ADVENTURE COMICS #449
(Cover by Jim Aparo)
Published and © by DC, Jan.-Feb. 1977
[Buy from Mile High]
“The Menace of the Marine Marauder”
Synopsis: Aquaman must stop the Marine Marauder, a “lowly marine biologist” who uses air-breathing sea creatures to steal swine-flu vaccine.
Writer: Steve Skeates
Penciler: Jim Aparo
Inker: Aparo
Review: From the opening splash, it’s clear this outing is going to be a little silly. Both the lead feature and backup are littered with logic flaws; the stories don’t hold up to the era’s better work. Jim Aparo’s work is top shelf, though; his dynamism is perfect for Aquaman.
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“Mission Catch a Killer”
Synopsis: When a Martian dignitary is murdered, J’onn J’onzz decides the killer must be a member of the Justice League.
Writer: Denny O’Neil
Penciler: Mike Nasser
Inker: Terry Austin
Review: Either J’onn J’onzz’s detective skills are rusty, or Denny O’Neil is off his game. Nice art, though a bit stiff.
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Grade (for the whole issue): B
Second opinions: “A great issue, a fun plot, and a new, decent Aquaman villain is always welcome.” — Rob!, The Aquaman Shrine. … “Nasser and Austin knock the art out of the park with beautiful, creative storytelling layouts that tell the story in a dynamic manner.” — H, The Comic Treadmill. … “Nice story with lots of action.” — Laura Gjovaag, The Unofficial Aquaman Website.
Cool factor: Aparo! Nasser! Austin!
Not-so-cool factor: Why does that sperm whale have upper teeth on the cover?
Character quotable: “There’s more to this game than fighting with fish!” — Aquaman.
For some reason, I’ve never been able to get into Aquaman. Admittedly, though, I’ve only read a few issues.
Can anyone recommend a good Aquaman run? Who really captured this character and made him a noteworthy read?
Peter David’s Aquaman run back in 1994 was exceptional. As a matter of fact the entire run from 1-75 is quite a read, if you can just ignore # 50-62 written by Erik Larsen which was terrible.
Dan Jurgens and Steve Epting came on-board with # 63 but the damage had already been done and the softening market killed the series.
David did not write silly “superhero” stories which is where I think most writers went wrong,they wrote him as a superhero with some describe Aquaman’s ability to breath underwater as his power, I dont think think so, it is his natural ability and he’s the King of Atlantis, and David did a good job portraying that personality, it was an attempt to take the character into a new direction and hard core fans rebelled, but I loved it.
Andrew – You know you already have me sold at Jim Aparo, I think the majority of Steve Skeetes stories were terrible but Aparo’s art was exceptional
Bruce:
I’ll second Dale’s recommendation of David’s Aquaman. I don’t remember them well but know I enjoyed them at the time. I also enjoyed the 1986 mini-series by Neal Pozner and Craig Hamilton. Again, I don’t remember it well, but loved the Hamilton art and thought it fit in well with DC’s other post-Crisis relaunches.
Cheers,
Andrew