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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Adventure Comics #455 - Feb. 1978

sgComics Weekend The last chapter of Aqualad in his solo feature in Adventure Comics!

Like last issue, the Aqualad is strip by by Paul Kupperberg, Carl Potts, and Dick Giordano (who took over for Joe Rubenstein, who inked the first chapter).

Last issue ended with Aqualad talking to what he thought was just a crazy old man, but who turned out to be an important key to learning what really happened to Aqualad's parents. The old man revealed it was he who killed the Idyllists' king, Thar, who looked just like Garth!

Aqualad then returned to the Hidden Valley of the Idyllists, enraged, and threatened to do the same thing to the Idyllists that they did to his father:
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As Aqualad swims off, he notices all the fish in the area are dead!

Thinking its more of the radioactive waste that "the surface dwellers are famous for dumping down here", he checks out the area.

Noticing something behind a boulder in front of a nearby cave, he is shocked--literally--when he touches it. Then the boulder explodes!

Luckily Aqualad is only stunned, and he continues into the cave, seeing something he did not expect:

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The robot then turns its sights on Aqualad when it notices him, trying to blast him with its laser. He manages to disarm it, so the robot tries a more direct approach, grabbing Aqualad's throat and squeezing the life out of him!

He manages to grab the robot's laser, shooting it from below, destroying it.

The destruction of the robot sets off a prerecorded message from the computer, telling the history it was there to safeguard!

Turns out many years ago, the Idyllists were ruled by King Thar and his queen, Berra. It was a peaceful place, until one day Thar proposed that they could strike out of their tiny valley and conquer other peoples.

The peace-loving Idyllists were horrified at their king, so they plotted against him:
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Aqualad now understands why the Idyllists were so reluctant to tell him the truth, and that it doesn't really matter where he came from...it matters who he is now.

He resolves to rejoin his friend and mentor, Aquaman...


A great little strip, accomplishing a lot (i.e., not making Aqualad such a whiny jerk anymore) in a mere eighteen pages, spread out over three segments. The art by Potts and Giordano was top-notch, and not too long after this, our pal Paul Kupperberg would move from writing Aqualad and Mera back-ups to the big man himself, Aquaman!

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