100-Page FAKES! presents: ADVENTURE COMICS # 448

100-Page FAKES! imagines mid-1970s DC 100-Page Super Spectaculars that never were...but should have been!



My intent was for this to be the final 100-Page FAKE! edition of Adventure Comics for the time being, leaving open the possibility of going back to do some older issues eventually if the mood were to strike me. But I figured this issue's book-length Aquaman story was a good spot to step off; Manhunter From Mars took over the backup slot with the following issue, a serial which crossed over with Superman and Batman in the pages of the real-life dollar comic book World's Finest Comics. This seemed like an appropriate time to move on to other titles.

Then I got the idea to reprise Deadman's spectacular three-issue crossover run from 1970's Aquaman # 50-52, and my series of faux 100-page Adventure Comics was the obvious place to do that. Those three issues of Aquaman mixed separate-but-connected tales of the Sea King (by writer Steve Skeates and artist Jim Aparo) and the late Boston Brand (by Neal Adams). The Skeates-Aparo run of Aquaman has always been among my all-time favorites, and it really needs to be reprinted in its entirety. For now, we'll do our little part right here at Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do). And I'll figure out later how I want to include the conclusion of the upcoming Martian Manhunter serial.

The 1976 Aquaman and 1970 Aquaman and Deadman stories leave us just enough room to fill in with the 1968 debut of Steve Ditko's The Hawk And The Dove, a 1949 Wildcat adventure, and a 1955 Charlton Comics story starring the original Blue Beetle. Roll credits!

Aquaman in "Crown, Crisis, And Cataclysm," Adventure Comics # 448 (November-December 1976)
The Golden Age Blue Beetle in "The Unmasking!," The Blue Beetle # 21 (August 1955)
The Hawk And The Dove, Showcase # 75 (June 1968)
Wildcat in "The Secret Mine!," Sensation Comics # 85 (January 1949)
Aquaman in "Can This Be Death?," Aquaman # 50 (March-April 1970)
Deadman in "Deadman Rides Again!," Aquaman # 50 (March-April 1970)

All characters and properties copyright DC Comics Inc. The Blue Beetle story is now public domain, while the rest can only be shown here in sample pages; I share the whole thing with my subscribers. Looks like 100-Page FAKES! will continue to alternate between Adventure Comics and Detective Comics for a little while longer, with some other titles still waiting in the wings. And now: ADVENTURE!

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