Aquaman #29

Aquaman #29 (1966)
by Bob Haney & Nick Cardy

The Aquaman series is one of the corners of pre-Crisis DC that is one of my blindspots: I can count on one hand the number of issues I’ve read.
It did include a few unusual milestones for the era, as Aquaman even got married and had a kid early in this series, but I can’t say much about its history.
What I do know is that Ocean Master is the closest thing to Aquaman’s nemesis.

I have to say that the start of the issue gives me strong Golden Age vibes, from the artwork (definitely one of the strong points of the issues I’ve read) to the efficiency of getting to the point.

Even though this is first appearance, Aquaman seems to know Ocean Master already as he listens to him threatening to conquer the surface world for revenge.
I believe the technical definition is “pulling a Namor”.

We then move to a flashback when Aquaman first met Ocean Master, when the hero was trying to save some whales from crashing against a fjord (don’t ask). He uses his power to command all aquatic and… they straight up ignore him.

Ocean Master is here to harpoon the whales (!!!), but Aquaman has technology far superior even to the Automated Underwater Whale Hunter^{(patent pending)}… a knife.

Ocean Master’s costume looks WAY cooler on the cover.

His underwater ship targets Aquaman, but he manages to escape.
And yes, he does move around on a seahorse all the time. A beautifully drawn seahorse, but it’s hard to make it look cool.

Even the Navy is able to take on Ocean Master, because his ship can create fog.
I wouldn’t past it being able to avoid radar as well, at this point.

At this point you’re probably wondering: who the heck is Ocean Master?
Apparently, just some guy who hates whales.

All jokes aside, Ocean Master is legitimately a threat. Maybe not Justice League level, but he sure does have some impressive weapons.

Adding to the Golden Age vibe, this comic seems to think the reader has no attention span because it keeps repeating plot points.
THIS IS HOW THE NEXT PAGE STARTS:

Aquaman hunts down Ocean Master, and while his power to talk to fish can be underwhelming in this era, I have to admit it does lead up to some great panels.

Ocean Master’s way of blocking the ports is by… creating massive walls made of salt.
Yes. SALT.

Little known fact, whales have sonic powers.
Oooor maybe salt makes for a terrible construction material for walls so they crumble against the weight of half a dozen whales, Aquaman, have you considered that possibility?

Ocean Master also has some realistic weapons, something DEFINITELY unexpected for the Silver Age.

Well, SOME of it is realistic.

It’s finally time for Aquaman and Ocean Master to meet, and it turns out that the whales didn’t ignore Aquaman’s commands for no reasons: it was thanks to the Molecular Remote Delocator™!!!

You know what? Leaving aside the idea of making walls out of salt, this is not a bad plan!!!

Of course Ocean Master can’t just simply kill Aquaman, he has to put him inside a torpedo…

…so that he can sabotage it from the inside. I believe it’s covered in the “Handbook of Cliché Supervillain Mistakes”.

Little known fact: when Aquaman’s telepathic powers fail, he can always control whales by wrestling them. (!!!)

You see, Ocean Master, that’s why you should always make yourself immune to your own superweapons. That’s covered in “World Conquering Supervillainy 101”.

You might think Ocean Master is helpless without his ship…

…and you’re right, because the Navy DROPS TNT ON HIS HEAD.

Ocean Master survives the explosion… SOMEHOW… and gets away.

I suppose he would be quickly forgotten, if Aquaman didn’t drop a different kind of bomb: Ocean Master is his half-brother!

Ocean Master doesn’t know any of this because he has amnesia. Why wasn’t THAT the subject of the story, instead of pushing this entire flashback in 1 page at the end!?

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Historical significance: 6/10
Obviously it would be an easy 10/10 if this was “Aquaman significance”, but Ocean Master has never managed to get more prominent than in his brother’s series. He does occasionally team-up with other villains, especially if the Justice League is involved, but Black Manta is BY FAR the more recognizable Aquaman villain.

Silver Age-ness: 4/10
As I’ve said, this feels more Golden than Silver.

Does it stand the test of time? 6/10
Well, I wasn’t bored, but I don’t think any details will stick with me even tomorrow. It’s a perfectly fine swashbuckling adventure with a little fantastical stuff… but the pacing, the action, the (barely existing) characterization and dialogue are noticeably old-fashioned. Not a bad story, but to do this today you’d have to update basically everything.

How close is this to the modern character?
Like I said I don’t know all that much about Aquaman, let alone Ocean Master, so I’m not giving any score on this.

There is one interesting thing to note: Ocean Master is Aquaman’s half-brother in multiple continuities, but not always from the same side of the family!
As you saw, pre-Crisis he was fully human and the son of Aquaman’s human father.
Post-Crisis, since Aquaman was fully Atlantean, Ocean Master was reimagined as the son of Aquaman’s father and an Inupiat woman.
In 2011 he was changed to being the son of Aquaman’s mother and a different Atlantean.

So across continuities he went from being fully human, to being half-human half-Atlantean, to being fully Atlantean.