Thursday, September 13, 2007

Ripples Through Time - 160

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 #237 Aquaman Splash Page
Adventure #237 (June 1957) - The Secret of the Sea King

Magazine Editor Roy Mason sees Aquaman acting strange and decides to expose Aquaman's crimes to the world.

Aqua-Exclamations: "Great Catfish!"

Glove Color: Green.

Regular Supporting Cast: None.

Finny Friends Report: On the splash page, Aquaman has a whale chained down, a swordfish stuck sword-first in the seabed, and an octopus pegged down. In the story, the same fish are in much the same situation, but the swordfish is stuck into a sunken ship. Aquaman has three whales secretly push a ship clear of some dangerous rocks, even though the captain doesn't want Aquaman's help. On another ship, Aquaman has "a whole squadron of octopi" become the propellers for a ship, getting it away from a storm. In the flashback, Aquaman has two whales and two octopi subdue the maddened whale, octopus, and swordfish.

Quotefile: Roy Mason, "Aquaman! Lucky for that plane's crew that he's around! But why is he wearing that black mask?"

As usual, Aquaman doesn't worry about his reputation. This time it really bites back, though, as ship captains refuse his help. Mason reported seeing Aquaman bury cargo, and so, despite YEARS of contrary evidence, all the ship captains on the water assume Aquaman is a thief. This is yet another example of how fickle and easily led by media the public is in the DCU. We'll avoid talking about how that compares to the real world.

The irate sea captains of the DCU's oceans gather at Lighthouse Island to vote on banning Aquaman from the sea. I wonder just how they planned to enforce their ban?

Among those who believe Mason's story over years of precedent are the members of the Aquaman Fan Club, who change their name to the "Neptune Skin Diving Club". There's no indication that they ever changed back.

As usual, there was a good reason for Aquaman to not explain what he was doing, and in the end it's the Coast Guard that clears Aquaman's name. Let's hope Mason printed a retraction, eh?

Have you read this story? What do you think?

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