Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!

(This Page is dedicated -- with gratitude and respect -- to Kenneth Wayne Jobe "Best Friend, and Writing Partner Emeritus.")

If you had to pick... which DC character would you select as the company's hands-down, no-arguments-allowed "bad luck" poster child...?

You could make convincing enough cases for any one of a host of 'em, to be sure "Lightning Lad" (of LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES fame) has died, and come back to life; had one of his arms blasted into free-floating atoms; watched helplessly (in one incarnation of the LEGION title) as his child was transformed into a mindless, nigh-unstoppable juggernaut of destruction, dedicated solely to the annihilation of kith and kin... a whole lotta stuff like that, there. He's a contender, certainly.

Western bounty hunter "Jonah Hex" is one, as well facial features hideously and irrevocably scarred; loving wife, murdered... and he was forced to participate in the atrocious (although -- thankfully -- short-lived) HEX science fiction series, as well. He merits careful consideration (and a few "sympathy" votes, methinks), as well.

... but ah, BUT --

-- where, then, do you suppose a character with all of the following calamities and ruination "place," at the end of our little hypothetical downhill soap(opera)box derby...?

*** -- forced to watch, helplessly, as his infant sonwas murdered, right before his awestruck and uncomprehending eyes, by one of his two most implacable blood-foemen;

*** -- discovers that his other lifelong arch-enemy [see cover, above] is none other than his own brother;

*** -- stunned into near-total immobility (and very nearly killed, as a result) when his beloved wife not only divorces him, anent the death of their child... but attempts to murder him;

*** -- and -- just recently -- had his good right hand gnawed down to the bare bone by ravening piranha... while he was still conscious enough to feel it HAPPENING...?!?

Ladies and gents I give you -- AQUAMAN the red-headed stepchild of the DC universe.

First things first, however a little something to drive all of the "Continuity NOW!" fanboys out of their tiny little minds. Just because it's so darned fun.

God, but I love doing that.

The SUPERBOY story referenced above violates current AQUAMAN continuity so thoroughly -- in so very many ways -- that it has all but been declared the storytelling equivalent of "Public Enemy Number One" by the comics readership of today.

If you're ever in the mood to drive some self-styled "continuity cop" absolutely, positively stone cah-razy... just casually -- y'know -- bring this issue up in conversation.

It's so gosh-darned cute, the way their faces turn all mottled and purple, like.

Anyway enough mean-spirited fun for the author, for now Let's move on.

One of the more bizarre aspects of the Silver Age Aquaman was the notion that he (like all of his fellow Atlanteans) could only survive for one hour, outside of water.

This wholly arbitrary "time limit" was treated with a mind- numbing literalcy that could (on occasion) take on an almost comic dimension. [see cover, above]

It was almost as if the character had the hydrometric equivalent of a tiny egg timer, somewhere inside of him. Fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds...? No hey problema. One measly second past that, however...? BLAMMO --!! Instantaneous brain embolism/ myocardial infarction/ the heartbreak of psoriasis.

Either the forces of evolution within the DC universe had extremely unhappy "home lives," and enjoyed working their frustrations out on the hapless denizens of said space/time continuum... or else they were just plain ol', garden variety goofy. Me... I'm giving 8-5 odds on "goofy."

One thing "the King of the Seven Seas" did have goingfor him, however, was Nick Cardy.

With the possible exception of the legendary Gil Kane (it's a darned close call, either way), DC simply didn't have a finer cover artist than the good Mr. Cardy.

When he was playing at the top of his particular game... Nick Cardy could -- you should kindly pardon the expression -- quite literally "blow you out of the water" with his seemingly trademarked craftsmanship and keen weather eye for the dramatic (as the especially nice example, directly above, should make manifestly plain).
Of course, being The Reigning Lord and Sovereign of All the World's Oceans isn't all sheerest drudgery, mind.

By the universally-recognized laws of undersea salvage any half-nekkid, semi-dead mer-babes you find floating around underwater...?

Yours. For, like, keeps, man.

(All right... I'll admit it that joke was in exquisitely poor taste. I went into this one without the usual "planned" commentary; I'm just winging it, here -- plain and simple. This act is so impromptu, it practically requires a rimshot.)

One of the highlights of the Silver Age AQUAMAN run (he said, shifting conversational "gears" with all the smooth deftness of a '39 Plymouth DeSoto ratcheting its arthritic way uphill. In the middle of December. In Juneau, Alaska.) was the three- issue multi- parter featuring the typically drop- dead gorgeous artwork of then- superstar Neal Adams... but a kinda sorta "team up" with fan favorite character "Deadman," as well.

(I say "kinda sorta" because -- through out the entirety of said epic -- neither character actually interacts with the other. Instead, the two heroes keep passing by one another, in the course of their separate adventuring, like -- oh, do wait for it, please -- two ships, in the night.) (RIMSHOT.)

This notable experiment (it was only the second time -- at that point -- that Aquman had ever been given the chance to strut his slightly-damp "stuff" in a multi-issue storyline; a comparative rarity, for the DC comics of the day) was an attempt to bolster sales for the title which were (regrettably) not all that they could (or should) have been.

Sadly, however... it was a case of "too little, too late." After a few remaining issues of the usual high caliber (such as the terrific "Is California Sinking...?"; see cover, above), the title finally found itself... ummmmm... "shipwrecked," sales-wise.

The character, however, has proven himself nearly as indefatigable as Robinson Carusoe; resurfacing every few years since that initial cancellation to make yet another brave attempt at sales solvency. (And, it appears -- from the success Aquaman presently enjoys, re his current title -- that he has, in fact, finally achieved precisely that. Much of the credit, here, should be accorded to writer Peter David, whose handling of the character has consistently proven imaginative and engaging.)

OTHER CLASSIC DC/MARVEL HEROES of the Silver Age
PAGE FOUR (Teen Titans, Hawk and Dove, and the X-Men)

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