When I was in elementary school, a common pastime involved picking out which superhero we each wanted to be and playacting our way through recess. While my classmates became Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, I transformed myself into
the less predictable choice of Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas. I didn't actually know the names of those seas, but growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan gave me an appreciation for the immensity of that domain. Being the ruler of it all was pretty impressive. Why wouldn't I want to be Aquaman? He could live underwater, was very strong, swam really fast and commanded all manner of sea life from powerful sharks and whales to prickly sea urchins to do his bidding. Granted, Aquaman could only be out of water for an hour and he wasn't always particularly effective on the land. Despite those minor deficiencies, I would always defend Aquaman from my friends' charges of being a wimp.
I really didn't need to. Television confirmed that Aquaman was in the big league. Years before the Super Friends came into existence, Aquaman shared the Saturday morning airwaves with Superman in the Hour of Power. His animated adventures were at the top of my must-see list. To my eight-year-old mind he was the essence of cool, right down to riding around on a seahorse. It was at this age that my brother began to loosen his vise-like grip on a vast 1950s and '60s comic book collection. Through them I became exposed to the undersea comic book world of Arthur Curry, Aquaman.
Aquaman was created in 1941 by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris and first appeared in More Fun Comics #73. While he never achieved huge popularity, Aquaman was one of the few Golden Age characters to appear in comics continuously throughout the 1940s and '50s. The expressive, fluid art style of Ramona Fradon effectively brought Aquaman to life throughout the 1950s. Fradon was one of the few women working in the industry at the time and would become associated with DC's Metamorpho in the 1960s and the newspaper strip Brenda Starr in the 1980s. The Silver Age incarnation of Aquaman debuted as a back-up feature in Adventure Comics #260 in 1959 with a re-envisioning of his origin. Soon after came the introductions of Aqualad and Mera, who later became “Mrs.” Aquaman. As one decade turned into the next, Aquaman lost his spot in Adventure Comics but became one of the founders of the Justice League of America. It was a short jump from there to a featured spot in Showcase #30-33 where Aquaman's artistic reins were being turned over to artist extraordinaire Nick Cardy. This set the stage for the launch of Aquaman's own comic book for the first time, 21 years after his creation.
These comics from the late 1950s into the early '60s were full of fun stories and wonderful, while oft times quirky, imagery. If you are new to this era of the King of the Seven Seas, the Aquaman Archives Vol. 1 is a great place to start. Experience the simple fun of comic book storytelling at the start of the Silver Age. If you were there the first time around, you already know what joy awaits you when you get this book. Now you won't have to further damage any of those well-read Mylarâ sleeved copies.
the less predictable choice of Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas. I didn't actually know the names of those seas, but growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan gave me an appreciation for the immensity of that domain. Being the ruler of it all was pretty impressive. Why wouldn't I want to be Aquaman? He could live underwater, was very strong, swam really fast and commanded all manner of sea life from powerful sharks and whales to prickly sea urchins to do his bidding. Granted, Aquaman could only be out of water for an hour and he wasn't always particularly effective on the land. Despite those minor deficiencies, I would always defend Aquaman from my friends' charges of being a wimp.
