Superboy #171
Published and © by DC, January 1971
Title: “Dark Strangler of the Seas”
Synopsis: When Superboy rescues an oil-slicked Aquaboy, the young heroes team to teach Big Oil a lesson.
Writer: Frank Robbins
Penciler: Bob Brown
Inker: Murphy Anderson
Review: Oh, those “relevant” early Bronze Age comics, subtle like a firework. This ecologically aware tale features a polluting oil company headed by a generic corporate big bad and a central-casting evil sheikh. Their foils? Superboy and Aquaboy, high on youthful idealism and committed to a seat-of-their-outer-underpants plan for ecoterrorism. While this reviewer is certainly sympathetic to the young heroes’ position, the might-makes-right attitude of a certain Kryptonian has scary implications. Seriously, imagine a real-world teen with such unrestrained power. On the art front, Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson do a great job making the heroes look like actual teens.
Grade: C+
Cool factor: A definite sign of the times …
Not-so-cool factor: … but one that’s trying a little too hard.
Character quotable: “We’re only serving the needs of an advancing industrial society! We are merely – servants of the people!” – Unnamed big wig at Trans-East Oil
Editor’s note: This review was written Feb. 13, 2026.
