by Robert Greenberger

Aquaman: Death of a Prince

Despite being created in 1941, Aquaman really didn’t achieve prominence as a hero until his series was given to incoming editor Dick Giordano. In turn, Dick handed the book to writer Steve Skeates and artist Jim Aparo, both moving from Charlton to DC Comics with Dick. They began issue-to-issue continuity with the well-regarded The Search for Mera serial. Although it gained fans, sales led to a premature death and the book ended with issue #56 and Aquaman returned to being a guest star and Justice League hanger-on.

A few years later, though, the Sea King was given another chance with others making their DC debuts. Seeking new features for the back of Adventure Comics, Aquaman’s former home, Editor Joe Orlando bought a three-part story from his assistant editor, Paul Levitz and then assigned the art to a kid named Mike Grell. The stuff looked pretty good to editor and reader alike so when the Spectre’s run as lead feature came to a quick conclusion, Orlando upgraded Aquaman to the cover feature, letting Levitz write it and turning the art chores back to Aparo, who needed the work after the Spectre ended.

This began one of the best regarded runs of the feature culminating in the murder of Arthur Curry, Jr., a.k.a. Aquababy, a despicable act, the likes of which DC titles had not seen in years. Now, that celebrated run is being collected in the mammoth 336-page Aquaman: Death of a Prince, collecting Adventure #435-437, 441-455 and Aquaman #57-63.

Rob Kelly, keeper of the Aquaman Shrine, summed up why people got excited when this collection was first announced. “I am really thrilled to see one of my all-time favorite Aquaman runs, Adventure Comics #441-452 and Aquaman #57-63, finally collected into one edition. Not only do they feature Jim Aparo’s swan song with the character, they also bring the underrated Don Newton into the mix.

“In addition to the art, Aquaman tussles with his most famous villains: Ocean Master, Black Manta, The Fisherman, and Starro, making these stories a sort of iconic ‘Who’s Who’ of Aquaman bad guys. He’s also given a cool new HQ (the Aqua-Cave, which would have made an awesome toy playset), which has sort of been revived in Brightest Day. And of course, the event that occurs in Adventure #452 and then is subsequently dealt with in Aquaman is the single most defining moment of the character, something writers had him wrestling with for decades later.

“I’ve been asked many times to recommend my favorite Aquaman stories in trade form, and I’ve always had to grudgingly say that most of my favorites are not available in any sort of permanent format. This collection takes a giant leap in the right direction of making some of the Sea King’s best adventures accessible to all the new fans he and Mera are racking up thanks to Brightest Day.”

As for the origins of the storyline, a lot of the detail has not been previously explored but a few tasty tidbits turned up. “By the time I got involved with Aquaman in 1977, he already had a long, angsty history,” Paul Kupperberg told me recently. “The original strip in More Fun by Paul Norris was darker than the happy-go-lucky, bright Aquaman by Ramona Fradon and Nick Cardy, but it still had a smiling, quipping hero. Then Dick Giordano came to DC in the mid-60s and took over as editor. I always thought that, consciously or not, Dick and Steve Skeates modeled their take on Aquaman on Marvel’s Sub-Mariner, which was much more dramatic and played off Namor’s royalty. A decade later, a succession of writers had taken Aquaman through his paces…two issues before I took over Aquaman, the caption on page one, by David Michelinie, told you everything you needed to know: “…For there lies the driving for of pure ANIMAL RAGE!”

“As I recall, Arthur Jr. was already dying when I was assigned to write a three-part back-up starring Mera in Aquaman #58-60, sending her on a quest back to her home dimension to find some McGuffin that could save his life. He was already dead by the time she returned, and I went on to bury the kid in my first issue writing the lead feature, Aquaman #62. Simultaneously, in Adventure Comics #453-455, I wrote an Aqualad back-up that gave him a back story, making him the son of the king of another underwater kingdom who had gone mad and had been assassinated to stop him.

“I took over as writer on Aquaman #62, from Paul Levitz, who did one issue before he had to hand it off to me for reasons that I have long since forgotten. I think I was working on the script for #63 when word came down that it would be the last issue and the feature would be shifting over to the Dollar Comic anthology, Adventure Comics. Paul was editor on the feature. He also edited me on the Aqualad and Mera back-ups, so if there was a grand strategy, Paul was in on it all along.

“Aquaman was the first of the too-few times I worked with the great Don Newton, which was a treat for me. Don did those last two issues, then another great Don took over as penciler, Don Heck, which, as a reader growing up on the Marvel of the 1960s, was quite a thrill.

“There was a lot going on with Aquaman and company at the time, but I wasn’t aware of any plans or potential licensing deal behind it. I mean, in spite of the Mera and Aqualad back-ups, Aquaman was cancelled just a few months later, with #63. My second issue as writer of the lead feature! I think it was just the time, with all the characters, when DC was really starting to ratchet up the soap opera across the board to try and catch up with Marvel.”

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