Aquaman Versus “Virus X”
One of America’s leading nuclear scientists has been struck down by the mysterious Virus X. Traditional medical treatments have been unsuccessful, so the Army needs Aquaman’s help. Their plan is to reduce Aquaman to microscopic size using a shrink ray, and then inject him into the scientist where Aquaman can confront the virus directly.
Aquaman agrees and is quickly shrunk and injected into the scientist’s bloodstream. Once there, he quickly spots the evil octopus-looking Virus X in the middle of chowing down on some red blood cells. The body’s white blood cells swoop in to attack the virus, but it is too strong for them and easily shrugs off their feeble blows.
Discovering that his telepathic powers work on the white blood cells, Aquaman decides that advanced tactics are required, and he quickly lines the white blood cells up into battle formation and throws a coordinated assault against the virus.
It is a close, vicious battle, but once again, Virus X proves too strong for the body’s defenders. Aquaman and his army flee down the bloodstream with the virus in close pursuit. Aquaman now realizes that a flank or rear attack is his only viable option. He traps the virus by physically closing one of the heart valves so it can’t follow. Meanwhile, he and his troops make a complete circuit of the body’s circulation which brings them back to where the virus is trapped, allowing them to attack it from behind.
The battle is “brief but furious” but in the end Aquaman and his army are victorious.
With the virus vanquished, Aquaman swims off and exits the body through the same hole the hypodermic needle left when it injected him — and once again, America’s nuclear science is saved.
This story is from Adventure Comics #200, published in May 1954, which means that it predates Fantastic Voyage by a dozen years (and predates the fairly similar Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode “Journey to the Center of the Bat” by even more). I know there’s an Astro Boy story with a similar theme from around the same time, but I’m not sure which one came first.
I suspect this is an entirely different “Virus X” than the one that causes “Kryptonian Leprosy” and felled Superman in Action Comics #363-366 (storyline reviewed here and here).
Apparently the scientist’s disease was caused by a single virus — but what a virus it was! It’s the same size as a heart valve (about the size of a quarter).
I don’t think forcibly closing a heart valve, even “momentarily,” is going to be at all good for the scientist’s heart. And it also brings up a question: With the valve closed, will there be enough arterial flow and blood pressure to push Aquaman and his army through the circulatory system?
August 21st, 2009 at 6:32 am
Well, I think Aquaman just swam his way around the circulatory system… I don’t think he depended on the circulation.
I was a little bit concerned whether the time the circulation was stopped because of the closed valve didn’t cause the scientist brain damage for lack of oxygen in his brain.
Also, I think that the white cells were doing pretty good before Aquaman came… Look at the panel which starts with “And now”: they look very coordinated to me. Aquaman could at least have sent them in wedge formation.
On a side note, the colorist for that story seemed to have had a really easy day at the job… Couldn’t be easier to paint everything red… Well, at least until that Alpha Flight story where Snowbird fights a white monster in a snow storm.
August 21st, 2009 at 6:45 am
What was Aquaman breathing? Was he grabbing the occasional red blood cell and sucking on it? Gross!
August 21st, 2009 at 7:22 am
In the ¨rear attack¨ panel it looks like the virus is trapped in a blood vessel. How can that be? Aquaman is talking about a heart valve, so he must have closed either the tricuspid valve or the pulmonary valve, trapping the virus in the right atrium or ventricle.
The valve of the inferior vena cava, although not a heart valve, fits the picture better, but assuming they injected Aquaman in the arm of the scientist, that´s also not possible.
August 21st, 2009 at 8:54 am
The breathing thing is a head-scratcher. I’d always figured the Atom is essentially surrounded by some sort of dimensional warp field or something that supplies him with air. But if that’s true, any shrinker would serve, and you wouldn’t need Aquaman.
So if Aquaman can command white blood cells, does this mean he could use that against an adversary? Give him leukemia, perhaps? It wouldn’t help much in a fight, but it sure would cut down on repeat offenses.
August 21st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
“So if Aquaman can command white blood cells, does this mean he could use that against an adversary? Give him leukemia, perhaps? It wouldn’t help much in a fight, but it sure would cut down on repeat offenses.”
I dont know….maybe with a little practice he could control the red blood cells too. Command them to stop delivering all that nice yummy oxygen to the brain.
August 21st, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Presumably telepathy requires a brain on both sides, and in fact the way the white cells are attacking the virus makes them look pretty smart. Doesn’t this mean that each and every human body is full of billions of intelligent beings? Surely this is a much more important discovery than boring old nuclear power!
August 22nd, 2009 at 8:34 am
“Doesn’t this mean that each and every human body is full of billions of intelligent beings?”
That´s because atoms are made of spaceships ;-)
http://members.ziggo.nl/r.f.dezwart/Frame-engels.html
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Couldn’t the scientists have just given the Atom some SCUBA equipment, and told him to go nuts?
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