She's the life of a Nazi mayhem party.
-From the splash of the Black Angel feature in Air Fighters Comics 3 (1942). Reprinted in Eclipse's Air Fighter Classics 2 (1988).

Conceding my long-winded nature when talking about comics I enjoy, I’m breaking the year into two parts, which means you get 3 bi-monthly issues today and the other 3, including the status quo change, in my next installment.

Nick Cardy continues on board with his exquisite art and, as I mentioned here, the writing remains a muddled mystery with sources conflicted as to the identity of the writer(s) of these stories.

Aquaman 19, “Atlanteans For Sale” kicked off the year with the second straight story involving a cad from Mera’s dimension who wanted to conquer Mera and Atlantis. This was during the brief time that Mera had been depowered, which I mentioned earlier was a mistake, for, among other reasons, that it made Mera a lame character, prone to flights of female fancy as imagined by DC’s elderly male writers and editors.

This was a weak issue for many reasons:

1) The depowered Mera was a spoiled “sea witch” (as they say in the trade) who issued arbitrary orders (tear down statues of former queens, Aqualad has to go to school, etc…) and moped about being bored, a far different Mera than had graced the pages of the series thus far;
2) The back-to-back repeat villain type, motivation and goal;
3) Aquaman’s one hour time limit (i.e., he dies if out of the water for 60 minutes) was prominently featured when heretofore it had played little, if any role in this series. I don’t mind the one hour out of water limit on principle – the problem is that the stories that use it tend to be weaker tales;
4) Although there are instances of clever wit in the tale, at points Aquaman acts as a dullard for the sole purpose of moving the plot along. For example, when the writer needs Aquaman to be captured, he has Aquaman try to hide in a giant scallop that is really a steel trap designed to look like a scallop. The Sea King can’t tell the difference?
5) The captured Atlanteans spend plenty of time out of the water with no adverse affects. This is another issue where the exact identity of the writer is unknown but it sure reads like it was put together but somebody who had never written an Aquaman story involving Mera and Atlantis before

But it wasn’t a total loss. First, it had this baseball ad.

Even if it is a stinkin’ Yankee and one of Treadmill favorite Jim Bouton’s foes, I always enjoy finding an old baseball-related ad in comics. Second, there was a clever bit where Aquaman telepathically had a sea gull move the hands forward on a clock to make a sinister sea showman think Aquaman had been kept out of the water for over an hour.

Aquaman 20, “The Sea King’s Double Doom”, was a return to the more welcome “thinking man’s hero and his supporting cast solve whatever is thrown at them” tale. But let’s get the most important thing out of the way before going any further. This is the first appearance of the legendary Sea Imp.

Ain’t he a stinker?

And not only does Sea Imp open the story with some hi-jinx, he closes it that way.

We also get to see Atlanteans farming the beds of hyponic plants.

Now that’s educational stuff fan-boys and fan-girls. I also uncovered this link describing a 1964 New York World’s Fair exhibit about living and farming underwater. I have to believe that whoever wrote this issue of Aquaman lived in or near New York and had seen this exhibit and decided to throw the idea into an issue of Aquaman. Not only is the timing and location just right, but it gives me another opportunity to point out the yet another connection between World’s Fairs and comics. Here and here are the others.

My favorite part of the farming technique is the use of giant seahorses. But you don’t care do you? You want to know what that menacing shadow is in the background of the panel above. Why it’s a vicious two-headed monster who shows up to menace Atlantis right at the same time that Kaltor, who we are told trained a young Aquaman, resurfaces (as it were) in Atlantis. Comics readers can connect those two dots pretty quickly, as does Aquaman (remember, we like Aquaman because he was a thinker’s hero), but not before Kaltor makes Aquaman vow to kill the creature, forcing Aquaman into quite the ethical dilemma.

In the “they grow up so fast” department, Aqualad has his first crush, Kaltor’s daughter Starene, who is significantly older than young Garth (not that his name’s Garth yet, but you know I’m talking about Aqualad right Treadmillers?). She’s no Tula, but 1) she’s also drawn by Nick Cardy and 2) Starene is probably still alive, so she’s got those two things going for her. And if she and Aqualad ever had children, I’m sure the kid’s sex wouldn’t keep changing like poor Cerdia.

Sadly, Mera remained an irrational jealous idiot at the start of this story, putting herself into harm’s way out of jealousy that Starene was trying to make time with Aquaman. It was only four issues ago that Mera was capable of handling two shape-shifting aliens without any help. Now she’s a depowered underwater Lois Lane. Grrrrr.. But all is not lost. By story’s end, Mera delivers a bit of quick thinking to help the heroes out of a jam.

Lost potential department: There’s a bad guy named Lukhan who gets dispatched (by Kaltor) in 2 pages. He’s a water breathing giant! Why was this guy never used again? Note: that last sentence should be read without a shred of irony. How can you not use a malevolent underwater giant every now and then?

Note of interest to me, if no one else: in flashbacks to the time that Kaltor trained Aquaman, we see Kaltor refer to Aquaman as “little minnow”, the same term that Poseidon used in a derisive manner referring to Aquaman in Aquaman 17. And all this time, we thought that the only person called minnow in the strip was Aqualad.

In the end, Aquaman saves Kaltor from the curse, but it does Kaltor’s career no good. He hasn’t been seen in a comic book before or since. Like Kajagoogoo, he was a one-hit wonder.

Aquaman 21, brought the world “The Fearful Freak From Atlantis” including this striking cover showing the distorted face of a giant Aquaman through the dome of Atlantis. Here’s a thought – in the 1960’s, DC loved to make its heroes hideous and distorted on the outside. In the 1990’s, DC loved to make its heroes hideous and distorted on the inside. What will the post-Infinite Crisis world bring?

The important thing about this issue is that it is my theory that this is the first Aquaman issue written by Bob Haney. I could go on at some length about a number of clues that led me to this conclusion. But I won’t. I’m just focusing on one. Prior to this issue, there was a word that I don’t think appeared in any of the first 20 issues of Aquaman. In this issue, the word appears nine times, including once on the cover and in the story title. And it’s a word that Haney was addicted to using. What is this mysterious word? I’m glad you asked – freak. No. No. I’m not calling you names. Freak is the word. Bob Haney loved the word. Pick up almost any issue of The Brave and the Bold he wrote and see for yourself. So there you have it historians. H vouches for this as Haney’s first issue of Aquaman on the strength of this highly speculative evidence.

And because I want to see Scipio do more of the hilarious hero interviews he did here, I’m offering up this panel to serve as Aquaman’s reaction to “What do you think of the fact that in Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, you become the first super hero not to star in a book named after him?”

This issue also is the debut of the first member of Aquaman’s rogues gallery to appear in this series. He is not the first villain to have a return appearance. That honor goes to Pomoxis, Atlantean renegade. But he doesn’t have the chops, flashy costume or catchy code-name to be considered a rogue. Leron from the story that Mera debuted in would also return in later years, but those renegades from Mera’s dimension are an indistinguishable and interchangeable lot. One villain from the Adventure Comics strip days would also later get another appearance – the incomparable Human Flying Fish. But his second appearance was many years later in the out-of-continuity Super Friends (which was an outstanding series that told solid entry level super heroes stories) and there seems a reluctance to acknowledge his existence, let alone his greatness in the DCU. So, Fisherman, who would jazz up the costume (surely I'm not the only person who admires the Fisherman's costume?)gets the honor of being the first. At least under my convoluted "make the system fit your desired result" process.

For those keeping score (and I guess that’s me), this is the third time in 21 issues that Aquaman has become a giant. The first was in Aquaman 10 and the second in Aquaman 14 But this easily marks his longest stay in giant form.

This is a thoroughly entertaining story, including the domestic comic relief scenes at the start - the former is an Aquaman-Mera bondage scene and the latter is the only time I recall pre-teen Aqualad being shown playing with other kids his age.

Finally, here's the finny friends summary for the first half of the year. As noted last time, Aquaman is relying on fish tricks less often.

Eels
-Scout a labyrinth

Eels, Electric
-Shock the Fisherman

Gull, Sea
–Move a clock hand forward to make villain think Aquaman’s hour out of water had passed.

Pilot Fish
-Deliver message to Electric Eels.

Sawfish
-Cut giant-sized Aquaman out of giant-sized coral trap.

Squids
-Make fountains in sea show
-Knock out guards with water spurts
-Cause a pool holding Atlanteans captive to overflow so Atlanteans can escape

So, that's why the Treadmill has been mostly Mag-free for the past two weeks. Reading and writing after work have been difficult. But to keep the comics flame burning, I offer these insights:

• Hey, how 'bout that Infinite Crisis #4?


• Notsoinanimation. Good stuff. Brad Meltzer tie-in: while visiting my folks a while back, I noticed Mom had a Brad Meltzer novel on one of the tables. For some reason, this left me feeling disconcerted. I have no idea why.


• Dorian causes trouble.


• The Quicksilver audiobook wasn't too bad. It took me about three weeks of commuting to listen to it all. I thought I detected a few anachronistic phrases while listening, but I can't find a good on-line (i.e., free) etymological dictionary, so I won't embarrass myself by mentioning them, on the chance that I am wrong. Stephenson throws out a mass of characters, intrigue, and history in an entertaining, if at times overly long, first book of a trilogy. Those who like sprawling historical epics set in the late seventeenth century should find Quicksilver enjoyable; those looking for a fast-paced plot might want to seek alternative entertainment. I liked it enough to plan--and since the series is about 2700 pages long, planning is essential here--to read or listen to the other two volumes.

I know what you're thinking. Wow! H has put up a scan of a piece of paper autographed by all six of The Brady Bunch kid actors. There must be a great story behind it!

Oh how I wish there were. I wish I could tell you that Maureen McCormick slipped her phone number into my pocket and whispered "call me when you're 16 you stud" and I did and we had a torrid affair for several years. Heck, I'd even like to tell you that when I met them I was able to get more than a barely audible hello out of my mouth. But I can't even tell you that.

So what was the occasion of this historic meeting between the icons of family friendly sitcoms and one of your hosts here at the Treadmill? My mother worked as a producer for a local talk show out of Philadelphia at the time and one day the Brady Bunch kids were the guests. This was big enough for my mom to let a 10 year-old H skip school to meet them. And she did. Prior to the filming she brought me over to meet them. Just me and the six kids. My chance to get chatty with the biggest stars on TV. Sigh. As noted, I could barely get a word out. I'm not even sure it was audible to the hearing of anyone who wasn't a canine. The actors were friendly as could be, said words to the effect of "hello, nice to meet you", signed the piece of paepr you see above (the details are fuzzy, but I probably stood there holding out a pen and paper and they realized that I was trying to ask for autographs) and then they got ready for filming.

Ah well. Don't get mad at me. I told you it wasn't much of a story. It's your fault for continuing to read this really. So why am I telling you now? My mom recently visited and dropped off a number of boxes of my old stuff, including this autograph sheet. So I thought I'd share.

I have other stories of a failure to find words to strike up a conversation with other famous people, which is amazing given my usual inability to shut the hell up. But none have struck me with the shame this one did.

The only time I didn't clam up was once in the early 1990's when I encountered Mark Fidrych at a teeny tiny restaurant in Worcester, Massachusetts. He and his wife were waiting for a table as was I. Fidrych, who couldn't have been a nicer guy, and I chatted baseball for a good 20 minutes until a table opened up for me and my gorgeous, talented and oh-so charming date, who would later marry me. Perhaps she was impressed by my ability to strike up conversations with 20-game winners and decided then and there that I was a good catch. Good thing she wasn't there that day I met the Bradys.

Image above taken from TVPhotogalleries.com.

The local article with Bob is here (I can't bring myself to type the name of the paper); a recent on-line interview is available at Jazma, and the book is soon to be available at Amazon.com.

As usual, I’ll give a quick listing of the guest stars and artists for the issues I don’t have. They’re all written by Haney or are they?

Brave & Bold 87: Wonder Woman by Mike Sekowsky & Dick Giordano. The letters page to B&B 88 indicates that Sekowsky, not Haney, wrote this. This was Wonder Woman in her no powers phase, which is probably my second favorite incarnation of Wonder Woman, with the Golden Age WW being the top of the charts. I need to get this;

Brave & Bold 89: Phantom Stranger by Ross Andru & Mike Esposito. If forced to make a list of my top ten least favorite DC heroes, Phantom Stranger might make it;

Brave & Bold 90: Adam Strange also by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Adam Strange is another older character I’ve never had much interest in;

Brave & Bold 91: Black Canary by Nick Cardy; and

Brave & Bold 92: Bat Squad (don’t ask) also by Nick Cardy.

And now, for the issue I do have.

Brave & Bold 88, “Count Ten . . . And Die!”, teams up Batman and the living legend in the comics blogosphere, Wildcat. Written by Haney, this issue is drawn by Irv Novick, an artist who doesn’t seem to draw as much attention as others from the era, although I’ll take a Novick Flash or Batman story any day. Mike Esposito did the inking.

Oh, and that attractive Neal Adams cover? There’s not a scene even remotely close to it inside, which is too bad.

This is Wildcat’s first of many appearances with Batman in Brave & Bold (he had a bit part in one of the two issues featuring a Starman and Black Canary team-up). And this appearance is typical for Haney's Wildcat – he’s a washed-up, over-the-hill crime fighter lacking self-confidence. And when I say washed-up, I mean it literally - just check out this panel. This down-on-his-luck hero was one of the favorite personality types Haney liked to give Batman’s guest stars. Haney’s Batman was a motivator to other heroes. Modern Batman sees them as unwanted competition.

Another trait typical of Wildcat’s appearances in Haney’s Brave & Bold is the failure to explain how a hero who had been established only as a member of the JSA was appearing with what was presumed to be the Earth-1 Batman. The years after-the-fact answer is that none of the stories in Brave & Bold took place in Earth-1 or Earth-2 continuity. It was Earth-Haney, a land like no other. As a reader I enjoyed trying to figure out which Earth these stories were taking place on. It was a good mystery.

This version of Wildcat bears no character resemblance to the one that popped up with the JSA revival in 1975. Physically? Identical. Personality? Near opposites. Not that this helps identify which version Haney intended his to be. That’s really a trick question. I don’t think Haney gave a rat’s ass about that sort of thing. Wildcat was a blank slate character-wise in 1970. The Golden Age Wildcat, like most golden age super heroes, particularly the second-stringers, had little in the way of personality and in his few Silver Age appearances nothing was done on that score. So, although the Wildcat personality in the All-Star Comics revival (which to sweep it with a broad, but accurate, stroke was essentially the Ben Grimm of the JSA without the tragic appearance issues) is the one that stuck and exists in modified form today, Haney was the first to give Wildcat a personality. And an interesting one it is. Wildcat is a former heavyweight champ and super hero who was on the top of the world in his day. Batman obviously respects Wildcat’s career. But now, he’s older and on the way down. It was and is a great take on a super hero.

The plot of this story is Haney-like in the way it cuts to the chase and lets the meat of the story dominate. Bruce Wayne tracks down Ted Grant in a flop house (his gym to train inner city kids failed financially) and recruits him to train the American youth boxing team in the World Youth games in Vienna. Bruce will be coaching the fencing team. Ted initially turns him down, but when Bruce stages a mugging in front of the flop house and Ted breaks it up with his fists, the elderly pugilist changes his mind.

Why is Bruce Wayne heading over to Vienna? It’s a Cold War crisis as the Russians and the “Anglo-Americans” race to get the first armed, manned space station into orbit. The Anglo-Americans paid a spy to find out when the Russkies are launching their satellite, but the free-lance spy, Schmimmerling, has taken the money and run. And he’s not the only European nasty in this tale. Over at the World Youth games, Ted gets bullied by the story’s heavy, Koslov The Hammer, the boxing trainer for the Russian team. Haney loved tough Russians as bad guys. Playing to the strengths of the co-stars this is also a down-to-earth story in which fists and guns are the only “powers” used by any character.

Now, we’ve talked earlier here on the Treadmill about why Wildcat was a frequent guest-star in Brave & Bold – because Haney was a boxing fan. My favorite part of this story is the voices that are given to Grant and Wayne. When Koslov the Hammer challenges Grant to a boxing match, Grant refuses because he sees fisticuffs as stooping to Koslov’s level. And Bruce “Batman” Wayne? He does everything he can to convince Grant that he has to fight to uphold the reputation of “American courage and sportsmanship”. It’s like a Hawk and Dove story with Wildcat as Dove. And if the whole Wildcat as cowardly pacifist and Batman as “fists promote peace” he-man wasn’t already bizarre enough, Batman corners Ted Grant in a ferris wheel car and forces him to fight while the Viennese ride operator can only exclaim “Himmel!” And you probably did too when you saw this panel.

Later on, Grant’s on the ropes in the boxing ring, so Batman continues the tough love by tossing this batarang into the ring, which does the trick as Ted Grant rises from knockdown count of 9, throws 2 punches at the Hammer and wins the bout.

If he ever completely defeats crime, Earth-Haney Batman has a career ahead of him as a professional motivator.

There’s a crucial plot sequence which amuses me in how much Haney expects readers to humor credibility at the expense of some crackerjack action. During the boxing match, the arena lights go out, and while the crowd can’t see what is going on, Grant KOs Koslov, sneaks out of the arena with Koslov, hops on a motorcycle, throwing Koslov into the sidecar, zooms outside the city to where a captive Batman is being held, beats up the bad guys and frees Batman, returns to the arena, sneaks back in with Koslov and gets both of them standing in the ring right as the lights go on with the crowd none the wiser and sitting quietly in their seats throughout the length of the blackout.

Other tidbits:

1) There’s a text page about the history of the Brave & Bold title;
2) The letter’s page tackles the landmark issue in which Green Arrow developed a beard and a personality, including one missive by a fan demanding a return to Green Arrow’s old look and identity. Was it you Scipio? I kid. I kid. No, seriously. Was it?; and
3) Wildcat appears in costume for a mere two of the twenty-two pages he appears in for this story, which wasn’t that unusual for this period in DC history – heck, the Teen Titans went sans costumes for a 4-part story arc around this time too.

And that’s it for this year in Brave & Bold indexing. Here’s the friendly farewell.

Adventure 210 is one of the most influential comics ever published. It’s the introduction of Krypto. Frankly, I don’t know how anyone can not idolize Krypto. It seems inhuman to me. It’s a dog with Superman powers. This is where American super hero comics took things to the next level. You didn’t see the Greeks or Romans giving their Gods and Goddesses super-powered pets did you? The Norse mythos? Druids? Native Americans (well, maybe, but that - or any Greek, Roman, Norse, Druid one I overlooked - doesn’t fit my point, so let’s ignore it). Frankly, I think Krypto is the most innovative character comics have ever produced. Who’s with me on this? Or, more to the point, who’s not with me? Raise your hand – we’re taking names and putting you on the list.

“The Super-Dog From Krypton!”, written by Otto Binder and drawn by Curt Swan and John Fischetti, is the story future generations will be analyzing when we’re an ancient culture. What moral lesson does this story teach us? That humanity, even a child, is superior to the animals even when those animals are graced with all the talents of humans or some other arrogant lesson like that? Hell, no. It teaches us that every kid needs a dog, because dogs are loyal and fun. Well, it teaches us that if you ignore the tragic ending where Superboy allows Krypto to abandon Earth for space. But we all know that didn’t last. Krypto would be back to form the Space Canine Patrol Agents, to outwit Mr. Mxyptlk in the greatest Mr. Mxyptlk story ever in Action Comics 467 and to kick some Kryptonite Man butt in Alan Moore’s finale to the Silver Age Superman’s story in Action Comics 583. But enough maniacal raving about the truth of how Krypto is the greatest concept to hit the printed page. Let’s take a look at that debut story.

To honor Krypto, I’ll be presenting my favorite panel from each of the 10 pages in the story introducing him.

The choice from the first page, shown at the start of this entry is easy. It’s a splash page, so there’s only one panel, but this would win anyway. “I’ll pat you on the head anyhow!” That’s more loyalty than Clark showed to Lois or Lana in these days.

Page two brings us the first story panel Krypto ever appears in. I’m going to use two panels here because it shows Krypto strutting his stuff in mockery of his greatest nemesis – the dog catcher.

Next, page three shows Krypto (and I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking this pre-dog groomer Krypto looks mangy enough to pass for Cujo) enjoying a tasty treat.

Page four features super licking. As we say in comics, ‘nuff said.

Page 5 has a puppy. Everyone loves puppies. But let's not let the act of going "awwwww....cute" make us miss something ground-breaking going on here. Look at Jor-El and Lara. For decades, these two characters have been stuck appearing in the same scene – sending baby Kal-El off in a rocketship – over and over and over and over again. What those two wouldn’t give for a chance to do a different scene – just once. And here it is. They get to send a puppy into space as an experiment. From benevolent parents to animal abusers. Jor-El and Lara had some real acting chops.

Next, Krypto shows why people who are afraid of flying are pretty smart. Who needs a bone when planes have wings? This panel is actually from page 5, but it depicts the situation better than any of the remaining in the sequence which appear on page 6. I may not have as many super powers as a Kryptonian, but I do possess the super power to break my own rules on my blog. Heck, I think that makes me prime material for the Legion of Substitute Heroes.

For page 7, I fudged my own rules again and presented these two panels which should convince anyone that the life of a super-dog is not always an easy one. Hot lava bath? Barbed-wire brush? Conceited masters? I'm not going to do any research on this issue, because it might contradict my belief, but I'm certain that this sequence was the inspiration for the phrase “for the dogs”. The influence of Krypto on society can not be understated. At least not on this blog.

Page 8 is a reader participation panel. After reading the first panel, can you guess if Superboy is proven wrong in the second panel?

Page 9 brings us a panel in which even the most hard-hearted canine foe can’t help but feel for Krypto. Apparently the power to super scold is another one brash young Clark gets due to our yellow sun. Has he no super shame?

And to end the story on page 10, I’m fudging again, showing you the final two panels as Krypto streaks off into space and Superboy holds back the super tears.

What’s my final take on this classic tale? I don’t think Krypton was that advanced a society after all. Only a backwoods people wouldn’t have dog trainers, which is clearly what rambunctious young Krypto needed. Either that or the Els, whom we’ve always been led to believe were ideal parents, were seriously flawed in failing to obtain dog training. Either way, Krypton comes out of this one smelling like it stepped in dog poop.

No need to fear though super dog fans. Krypto would quickly evolve into a much smarter, better behaved and helpful canine then he proved to be in his initial appearance.

Silver Age Krypto, you're one of a kind.

This book isn't for everyone. It's violent--almost senselessly so, given the random nature of the violence. The marketing blurb neatly summarizes the plot:

Ten innocent people become unwilling contestants in a game of death. Given 10 bullets and a gun, it's kill or be killed as they're forced to hunt the other 10 contestants! In the dark, horrific tradition of Battle Royale, this is a non-stop adrenaline-fueled tale of pain and terror.

And even though Giffen predominately creates a tense, dark atmosphere, I found myself laughing a few times. Once, it was intentional. I shan't spoil the joke, but look carefully at the list of the contestants' names. My absolute favorite made up name is on that list. I like that name so much, that I, a middle management desk jockey--a veritable corporate lackey--signed idiotic documents nobody ever looked at with it. Someday, I will tell the tale of when someone actually read one of those documents.

But Giffen and Kuhn also made me laugh inappropriately. This--against my sense of decency--made me laugh:

Let me set the record straight: I had a good time reading this book--although good time means "this book gave me the creeps." The notion of being trapped in a random game of death is terrifying. It works for me on a visceral level. But(is this one of those "Yes, but..." reviews Larry Young dislikes?)...

I think there's some sloppy editing (or writing) with respect to "the rules" of the competition. At least I think it's sloppy editing, because otherwise the book's too subtle for its own good, although I could just be missing the point.

Here are the rules:

10's big ending is that the final contestant is supposed to kill himself--as Isaiah, the creepy counter-protagonist, exposits: "Ever wonder why there are ten bullets if you only have to kill nine people? The tenth is for the winner."

In the third paragraph, the we are led to believe there are "TEN other, like armed contestants." In general, "other" doesn't include the person reading the rules, I would think. Am I being pedantic? Perhaps, but the rules in this case create the story environment and set up the big finish. If they are sloppy, what will hold the narrative together? What enables a willing suspension of disbelief? What loopholes can the author use to get around other inconvenient rules? Moreover, the rules are self-contradictory: they indicate that there are a total of ten contestants in the final paragraph.

The second rules problem is another counting error. "The competition is not to extend past a ten day limit" sayeth the rules. At the start of the first book, we see a contestant murdered by Isaiah. Immediately after that murder, the time shifts to "ten days later." That victim's death had to have occurred on or after the first day (brilliant, no?). Ten days later means it's now the eleventh day at the earliest--clearly beyond the ten day limit. Game over, man. This story shouldn't be, according to its own premise.

And there's another potential counting problem: the rules state "should a twenty four hour period pass without a contestant being eliminated, a randomly selected contestant will be disqualified / terminated." Since there are four people left during the scenes with Graham, at least four days have passed--not necessarily consecutively--without a contestant being eliminated. Someone's not following up with the random eliminations. By day 10 or 11, there can only be one contestant left. Now, it could be that the random elimination will occur after the contest, but that doesn't seem fair to the reader, does it? There is the possibility that Isaiah is the one responsible for clean-up (he is wearing an exterminator's uniform), but then the scene where he holds the list of contestants should have ten names on it--not nine, plus his own as the tenth. And speaking of that scene, Isaiah's considers himself to be residing in the third circle of Hell--his address is hand-written on the list. I think that particular circle of Hell is reserved for those guilty of gluttony, which may or may not be meaningful in this context--Isaiah seems to like anti-depressants; drug addiction is a form of gluttony, I suppose. I'd expect to find him in the seventh circle, but I may be expecting too much from a passing Dante reference.

Of course, who's setting up the contest is a mystery. At least, I think it is. I could be convinced that it's all Isaiah's doing. His "I've traveled this road before" line to Graham is intriguing. Did he set this up? Was he a previous "winner?" His comment about having all the names as a "perk" suggests the latter to me. But if it were his doing before, how'd he avoid capture? Heck, if he were simply a previous winner (and by his admission, should be dead), how did he get away? There would be more clues lying around than Carter has liver pills, as my Mom used to say. If previous competitions were similar, there would be at least ten pistols (all with modified clips, although Smith & Wesson does make perfectly serviceable 9mm pistols, some of which have a clip that holds ten bullets), lists, letters, addresses. This contest even has a survivor. Something's got to make the whole competition come crashing down, unless the thing is run by a massive government conspiracy.

Now, if Isaiah is the one who set the whole thing up, then the rules violations and inconsistencies fade to meaninglessness--hinted at, perhaps, by Isaiah saying that "promises are made to be broken" to one of his victims. Isaiah could simply have set up the idea of a recurring game as a ruse. But that would be cheating without a direct explanation. Agatha Christie can cheat (and to prevent a rare double spoiler, I won't tell you in what book she did). Keith Giffen can't, unless he explains it all. And there isn't a whole lot of explanation in 10.

I earlier called 10 high octane adventure. And it is: but a set-up that throws together the random nature of violence and death, vague philosophical references, and an exterminator begs for a deeper look. In the end, 10 doesn't quite hold together. It's decent if you don't look at it too closely, but a story like this demands internal consistency or an explanation for the unresolved issues. A bit of ambiguity and mystery may be purposeful, but I don't think that's the case here.

This thing of exquisite beauty was customized for us here at the Treadmill by custom Heroclix creator extraordinaire, Dale, who you can contact yourself at dale4767(at)comcast.net You may kick back and enjoy the rest of your life now Dale. Your work on this plane of existence is complete. The spirit of Bob Haney has your back from here on in.

And why am I thanking the monkey for this? That’s easy. Because Big Monkey Comics is where I got my first custom clix from Dale. Look here to see what they have in stock, an inventory which I note has been almost entirely cleared out. See what happens when you snooze?

Speaking of Big Monkey Comics, I heartily recommend that you follow Scipio’s current series looking at the Detroit JLA issues. It’s taken many years, but I’m finally getting my money’s worth of enjoyment out of those atrocities. I wonder if Scipio will shed any light whether JLA Detroit’s Dale and custom Heroclix artist Dale are one and the same person?

In other blogging news of interest, Scott has been catching up on his Hawk and Dove series.

Another series that has us hooked is Shelly’s look back at comics that printed letters she wrote. Comic blogs are swell, but they don’t take the place of letters pages, which soon will return to the pages of my monthly super hero comics – I have faith. It’s too good an idea not to be acted on.

Fred Hembeck talks about one of my favorite odd one-shots - the Soupy Sales comic.

Laura relays news that has me thinking I might watch an Aquaman TV show even if I’m not reading his current comic series (although my willpower to resist giving Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis a chance is weakening – I’m not Hal Jordan you know).

And just because updates don’t seem to be appearing on the Comic Weblog Updates service is no excuse not to be regularly checking out the king of visual comic blogs, Dial B For Blog. The latest entries have been digging up what may have been the comics that influenced Batman TV show produced William Dozier. It’s must reading.

Oh, and that stuff about Dale getting to relax from here on in. That part I take back. I already have him toiling on a custom clix of the best version of Starfire. Of course, you’ll get to read all about it soon Treadmillers. Just keep your grubby paws off my custom clix. But you can always order your own.

Chapter one opens with Aqualad playing a trick on Mera – the little scamp sewed together a sea monster costume to scare her – that sort of dedication to pranks is a lost art. But the real fun starts at the bottom of page 2 when Aquaman shows up in the company of a green-skinned alien hottie and tells Mera and Aqualad to get lost. The rest of the chapter lets Mera strut her stuff as she tackles Aquaman and his alien babe. Whoever wrote this lets Mera exploit her powers in some truly imaginative sequences. Finally, the cliff-hanger ending to chapter one occurs when we see Aquaman shape-change into a male alien. Comics readers know, of course, this means that we were never seeing the real Aquaman at all, but an alien shape-shifter disguised as Aquaman. Mera and Aqualad haven’t read as many comics as we have though. They think the female turned Aquaman into one of her race.

Chapter 2 is notable in that Aquaman makes his first appearance in the story on page 12 – a very unusual absence for a strip’s protagonist in those days. Only after Mera is able to defeat and reason with the aliens does Aquaman show up. Oh the squandered potential of Mera over the years. Once Mera has beaten and talked with them, we learn that the aliens we’ve seen so far are actually benevolent and the Aquagang track down and defeat the malevolent criminal aliens who were pursuing the pair Mera and Aqualad encountered.

In Chapter 3, the setting turns to space for the second time in the 16 issue series, but not before Mera and the shapely female alien get into a cat(fish)fight over Aquaman. The finale is a fine battle with the type of genuine teamwork that hooked me on team super hero comics as an idealistic young lad.

Chapter 2 finds Aquaman and Aqualad traveling into the past to rescue Mera. There are a lot of great scenes here, but none better than this one of Aqualad telling off Zeus.

Zeus has Poseidon and Aquaman compete to retrieve a golden apple and a chapter full of fun trials and tribulations ensue.

Chapter 3 shows Aquaman triumphing and includes this picture of Zeus enjoying himself at Poseidon’s expense. Grumpy and angry comic book gods are pretty dull. Ones that know how to have fun like Marvel's Hercules and this version of Zeus - they're enjoyable to read about.

Poseidon goes on one last rampage and gets shown a thing or two about courage and quick-thinking by Aquaman and Mera, leading to the sort of instant redemption we all hoped existed when we were living in our own personal Silver Ages.

Aquaman 18, “The Wife of Aquaman” is a landmark issue in that after an extraordinarily brief courtship, Aquaman and Mera get married and Aquaman becomes King of Atlantis.

These were astounding permanent changes to the strip in the days when things weren’t done that way. I’ve never read any interviews from anyone involved on the decision to have marry Aquaman to Mera. And at this point there may not be anyone left who remembers the reasoning. But if there is, I’d sure be interested in seeing it.

Chapter One opens with Aquaman being informed that he’s been chosen to be King of Atlantis and he winds up crowned and told that Atlantean law requires him to pick an Atlantean woman as his wife and make it snappy. All that in the first page of the story!

Trivia: Aquaman’s predecessor as king was named Juvor. Meanwhile, Mera has been informed that the machine that lets her freely travel between dimensions is burning out. Without any angst, she picks Aquaman over her kingdom and leaves her dimension. Slipping out with her is Oceanus, who declares his love for Mera and his plan to rule Aquaman’s world. She rejects him and he zaps her with a ray “permanently” taking away her powers. And that’s just the 8 pages of Chapter 1.

Before moving on to Chapter 2, I need to talk about the decision to sap Mera of her powers. Fortunately this decision only lasted 5 issues, but it was a horribly misguided one, presumably done so that the titular hero’s wife didn’t outshine the hero in the powers department. As I’ve noted before, part of the appeal of the title to me was that Aquaman was not only often overpowered by his foes, but by his fellow cast members too. The underdog status to all around him made Aquaman’s triumphs all the more heroic. By taking away Mera’s powers to make her a permanent cast member, I think the creative powers missed this appeal.

As Fozzie The Bear would say, moving right along, a distraught Mera gets hornswoggled temporarily by Oceanus who uses his hard water powers to create an army that conquers Atlantis. His soldiers look straight out the stock of the bad guy’s henchmen in Filmation’s animated Aquaman that aired 3 years later.

And the chapter ends with Aquaman and Aqualad captured by Oceanus and Oceanus’ seeming ally, Mera.

Chapter 3 brings 1964 in Aquaman to a close in a strange ending in which, undone, Oceanus bargains for his escape and is allowed to flee, never to be heard from again. These early issues developed quite a rogues gallery for Mera – heck, her rogues gallery outnumbered Aquaman’s for a brief while before it was decided to stop mentioning that she was a queen from another dimension.

Then with just one and half pages left, Miller (or Haney or whoever) still has to marry Aquaman and Mera off. Today, many would-be brides and grooms spend untold hours and effort to plan and hold a wedding. Aquaman and Mera pull the whole thing off in four panels, but not, you’ll note, without the critical help from Aqualad, the brainy hero’s sidekick.

And here’s the wedding, which makes Superman and J’onn J’onzz the first DCU guest characters to get speaking parts in the Aquaman series (to be as trivial as possible, Green Arrow and Speedy were the only other DCU characters to appear in an Aquaman solo story before this, although Aquaman once referenced Superman in an Adventure tale that involved crooks trying to get a chunk of kryptonite from the bottom of the ocean).

Also worth noting is that both major, permanent changes to the strip premise weren’t really part of the story. The tale could have easily omitted those two events and told a normal Aquaman and Aqualad fight a rival for Mera story just like issue 17 and which would also be used as the blueprint for a story in 1965. The crowning of Aquaman as king took one page and the proposal and wedding took four panels. Neither was central to the story, which was the takeover of Atlantis. Was the story already written when the word came down to make Aquaman king and marry him to Mera? It’s certainly plausible. Oh the unending questions of the fanboys and fangirls.

In the lost character department, I present you with Tumol. Although rarely referred to by name, this guy frequented the Atlantean scene a lot in these days, usually being the only Atlantean to get a speaking role. By the time Vulko gets introduced in a few years, Tumol is long gone and forgotten. Maybe he should have heeded his agent’s advice and gotten a hipper haircut.

As I’ve noted earlier, I purchased nearly all of my copies of the first run of Aquaman in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s. I have the back issue price sticker for most of the 1964 issues (even I’m not anal enough to record prices and dates purchased, but if the info is on the sticker, I kept the sticker) which inform me I paid between 40 cents (centerfold detached) and $2.90 (outstanding shape – at least until I put it on the scanner) depending on the condition (and that’s assuming I didn’t get them during a sale). Not that condition meant a darn thing to me. If I saw an issue I needed and the price was within reason, I got it. I wanted to read and re-read the thing, not seal it off for future generations to marvel at. Those darn future generations can fend for themselves

Thus endeth Aquaman year three. Here’s the finny friends and menaces roll call.

Finny Friends Summary For Aquaman Issues 13-18

Angler Fish – Use luminous tentacles to lure monstrous creature into depths where pressure cracks its protective shell.

Eels, Giant – Form chain to whip Aquaman over a monster blocking his way

Jellyfish – Slide “slimy bodies” back and forth to loosen Aquaman’s wrists from manacles

Manta Ray, Giant – Uses tail to open locked door on side of undersea mountain

Octopi – Engage in wrestling contests for the pleasure of a deranged Aquaman
-Pull Aquaman out of a “lake of dense water”
-Steal Poseidon’s trident
-Knock over statue as a distraction

Porpoise – riding mounts for Aquaman and Aqualad

Sawfish – Saw manacles in unsuccessful attempt to free Aquaman
-Successfully saw chains to free Aquaman

Sea Horse, Giant – Bucks rider at Aquaman’s command

Sharks – Carry a raft on their backs

Signal Fish – S.O.S. from Atlantis

Squids, Giant – Use ink to paint iceberg to chase sub-tropical dinosaurs. Admit it – if you haven’t read my blurb describing this story yet, you will now.

Swordfish – Engage in gladiatorial contests for the pleasure of a deranged Aquaman
-Saw away cliff edge to allow sea boulder to tumble
-Steal a golden apple

Turtles, Giant – Provide Aquaman cover to infiltrate island hideout of bad guys.

Whales – Shield ship from tidal wave
-Use spouts to give Aquaman a boost to fight a Plesiosaur
-Bump into a mind-controlled Mera to allow Aquaman and Aqualad to escape

The Bad Guy Line-Up
Another running tally I’ll keep for these 56 issues is who the bad guy(s) was(were) and what the goal of the evil doer(s) was.

1) Fire Trolls – Creatures living below the ocean floor. Want to conquer the surface world.
2) Captain Sykes – pirate type who wants to possess two mystic artifacts which will give him control over a magical giant monster that he will use to plunder the seas.
3) Pomoxis – renegade Atlantean who can also control fish wants to get rid of Aquaman so he can plunder the seas.
4) Criminals from the planet Suvia seeking to find weapon Suvian scientists created and hid on Earth.
5) Merder, the evil sorcerer imprisoned in a microscopic world within a water drop wants Aquaman to find the two artifacts Merder needs to escape.
6) Captain Slade and Quirk/Quirp – pirate type and evil water sprite team up to plunder the seas.
7) Pomoxis and Captain Clay use otherwise docile sea beasts to plunder the seas and seize control of Atlantis
8) Criminals from Phrygia, an alien world that has lost its water, seek to steal all the water from Earth
9) Sorcerer from ancient times casts possession spell on modern explorer enabling him to prevent undersea eruption which would destroy planet. Aquaman unknowingly gets in the way, but not enough to thwart the benevolent plan.
10) Quink and two other malevolent water sprites learn how to become giant-sized, imprison all the other water sprites and menace and plunder our world
11) Zeron and his band of rebels seeking to capture Mera
12) 2 stories: 1) Jealous scientific assistant, Kirk, steals an invention that evolves animals into evolutionary advanced, but savage creatures; 2) Aliens kidnap water beings from many worlds for gladiatorial contests
13) Criminals from the year 2098 who are using dinosaurs, who came to the present via a sea-quake time warp, to loot ships. Only one of the criminals is given a name – Nicoll.
14) 2 stories: 1) Old sea hermit gives Aquaman 4 special one-use only powers that Aquaman uses in resolving various sea emergencies; 2) Aquaman takes a blow to the head and becomes a tyrant, believing he is the King of Atlantis.
15) Friendly scientist Dr. Deering, who goes loonybins after a lab accident and tries to build and populate an undersea city.
16) Shape-changing alien criminals seek revenge on a defector who hides on Earth and assumes the shape of Aquaman.
17) Poseidon travels to the present and kidnaps Mera to make her his wife.
18) Oceanus, a renegade from Mera’s dimension wants to take Mera as his bride and rule over Aquaman’s dimension.

The third year of Aquaman was similar to the first two in style, with the main change being the addition of Mera as a permanent member of the cast and the subtraction of Quisp as an occasional cast member. In other words, more generally solid story telling of tales of underwater adventure with Aquaman, Aqualad and a friend with hard water powers.

Reading these stories again to talk about them here on the Treadmill marks about the 5th or 6th time I’ve ever read them over the past 30 years. And every time I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them. They’re well-written adventure tales (with the occasional clunker like issue 15) with heroism at every turn with victory always going to the clever forces of good.

Nick Cardy continued as artist for all six issues. Like any rational person, I’ve enjoyed Cardy art since I first encountered it and my admiration for it grows each year. Cardy is one of the all-time greats. Keep reading to find out how I stack my artistic talents against his.

1964 starts with Aquaman 13, “Invasion of the Giant Reptiles” featuring a malevolent Mera controlling a giant hard water clam that is attacking Aqualad. Note that Aquaman is calling Mera a “sea witch” on the cover, the obligatory name for every female character in the book that wasn’t submissively pleasant. This story, written by Jack Miller, saw the second appearance of Mera, who showed up to take the Quisp role as the super powered savior out of nowhere in Chapter 2. This tale was written in the standard and successful 3-chapter novel length format, and stands as another example of an entertainingly written Aquaman adventure of the era.

Chapter 1 introduces the menace, an invasion of vicious underwater dinosaurs from a time warp created by sea quake. Underwater prehistoric dinosaurs. Brawn and no brains versus Aquaman’s brains and comparative lack of brawn. As The Tick would say, that’s a worthy adversary. In a nice touch, Aquaman plugs up the hole with a sunken Nazi sub, but not before enough dinosaurs to fill up the rest of the issue have escaped.

In Chapter 2, Mera shows up to help with a Quisp-like explanation - the sea quake registered in her world too, so she came to help Aquaman (this is one of the few excuses you can make to “accidentally” bump into a romantic interest that I never used in my single days, but only because I never thought of it). Forced reason for bringing Mera into the story aside, it’s all worth it because of dialog like this, which is foreign to all contemporaneous male-female relationships in super hero comics - the two single characters not only were attracted to each other, but told each other so!

The plot thickens in Chapter 2 – as it always did, which was part of the appeal of these old Aquaman stories. There’s often a twist to the menace you’re shown in Chapter 1. In this case, the twist shows up when the dinosaurs on the loose start looting ships! Using some clever stealth tactics, Aquaman discovers that criminals from the year 2098, the first Aqua-versaries to come from the future, are to blame. They managed to escape the police of their time via a time warp from the same sea quake. What’s worse, they have a thought control gun which they use to enlist Mera as their foot soldier as Chapter 2 comes to a close. Menaces from the past, present and future versus the Sea King and his young ally! Good stuff.

The splash to chapter 3 tells us that years before The Empire made the action trendy, “Aquaman Strikes Back”. Again, Aquaman is outclassed power-wise, but he still manages to outsmart the mind-controlled Mera (whom the crooks call “Aqua-Girl”, making her the second of four characters I know of to be referred to as such) with the story ending with this bit of super flirting.

Nitpick: Why did Aquaman always have such a hard time sneaking on to island hideouts? Wouldn’t it have been simple to sneak on under cover of darkness? I think I know the answer. Of course it would have been. Aquaman is just improving himself by eschewing the easy solution for the challenging one. No wonder I admire Silver Age Aquaman so.

Aquaman 14, was the second issue to feature two stories, both by Jack Miller and Nick Cardy. The shorter stories don’t handle a candle to the full-length format which had a much better rhythm going. That said, these two stories are not without merit – they just aren’t up to the standards of the other issues.

Now any discussion of the first story can’t proceed without a slight digression to some history of your Treadmill hosts from their days as elementary school lads. Beginning in 5th grade and running for the next several years, H and Mag created a number of parody comics with the feature character being Boobman instead of Batman. This being 5th grade in the 1970’s there were no sexual connotations to the word boob – we meant it only as a bumbling clod. As we created more of these masterpieces, more and more characters had to be created. Boobman needed Rotten and Batgoon to help fight the Jerker, Dogwoman and King Butt. Eventually the roster of The Jinxed League Of America was whipped up, including Snacquaman. He was rather round and liked to eat a lot. Did I mention this was in 5th grade? Anyway, the way this relates to Aquaman 14 is because the splash panel is almost exactly what Snacquaman looked like.

Before any accusations of plagiarism go a-flying, let me disclose that Snacquaman was created long before I got my hands on a copy of Aquaman 14. Let’s just say that great artistic minds like Nick Cardy and your Treadmill hosts think alike. Really the only difference is between us and Cardy is that he has reams of artistic talent and we don’t have a scintilla of it.

The conceit of the first story reads would have been right at home in Jimmy Olsen, but it stands in sharp contrast to the atmosphere that had been established in the first 13 issues of Aquaman. Aquaman acquires 4 mystery powers that transform his physical appearance and can only be used once and when used last for 6 hours. He uses each power in the next 11 pages to solve various sea emergencies and each time must deal with the negative consequences. In order he becomes Aqualasticman

the afore-mentioned Thanksgiving Day Float, Blocquacade Boy

and a 10,000 ton Juggernaut.

It’s an entertaining story visually, but it’s the first in this run to so completely deviate from the regular storytelling style.

As noted, it’s more of a Jimmy Olsen plot, or even a plot that would have supported Aquaman’s Adventure Comics strip, than one in the full-length Aquaman series. But this story is not entirely a throwback, because it is evidence of a change gradually creeping into the strip - Aquaman is becoming less reliant on using his finny friends and when he uses them the uses are more commonplace. In the first story in Aquaman 14, he doesn’t use them at all. In Aquaman 15, he uses fish once and in Aquaman 16 not at all. In the Adventure strip, fish tricks were almost always present and in the beginning of this run, writers weren’t shy about piling on creative ways for Aquaman to use his sea servants. But the series would gradually become less fishy and today, Aquaman using his telepathic powers to command fish is now more the exception then the rule in his appearances.

The second story in Aquaman 14, “The Tyrant Ruler of Atlantis!” also read like an underwater Jimmy Olsen story, in that the plot conceit is that the lead character goes crazy from a blow to the head and the story chronicles the aftermath and sudden clean-up of the resulting mess.

Again, it’s not to say these stories weren’t entertaining – they’re just more novelty tales than the solid adventure epics that the series had been telling. In the end, Aquaman recovers from his irrationally bad-tempered personality when he receives another blow to the head. Sadly, nobody seems to have thought of doing that to the modern day Aquaman to remove the caricature and give readers back a character. Another unAquaman-like touch is that in the final panel the female lead, Mera, presses the male lead, Aquaman, to marry her and he hems and haws. Remember, until this point, Aquaman and Mera had no problem with expressing their mutual affection.

Another plot point of note from this story is that Aqualad displays the same power to telepathically control fish that Aquaman does. There are a few other scattered instances of Aqualad having this power. Further, in Aquaman 17 it is claimed that all Atlanteans have this power! I’m glad I don’t have such a power. I’d probably use it to compel tasty fish to jump out of the ocean and on to my dinner plate only to feel horribly guilty about it after my stomach was full.

The final note of interest to this issue is that it marks the second time (Aquaman 8 being the first) that an issue of Aquaman didn’t feature a villain.

The story kicks off with the introduction of one of Aquaman’s unending supply of Silver Age scientific friends. This time it’s Dr. Deering, who invents a machine that can strip ocean foliage and drill for undersea oil fast and loud. For some reason, Aquaman thinks this is a good thing. But the invention isn’t the driving force of this story. No, this one has Dr. Deering involved in an accident by page 4 that turns him into a water-breather. And not just any water breather. He’s gone nuts. The chapter closes with the nutso doc stealing skyscrapers to build an undersea city. A plot device which reminds me of my favorite old 1960’s animated Spider-Man episode from the third and final season where critters living below steal NYC banks by digging an insanely long tunnel from the bottom to the surface and planting a giant spring at the bottom so that nobody in the building is hurt on impact. Wallopin’ websnappers I loved that episode.

Back to Aquaman 15 and chapter 2 of the proceedings. Well, really all you’ll want to know about this chapter is that Aquaman and Aqualad wind up as puppets.

Name a 1960’s DC hero with his own title that didn’t. I dare you. Surely somewhere out there someone has a web site dedicated to only those stories where super heroes become puppets.

In Chapter 3, Mera shows up in Quisp-like out of the blue fashion to end the puppetering and put an end to Dr. Deering’s insane schemes. Call it deus ex merachina. And what about the skyscrapers that were stolen and put underwater? Check out this ending.

See you tomorrow for Part II Treadmillers.

I'd sure like to have another index post up today, but non-blogging commitments are piling up, so today will have to be a follow-up to the 6th Day of Treadmill Christmas with the cover to Marvel Tales 192, which reprints Amazing Spider-Man 121-122 (1973).

Those of you who read the originals or who are familiar with Spider-Man might think that those were the two issues wherein Green Goblin killed Gwen Stacy.

Well, you're wrong. At least if you believe Marvel Tales 192.

Sure Green Goblin killed someone. But the corpse is clearly Gwen Stacey, not Gwen Stacy. Has a cover of a comic book ever lied to you before?

This seeming typographical error explains quite a bit. It was Gwen Stacey, not Gwen Stacy that slept with Norman Osborn and secretly had twins. Ms. Stacey was clearly a woman of loose morals and questionable ethics. Ms. Stacy on the other hand was a wonderful human being just as Stan Lee intended her to be.

So to recap. Gwen Stacey? Dead as a doornail, Bucky, Uncle Ben, Jor-El or Wing. Gwen Stacy? Realizing that the time for characters like her in comics was coming to an end, she found a safe house off-panel which no modern writer with intent to defile has since been able to locate. Gwen was both super sweet and extraordinarily resourceful.

Marvel Comics? I do believe they owe me a honking big no-prize. I'll go camp out at the curb by the mailbox.

It's really the only explanation. Surely Marvel Comics didn't print a gigantic typographical error on the cover of a comic starring it's best-selling character. Surely a proof-reader would have caught this gaffe.

Incidentally, if you're wondering what I think of the comic, I remember not being too impressed by the telling of the story years ago when I first read it. Sure the developments in the story were earth-shattering. A major, series-changing event that took place in a manner consistent with the established characters in play.

Having just re-read it, I liked it a whole lot more than I remember. Which is amazing considering the extraordinary bias I have against writer Gerry Conway. But all those years of bad Gerry Conway comics I spent my money on aside, I'm willing to play fair. These stories are good super hero drama and adventure. No question.

I remember three things about the entertainment during the trip out to Pittsburgh. Here they are, in order of importance:

1) Seeing the water skiing show (which the ad tells me happened in Sea World’s, Aurora, Ohio branch – See here for the fate of this franchise). Being a 14-year-old lad at the time, I most vividly remember the Wonder Woman character, but I also remember the entertainment value of Superman, Batman and Robin doing live water ski stunts before my very eyes. It’s the only part of the show I remember at all. I can’t recall if there were other characters. But as it all happened 28 years ago, I can’t say anything else the show with certainty.

Well, that's not entirely true. There was no scene in the show where Black Manta, Ocean Master and/or the Human Flying Fish attacked. That I'm certain about, because if there had been it would have been so cool I would have remembered it.

Obviously, there should have been an Aquaman, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't. The Super Friends show was fresh in the minds of the presumed target audience and Aquaman is the only Super Friend not shown in the ad. And he's an aquatic hero for Poseidon's sake;

2) Seeing Star Wars in the theater for the very first time. I’m no Star Wars nut. I haven’t even had the interest to watch the last 2 releases. But the first and second films were tremendous and both stand the test of time;

3) Seeing Hal Linden, who was still starring as Barney Miller on the TV show, appear in a summer theater show in Ohio. I have no recollection as to what the show was or really anything about the evening other than it had Hal Linden in the starring role. I’m sure that Abe Vigoda would have co-starred, but he was already dead by 1979. Don't bother me with the facts on that latter point. Barney Miller also starred Ron Glass, who played Shepherd Book on Firefly, which was one heck of a series and a top-notch movie. But you already knew that. Or you should dammit.