Move over, Proteus. Aquaman got there first.
In Adventure Comics 200 (May 1954), the Pentagon summons the Sea King for a top-secret project ashore. The famous atomic researcher John Welky lies comatose after being infected by “Virus X,” so military scientists propose to shrink Aquaman to microscopic size so he can be injected into Welky’s bloodstream to fight the virus.
“You’re the only one in the world that can live in liquid!” explains the head of the medical team. “Will you do it?”
“W-Well, when you put it like that, I-I don’t see how I can refuse!” replies the somewhat freaked-out superhero.
Once inside the body, Aquaman uses his telepathic powers to coordinate Welky’s phagocytes into a frontal assault against the virus, ultimately destroying it. Then he darts back out the pinprick left by the hypodermic injection just before it heals.
“Welky is regaining consciousness,” says one member of the medical team.
“And, if I’m not mistaken, this speck of dust that appeared just above the puncture is Aquaman!” exclaims another.
The six-page story, featuring the elegant art of Ramona Fradon, could have been a blueprint for the hit science fiction film Fantastic Voyage, released a dozen years later.
An advanced submarine called the Proteus is miniaturized so that the crew can enter the body of an injured scientist to repair brain damage.
The film won Oscars for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction in Color, and the story was turned into a novel by Isaac Asimov. With art by Dan Adkins and Wally Wood, Fantastic Voyage also became a Gold Key comic book in 1967. An animated Saturday morning series followed in 1968, and that in turn inspired two more comic book issues from Gold Key.
Nor was Aquaman, Microbe Hunter! the superhero’s only venture into territory more readily occupied by Doll Man, Ant Man, and the Atom. In The Tom Thumb Aquaman (Adventure Comics 230, Nov. 1956), a criminal’s shrinking ray miniaturizes Aquaman once again.
“Delightful sf romp that is one of the best treatments anywhere of the miniaturized person theme,” observed comics historian Michael E. Grost. “While such classic films as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) deal with ordinary humans who shrink, this tale by contrast concentrates on Aquaman and his special characteristics. This gives the story an unusual flavor, different from most other shrinking tales. It also enables new plot possibilities. Perhaps because Aquaman has superpowers, this story has no horror feel. Aquaman feels challenged by the events, but not terrified. The tone of the tale is one of adventure.
“The shrinking and expanding rays here anticipate similar rays used by Brainiac in the Kandor origin tale, Otto Binder’s The Super-Duel in Space (Action 242 July 1958).”
About Author
