Adventure Comics #443

The Dolphin Connection

Onboard a NATO helicopter, en route to NATO command, Aquaman spies French Interpol agents shooting at a dolphin. The King of the Seas leaps from the helicopter, into the Atlantic Ocean, then springs back up, aboard the Interpol patrol boat. Aquaman quickly disables the gunner's weapon, then turns to face the French agents. Aquaman is informed that the dolphin was transporting a supply of heroin into France. Drug smugglers have been using trained dolphins to move product in and out of the country. Interpol was trying to tranquilize the dolphin, in the hopes of finding clues to lead them to the supplier. Apologizing for interfering, Aquaman offers to personally investigate the case. Taking on a disguise, Aquaman begins asking questions, in and around the French underworld. In short order, Aquaman is ambushed by two French thugs, who then hurl his "unconscious" body into the sea. From below the surface, Aquaman follows the two crooks to a floating marina, far out to sea. Along the way, Aquaman summons an armada of marine life to aid in his takedown of the smuggling operation. With an able assist from octopi and flying fish, Aquaman rounds up the smugglers. Suddenly, a steel cord whips around the Sea King. The head of the smuggling operation is none other than Aquaman's arch-nemesis, the Fisherman. Before Aquaman can break loose from the Fisherman's line, the villain tosses a gas emitting lure at the hero's feet. In seconds, Aquaman is rendered unconscious and at the mercy of his enemy.

Aquaman awakens in a vacuum chamber. The Fisherman has waited, until Aquaman regained consciousness, to begin slowly pumping the atmosphere out of the room. The Fisherman also boasts that his floating marina was designed for the inevitable conflict with Aquaman. The marina is shielded behind an impenetrable dome, to keep Aquaman's fish allies out. Still groggy from the gas, Aquaman sends out a telepathic signal to the surrounding marine life. Counting on the Fisherman not extending the shielding beneath the marina, Aquaman orders a sawfish to cut up through the floor.He then directs the octopus, Topo, to begin crushing the vacuum chamber from the outside. The combination of the growing void within the chamber, coupled with the tentacled pressure from the outside, causes the room to implode. Astonished by Aquaman's escape, the Fisherman hurls an exploding lure at the Sea King, then makes a run for it. The Fisherman makes it to his escape helicopter, and takes off into the sky. Too far away to catch him, Aquaman hurls an anchor into the helicopter's rotors, bringing it down. The Fisherman and his men are turned over to the French authorities. A grateful Interpol offers to ferry Aquaman to NATO command, but the KIng of the Seas opts instead to return to Atlantis, giving up his beef with the NATO Commander, General Horgan. Meanwhile, in Atlantis, a secret council has unanimously voted Aquaman out as King, and elected a new ruler to take his place, the mysterious Karshon.

Confrontation

Returning from the Land of Magic, where they were all wished away to, the members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory gather to confront their foe, the mischievous imp, Willie Wisher. Wisher wishes up a steel barrier between himself and the Seven Soldiers of Victory, but the Shining Knight easily cuts through it. Wisher then wishes up a trio of gorillas to take down the team, but the Crimson Avenger releases a smoke capsule that blinds the simian squad. Unable to see their targets, the apes are easily rounded up by the Vigilante. Wisher wishes for a criminal gang to fight the battle for him, but the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy make short work of the gang. Wisher attempts to flee on a flying broomstick, but the Green Arrow and Speedy bring him down. Realizing that Wisher is not actually malevolent, only misguided, the Seven Soldiers of Victory point out that for each wish Wiilie Wisher grants for himself, some poor innocent in the world has something taken away. Unable to live with himself for the harm he has inadvertently caused, Willie Wisher wishes he was never born, then disappears. Though all memory of Willie Wisher should have faded when he wished himself out of existence, a man named John Shoman was able to film a documentary that details the Seven Soldier's of Victory's adventures in the Land of Magic, and their confrontation with Willie Wisher. The Vigilante surmises that perhaps Willie Wisher allowed the documentary to exist as a remembrance of him. The Crimson Avenger, however, more direly predicts that perhaps the Seven Soldiers of Victory haven't seen the last of Willie Wisher after all.

1. "The Dolphin Connection" plotted by Paul Levitz, scripted by David Michelinie, penciled and inked by Jim Aparo.
2. "Confrontation" written by Joe Samachson, penciled by Dick Dillon and inked by Tex Blaisdell.

Notes:

• Features the Hostess Fruit Pies Ad, Batman, Robin and Commissioner Gordon in "Batman and the Captive Commissioner"
• The Aquaman story is reprinted in Aquaman: Death of a Prince TPB.
• Unpublished Seven Soldiers of Victory story finally printed after nearly 30 years.
• The Seven Soldiers of Victory story is broken up into six parts that appears in Adventure Comics #438 - #443.