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Volume 1, Number 108 October 2018 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michael Eury PUBLISHER John Morrow

Comics’ Bronze Age and Beyond!

DESIGNER Rich Fowlks

COVER ARTIST Eric Shanower (from the collection of John Schwirian; art © Eric Shanower) COVER COLORIST Glenn Whitmore COVER DESIGNER Michael Kronenberg PROOFREADER Rob Smentek

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BACKSEAT DRIVER: Editorial by Michael Eury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 OFF MY CHEST: Buried Treasure: Guest editorial by Rob Kelly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 One of comics’ most devoted Aquafans appeals to DC Comics FLASHBACK: Bronze Age Aquaman Team-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Does the Sea King play well with others? GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Intended Tale for Aquaman #57. . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Green Arrow was headed to Aquaman’s mag before its cancellation THE TOY BOX: Bronze Age Aquaman Merchandise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 From Aquaman action figures to Underoos, check out these Sea King collectibles BRING ON THE BAD GUYS: Black Manta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 A villain history of the Marine Marvel’s malevolent adversary FLASHBACK: Changing Tides: The Post-Crisis Aquaman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 You’ve got to hand it to Arthur Curry for keeping his head above these roiling waters FLASHBACK: Aqualad: From Titan to Tempest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 The purple-eyed hero’s murky metamorphosis from sidekick to sorcerer WHAT THE--?!: Seadragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 This little-known indie superhero comic was more fun than a barrel full of Sea-Monkeys BEYOND CAPES: Atlantis Chronicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Peter David and Esteban Maroto revisit their DC fantasy series GREATEST STORIES NEVER TOLD: The Animated Aquaman Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Warner Bros. animator Tim Hauser discusses the Aqua-movie that wasn’t BACK IN PRINT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Aquaman: A Celebration of 75 Years BACK TALK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Reader reactions BACK ISSUE™ is published 8 times a year by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Drive, Raleigh, NC 27614. Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief. John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Office: BACK ISSUE, c/o Michael Eury, Editor-in-Chief, 118 Edgewood Avenue NE, Concord, NC 28025. Email: euryman@gmail.com. Eight-issue subscriptions: $76 Economy US, $125 International, $32 Digital. Please send subscription orders and funds to TwoMorrows, NOT to the editorial office. Cover art by and © Eric Shanower. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics. All Rights Reserved. All characters are © their respective companies. All material © their creators unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © 2018 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows. Printed in China. FIRST PRINTING.

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 1

Aquaman commission by Neal Adams, courtesy of John Schwirian. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics.

SPECIAL THANKS David Michelinie Marc Buxton Dan Mishkin Jim Calafiore Jerome K. Moore Gary Cohn Richard Paolinelli Arthur Curry Martin Pasko Peter David John Schwirian DC Comics Eric Shanower Kevin Dooley Steve Skeates Steve Epting Anthony Snyder Tom Floyd Bryan D. Stroud Grand Comics John Trumbull Database Robert Greenberger John Wells Marv Wolfman Craig Hamilton Dennis Yee Tim Hauser Heritage Comics Auctions Dan Jurgens Rob Kelly Paul Kupperberg Erik Larsen Paul Levitz Esteban Maroto Shaun McLaughlin

There was this high school kid in North Carolina that pestered DC Comics editor Murray Boltinoff about Aquaman. In 1973, Aquaman—a founding member of the Justice League of America, who had, just a few years earlier, been the star of his own animated TV show—was one of the headliners of ABC-TV’s Saturday morning hit Super Friends but had all but vanished from the comics racks. His title had been cancelled for a few years and outside of a handful of token JLA appearances, it looked like DC had forgotten the Sea King. This teenager had not. When in elementary school, he had watched Aquaman cartoons, read an Aquaman Big Little Book, and was gifted by Santa Claus an Aquaman uniform for his Captain Action figure (and an Aqualad one for Action Boy). And so, like clockwork after the release of every issue of the Batman team-up book The Brave and the Bold, this kid scrawled a longhand appeal or typed (on his mother’s electric Smith-Corona) a plaintive missive to Boltinoff, that comic’s editor, begging for the reappearance of Aquaman as a B&B guest star. Imagine his excitement when one day in his mailbox he discovered a postcard decorated with headshots of DC Comics superheroes and the following message penned by Murray Boltinoff himself (or an assistant): “Aquaman will return with Batman in B&B 114.” Yes, that teen was me, and while that postcard has been swept away by a tsunami of four lives’ worth of keepsakes flooding my homestead, its message is still crystal clear. This was the first personal contact I, as a young fan, had received from DC Comics, and it had followed Boltinoff’s recent printing of an excerpt of a letter of mine in a “Brave and Bold Mailbag” (in issue #112), the first time my name (although back then it was Mickey Eury) appeared in a DC comic book. Four short weeks after The Brave and the Bold #114, a three-issue Aquaman backup would begin in issue #435 of the bimonthly anthology Adventure Comics, short stories deliciously drawn by a new artist who would quickly become a fan-favorite: Mike Grell. One month after Aquaman’s Adventure adventure, the previously delayed Secret Origins #7 arrived, its contents including the origin of the Sea King in a rare reprint of a Golden Age Aqua-tale. Aqua-fans anticipated that DC was testing the waters for the Sea King’s comeback, and they were right. Before long, Adventure’s lead feature, the Spectre, would disappear, and with issue #441, Aquaman would swim onto its cover for the beginning of an on again/off again series of stories that seemed to ebb and flow throughout the Bronze Age of Comics. The aforementioned Super Friends, through its myriad iterations, may have put Aquaman on the pop-culture sonar again, but it inadvertently drowned his reputation. Super Friends stories would inevitably have to include some ocean- or water-based scene to give Aquaman some screen time. Superswimming and telepathic communication with marine life became a joke to many fans that were seduced by Superman’s super-ness and wooed by Wonder Woman’s wonderfulness. (Hey, Batman and Robin could only swing on ropes—why weren’t you making fun of them?) Super Friends made Aquaman seem like… well, a fish out of water, a realization that writers of Justice League of America had earlier discovered, hence the infrequency of his appearances in that title. Yet creators like Steve Skeates, Jim Aparo, Paul Levitz, David Michelinie, Don Newton, Neal Pozner, and Craig Hamilton (to name a few), like that kid from North Carolina, never gave up on Aquaman, concocting the Sea King’s sporadically produced Bronze Age stories. For those of you who would like to learn more about those exploits, I direct you to the following back issues of BACK ISSUE, where they have been previously covered: • BI #27 (“Comic Book Royalty”), with a Nick Cardy Aquaman/Mera cover, exploring the Sea King’s stories in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as an Arion, Lord of Atlantis article; • BI #45 (“Odd Couples”), featuring the offbeat Aquaman/Deadman crossover; 2 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

by M

ichael Eury

Ye ed’s head laboriously Photoshopped by BI’s long-suffering but greatly appreciated designer, Rich J. Fowlks, onto Lloyd Bridges’ body (and ears) as borrowed from the photo cover of Dell Comics’ Four Color #994 (1959), starring Sea Hunt. With apologies to the late Mr. Bridges (looks like he picked the wrong week to quit snorkeling). Sea Hunt © United Artists Television. The Brave and the Bold TM & © DC Comics.

• BI #46 (“Greatest Stories Never Told”), featuring the unrealized sequel to the Craig Hamilton-drawn Aquaman miniseries; and • BI #58 (Justice League in the Bronze Age), including Aquaman’s stint as leader of Justice League Detroit. And now, this special Aquaman edition of BACK ISSUE picks up where our previous coverage left off, tracking the Sea King through some often-turbulent waters… and drenching you, the reader, with more water puns than you’ll find in any other magazine. Joining us are many of the creators who brought those Aqua-adventures to life. So, what are you waiting for, landlubber? Suit up and dive in!

by R o b

Kelly

[Editor’s note: Writer/artist/historian Rob Kelly (whose bio is on view with this issue’s Aquaman Merchandise article) loves DC Comics’ SAG (Skeates/Aparo/Giordano) Aquaman, and has something he’d like to get off his chest…]

Extra! Extra! Not long after writing this piece and submitting it to BACK ISSUE, DC announced it will be releasing Aquaman: The Search for Mera Deluxe Edition, a hardcover which will collect Aquaman #40–48, encompassing the complete multi-part storyline. While that still leaves some of the finest SAG stories untouched (“Is California Sinking?,” “The Creature That Devoured Detroit,” among others), it’s great that newer readers will finally have easy access to some of the finest Aquaman adventures ever put to paper. Aquaman: The Search for Mera Deluxe Edition should be available on December 4, 2018. Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 3

TM & © DC Comics.

In the days before comic-book specialty shops dotted the suburban landscape, comics fans’ exposure to stories from older books were limited to when publishers reprinted classic material in assorted 100-page giants, treasury editions, devoted reprint titles like Marvel Tales, and digests. Case in point: When I was checking out the comics selection at the Voorhees News & Tobacco Shop in June 1982 (thanks for the allowance money, Dad), I saw that DC’s venerable Adventure Comics series— which previously had featured a new version of the “Dial H For Hero” characters—was now in a digest format. The front cover looked interesting enough (not a big Legion fan, but Captain Marvel is always cool!), but it was the back cover that sold me: The Spectre! Black Canary! Sandman! And… Aquaman! Ever since I turned the TV on as a toddler and saw a little show called Super Friends, Aquaman was, and always has been, my favorite character. One look inside the comic (issue #491) showed me that this was an Aquaman adventure I had never read before. The story, “Sorcerers of the Sea,” was by three names I was very familiar with, and a fan of: Steve Skeates (writer), Jim Aparo (artist), and Dick Giordano (editor). The book was immediately added to the pile, even though, at 95 cents, it cost more than most of the other comics I was buying. I went home that night and read the whole book in one go. As soon as I read the Aquaman story, I loved it immediately, and over the next year I made sure to never miss an issue of Adventure Comics (which wasn’t easy since the digests didn’t show up in all that many newsstands, and sometimes it was a real hunt). Between issues #491 and 503 (except #500, which was an all-Legion issue), the digests presented a quick-moving, serialized adventure that had Aquaman on a desperate hunt to find a missing (and, unbeknownst to the Sea King, kidnapped) Mera. As he scours the Seven Seas, he battles Black Manta, runs afoul of a gang of surface-world mobsters, meets a world of giants, and visits a surrealistic alternate dimension seemingly not bound by the rules of time and space, all the while fighting off a palace coup back in Atlantis. Skeates’ story delivers high adventure, thrills, complex characterization, and great humor, and it immediately rocketed to the list of some of my favorite Aquaman comics of all time. The artwork is by the legendary Jim Aparo—at the top of his game—and, unlike a lot of other artists whose work suffers when reprinted in digest form, Aparo’s thick ink line and crisp, clear layouts worked just as well at the smaller size. The only indication of the delights that laid within these issues of Adventure were the tiny slivers of back-cover real estate DC saw fit to give the Sea King alongside a brief headline describing the story. I had never seen this particular series of stories before, had no idea it existed, and yet here it was tucked away in the back pages of a digest, which never got any advertising love from DC—you just sort of saw these things show up on the newsstand, without fanfare (and once you missed an issue, it was presumably gone forever). Adventure Comics was cancelled a year later with #503, leaving the Aquaman story woefully incomplete. Not too long after, I discovered comics shops and the whole notion of “back issues,” and made an effort to find these older Aquaman comics, dying to see how it all wrapped up. One by one, I found all the issues I needed (out of order, of course), and over the decades when I would go back to re-read old Aquaman comics, I always revisited this series of issues as one complete story. Both Skeates and Aparo would return to the character, but never together, making Aquaman #40–56 a, er, high-water mark in the history of the character. Time wore on, of course, and older comics started getting reprinted in increasingly deluxe and trade paperback formats. As Aquaman began to get trade collections all to himself, I figured this SAG (Skeates/Aparo/Giordano) run of Aquaman would be at the top of the list, because it was so obviously great. So I waited. And waited. And waited. 35 years later, I’m still waiting. For some reason, DC Comics has still never seen fit to collect these 16 issues between two covers, even though it would only take one or two books to do it. When DC gave Aquaman his own Showcase series of phone book-thick B&W trades in the late 2000s, I knew it wouldn’t be long before they got to Aquaman #40–56. Of course—and I think you can see where this is going—DC stopped doing the Showcase: Aquaman series with volume 3, which ends at Aquaman #39! Sufferin’ swordfish! With the Aquaman movie about to hit theaters, DC is unearthing all the Aquaman comics they can find and reprinting them. As of this writing, the classic SAG run still remains buried treasure, collected only once, incomplete and unceremoniously on grubby, half-sized newsprint. I guess if I want wax nostalgic, I could say it was fitting that some of Aquaman’s best stories appeared in the final year of Adventure Comics, since he had so many good runs in that title—many of which have been reprinted. Hint, hint, DC!

Super Friend or Frenemy? Aquaman may have gotten along swimmingly with his fellow Super Friends on Saturday morning television, but in the comics, he wasn’t always the most congenial partner. Super Friends bumper cel art by Alex Toth; courtesy of Heritage Comics Auctions (www.ha.com).

by M i c h a e l

TM & © DC Comics.

Aquaman team-ups often pose problems for writers. Most superheroes don’t adapt to his waterworld (and look ridiculous when they try, with their scuba masks or fishbowl headgear), and when the Sea King ventures onto land he’s limited to 60 minutes of action before requiring a dip. Also, the personality for Aquaman that surfaced in the Bronze Age—that of a hard-edged, vengeful monarch—didn’t earn him the DC Comics “Plays Well with Others” Award (outside of his appearances in the kid-friendly Super Friends Saturday morning cartoons and spin-off DC comic). Still, during our halcyon years of Bronze Age fandom, the ’70s and early ’80s, the Marine Marvel managed to cross paths with several members of the DC Universe. Which team-ups made a splash, and which sank? Let’s find out…

AQUAMAN AND DEADMAN

This one’s a bit of a cheat as a “team-up,” because the King of the Seven Seas and the Hater of the Hook don’t really join forces. The oddball Aquaman/Deadman crossover of 1970 might better be called a patchwork that morphed into a round robin. It began with Dick Giordano, the editor (and artist) who jumped from Charlton Comics to DC in the late ’60s, bringing with him Charlton writer Steve Skeates and artist Jim Aparo. Giordano wanted to shake up Aquaman’s book, which had gotten a bit stale despite its beautiful Nick Cardy artwork. So Skeates and Aparo, beginning with 1968’s issue #40, sent the suffering Sea King on a multi-chaptered, sci-fi “Search for Mera” to find his missing wife. But a year and a half later, the burden of a long-running saga in Aquaman was taking its toll on the creative team (and on some readers unaccustomed to such protracted storytelling) and shorter stories were in order, as the Skeates/Aparo/Giordano (SAG) team agreed during an impromptu 1969 coffee klatch in the offices of National Periodical Publications (that’s DC Comics to you and me). This matter was forced by Aparo’s slow recovery from an illness, which was adversely affecting his output. “We finally decided to toss Aquaman into another dimension, giving Jim a chance to draw 4 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

Eury

all sorts of new, wild, and psychedelic settings and cities,” Skeates wrote in a text piece in Aquaman #52. It was agreed that this would take place in three 16-page chapters to run in Aquaman issues #50 (Mar.–Apr. 1970) through 52 (July–Aug. 1970). To round out the book, a temporary backup feature was envisioned. Giordano turned to his pal Neal Adams, the two having worked together when Dick took over as editor of Neal’s Deadman feature (which had recently been cancelled) in Strange Adventures, and asked him to produce some Deadman backups for Aquaman. “I didn’t think a backup was a good idea for Deadman,” Adams told John Schwirian in John’s in-depth article on the Aquaman/Deadman team-up in BACK ISSUE #45. “He’s a lead feature type character, not a backup.” Adams eventually agreed to produce a Deadman mini-feature for Aquaman that was more than a mere self-contained backup. What evolved was a parallel storyline that both Steve Skeates and Neal Adams would tell in their respective stories. Skeates wrote his Aquaman stories first, introducing extraterrestrial aggressors that transport the Sea King into a weird world. Adams’ motivation for his contributions, as he revealed in BI #45, was to tell an interwoven ghost story, and the writer/artist riffed off what Skeates had scripted. As the analogous tales progress, Deadman, unknown to Aquaman, thwarts an alien invasion, while the two stories dovetail, reuniting the dimensionhopping Aquaman with his wife, Mera.

AQUABOY AND SUPERBOY

Remember the Aquaboy series from the Silver Age, “The Adventures of Aquaman When He Was a Boy”? Of course you don’t—there was no such thing. Well, except for that one time… In late 1970, DC introduced Aquaboy—a teenage Aquaman—in the pages of Superboy #171 (cover-dated Jan. 1971). In “Dark Strangler of the Seas,” the patrolling Superboy—the real Superboy to us BACK ISSUE types, the one who was Superman as a kid—assists a fisherman who’s struggling to reel in an errant catch: a crude oil-saturated human who’s choking to death! Rushing the slippery victim to a nearby detergent

plant, Superboy and factory workers race to scrub the oil off the gasping figure, soon discovering the form of the amazing Aquaboy, the “half-fish, half-boy” who can talk underwater! Sounds like the kind of outrageous shocker that Bob Haney, the cavalier storymeister notorious for his continuity blindness, might concoct, doesn’t it? Nope, not this time. Bob had nothing to do with this one, although his Brave and the Bold editor and the tacit enabler of that old Haney zaniness, Murray Boltinoff, edited this Superboy tale. Scribe Frank Robbins was responsible for the Aquaboy story, a continuation of a Silver Age trope of Superboy’s youthful encounters with characters he’d know later in life as Superman. Aquaman’s Silver Age origin had been revealed some ten years earlier in Showcase #30 (and reprinted in Super DC Giant #S-26, which hit the stands several months after the Aquaboy story)— and even earlier than that in 1959’s Adventure Comics #260 (where his real name of Arthur Curry first appeared)—and it included a flashback to young Arthur learning to telepathically command sea life. But Aquaman’s career as a superhero began as an adult. Once you get past the head-scratching concept of a previously unrevealed Aquaboy, Robbins’ story is a great deal of fun. Aquaboy’s oleaginous predicament is the result of his running afoul of the corrupt commanders and crew of a Trans-East Oil Company tanker whose toxic spills are endangering marine life. Luckily for the Boy of the Sea, the Boy of Steel proves an ally in Aquaboy’s environmental mission, and saves his bacon a second time after Aquaboy is lured into an explosive trap by a decoy for the Sea Lad’s girlfriend, Marita (a ringer for a young Mera), another previously unrevealed character. The teen titans put the oily oilers behind bars, and Superboy remarks of Aquaboy’s war against water pollution, “This is one battle too big even for us—we’re going to need all the help we can get!” The story’s closing caption contends, “The war against pollution just started in the early days of Superboy’s and Aquaboy’s youth.” Robbins’ “Dark Strangler of the Seas” is an obvious example of the “relevance” movement of socially conscious stories sweeping DC in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Around the same time this issue was published, other DC superhero books were tackling such torn-from-today’s-headlines subject matter as racism (Lois Lane #106), the population explosion (Green Lantern/Green Arrow #81), world hunger (Justice League of America #86), and campus protests (Teen Titans #31). Yet when considering Superboy #171’s story setting—the 1950s (approximately 1955, as Superboy stories of this era generally predated the contemporary Superman tales by 15 years)—this attempt at relevance seems shoehorned into modern history. American oil spills certainly occurred before the ’50s (in 1929, a nine-mile spill choked nine miles of ocean near Ventura County Beach, California, and around 1889, a steamer named The Albatross spotted a slick of unknown origin that stretched from south Los Angeles to northern San Diego County, among others), but it wasn’t until the era in which this tale was penned that they became more commonplace… and more reported, thanks to the prolific emergence of television news throughout the ’60s. When penning this tale Robbins perhaps had in mind the then-recent spill of March 1967, off the coast of Cornwall, England, where nearly 120,000 tons of oil contaminated the sea. “Dark Strangler of the Seas” is such an engaging story, however, beautifully delineated by the penciler Bob Brown/inker Murphy Anderson combo, that it’s easy to ignore its incongruences (as well as its Arab stereotypes) and enjoy the adventure for the lark that it is. (If you don’t want to scour the back-issue bins you can find it reprinted in the 2010 TPB Superboy: The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told.)

AQUAMAN AND THE CRUSADER

If you’re going to do an eco-friendly Aquaman story, you should set it in contemporary times… and that’s exactly what Aqua-scribe Steve Skeates did with “The Creature That Devoured Detroit!,” his Jim Aparo-illustrated tale that appeared in what turned out to be the final issue (at least for a while) of the Aquaman series, #56 (Mar.–Apr. 1971).

Odd Couplings (top) Panels from the offbeat Aquaman/Deadman crossover. From Aquaman #52. (center) Aquaboy and Superboy tackle water pollution. From Superboy #171. (bottom) The ill-fated “meeting” of the Sea King and one-hit wonder the Crusader. From Aquaman #50. TM & © DC Comics.

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 5

Sadly, the celebrated Skeates/Aparo/Giordano (SAG) run on Aquaman came to an end after 17 issues with #56 (Mar.–Apr. 1971). DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino decided to pull the plug on the book after editor Dick Giordano resigned to go into business with Neal Adams [at Continuity Studios—ed.]. Giordano proposed continuing Aquaman as a freelance editor, but Infantino felt business would get too complicated and opted to cancel the fan-favorite instead. Thus, the decade-old series ended on a cliffhanger, with our hero trapped in a room with armed guards preparing to open fire as they break down the door. Flash back to the year 2000, when I noticed a text box at the end of the letters column in 1970’s Aquaman #55: “Next issue, Aquaman battles ‘The Creature That Devoured Detroit’… and the following issue, as Aquaman is headed towards New York… he meets and teams up with (Are you ready?) Green Arrow.” Fortunately, Aquaman writer Steve Skeates had joined our Internet Aquaman fan chat-line, so I asked him about the unfulfilled tease. “Yep,” Skeates replied, “a team-up with Green Arrow was definitely in the works for Aquaman #57 of that particular run—in fact, it was gonna be a three- or four-issue deal! Jim [Aparo] had even sneakily given readers a hint of what was to come—check out the fourth panel on page 4 of ‘The Computer Trap’ in issue #55! I had written the first issue of that arc, which began with Aquaman, severely wounded, stumbling out of the Powers Lab, trying to make it back to the sea, but passing out before he could get very far. Jim was in the midst of drawing that ish when word came down that the book had been cancelled.” Later that same year, Skeates published a more detailed explanation in Comic Book Marketplace #83 (Nov. 2000). The article, titled “Aquaman & Green Arrow – The Lost Episode,” explained how Aquaman dramatically emerged from the Powers Lab building (leaving the details of his battle up to the readers’ imaginations), only to stagger down the street, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. As the Sea King attempts to reach a waterway, his injuries continue to drain his strength. “Marvel no longer, then,” Skeates explained, “over this hero’s fortitude, for, as he wobbles around a corner, into an alleyway, all that has occurred to him this day at last takes its toll and he tumbles, prone, into heavy-breathing unconsciousness. Yet, how long will it last, this breathing? Can this be the end of Arthur Curry? At least he still breathes even as a shadow falls over him—the shadow of someone supremely pleased to have happened upon a superhero, the shadow of someone who now gives forth with a hearty ‘hehheh-heh!’ ” In time, Aquaman awakens in the alley and finds his wounds miraculously healed. Confused, he races

Marine Marvel and Emerald Archer From the collection of John Schwirian, Dick Giordano’s fantasy cover for Aquaman #57, teaming the Sea King and Green Arrow. Characters TM & © DC Comics.

14 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

by J o

hn Schwirian

to a nearby lake where he, according to Skeates, Fantastic Four adventure entitled ‘This Man, This Monster’— “relatively overjoyed, feeling that his ordeal is nearing that previously mentioned shadowy figure having someits end, rushes toward it, dives in, breathes deep, how (through, no doubt, the use of some big, bulky, and nearly drowns. He breaks to the surface, choking, Kirbyesque piece of sci-fi equipment) stolen Aquaman’s coughing his guts out. Somehow he can no longer powers. How does Green Arrow help Aquaman regain those powers? To tell you the truth, I haven’t the breathe water. He thinks about that, taking an inventory of his inner-workings, slightest idea; that particular piece of the and realizes that his telepathic powers puzzle is lost to me memory-wise.” are missing as well. What’s happened While we will never know where this story to him? And, where should he now might have gone, Skeates adapted the turn? What to do? What to do? plot three times for stories that appeared “His only answer is to get on in Warren’s Eerie #40 (June 1972), Marvel’s home! To be with his people, to see Sub-Mariner #72 (Sept. 1974), and DC’s Mera, to talk to Dr. Vulko (a man he Adventure Comics #449 (Jan.–Feb. trusts implicitly), and with the good 1977). Surprisingly, the first reworking of the plot was instigated by Roy Thomas doctor’s help, hopefully learn what has happened to him. His means of for an issue of Sub-Mariner. Note that, getting back entail first of all getting while most comic companies required to the coast, to New York City, and a full script provided to the artist, the steve skeates his chosen method for doing that is Marvel method was to send a plot the popular-back-then practice of outline, and then dialogue the pages Comic Vine. hitch-hiking. As luck would have it, after they were drawn. This difference it is through just that activity that he meets up with in production resulted in yet another twist in what should Green Arrow, who is piloting a van (one that looks be a simple story. “Yet another splashdown,” Skeates rather like a hippie bus) returning from some sort of elaborates, “yet another plunge, once more into the adventure of his own.” depths of oceanic reality, and, what with yours truly Here ends the script for #57. As for the remaining being most particularly lauded for my work on Aquaman, three issues, Skeates laments, “The rest of the story I now given a chance to write but one story (a fill-in issue) have no actual memory of, except, of course, that the for the Sea King’s one-time crosstown rival, Marvel’s whole thing is based rather loosely upon Stan Lee’s Sub-Mariner, could it possibly come as a surprise to

Trumpeting a Team-Up (left) Note the Bearded Bowman lurking in the background of panel four on this page from Aquaman #55. (right) From that issue’s letters column, note, in column two, the announcement of the upcoming GA team-up (that never happened). TM & © DC Comics.

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 15

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman didn’t have to wait very long after their comic-book debuts before appearing on licensed merchandise. While crude to our modern eyes, these initial offerings showed that these characters were so massively popular that they could not be contained in the pages of a four-color comic book. Their future Super Friend, Aquaman, was not so lucky. Relegated to the back pages of More Fun Comics and (later) Adventure Comics throughout the 1940s and ’50s, there was a drought (I apologize in advance for all the water puns) of Sea King merchandise that lasted all the way until 1966, a full quarter-century after his debut in 1941. Along with Superman and Batman, Aquaman was part of Ideal Toys’ Captain Action line, where kids could dress up the good Captain as Aquaman and have adventures alongside his sidekick Action Boy (who came along in 1967), who you could dress up as Aqualad. Both sets came up with multiple accessories (a trident, a knife, flippers, etc.), most of which most kids probably lost 15 minutes after opening the box. The floodgates (see?) really opened in 1967, after the debut of Filmation’s The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure animated cartoon. Ideal released several Justice League-related toys and playsets, and Aquaman was frequently included. He even got his own “Aqua-Family” set of figures from manufacturer Multiple Toymakers, which came with a nifty Aqua-Sub, which now commands thousands of dollars from collectors. You could also find Aquaman on a board game, Big Little Book, jigsaw puzzle, and Halloween costume, among other items. Mera got in on the action, too, as part of Ideal’s “Super Queens” line of dolls, another item that will cost you more than a car nowadays. Once The Batman/Superman Hour replaced Superman/ Aquaman on Saturday mornings in 1968, however, the Sea King’s appearance on store shelves similarly dried up (again, sorry). But luckily for Aquaman fans, this period didn’t last long, because Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends debuted on September 8, 1973, and with that show came a merchandising juggernaut, encompassing numerous products, and Aquaman was along for the ride. And while we don’t have the space here to catalog them all (if that is even possible), we will highlight some of the more memorable, popular, and just plain weird among them. Any article on Aquaman toys of this period has to start with Mego. The Sea King was one of the first four “action figures” (don’t worry boys, they’re not dolls!) in Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes (WGSH) line, alongside Superman, Batman, and Robin. Initially released in “solid front” boxes (meaning you couldn’t see the figure inside before buying), Mego’s Aquaman is a pretty good reproduction of the comic-book version. The one odd detail Mego felt to add was… pointed ears! Maybe the doll’s designer thought this guy was Sub-Mariner, perhaps? All in all, not a big deal—

Mego Mania The King of the Seven Seas was one of the first Mego action figures. From a 1973 Mego product catalog. Aquaman, Superman, Batman, Robin TM & © DC Comics. Captain America © Marvel. Tarzan © ERB, Inc.

20 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

by R o b

Kelly

Teeth of Terror (top) Mego catalog promo for Aquaman vs. the Great White Shark, inspired by the Jaws craze of the ’70s. (center) A 2015 reissue of the set. (bottom) Aquaman dives front and center onto the Mego Hall of Justice playset art. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics.

considering how freewheeling Mego could sometimes be with its figure designs, we’re lucky their Aquaman didn’t come with winged feet. Despite never being a huge seller (a.k.a. a “peg warmer,” in industry parlance), Aquaman remained part of the WGSH line throughout its decade-long run. No matter what packaging changes were made by Mego, you could find an Aquaman figure sporting the line’s newest look. Part of that had to do with the relative low cost of the figure when it came to producing it—unlike Mego’s Conan, Green Arrow, or Thor figures, Aquaman didn’t come with complicated accessories or an elaborate costume— heck, he didn’t even have a chest symbol that needed to be separately produced and stuck onto the doll! Cost was also a factor in the one playset Mego produced that centered on Aquaman—namely, the infamous Aquaman vs. the Great White Shark set. Produced in 1978, Mego figured that kids’ appetite for Jaws stuff was such that they could whip up a quick little toy and watch it fly (swim?) off the shelves. Despite the playset’s nifty box design, Aquaman vs. the Great White Shark was a flop, and now the toy is nearly impossible to find in good condition. Another odd bit of trivia— in Mego’s catalog that year, the Aquaman doll pictured has webbed fingers! Never released to toy shelves, exactly one example of this fishier Sea King exists, currently in the (presumably non-webbed) hands of a collector. Mego’s WGSH line didn’t just rely on the 8" figures, of course. There were Mego’s smaller, more Star Wars-y Comic Action Heroes and Pocket Heroes lines, and Aquaman was part of them, too. Mego also dabbled with a 12" line, the sole WGSH variation that the Sea King was not included in. He is pictured front and center— drawn by Neal Adams, no less—on their beautiful Hall of Justice playset, reminding kids that while he may not have been as a big a name as Superman or Batman, he was, and always shall be, part of the team. With the Super Friends now a globally recognized property, merchandisers realized they could costeffectively adapt products they already had and turn them into the kind of things fans of the show (and the Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 21

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Forget Rodney Dangerfield. Aquaman’s the real one who gets no respect. A DC mainstay ever since his debut in 1941’s More Fun Comics #73, Aquaman survived into the Silver and Bronze Age by virtue of being underestimated. A consistent backup feature, he received a solo series in 1962, his popularity waxing and waning like the tides. Through cancellations, relaunches, and revamps, he’s been a Justice Leaguer, a Super Friend, a husband and a father, king of an underwater nation, and ruler of three-fourths of the planet. But to most of the general public, he’s still just that guy who talks to fish. From 1986 to 2001, a number of talented creators worked on the Sea King, each trying new things to fight this popular misconception. The result was 15 years that brought more changes to the character than the previous 45 years put together.

POZNER TAKES THE PLUNGE by J o h n

Tr u m b u l l

Aquaman’s first post-Crisis treatment was in a four-issue miniseries by writer Neal Pozner, penciler Craig Hamilton, and inker Steve Montano. In Aquaman #2’s text piece, On Learning to Breathe Underwater, Pozner shared the genesis of the project: Impressed with an analysis of Wonder Woman that DC design director Pozner wrote, executive editor Dick Giordano invited him to pitch for an available character in the DC Universe. Considering his options, Aquaman caught Pozner’s eye. In Pozner’s view, Aquaman was “potentially a very neat character. This guy had a rich history and heritage in the DC Universe, and no one had done anything revolutionary with him in the last [15] years. Well, could I bring him a new approach?” A few days later, Pozner brought his analysis of Aquaman to Giordano: “1. The character looked as exciting as a Waring blender. His costume hadn’t changed in over [40] years, and unlike Superman’s uniform, it hadn’t stood the test of time well. “2. Having him in above-land adventures made him quite literally a fish out of water. In fact, he had never worked well relating to surface-dwellers. “3. Atlantis was a vague concept which had never been explored in depth. Or perhaps I should say, several vague concepts within the framework of the DC Universe which had never been related. “4. Aquaman has consistently been portrayed as a hothead, a totally dislikeable, unsympathetic protagonist, unable to support a book on his own. “I proposed several things: Integrating several different [versions of] Atlantis from DC’s cosmology

The Acumen of Aquaman Gallopin’ guppies! From maligned monarch to hook-wielding warrior to undersea King Arthur, Aquaman has perhaps been DC’s most frequently changing superhero since 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. Shown here is the Martin Egeland/Brad Vancata cover to 1994’s Aquaman #1, with some other Aqua-issues explored in this article. Aquaman TM & © DC Comics.

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(Aquaman’s, Arion’s, Warlord’s, and so forth) with contemporary theories of what Atlantis might have been in our real world (assuming it ever existed), and figuring out a history of the continent based on mythology and pseudo-archaeology done on the fabled lost continent; a new costume that would be more contemporary and somehow show what Aquaman was all about; a situation which would examine Arthur Curry’s personality as it had been established and force a change to it which would make him a hero people could care about.” Giordano liked Pozner’s ideas, and had him start work on a story proposal and a new costume design. Pozner dove into his research, reading every Aquaman appearance dating back to the Golden Age, the complete runs of Justice League of America and Arion, Lord of Atlantis, as well as several books on oceanography and the mythology of Atlantis. Pozner continued, “I remembered a costume designed by the art nouveau artist Léon Bakst for Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes which would be the inspiration for the new Aquaman uniform. And I assembled a package that had a detailed character analysis, history of Atlantis, costume design, and plot synopsis.” Breaking from the past, Pozner decided to have the miniseries take place largely underwater, and choose a mystical emphasis rather than the science fiction of most Aquaman stories. In issue #3’s letters column, Pozner explained, “No matter how you look at it, historically and cross-culturally, water is linked to mysticism. Add this to the mythic roots of the Atlantean legend and a mystical/mythological approach seemed the most logical to me.” Although he found writing a laborious process, Pozner kept at it, ultimately turning in his final script for the miniseries in July 1984, over a year and a half from his initial proposal.

ATLANTEAN ARTISTS

With the miniseries written, the search began for a penciler, with an emphasis on artists outside of DC’s regular talent pool. As Neal Pozner wrote in Aquaman #2, “I especially wanted an artist who could draw moody, romantic, art-nouveauinspired fantasy. There was also a sensuality underneath the story that I felt was very important to convey. And yet, there was a great deal of emotionalism and violence.” British artist Alan Davis was the initial choice, but after completing breakdowns on the first issue, Davis was persuaded to take on Batman and the Outsiders as the better career move. Davis intended to return to Aquaman after completing his year on BATO, but within six weeks, the book was reassigned. [Author’s note: For a more detailed account of Davis’ involvement with Aquaman, please see TwoMorrows’ Modern Masters vol. 1: Alan Davis.] Finally, after close to a year of searching, Pozner met Atlanta College of Art alum Craig Hamilton through mutual friend Klaus Janson, resulting in Hamilton scoring the assignment. Hamilton was thrilled to have his first job in comics working on a favorite character. “Aquaman had always been my favorite Justice League member and when I saw the costume that Neal had designed, I fell instantly in love with it and understood how it craig hamilton worked so spectacularly with anatomy, one of my strong points. I recognized the Léon Bakst influence of the design and I think that impressed Neal,” Hamilton tells BACK ISSUE. “He set up a meeting with Dick Giordano at the DC offices, which is probably the most exciting thing that could happen for a 19-year-old artist who had been not just dreaming, but aiming for a career in comics.

Aquaman ’86 (top) Aquaman writer Neal Pozner (1955–1994), and an unidentified Aqua-fan. Circa 1993. (center) Courtesy of John Trumbull, a Russian ballet program and photo revealing the possible inspiration for Aquaman’s “camouflage” costume. (bottom) Artist Craig Hamilton (right) and his Atlanta College of Art instructor, Houser Smith, circa 1990, in a photo by Tiffany Brown. Says Craig of his teacher, “Houser Smith was a brilliant portraitist and learning from him made me look at faces and hands as unique structures and utterly essential in visual storytelling.” (inset) Hamilton today. 32 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

“It was an exciting day when Neal told me that we had a meeting with Dick to discuss my samples. They were being gracious but rather coy and before they could tell me, Joe Orlando popped into the meeting to tell me how excited he was to color my work! I was a bit confused as Joe looked at Dick and said, ‘Oh, you haven’t told him yet?’ Mr. Giordano grinned broadly and said, ‘You got it, kid.’ This is still to this day one of my most joyful memories.” Hamilton poured himself into Aquaman, taking nine months to draw the four issues. As he wrote in the second issue, “A lot of comics characters can only be distinguished by their costumes. To change that, I based all of my people on friends or celebrities. Aquaman is a cross between Buster Crabbe and GQ model Jeff Aquilon. Nuada is modeled after Glenn Close, and Brea is based on Grace Jones. The various Atlantean council members are all roommates and neighbors. Mera is Lucille Ball in her starlet days.” Explaining this practice, Hamilton says today, “I simply like to have a clear picture in my head of what a character’s face looks like, so some ‘casting’ helps me do that. I am drawn to unique faces, so I guess my casting reflects that. Strong, unique faces have features that are more effectively stylized as well. Actors make great models because I can study their expressions through their films.” When it came to designing underwater worlds for his cast to explore, Hamilton says, “it was mostly tremendous fun! My love of history, oceanography,

astrology, magic, and mythology all came into play. But we all know I have a tendency to go overboard with the details, and that can lead to unacceptable degrees of overthinking. I tend to think big, want to do too much, and pay attention to every detail. I am a perfectionist. It is both a strength and a weakness and something I will always have to be mindful of.” When the first issue of the miniseries finally went on sale in November 1985, it had been nearly three years since Pozner’s initial proposal. Would the fans respond? Would it be worth the wait?

AQUAMAN VOL. 2: THE DEPTHS OF ATLANTIS (1986)

As the miniseries opens, Aquaman and his wife Mera find their home of New Venice ravaged by the Ocean Master, Arthur’s evil half-brother. As an enraged Aquaman attacks his brother, the Sea King is mystified by Orm’s increased power and sudden disappearance. Summoned back to Atlantis, Aquaman learns that the Royal Seal of Poseidonis has been stolen, the loss of which has the Atlantean people on verge of riots. Going undercover with a new blue camouflage costume, Aquaman journeys to Thierna Na Oge, a recently rediscovered Atlantean city (loosely based on the Celtic legend of Tír na nÓg) that King Vulko suspects has mystically spirited away the seal. In Thierna Na Oge, Aquaman finds himself caught in the royal power struggle between sorceress Nuada Silverhand and her evil sister Bres. Learning that Thierna

Aquaman Blue (left) Craig Hamilton’s stunning cover to Aquaman #1 (Feb. 1986), which launched the four-issue miniseries, certainly signaled to longtime readers that things were changing for the Sea King. (right) Courtesy of Craig, a scan of a 1986 illo he believes he produced for a convention. (inset) The artist based Aquaman’s appearance on the chiseled features of male model Jeff Aquilon, here clipped from a GQ cover, as well as Hollywood Flash Gordon Buster Crabbe. TM & © DC Comics. GQ © Condé Nast.

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 33

Open the ancient scrolls of Atlantis with me, dear historians, and read of a time long ago. A time beneath the waves of history where a sidekick, superhero, Teen Titan, and underwater champion known as Aqualad was a pretty darn big deal amongst the pantheon of DC superheroes. During the ancient period of the surface world’s history known as the Silver Age, Aqualad was regularly appearing with Aquaman in the pages of Sea King’s comic series and the myriad backups that Aquaman frequented. The soggy sidekick was a founding member of the Teen Titans and regularly appeared in the pages of that groovy series. In addition, Aqualad appeared on Saturday mornings in the popular Filmation animated series The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure (1967), both in the Aquaman feature and in the Teen Titans segment. Finally, Aqualad had his own costume set as part of the Captain Action line of dress-up toys and his own Mego figure (inset) as part of a Teen Titans set. Moving forward in history, our waterlogged tomes tell us that to claim that Aqualad, real name Garth, stayed a big deal in the hearts and minds of DC fans and creators would be an exaggerated fish story. It seems that during the post-Silver Age era of Aqualad, it became clear that in a new sophisticated wave of comics, Aqualad would have a hard time finding traction with a new breed of fan because of the derivative nature of the character. Aqualad may have been redundant, but the once popular young hero just would not allow the currents of ennui to pull him under the waves. In the 1990s, Aqualad would transform from a typical kid sidekick into a powerful and unique hero—the mighty Tempest. But even before Tempest arrived, there are a few hidden Aqualad treasures floating beneath the waves of the Bronze Age, stories that are often overlooked by deep divers into comic-book history. So join us and journey back to a time where Aqualad only surfaced sporadically in the pages of DC Comics and help us chart a course into a new era where DC transformed the former kid sidekick into the powerful Tempest.

THE BRONZE AGE ADVENTURES BEGIN

It is always difficult to find a line of delineation between the Silver and Bronze Ages, but for Aqualad, the cover blurb of Adventure Comics #446 (July–Aug. 1976) reads, “Featuring: The Return of Aqualad,” so let us begin our undersea exploration there. Adventure Comics #446, written Paul Levitz and Martin Pasko and drawn by Jim Aparo, features Garth in a very different role. Aqualad, along with Aquagirl, was on the

Tadpole and Tusky Ye ed’s all-time favorite (maybe yours, too) Aqualad illo, by Stupendous Steve Lightle, from Who’s Who in the DC Universe #7 (Feb. 1991). TM & © DC Comics.

52 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

by M a r c

Buxton

case to bring down a diamond-smuggling ring on a gambling riverboat as fans are treated to a Mark Twainby-way-of-Atlantis mini-adventure. It seems like Adventure #446 was designed to bring Aqualad back into the spotlight. He looks older and he acts more like an adult (even though he admonishes Aquagirl for… “gasp”… drinking champagne). Aqualad and Aquagirl (real name Tula) force Black Manta to retreat, but the villain would return, and when he does, the innocence of the Aquaman family would forever be tainted by heartbreak.

TRAGEDY STRIKES THE AQUAMAN FAMILY

At this time in Aquaman history, the Sea King was struggling to regain the throne of Atlantis from the usurper Karshon, who was being aided and abetted by Black Manta. In Adventure Comics #448 (Nov.–Dec. 1976) by Levitz and Aparo, Aqualad plays a supporting role in helping his super-friend get his kingdom back. Yet, Garth is still relegated to the background and even has to share with Aquagirl what little spotlight he gets. At this point, Aqualad’s lone bit of characterization is making moon eyes at Aquagirl, but soon things take an interesting turn in this issue’s subplot as Levitz introduces a man named Mcann who is looking for his long-lost purple-eyed son. Naturally, this would lead readers to believe that Mcann was Aqualad’s father, but the answer was a bit more complex than that. With Levitz’s introduction of Mcann, new writer David Michelinie got to flesh out Aqualad’s rarely addressed past. Like all writers that had to find a direction for Aqualad, Michelinie inherited a decades-old tabula rasa and attempted to fill in the blanks.

“He was basically a supporting character from a plotline that was already in place when I started writing Aquaman stories,” Michelinie remembers. “I really didn’t do much with him except to move him on through that storyline.” Certainly, from the days of riding on the backs of seahorses and making fish puns, there was an inherent silliness to the Aquaman family, but Michelinie tried to find a new direction with his take on Aqualad. Aqualad could be puerile, but as Michelinie puts it, “I think it depends on how he’s written. I personally choked every time I had to use the term ‘Aquababy,’ so I admit there was a certain amount of silliness back in the ’70s stories. But if you handle a character with believable emotions, dialogue, and actions, there’s no reason for them to be silly, unless that’s what you’re looking for.” In Adventure Comics #452 (July–Aug. 1977), the Aquaman family suffered a loss that seemed unimaginable at the time. In the previous issue, longtime Aquaman ally Topo the octopus kidnaps Aquababy. Aquaman sets off in pursuit but is delayed by a battle with Starro the Conqueror. When Aquaman regains pursuit, he meets two purple-eyed members of a pacifist cult known as the Idylists. The Idylists help Aquaman find the lost Aquababy, but the three get waylaid by mysterious assailants. When Aquaman wakes up, he is bound next to Mcann and Aqualad. Mcann reveals that he is in search of his own son, a purple-eyed boy named Syan who joined the purple-eyed Idylist cult. Mcann believes that the purple-eyed Aqualad could help him find his son, but was shocked when Aqualad revealed that he not only knew nothing about the Idylists but was also not

Roots (left) A page from Adventure Comics #448 (Nov.–Dec. 1976), which investigates Aqualad’s past. By Paul Levitz and Jim Aparo. (right) In writer David Michelinie’s Adventure #452 (July–Aug. 1977), two allies are forced to battle to the death. Cover by Aparo. TM & © DC Comics.

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 53

by J o

hn Schwirian

The Saga of Seadragon Covers to Elite Comics’ Seadragon #1 (May 1986)– 6 (Jan. 1987). Cover art by Tom Floyd (issues #1–3), Dennis Yee (#4), and Yee (pencils) and Floyd (inks) (#5–6). (opposite page, top left) Floyd’s back cover art to issue #2. © Carl Knappe and Tom Floyd.

Back in 1984, the comic-book market was evolving. Long-established publishers like Gold Key, Harvey, and Charlton had either quit the business or were soon to do so, and spinner racks were dominated by Marvel and DC. Meanwhile, the direct market was gaining ground, with new independent publishers skipping the traditional distribution system and shipping directly to comic-book stores. This allowed for many new and different series to edge their way onto the scene—series like Cerebus, Elfquest, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and, of course, Seadragon. What? You say you don’t remember Seadragon? Well, then, allow me to refresh your memory.

DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS

tom floyd

ERBzine.com.

62 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

It all began in Texas with Tom Floyd and Carl Knappe, two Vietnam vets looking for a change of pace. Knappe and Floyd had been friends for a while, and Knappe, who worked as a surveyor for the city of Midland, Texas, wanted to go into business for himself. “Carl and I were both inspired by the fact that we didn’t like our jobs at the time,” writer/illustrator Tom Floyd explains. “My oil field job was starting to wear me down. I was an engine mechanic working for a Caterpillar Tractor dealership, but mostly I was recovering from a bad case of pneumonia and had light duty jobs and hated it. I liked being an engine mechanic, but had a hard time getting back up the ladder of jobs at work.

Things Go Better with Koch (right) From Seadragon #4 (Sept. 1986), a close look at Walter Koch’s aquatic supersuit. Art by Dennis Yee and Butch Burcham. © Carl Knappe and Tom Floyd.

“I always wanted to work in or produce comics,” Floyd continues, “and once Carl had mentioned he had an ‘in’ to some money, I started talking to him about doing comics. Carl was the business- and money-type person, and I was the idea, creative side of things.” Initially, they called their new company Independent Comics, but soon discovered that another company held that title. “So we changed our company name to Elite Comics,” Floyd laughs, “which everyone liked better.” The company logo proudly incorporated the Texas flag. “We were Texans and wanted it to show on the books,” Floyd proclaims. “We wanted people to know you didn’t have to be from New York to make comics.” Both men drew upon their military experience for their first two characters—Nightmare and Seadragon. Floyd had done some art for fanzines and a little ghost work for a couple of inkers for Marvel, so he had some idea of how to assemble a comic book. His ideas came together in Epsilon Wave, the tale of an Army vet whose subconscious created the hero Nightmare. According to Floyd, “Epsilon Wave was the most developed strip we had. Nightmare was the main character, the dream state of Arthur Williams, a soldier with PTSD—something I battled and still do. The Epsilon Wave was the dream state that he went into to tap his power. Delta Wave sleep is where dreams happen to normal people, so I just went one step further. Seadragon was something Carl wanted to create, as he had served in the Navy in the Vietnam era, so Seadragon was more or less his thing.”

Seadragon was Commander Walter Koch (pronounced “coke”), Navy Seal, who had been chosen to field test an experimental diving suit that gave divers more freedom in deeper waters. His initial outing in the suit was to retrieve drums of toxic waste leaking on the ocean floor, but this ended in disaster when he and his team discover a Russian sub operating in US waters. The Russians torpedo the seal team, killing three men and bathing Koch in toxins. He awakens in sickbay, only to find that the suit is now permanently grafted to his skin. The Navy restricts his movements and tells his girlfriend and family that he is dead. On the bright side, he can now breathe underwater, see in murky waters, and is a more powerful swimmer!

A GATHERING OF THE ELITE…

Epsilon Wave #1 (Oct. 1985) featured Nightmare in the lead with Seadragon as the backup. This continued for three issues, after which Seadragon was launched into a solo title. At first, Floyd and Knappe did everything, which quickly convinced them that they needed help. The Elite Comics’ payroll soon added Jarri and Jonni Parker, Butch and Debbi Burcham, G. R. Guinan, Robert Buckley, Thomas

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 63

The first half of the 1980s saw things creatively percolating in the DC Comics offices with expectations running high after the success of projects like Camelot 3000 and Ronin. Everyone knew Crisis on Infinite Earths was going to be unique, but as that 12-issue maxiseries was being produced, Frank Miller was already deep into Batman: The Dark Knight and Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons were talking to Dick Giordano about a maxiseries involving the Charlton heroes, a project that would become Watchmen. In the wake of Crisis, 1986 was explosive for DC. Dark Knight, Watchmen, Howard Chaykin’s The Shadow, and John Byrne’s Man of Steel were a crescendo—all mammoth sales successes. As the year ended, DC was reprinting these books and starting the bookstore graphic novel category, something still being enjoyed today. It was a heady time in the DC offices, and its editorial department was being encouraged to find creators they wanted to work with and bring their passions to reality. Publisher Jenette Kahn was open to almost anything editors or creators were fervent about. Everyone wanted to get in on the fun, and I, as a DC editor, was no exception. Once the Crisis dust settled, I was tasked with tidying up things in and around the new DC Universe, which gave me plenty of time to ponder what might make for a good story. Flipping through Who’s Who now and then for inspiration, I hit upon the notion of something sweeping in scope focused on Atlantis.

THE SEARCH FOR ATLANTIS

One common element in all of DC’s versions of Earth that have existed within the multiverses has been the sunken continent of Atlantis. In all instances, Atlantis began as a legendary civilization lost to surface world history, having sunk into the Atlantic Ocean around 9,600 B.C. In each case, its existence only became common knowledge thanks to the appearance in the 20th Century of such citizens as Aquaman and the beautiful mermaid Lori Lemaris, Superman’s friend. Readers may have asked editors George Kashdan and Mort Weisinger why their versions of Atlantis were different if Superman and Aquaman were Justice League members, but the explanation for the conflicting versions of Atlantis—that they were separate cities named Poseidonis and Tritonis that evolved independent of one another—was expressed in Action Comics #475 (Sept. 1977), DC Special Series #5 (a.k.a. Superman Spectacular, Nov. 1977), and, in greatest detail thanks to E. Nelson Bridwell, in Super Friends #9 (Dec. 1977). Len Wein and Marv Wolfman added a bit more to the lore in the Atlantis Who’s Who entry in issue #1 (Mar. 1985), weaving in that the city-state dated back 45,000 years ago, as depicted in Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema’s Arion, Lord of Atlantis series. The Marshall Rogers art for the Atlantis Who’s Who entry was particularly inspiring. But how did that all happen, and when?

The Saga Begins First issue cover to scribe Peter David and artist Esteban Maroto’s epic Atlantis Chronicles, which ran seven issues coverdated from March to September 1990. TM & © DC Comics.

66 • BACK ISSUE • Aquaman Issue

by B o b

Greenberger

There was a story buried in the depths, and I decided to find it. Not long before, there was a series of bestsellers by John Jakes, a sprawling generational saga called The Kent Family Chronicles. (During this period Jakes partnered with artist Gil Kane to co-author the novel Excalibur! in 1980.) As a result, I began thinking of the project as Atlantis! To me, this had the same scope—a generational saga from Arion to Aquaman, and how the cities evolved differently, and when did they unite? During this period, writers Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway had formed a partnership and were pitching themselves as Hollywood screenwriters. They had a few successes, so I thought they might be able to share my visions. I approached them with all the enthusiasm I could muster. As they say in Tinseltown, they gave it a pass. Undaunted, I thought of who else might be able to bring fresh eyes to the story, someone who would respect but not be slavishly tied to the continuity and could make the characters feel fresh. At the time, I had been working with Peter David on DC’s Star Trek, and he had additionally been writing novels. So I rang him up and discussed the notion. “Well, it sounded really fascinating to me that what you proposed was doing this massive history of Atlantis, which to the best of my knowledge no one had ever written a comic book quite like that,” David recalls to BACK ISSUE. “Right at the time I was very enamored of a TV series called I, Claudius, based on books by Robert Graves that told the story of Tiberius Claudius, the stuttering, limping emperor of Rome. I was fascinated by that tale in terms of how it covered so many years and focused on individuals. That, in my mind, was the best way to tell a story that was supposed to be history. In addition, I decided to tell about specific characters in Atlantis’ history, none of whom we ever heard of before, but would give us the entire progression of Atlantis.” Regarding the snippets of Atlantean history already established in DC lore, David says, “I don’t recall requiring a lot of research into the Lori Lemaris Atlantis or the Arthur Curry Atlantis. There was a lot of blank slate involved. I did have a couple of things that needed to be touched on, such as Arion. There was also the whole thing about purple eyes as a problem, blond hair, and the whole thing about just how did they survive under the domes that separate them?”

SEEING PURPLE

The purple-eyes taboo stemmed back to the introduction of Aqualad, the last of the teen sidekicks, introduced in a 1960 issue of Adventure Comics. For reasons left unexplained until the 1970s, purple eyes were seen as a bad omen, much as it was decided by plotter Keith Giffen that Aquaman was abandoned by his mother for being born with blond hair in a story that finally saw print in the Legend of Aquaman Special in 1989. Arion, Lord of Atlantis, introduced in the back of Warlord before gaining its own ongoing series in 1981, presented different complications because it was set further back in time and talked of the waning days of magic and told of Atlantis’ sinking… something to do with aliens. Arion felt too far back to do the new story right. Peter David knew he needed to sink the continent on his own. “I felt that showing the sinking of Atlantis was a very important thing,” David reveals. “I didn’t want to just simply repeat what had been done in the Arion comic books. I wanted to do my own take on it. So I came up with the concept that part of Atlantis had sunk but that a city that was further inland had managed to survive. That seemed to me to make sense. I mean, if Manhattan sank, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Long Island would be fine. So, no, that was the angle that I took. I had a gold statue of Arion that was in the middle of the square, which we showed in the first issue. I don’t recall we ever showed it again.” With that out of the way, David readily signed on to pitch the series and develop the concepts. This meant doing research above and beyond the DC library. “Most of my research into Atlantis had almost nothing to do with DC history aside from

Atlantean Lore (top) Atlantis’ twin cities were mentioned in this Lori Lemaris backup in Action #475 (Sept. 1977) by Elizabeth M. Smith, Win Mortimer, and Frank Chiaramonte. (bottom) Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema’s Arion, Lord of Atlantis also laid some groundwork for the legendary locale. TM & © DC Comics.

Aquaman Issue • BACK ISSUE • 67