Thursday, May 10, 2007

Ripples Through Time - 121

Sorry about the delay. I burned out a bit on the stories, and decided to take a break after the first "Aquaman on another planet" tale. I really hate the alien planet stories with Aquaman... anyway. As you recall, Aquaman visited a planet where the seas were like land, and the earth was ocean. He received a "compressed air" gun from the aliens, which he still possessed at the end of the story, despite being uncertain if the trip was real or just a dream. In this tale, we get back to more normal adventures... whalers and Aquaman in disguise.

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 #197 Aquaman Splash Page
Adventure #197 (February 1954) - Aquaman Walks The Plank!

Aquaman goes undercover to stop whalers from hunting endangered whales... but his identity is soon discovered.

Another story in which Aquaman goes undercover. He infiltrates the crew of Captain Samson to try to come up with a way to stop Samson from killing the camel-back whales. All of Aquaman's action scenes are in normal clothing, blue pants and a white shirt.

Captain Samson styles himself as a pirate captain, which his crew apparently puts up with. He has a magnificent moustache and wears an eyepatch on his right eye... which he apparently doesn't need because he has it raised in the final panel and his eyes are perfectly normal.

Finny Friends Report: A tortoise bumps a whaling boat to throw off the aim of the harpoon. A sea eagle snatches another harpoon from the sky. Giant clams snip off the ropes that tie Aquaman. Electric eels trap Captain Samson.

Captured/Knocked Out report: When Aquaman comes back on board after saving the whales, he's forced to walk the plank for deserting the vessel. When he jumps back aboard after being freed, he's chained up and forced to walk the plank again.

Quotefile: Captain Samson, "Did you say "Aquaman?" Listen to me, you lubber, I never saw that fish-man, and if he knows what's good for him, he'd better stay off my course!" Amusingly, he's making this comment to Aquaman, who is undercover.

Have you read this story? What do you think?

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