Aquaman, The - Archives, VOL 01 (DC Archive Editions) [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

This wonderful compilation of Aqua-tales from the early Silver Age is both fun and goofy. And the Ramona Fradon artwork is absolutely beautiful. Ms. Fradon's art displays all the detail of pages produced by the late, great Curt Swan yet none of Mr. Swan's tendancy toward stiffness in his figures. This fluidity of form is a must for depicting the Sea King in his natural environment and no one does that better than Ms. Fradon. IMHO only Nick Cardy and Jim Aparo have ever matched her skill in depicting my fav' Aquaman.

The stories, on the other hand, are of the "what sillness can we subject our hero to now" variety that DC seemed to relish in the late 50's and on into the 60's, so knock off a star if you're not as partial to that style of story-telling as I. It is the artwork, however, that makes this Archive truly essential. Fradon is at the top of her game - and the first Aquaman tale drawn by the equally wonderful Nick Cardy rounds out the book!

Oh, have I mentioned that the art's really nice ...

Aquaman made his initial appearance in DCs' More Fun Comics #73, cover dated November 1941 ( Green Arrow debuted in the same issue) during what is referred to as the Golden Age of Comics. Not a headliner at that time, he was a popular back-up feature and as the super-hero genre died out in the early 1950s, Aquaman was one of the handful of super-hero characters who survived and made the transition into the Silver Age of Comics.

The Aquaman Archives, Vol #1 contains twenty-five Aquaman stories ...224 pages of the Marine Marvel's incredible Silver Age adventures reprinted from Adventure Comics 260-280, 282 and 284 and Showcase 30-31.

This was an interesting time in Aquaman's history. The editors at DC decided to do more with the long-running feature, giving Aquaman a new origin and expanding his supporting cast. Listed below are a few of the highlights.

Adventure Comics # 260 (May 1959): How Aquaman Got His Powers- Aquaman gets a brand new origin to usher him into the Silver Age and the reader discovers that the Atlantis is a living, (water) breathing civilization, giving the Sea King something he hadn't had before in his 18 year history... a plot engine for his adventures.

Adventure Comics # 266 (Nov 1959): Aquaman meets Aquagirl- Aquaman meets a surface girl with powers similar to his own and the reader gets a glimpse into Atlantean society.

Adventure Comics # 267 (Dec 1959): The Manhunt on Land and The Underwater Archers- Despite having shared the same comic books since 1941, Aquaman and Green Arrow meet for the first time in these linked stories. Although not technically a team-up story, Aquaman does make a cameo appearance in the last panel of the Green Arrow installment.

Adventure Comics #268 (Jan 1960): The Adventures of Aquaboy- The adventures of Aquaman when he was a boy. Hey, it worked for Superman.

Adventure Comics #269 (Feb 1960): The Kid from Atlantis- Aquaman's supporting cast gets a real boost with the introduction of Aqualad into the series! Before this, the only recurring character in the series was Aquaman's exceptionally intelligent and loyal pet octopus, Topo. The reader gets another glimpse into Atlantean society and the series gets another plot engine.

Adventure Comics #272 (May 1960): The Human Flying Fish- Aquaman faces off against his first costumed, super-powered super villain. The Human Flying Fish may not have been cool enough for a rematch with the Sea King, but it was a start.

Adventure Comics #275 (Aug 1960): The Interplanetary Mission- A story involving "aliens" and Kryptonite. Superman is lucky to have a friend like Aquaman looking out for him.

Showcase #30 (Feb 1961): The Creatures from Atlantis- Aquaman stars in his first book length feature! For the first time since his silver-age series began Aquaman interacts with the citizens of Atlantis when he and Aqualad go to their aid against alien invaders bent on world conquest! Aquaman's origin is recapped.

These stories are 50 years old. They were written with a target readership between 8 and 10 years old in mind. And therein lies their charm, even today if the reader can enjoy them with a un-jaded eye. These stories are family friendly, light-hearted and just plain fun. No angst, no soap opera drama to speak of, but plenty of action. The art of all-time greats Ramona Fradon and Nick Cardy leap off the pages in this volume of classic Silver-Age Aquaman adventures.

Sadly, there hasn't been a volume #2 of the Sea King's adventures in DCs' Archive Series. So enjoy the one that we have. It's a gem!

The Aquaman Archives volume 1 primarily collects the Aquaman stories from Adventure Comics #260-280 (and some additional stories from Showcase). The most important thing to know about these stories is that they're not at all what you might expect them to be. They're roughly 7-page back-up stories that are fast, quirky and totally illogical.

These stories were written for kids. Young kids. The short plots are largely gimmick driven as opposed to the super-hero stories you might expect. Ocean Master and Black Manta- Aquaman's biggest rogues- wouldn't be created for a few years yet (The Human Flying-Fish is as good as it gets if that's what you're looking for), and so the stories explore some silly ideas that can be done-and-delt-with within a single issue. In one issue, Aquaman opens an undersea clinic and helps bandage up injured fish. In another, he helps teach some joy-riding teenagers that sailing is serious business. This is not great literature, but its charm is in its imagination and relative absurdity.

That said, quirkiness and Ramona Frandon's gorgeous, clean art work can only go so far. I read this collection over the span of two months, and even at a pace as slow as that, I eventually got bored (particularly when the writer(s)- whomever they may be- began to reusing the same ideas time and again, either as plot elements or Aquaman's means of defeating his enemy). The collection, simply, only has so much to offer.

It has charm, Frandon's artwork is wonderful and it was wonderful to see a different approach to superhero comics from that period. Definitely something to check out if you're interested in Frandon, Aquaman, or comic history.