in the next Ripple.
Have you read this story? What do you think?
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