Aquaman #52

Aquaman #52 (On Sale: April 30, 1970) has yet another stunning Aquaman cover by Nick Cardy. Giordano's refusal to add nonsense tot he artwork allowed Cardy to utilize every inch of cover space to tell his story.

We begin with Aquaman in "The Traders' Trap" by Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo, which continues the story that began in Aquaman #50. Aquaman and his female companion's fight against a tribe of cave dwellers is interrupted by an alien slaver ship, which captures Aquaman and the girl as slaves. They imprison them in glass tubes, but Aquaman is able to break loose. He then defeats the aliens and escapes the ship, but is forced to leave the girl behind.

Aquaman then returns to the caves where he feels a pulling force guiding him. He is knocked out by the villagers who take him closer to the source of the pull. Aquaman recovers and fights off the villagers. Back in Atlantis, Mera watches as Black Manta sends men to the ocean floor outside the city. When Prof. Vulko suggests what Aquaman would do if he were there, Mera shouts out in vain for her husband to return. Amazingly, Aquaman finds himself growing in size, emerging from the realm in which he had been lost, a subatomic universe in Mera's ring, and reappears in front of a startled Mera. After their reunion, Aquaman learns of Black Manta's presence, and prepares to send the villain an ultimatum. This story was reprinted in Adventure Comics #503.

Next we have Deadman in "Never Underestimate a Deadman" by Neal Adams,  concluding the intertwining back-up story that began in Aquaman #50.  Deadman and Tatsinda, in her sddire form, emerge on Earth near Ocean Master, who is bemoaning his fate. Sighting the alien craft some distance away, Deadman possesses Ocean Master and enters the aliens' vessel, conversing with them and learning of their plot to conquer Earth by blasting it with intelligence-destroying rays. He also learns that, since they do not believe in taking life, they merely sent Aquaman into a subatomic universe in his wife Mera's ring.

Using Ocean Master's body, Deadman attacks them, but an alien ray knocks out Orm's body. The aliens take it in stride that Orm had been possessed and place themselves in a trance that blocks Deadman's attempts to take them over. Deadman notes the locations of the ray-amplifiers on a globe of Earth, and realizing they are far from human habitation, he uses the bodies of animals to destroy the amplifiers. Deadman worries that the radiation device might still work without the amplifiers, and needing someone who can enter the alien ship, decides to bring back Aquaman. Deadman possesses Prof. Vulko and through him reminds Mera of Aquaman, causing her to demand Aquaman's return...and her will is powerful enough to accomplish it, enlarging him from the universe of the ring.

But the deadline for activation of the ray-device is at hand, and Deadman fears he is too late to stop the aliens. When he arrives back at the alien ship, he finds that the device backfired and stupefied the aliens, who are barely able to pilot their ship back home. An indignant Tatsinda informs Deadman that, if she hadn't swum out to the ship and ripped through the device's cables, they would "all be gibbering idiots by now!" Reprinted in Deadman Collection HC and Deadman Vol. 2 TPB.

These three issues, with the intertwining plots and some wonderful story-telling is one of my favorite arcs of the S.A.G. Aquaman era. Like I have said before, you just never knew what Skeates/Aparo/Giordano were going to come up with next.

Edited by the amazing Dick Giordano.