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Friday, October 3, 2025

Bring on the back ups - Deadman by Neal Adams- Aquaman #50, 51, & 52

As the dark nights draw closer as we await the arrival of Winter I thought I would take the opportunity to check up on some of my old mystery/horror comics - in this case "Aquaman" issues 50- 52 from 1970. Although Aquaman is not a horror /mystery character the back up feature "Deadman" ticks that box for me. These 3 Aquaman comics contain some of the best art of any comic book at this time with all issues featuring a striking Nick Cardy cover with Jim Aparo on the main Aquaman strip, and the legendary Neal Adams on the back up Deadman tale - how lucky were we back inthe day? Below are some sample pages from the 3 issue Deadman tale - enjoy:
Above: the cover to Aquaman #50 which featured the first part of the 3 issue Deadman tale. I only purchased this issue a few weeks ago in Glasgow as part of my recent back issue binge.
Above: The cover to Aquaman #51 - This issue was one of the very first back issue purchases which I bought back in 1981/2 from AKA books and comics in Glasgow.
In a nice twist, the last part of this story links up to the then current Aquaman tale which featured Jim Aparo's art on some panels.
Above: The cover to Aquaman issue 52 (purchased around 1983 in AKA ) - Despite the excellent art and stories (and covers) amazingly the "Aquaman" title would only last for another 4 issues before it was cancelled.

3 comments:

  1. Never really rated Aquaman as a character to be honest, McS. I thought he was just a second-rate Sub-Mariner. Incidentally, that character in the second-last panel of your 3rd image looks a bit like The Space Phantom from Avenger #2.

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  2. I liked the Aquaman series from the 1970s,, and prefer him to Subby . I haven't read any of his comics since the Aparo reboot in the mid 70s though. But I do like Deadman which is what this was really about

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  3. Top-notch Adams artwork, though I find his writing a bit hard to digest sometimes. Deadman was an ideal choice for weird stories and this one sure qualifies. I too like it when the front and back features connect. We were lucky indeed.

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Bring on the back ups - Deadman by Neal Adams- Aquaman #50, 51, & 52

As the dark nights draw closer as we await the arrival of Winter I thought I would take the opportunity to check up on some of my old m...