Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Ripples Through Time - 192

Ok, I took a hiatus. My fandoms tend to ebb and flow, and it's just natural that sometimes I'll find doing things like reviews a little more difficult at times. But I'm coming back to this, and I hope you'll enjoy the continuing Ripples Through Time, starting where I left off...

I'm (still) 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 #269 Aquaman Splash Page
Adventure #269 (Feb 1960) - The Kid From Atlantis!

Aquaman helps an exile from Atlantis overcome his fear of fish.

Glove Color: Yellow.

Regular Supporting Cast: Topo, the introduction of Aqualad!

Quotefile: Aquaman, "Purple eyes! *gasp!* Now I know where you come from! Atlantis! That's why you can converse with me! You have the telepathic power possessed by all of Atlantis' inhabitants... to understand and speak any language!"

Finny Friends Report: Topo and a swordfish find the capsule with Aqualad and summon Aquaman. He has eels become a rolling hoop and stick for Aqualad to play with. A whale's spout becomes a water slide for Aqualad. Topo treats Aqualad to a merry-go-round. A manta ray is used as a makeshift sail for stranded sailors. Pilot fish guide a freighter around reefs. Aqualad orders luminous fish to create a landing strip for a plane in distress. Swordfish take Aqualad's place entering Atlantis. Aquaman idly orders eels to make hoops and sticks when he misses Aqualad. The two ride off on Topo.

This is the famous introduction of Aqualad, who is only referred to as "Aqualad" in the next issue box at the end of the story. This story confirms that every Silver Age Atlantean had all of Aquaman's powers. And this story has a LOT of use of Atlantean powers. This story also continues the theme of Atlantis as a sealed community. While they live with fish, they don't generally leave the city. Aquaman assumes that once Aqualad re-enters the city, he's not going to be able to come back out and visit. Fradon draws Aqualad as a young boy, which isn't how we're generally used to seeing him, but he looks very much like a child and not just a small adult.

Have you read this story? What do you think?

1 comments:

David Akers said...

I remember reading this one in a digest, and I was enthralled with all the things Aquaman could do with the fish and eels, that they would allow themselves to become hoops and things for Aqualad to play with.

This might also have been the first thing I've read that was drawn by Fradon, but until you mentioned it, I'm not sure I knew that. It's remarkable how much like a child she was able to draw him, and not as a baby like Swan drew Superbaby, but as a youngster.