Aquaman #1 (August 1994)

After the Crisis on Infinite Earths hit, many characters' histories were altered in some form. Some, like Superman and Wonder Woman, had their entire Silver and Bronze Age histories erased. Others, like Batman and Green Lantern, had their storylines continue on as if nothing ever happened. This was not unexpected, as Crisis was not supposed to be a complete reboot of the DCU, just a streamlining of its history.

Aquaman was the latter case. Much of his Silver and Bronze Age history was kept intact, just some adjustments were made. In 1989, the Legend of Aquaman Special retold his origin story for the Post-Crisis DCU. It was written by Robert Loren Fleming and had art by Keith Giffen (who was a regular collaborator with Fleming), and legendary Superman artist Curt Swan. The creators would reunite for a five-issue miniseries starring the King of the Seven Seas in the same year.

In 1990, Peter David would first dip his writing pen into Aquaman's world, writing a miniseries called The Atlantis Chronicles. It's regarded by David himself as one of the works he's proudest of. This miniseries would tell the history of the DCU's version of Atlantis to the day of Aquaman's birth. This miniseries was notable for introducing Atlan, a powerful mage who was also Aquaman's father. If you saw the movie, you my know who he is. David would go on to write the four issue Aquaman: Time and Tide miniseries from 1993-94. This miniseries delved further into Aquaman's origins.

It would be from this point that David would continue Arthur Curry's adventures in an ongoing series, which was Aquaman's fifth. The first issue of it is what we're going to look at here. This ongoing would be one of his longest-lasting, with 75 issues under its belt. David's work would be incredibly influential in Aquaman's portrayals afterwards. Justice League Unlimited paid homage to David's work, for example. So did the DC Cinematic Universe. Even Jason Momoa's Aquaman seems to have some influence from Peter David's work. So, yeah. Peter David did a lot for the Sea King.

So with that out of the way, let's take a look at Aquaman #1!

The cover is pretty cool. It depicts Aquaman defiantly trying to swim his way through an underwater cyclone with teeth at the bottom. I like this cover. The skeletons are a nice touch, gives a horror vibe to the cover.

"Hitting Bottom!"
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Marty Egeland
Inker: Brad Vancata
Colorist: Tom McCraw
Letterer: Dan Nakrosis
Editors: Eddie Berganza, Kevin Dooley

The story begins with Arthur Curry seemingly being trapped in a watery typhoon. Curry is a powerful swimmer naturally, but even he is having trouble getting his bearings. A figure appears, pointing out that Arthur now knows the truth about his parentage. The figure is supposed to be Atlan. He warns Arthur that things are only going to get worse for the King of the Seas. Arthur screams for him to help, and the mage offers a hand.

Arthur reaches for his father's hand, but his hand passes right through him. It's like trying to grab air. Or a ghost. Atlan remarks Arthur is on his own. Atlan seems to fade into the water, as Arthur is pulled deeper. The bottom of the whirlpool revels a terrifying sight.

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM!

That mouth isn't there to give Arthur a big kiss. Aquaman tries to keep the giant jaws open, screaming for help. However, it's all for naught. The jaws close...and Arthur wakes up. Yup, Arthur just had a bad nightmare. Mera always told him eating kelp pizza before bed would do that.

Up on the surface, a pair of young men are doing a bit of jetski racing. Their race is interrupted by what appeared to be a speeding torpedo, leaving one of the men to wonder if they stumbled into The Hunt for Red October. It wouldn't be a Peter David comic book story without a pop culture reference or two. And speaking of submarines...

A fish swims around the submarine, just looking around. It's a fish. It's not going to do much. The fish encounters the floating corpse of a sailor when a hand grabs it. The hand's owner simply kills the fish by...crushing it, I think? The hand's owner believed they gave the fish mercy.

Back to the jetskiers! What was that thing that raced by them? Well, it was not a what, but a who. It was Garth, aka the original Aqualad. He's been searching for Arthur, as he's seemingly vanished right off the face of the earth...several weeks ago. Garth is able to find Arthur in his old Aquacave. The Aquacave, which first appeared in Adventure Comics #270 (March 1960), was once a sort of headquarters for the Aqua-Family. It would be used as a place where Arthur kept momentos of his various adventures and exploits. He stopped using it regularly after he was crowned King of Atlantis, but he would return to it every so often when he needed solace...like now.

Arthur's been spending the past few weeks doing a LOT of brooding. Man, good thing they're underwater, because I can imagine that Arthur would barely have bathed during that time. He'd smell terrible if he was on land. Garth asks what is going on, but Arthur just wants to be left alone. He's working through some stuff. The future Tempest thinks that's garbage. After all, if Arthur really wanted to be left alone...why would he cloister himself in the old Aquacave where Garth could find him? The younger man thinks that Arthur is letting what's bother him eat him up. He doesn't have the guts to get himself out of his emotional muck, so he's waiting for Garth to pull him out. So, the future sorcerer has a way to do it.

Water-dwellers take knocking sense into others very literally.

Yup. When in doubt, apply Mighty Punch. Garth is fed up with Arthur being all brooding and sad. He finds it dull, and Arthur responds with a kick to the gut. Arthur notes that this was the second time Garth punched him to emphasize a point. The first was in Aquaman #8 (July 1992). This was because Arthur took a dying Garth to his home for treatment from injuries he suffered during the Titans Hunt storyline over in the New Titans book at the time. Thing is...Garth's homeland exiled him. It was because he was born with purple eyes, and according to the superstitions of his homeland of Poseidonis, it meant that he was evil. Yeah.

Anyway, Arthur warns Garth not to do it again. The former King of Atlantis notices that his sidekick has a backpack, and opens it up.

"We're not going to some weird party, are we?"

Arthur wants an explanation for the radiation gear. Garth tells him he can explain en route. The potential for an adventure seems to perk Aquaman up a bit. As for what's going down? Well, the United States Navy lost one of its nuclear submarines: the Triton. The sub is leaking radiation, poisoning the ocean. And the sub is too far down for their salvage operations. So naturally, they want Aquaman and Aqualad to check it out. Neither of them are nuclear physicists, so they would have no idea how to shut down the leak. This makes Arthur smell a rat. They surface and find a Navy helicopter waiting for them. One of the occupants offers to drop a ladder, but the Atlanteans are able to literally hop aboard.

Later, the two Atlanteans are at the sub. Aqualad is a bit freaked out by all the floating dead bodies. Considering what he's seen in the past, I doubt this should freak him out so much. The two swim towards the engine room, passing by a dead cook...who grabs a cleaver. A fish warns Aquaman.

He's alive! ALIIIIIIVE!

Aqualad grabs the not-dead cook, whogrowls that this is not the Titan's concern. He slams the Poseidonian-born hero out of the sub, and slashes him open with his cleaver. Aquaman attacks, but the cook sends him flying with a Mighty Backhand. Aquaman tries to fake injury, letting the man come closer. Arthur Curry goes for a kick, but it's blocked and the man starts bashig him around a la Hulk smashing Loki in the first Avengers movie. He explains that the Navy was warned not to alert the Atlanteans about him, or else he'd crack open the engine, which...would be very bad. Remember, this is a nuclear submarine. Yeah. And he plans to do it anyway. This guy is a villain.

Arthur tears his way out of his radiation suit, and manages to get his legs around the mystery villain's neck, threatening to break it. The villain scoffs at this. After all, Aquaman is a member of the Justice League. He's one of the DCU's biggest superheroes. However, Arthur Curry is not Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne. He's got no code against killing. He's not afraid of any legal consequences. Also, they're in the ocean. Arthur could easily hide his body. And the fourth thing...the Aquaman is not in the best of moods today.

In a twist, the villain is not concerned with Arthur's ethical code. Arthur won't kill him...because our mystery man won't let him. The mystery man introduces himself as Charybdis...and creates a whirlpool. Yup, he named himself after Charybdis, the sea monster/whirlpool from Greek mythology. Funny enough, the mythological Charybdis is often referred to as female. He uses the whirlpool to knock Aquaman unconscious. Before he goes under, Arthur whispers for help...but he hears Atlan saying he's on his own. This...is not the end for the King of the Seas, though.

"Hello, class! I'm Professor Charybdis, and we're going to dissect an Atlantean today!"

Arthur is trussed up on some weird device, like he's being placed on display. Charybdis, wearing that outfit...yeah, it was the 90s. It's hilarious! Look at it! Gold armor on the arms and legs, that wacky loincloth, no shirt...just, just look at it. This is the 90s right here. Anyway, Charybdis assures Arthur he won't kill him, as Arthur being alive is beneficial to the both of them. Arthur sees a figure nearby. Thinking it's Aqualad, Arthur asks if he's alright. It's not Garth, though. Charybdis had another DC water dweller in his clutches: Dolphin.

So, if Dolphin is there...where's Aqualad? Well...he's not in the best of shape right now.

There's blood in the water, and the sharks are ready to frenzy. Too bad Garth hasn't become Tempest yet. His magic powers would be very handy right now.

This comic was pretty good. David is clearly setting up a new status quo for Aquaman. He has said that he saw Aquaman as a contemporary for Tarzan. The long hair and beard is a good way to show that Arthur is a bit of a wild man, and it's clear David is sending him more in a savage direction. He's angrier, more embittered, not the goofy superhero with the goofy power that he had been seen as thanks to Superfriends. Charybdis is very 90s in his look, and he seems to be your standard "crazy mysterious villain". That's pretty much all I can say about him, really. Dolphin's appearance was a surprise. I did like the whole bit with Arthur's prophetic dreams. Nice bit of foreshadowing there.

As for the art, well...let's just say that American comics (especially the Big Two) had a rep for terrible artwork in the 90s. Egeland's art is not the worst from the era, but there is a slight "90s-ness" to it, for lack of a better term. But again, it's not as bad as other comics of the 90s when it comes to art.

If you want to read this comic for yourself, I suggest you hunt down the 2018 trade paperback Aquaman by Peter David, Book One. It collects the first eight issues of his run on the Aquaman book, as well as the Time and Tide miniseries. It also has a fun foreward by David himself. I highly recommend it. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you enjoyed it, spread it around! And if you want to give this blog some additional support, please drop a tip in my Digital Tip Jar! It would be greatly appreciated! Next time, the Secret Wars rage on!