Aquaman (Vol.1) #61 - May 1978

Comics Weekend "The Armageddon Conspiracy!" by David Michelinie and Don Newton.

Continued from the previous issue of Aquaman, we finally learn the mastermind behind a nefarious plot to steal a powerful device from the depths of the Marianas Trench: the would-be world-conqueror Kobra!

(Before we go any further: longtime Shrine readers might remember I covered this issue before, way back in 2007--but that was when I was bopping around Aquaman's comic book history willy-nilly, something I wouldn't be so casual nowadays; besides, I figured if I was going to examine the whole late 70s run of Aquaman, I couldn't very well skip an issue!)

Okay, anyway, back to Kobra--this issue opens with a bit of a time jump, in that we now find Aquaman, teamed with Batman, in the clutches of the super-villain:

If you were reading this series casually, it'd be easy to miss that these first few pages are a flash-forward in the story, which eventually works it way back to the beginning in a few pages. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, just like this issue did!

Batman, using a handy doodad from his utility belt, frees himself and Aquaman from Kobra's trap. They make quick work of Kobra's goons (with the help of an electrified zap, courtesy of some of Aquaman's eel friends) and escape.

Its here that we wind back, and we find Aquaman aboard the JLA Satellite, along with Batman and Green Lantern, explaining what he believes Kobra's ultimate plot to be:

Batman determines that Kobra's real goal is not to steal the Bellerophon, but the cargo inside the ship itself--a huge load of Hydrocarbons which are toxic and highly unstable!

Tracing Kobra's whereabouts, they determine his HQ is in Portugal, and our heroes head there. Green Lantern soon locates Kobra's floating ark and disables it, allowing Batman and Aquaman to sneak into where Kobra is holding court:

(I love this second panel, with the askew angle. Nice job, Mr. Newton!)

Kobra explains his plan to a group of world leaders, telling them to spread the word that he, at any moment, could blanket the world in a deadly cloud of chemicals.

Batman and Aquaman, just outside, hear this. Right at that moment, Kobra gets a message from his henchmen about the Ark that they have been attacked by Green Lantern. The Dark Knight and the Sea King use this moment to attack:

They rescue the Navy General who was Kobra's hostage, and Batman plans to smash Kobra's weapon. But before he can, Kobra returns from the Ark, explaining that his Ark had a means of defense against Green Lantern.

With his ship now free, Kobra takes on Batman mano-a-mano, with Aquaman watching. After a few punches are thrown, Kobra flips a switch, releasing a series of pods filled with the hydrocarbons into the air!

Aquaman communicates with Green Lantern, telling him to contain them--but there are too many, even for him!:

While Batman takes care of Kobra's goons, Aquaman tries to turn off the machine, while issuing a command to some of his finny friends to grab the remaining pods before they reach the surface. Kobra, as you might expect, is less than pleased.

Kobra tries to get away, but General Horgan smashes one of the ship's control panels, sending it plummeting into the ocean. Kobra dons some scuba gear and takes off, but Aquaman catches up with him:

...it takes guts to give Batman the brush-off, but Aquaman manages to get away with it. He's in no mood from a lecture, even from The Dark Knight Detective.

With this issue, the main story thread from the past several issues has been concluded, and next issue Aquaman will face an even more intimidating presence: his wife Mera, who he has not seen since the death of their son. To be continued!

Aquaman (Vol.1) #60 - March 1978

Comics Weekend "Scavenger, Ravager, Plunderer, Thief!" by David Michelinie and Don Newton.

Continued from the previous issue of Aquaman, the Sea King has defeated The Fisherman and is hot on the trail of another one of his foes, The Scavenger:

Aquaman commands a school(?) of barnacles to attach themselves to the Scavenger's ship. The Scavenger, at first, isn't worried, since his ship is so fortified not even a whale can break into it.

But that isn't Aquaman's intention: no, the barnacles are there simply to weigh the ship down, which they do, causing it to crash onto the floor of the ocean.

He manages to shake them off using an electrified defense field, but that gives Aquaman enough time to catch up:

Meanwhile, in Portugal, the mysterious mastermind behind the Fisherman's efforts (which Aquaman interrupted) decides to deal with the Sea King personally!

Back in the Atlantic, Aquaman has the Scavenger in his hands. But before Aquaman can paste the Scavenger into unconsciousness, he flips a switch on his ship's control panel, causing pockets of foul-smelling air to form near the ship, enveloping some of the Atlantean farmers!

Aquaman leaves the Scavenger to save them:

Having had time to recover, the Scavenger uses his ship to keep Aquaman at bay, including two giant metal pincers!

Its here that we learn who the villain is behind the plot to steal the Bellerophon--the deadly would-be world conqueror Kobra!:

To be continued!


This issue also features the final chapter of the Mera back-up story, where she has traveled back to her home dimension in a last-ditch attempt to save the life of her son:

Mera believes a "healing device" is down somewhere in the pit below her feet. And even though there are stories of terrible creatures living down there, Mera doesn't pause in heading in.

Within just a few moments, though, she runs across a giant fanged rock creature which tries to grab her! Mera protects herself by constructing a hard water bubble, which the creature hits so hard it hurls Mera back out of the pit.

Following her to the surface is the rock creature, plus two other elemental creatures, all with the same goal: destruction!!

Knocking the rock creature back into the pit, the other two elementals follow. She temporarily subdues the rock creature with her hard water powers, and goes to search for the healing device in the pile of equipment dumped there by the power-mad Leron.

She finds what she's looking for, but just at that moment the fire elemental hurls some fireballs at Mera. He misses her, but they hit the pile of scientific and electrical equipment, causing a huge explosion!

Barely escaping, Mera manages to make her way to the surface:

...to be continued?


Wow, this story is quite the kick in the pants, both to Mera and the reader. To have the chance at seeing little Arthur Jr. survive, only to take it away again...ouch.

With this issue, longtime Aquaman artist Jim Aparo was replaced by Don Newton, continuing a long line of superior Aquaman artists. He would remain on the book until its final issue--which, sadly, wasn't too far away.

Aquaman (Vol.1) #59 - Jan. 1978

Comics Weekend "Prey Perilous!" by David Michelinie and Jim Aparo.

After a couple of weeks away, we're back to talking about Aquaman's brief return as a solo title in 1977!

Behind a very iconic, poster-like Jim Aparo cover (which was good enough to be a poster, and was), this issue continues the events from Aquaman #58, where Aquaman had escaped a deathtrap set for him by The Fisherman.

For some reason, a NATO ship is now firing at him!

The ship's captain tells Aquaman those were just "warning shots", to keep Aquaman away from the area.

Aquaman is having none of that, saying he's been following the trail of The Fisherman, and he's not about to stop now. But before the Captain can argue, there's a giant rumbling under the water, and giant hunks of rock come spewing from the surface!

The Captain tells an ensign to pilot the ship away from the disturbance, but the rudder has been damaged, causing the ship to head straight for the dangerous waterspout!

The Captain asks why doesn't Aquaman "do something", but the Sea King is already ahead of him:

Aquaman heads down below to see what the trouble is, and discovers his target--The Fisherman!

The Fisherman is talking to someone via remote control, who seems to be the mastermind behind all this. As The Fisherman sends some goons to attack Aquaman, we cut away to Portugal, where we get a tiny glimpse of who that "mastermind" might be.

But that will have to wait--Aquaman is busy busting the heads of The Fisherman's goons. An errant bomb thrown at Aquaman (which misses) shifts the rocks keeping The Fisherman's "sonic scoop" loose, and the ship begins to teeter off a ridge, and plunge deep into the Marianiss Trench!

Aquaman is determined not to let it get away, since inside is the item everyone's been looking for:

Yes, its the Scavenger! He has plans for the "Bellerophon" as well--selling it to the highest bidder on the black market!

Aquaman tries to force his way into the Scavenger's ship, but its defenses keep Aquaman out long enough for him to get away. Aquaman then turns to the Fisherman, offering to team-up with him to track down the Scavenger--a whole "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of thing.

But The Fisherman, being your classic dumb villain, refuses, much to the chagrin of his boss, who hears all this over the remote control. He demands The Fisherman go with Aquaman, but ol' shell-head has had enough, tossing the radio aside.

Aquaman takes off after The Scavenger alone, so The Fisherman uses those few moments to take one last shot at Aquaman, firing a radioactive harpoon at him!

Aquaman can't break loose from it, so he tries something else:

To be continued!


But that's not all! This issue also features chapter 2 of the Mera back-up story (written by our pal Paul Kupperberg), where she has traveled to her home dimension, following the one small chance Vulko says she has to save her son's life:

Mera is attacked by Leron's goons, and only stops fighting when he threatens to kill Xebel, his prisoner and the man Mera came all this way to see.

Did I say stops fighting? Mera uses a moment where Leron is distracted to attack him, knocking him to the ground.

Leron recovers, and tries to imprison her in a hard water cage, which Mera breaks open with barely a thought--surprising Leron with the sheer force of will Mera is displaying.

Leron tries one more time, using all of his powers to crush Mera to death:

...also to be continued!


You know, during my posts on Blackest Night, I've been talking a lot about how dynamic and forceful Mera is, much more so than she's been written as in a long time.

But looking back at these back-ups, as modest as they are (as sort of a sub-plot to the main story, as opposed to a completely different, Mera-centric storyline), I have to say the Mera here is just as heroic as the one in Blackest Night. She barely hesitates to tackle Leron, and when he tries to trap her in a hard water cage, she smashes it open with nary a thought. Nice!

The previous issue of Aquaman mentioned an Aquaman Annual than would never come, and in this issue's letters page, its mentioned again, this time as an "Aquaman Special":

...that's me, still sobbing.

Aquaman (Vol.1) #58 - Nov. 1977

Comics Weekend "Through A Past Darkly" by David Michelinie and Jim Aparo.

I thought we'd continue with the Shrine's look at the second, brief, and final run of the original Aquaman book, which started again with #57.

At the end of the last issue, Aquaman had his chance to exact "eye for an eye"-type revenge of the man who murdered his son, Black Manta. But in the end, he found he couldn't do it, instead turning Manta and his henchmen over to the authorities.

Little did Aquaman know, Manta wasn't his only foe currently causing trouble. The Fisherman was in the middle of a plot to find an experimental spy sub, lost somewhere in the Marianas Trench.

Aquaman makes his way home, looking for his wife Mera. But she isn't there, rather:

...I think The Fisherman chose the exact wrong moment to get in Aquaman's face.

Aquaman wallops The Fisherman one, but he uses one of Aquaman's own trophies against him, by dropping a giant metal net over the Sea King.

Normally that wouldn't stop Aquaman, but The Fisherman has re-wired the net so, upon the pressing of a button, the net creates a depressurized field and gives Aquaman a near-fatal case of the bends!

He then tosses a gas grenade, knocking Aquaman out. When he comes to, he finds himself trussed up, high in the air, onto a lighthouse:

...you know, The Fisherman may be kind of a dorky villain, but that hovercraft is one kickin' ride.

Anyway, after The Fisherman takes off (not before taking orders from a mysterious voice, via a radio communicator), Aquaman finds that his telepathic powers are so weakened he can barely communicate with any of the sea creatures just a mile or so away.

Feeling defeated, Aquaman begins to give up, and thinks this may be the very spot where he dies. But then he notices something--this isn't any old lighthouse, it's the lighthouse--the one his father manned, all those years ago!

We then get a re-cap of Aquaman's origin, as the lighthouse's beam makes it way around to Aquaman, where it will burn him to a crisp.

Aquaman thinks of the moment he buried his father, and something in him stirs: he realize he can't give up. He has an obligation, an honor to uphold, so he has...to...keep...trying!

Using all his might, he sends out a telepathic signal, which is picked up by some hermit crabs:

Jim Aparo, always at the top of my list of Aquaman artists, really pulls this sequence off: you feel the searing heat coming off of the lighthouse, just as Aquaman frees himself.

Even though this story is only eleven pages, a recap of Aquaman's origin makes it feel a little padded: did we really need to see that story again?

Although, on the other hand, one of the things I think superhero comics have lost over the decades is the accessibility of their stories to non-long time readers. Recapping an origin brings any potential new reader up to date, so maybe this story is fine the way it is. Plus, we get to see Aparo's take on the iconic moments from Aquaman's origin, and that's good, so...forget what I said in the previous paragraph!

But this issue isn't done yet! Starting with this issue was a solo Mera back-up strip, written by our pal Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Juan Ortiz and Vince Colletta.

This first installment kicks off with Mera desperate for any chance to save her son:

Their old friend Vulko says the only chance to save Arthur Jr. is from a man named Xebel, a scientist from Mera's home dimension that Vulko has been communicating with.

Xebel has spoken of "an amazing healing device" that can be built using some rare elements from Mera's dimension. Vulko points out, though, that it would take an enormous influx of energy to open the portal between the two dimensions, giving Mera the chance to get the necessary elements.

Mera doesn't care about the risk, or the remote chance it will even work--all she wants to know is where this portal is. Vulko tells her, and she takes off. Using her hard water powers, she forces open the portal:

Mera finds herself back in her home dimension, but in the throne room of the royal palace!

Two armed guards rush her, and one them blasts her with a laser, knocking her out. When she awakes, she finds things have changed back in her dimension, not for the better:

...to be continued!


Aside from Mera's debut as a solo star, this issue also features another Aquaman first, sort of: book editor Paul Levitz mentions a first ever Aquaman Annual:

...sadly, Aquaman was cancelled before any such annual could be put together. That sound you hear is me, sobbing.


Before we sign off, I just wanted to mention two things concerning this issue--first, these shots of the interior of Aquaman's headquarters:

Re: Panel 1--what's with the double beds? What is this, The Dick Van Dyke Show?

Re: Panel 2--I love Aquaman having his own Batman-esque trophy room, filled with mementos from previous adventures. I still say Mego could've made one hell of a playset based on this!

Secondly, we get to see Jim Aparo's take on the classic Aquaman origin story. It features a shot of Aquaman's mother looking out over the sea, a moment that seems most artists tackling the origin feel the need to replicate in their own way:

The top right panel is by Kurt Schaffenberger from a Pepsi-produced place mat, the one at the bottom right by Ramona Fradon, from Adventure Comics #260, and the bottom left by Don Heck, from Action Comics #519 (who went a slightly different way with it).

There must be a version by Nick Cardy around somewhere!

Aquaman (Vol.1) #57 - Sept. 1977

Comics Weekend "A Life For A Life" by David Michelinie and Jim Aparo.

With no issues of DC Super Friends or Blackest Night to talk about this week, I went looking through my shelf of Aquaman comics and was reminded that, even after three + years of the Shrine's existence, I've barely gotten around to talking about these issues of Aquaman's brief return as a solo star. It started with#57 and ran for only seven issues before becoming a victim of the DC Implosion.

That seems crazy to me, because this run of Aquaman comics--brief as it is--was and remains one of the character's most memorable series of stories for me. I remember buying them right off the newsstands at the time, and it really helped cement Aquaman as my all-time favorite superhero. So let's correct that now, huh?

This issue (continuing the numbering from Aquaman's original title, which was cancelled in 1970) picks up right where Adventure Comics #452 left off, with Black Manta having murdered Arthur Jr., certainly the single biggest event in all of Aquaman's history.

Aquaman, of course, is on the hunt for Manta, and we open right on an action sequence, beautifully handled by Jim Aparo:

Aquaman is brimming with rage here, so he's using his finny friends in a slightly more savage manner than he normally would. After Aquaman being so nice for so long, its kind of a nice change of pace to see him so blunt here.

Miles away, Black Manta is watching all this from the safety of his HQ, and he's infuriated at his incompetent henchmen.

He's accompanied by Cal Durham, who was fooled into helping Manta by believing his stories about setting up an Idylist Sanctuary under the sea, appealing to his sense of racial solidarity. Black Manta, now no longer needing Cal, tells him the truth: Manta is out to make money, and that's all. And if Durham steps out of line, he will regret it. He blasts a small globe into smithereens to make his point.

Aquaman continues his pursuit, and he's stopped by some robotic drones made by Manta, including a giant octopus:

Meanwhile, we find that a member of NATO named General Horgan has been kidnapped, along with other influential world statesmen, by another of Aquaman's foes...The Fisherman!:

The Fisherman is looking for a spy sub that sank somewhere in the ocean, and Hogan accidentally reveals where it is!

Aquaman manages to get free of the octopus by tying some of its tentacles up in knots, and makes way into Manta's stronghold. Filled with rage, he lunges for Manta, only to fall prey to an electrical trap he had set. Thousands of volts flow into Aquaman's body, knocking him out.

Cal Durham can take no more--he can't allow Manta to murder Aquaman in cold blood. He pulls a gun, but Manta uses his henchmen to knock Cal out, as well. He then fires Cal out of a torpedo tube, and within moments Cal runs out of oxygen, and begins to drown!

Aquaman wakes up in a classic super-villain death trap:

As Aquaman hurtles to his death on the makeshift missile, we see Cal's shaky hand reach out and shoot at the ropes holding Aquaman. By divine providence, he hits his target, freeing Aquaman!

The planned explosion goes off, and Manta thinks Aquaman is dead. He is surprised, however, to see that Cal has his henchmen under control. Cal didn't drown--the artificial gills Manta installed in him were a little slow to kick in, but they worked! Cal can now breathe underwater!

But Manta's in for another surprise--Aquaman is alive!

Manta, begging for mercy like the rat he is, gives Aquaman just enough pause that he collects himself and realizes he can't kill Manta in cold blood (chalk this up to the need to have as good a villain as Black Manta around in perpetuity, otherwise known as The Joker Rule).

As Aquaman and Cal tug Manta and his men to shore, Cal begins to choke. Aquaman dunks him underwater, proving what Aquaman suspected: the new gills Manta installed, once they start, can then only breathe water--Cal is now trapped to live underwater.

Later, Aquaman turns Manta over to the authorities:

...and on that bummer of an ending, this issue of Aquaman comes to close.


Looking back over this issue, and the later ones in this run, I am torn. As comic book stories outside of their larger context, they're great: fast moving, well told, superbly drawn by Jim Aparo.

But...once the decision was made to kill off Arthur Jr., whoever wrote Aquaman after this couldn't help but deal with the event and its consequences. This led to years of Aquaman comics where he's depressed, he fights with Mera, and he's estranged from Aqualad.

All that makes for great melodrama, but I also think it was truly the beginning of Aquaman getting bogged down in years of him being portrayed as a tormented, angry loner, with a supporting cast that seemed to hate him. So, taken piece by piece, each issue makes total sense and works on their own level, but in the larger scheme of things I think it was one of the main reasons Aquaman's "star" fell and he stopped being one of DC's A-list characters, constantly swimming from title to title and under wildly different creative teams.

But the six-year-old in me still loves this issue!

Adventure Comics #452 - Aug. 1977

Comics Weekend The most shocking event in Aquaman's life in this issue of Adventure Comics!

This is Aquaman's last issue in this superb Adventure run (his first as a headliner), and as we all know it ends with the single most controversial moment in the Sea King's career.

Obviously, this run was popular enough for DC to revive Aquaman's solo title, the first time he would headline a book in six years. And as we've seen over these past few weekends, it is an excellent series od stories, featuring some of Aquaman's finest moments.

This issue's story is "Dark Destiny, Deadly Dreams" by David Michelinie and features another nice splash page by Jim Aparo:

Last issue, Aquaman met two strangers, who had come from far away to find him. Aqualad apparently is in some sort of trouble...

Luckily, the city where these people hail from was in the path of where Topo had traveled after taking Arthur Jr., so Aquaman agrees to come along.

But before he gets there, they are all attacked by a group of scuba-wearing thugs. After taking care of them, Aquaman is told they are henchmen of the "usurper" who has taken control of their city!

Aquaman comes across more thugs, but this time, when he calls a hammerhead shark to help, it he who is the on the receiving end of its wrath:

...Aquaman wakes up captured, trussed up along with Aqualad and the man who got Garth involved in all this!

Turns out that his son, Syan, ran (swam?) away when a group of cultists started preaching in Atlantis, and when, years later, this man saw a picture of Aqualad--who has the same purple eyes as his son--he assumed Garth came from wherever Syan ended up.

This city is where they ended yup, but unfortunately its now come under the control of...:

Aquaman manages to break free and bust some heads, but he stops when he sees that Manta has Topo and Arthur Jr. caged!

Manta then forces Aquaman to fight Aqualad for his amusement, with an added inspiration for Aquaman:

Aquaman's face takes on a grim cast, and he attacks Aqualad with real ferocity.

As the battle goes on, Aquaman realizes that Manta has been using a sonic barrier to keep fish out of the city, meaning the only one here is...Topo!

Topo busts out of his cage and grabs Manta's controller, crushing it. As the air fills the bubble Arthur Jr. is in, Aquaman throws a trident into it, smashing it open, letting the water rush in.

As Manta escapes, Aquaman learns, to his horror, that he is too late:

...wow.

Has any superhero, ever, suffered a blow like this? The closest you can come is The Joker killing Robin, but Jason Todd was no Dick Grayson--someone thought of as a son, and Jason Todd was a superhero playing a rough game. This was an infant, which is such a brutal, unspeakable crime that, in the larger scheme of things, you'd think half the DCU would have been hunting Black Manta down once word got out.

When I interviewed David Michelinie back in December, he really couldn't remember where this idea came from. He recalled that it was something Paul Levitz had been loosely building to, and when he took over the strip he carried it out.

This story divides Aquaman fans probably about as much anything--some see it as an important moment, something that makes Aquaman truly unique; other look at it as a moment that derailed Aquaman and turned him into a mopey jerk that he never fully recovered from.

In any case, I think the idea isn't served well by the rushed execution--one page is just not enough to convey all that has to happen, and Aqualad is being probably the biggest jerk in the DCU by whining to Aquaman at this moment. Jeez, Garth, Aquaman is holding his dead infant son in his arms--can we deal with your issues later?

Plus, like I said above, there just isn't any justifiable reason why Black Manta is still alive. Like The Joker, Manta is of course too good a villain to get rid of, but if you're going to try and put these superheroes in a (slightly) more realistic world--one where little children can be murdered--then you have to deal with that.

And with all the superheroes in the DCU, there had to be at least one or two that would've taken it upon themselves to find Manta, cut his head off, and beam it to the JLA satellite addressed to Aquaman.

Black Manta committed the Ultimate Act of Evil--comic book world or no--and to have him still be around, dogging Aquaman for years afterwards, and to me, in a lot of ways it makes Aquaman look weak, if only in an unconscious way.

Aside from this, this Aquaman Adventure run was superb, and it was nice to see it lead to a promotion, if only for a brief time...