Ta-V-Man and Detective Comics Number 295, or don't you dare besmirch the good name of houseboats.

Welcome back for Aquaman and Detective Comics No, 295, the September 1961 issue featuring a cover by Sheldon Moldoff, with issue being edited by Jack Schiff.

And our Aquaman story is The Curse of the Sea Hermit,

written by George Cashden with art by Nick Cardi.

We begin Aquaman Aqualand patrolling the sea,

checking out all the trade routes,

because it's very important that boats stay on those trade routes and never deviate. You cannot have fun on the ocean. It's, it's for commerce. And they notice a boat that

isn't on the shipping lanes. It seems to just be wandering off by itself, isolated. Aquaman Aqualag

go out to check it out, see if maybe the boat needs help. It looks like it's a houseboat. It is a house on a boat, quite literally,

which looks very strange. And as Aquaman and Aquile get closer, we see an old sea hermit,

you know, long beard, cap, megaphone, like an old timing megaphone, like an Ivy League cheerleader from the 1930s would have,

he's yelling out a message to Aquaman and Aquilad to stay away, keep away,

or they will suffer from the curse that has befallen this old hermit.

And he goes on to explain, this is a very long explanation to be yelling through a megaphone.

He explains that he was an explorer.

And one of his trips, he came across the forbidden chest of Chautauk, the Aztec sorcerer.

He opened it and there was a ghost inside.

The ghost popped up, said, for opening the treasure box, this dude's now cursed forever.

That means any time anyone gets close to him,

they will be doomed. Something terrible will happen to them. He must live his life in solitude.

And it started right after he left the cave where he found the treasure chest. There were some guys

on the mountain trail coming near him. The trail collapsed and they all fell to their deaths.

...