Robert Greenberger

by Robert Greenberger

Aquaman: Sub Diego

One reason Aquaman never gets the respect he deserves is that he lacked substantive villains and stories for the first 20+ years of his existence. And then the good stories came such as the search for Mera or the death of Aquababy. As time wore on, they came few and far between as writers sought new ways to intrigue readers. One such storyline used the DC Earth to good advantage and it stood out in readers’ memory. And now, DC Comics is collecting Aquaman: Sub Diego, reprinting issues 15-22 in a softcover edition.

Aquaman #15 cover by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer

Will Pfeifer, who is doing some fine work with the current Teen Titans, wrote the storyline in what was then a rare foray into superhero tales. He took over the series and immediately delivered on what scientists have been predicting for decades: a devastating west coast earthquake. This one saw San Diego hard hit with 13,700 citizens left dead and a portion of the fabulous city now underwater.

In a wink to the readership, the portion of the city that sunk was also the section most frequented for Comic-Con International from the convention center to the Gaslamp Quarter, from the San Diego Zoo to Coronado. It fell to Anton Geist to come up with a serum to allow the survivors to breath under water.

Aquaman #20 cover by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer

Meantime, such a devastating event would certainly arouse the interest of the Sea King, who arrives just in time to rescue a girl who saw something and was having trouble breathing. He whisks her up to the JLA’s moonbase where explanations are given and the story is propelled forward. The girl is Lorena Marquez, who lost her parents in the quake, and who accompanies Aquaman on the remainder of the story and becomes the second Aquagirl. And yes, we also get a new Topo to hang around with Aquaman as well. If there’s a new Aquagirl, you can bet Aqualad, now known as Tempest, was going to come check her out and maybe even lend some mystic support. Speaking of the occult…

The submerged city proved attractive to displaced Atlanteans who sought a home after the fabled city was devastated by the Spectre not long before in the Day of Judgment storyline.

Aquaman #17 cover by Alan Davis and Mark Farmer

This was a storyline that was designed to make the Earth unique, adding a new city to explore and allow to become as unique as Gotham and Metropolis. The storyline also allowed Aquaman to do what he does best, lead and rule. While there was an elected mayor to oversee things, people, humans and Atlanteans alike, looked to the hero for guidance. He led by example and fostered a sense of unity among the disparate inhabitants.

The art is from Patrick Gleason, currently doing some excellent work on Batman and Robin, and he brings a strong sense of design, not just to the title character, but to the newly born city and its citizenry. Lorena is given a distinctive, far from buxom, look. He created a nicely diverse populace, all of whom needed to find ways to get along and forge a new kind of society. They were trapped and either had to make the best of things or give up all hope.

Interestingly, events did not entirely restore San Diego proper and as late as issue #50 there were still remnants of the city under the Pacific. In time, Sub Diego was restored to the continental shelf and its people restored to air breathers but for a time, this had tremendous promise that was never properly explored.

Here, though, you can see an attempt at doing something different, upending the status quo in an organic way that actually made the DC Universe a more interesting place to visit. The stories certainly hold up to the rereading.

Visit Sub Diego while you can, you won’t be sorry.

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Aquaman: Sub Diego SC

Classic covers from the Grand Comics Database.