Don't miss this dramatic 1970s tale from ADVENTURE COMICS #435-437, 441-455 and AQUAMAN #57-63! As Aquaman faces his greatest foes, Black Manta plans his ultimate revenge on the Sea King – resulting in the death of Aquaman's infant son and the dissolution of his marriage.
It's no secret that pop culture loves to pick on Aquaman. Well, if you ever wondered what he did to earn such mockery, here is your answer. This is classic Aquaman, for better or worse.
With this book you're getting a collection of standalone Aquaman adventures from 70's, as well as an overarching (and heartbreaking) story about the royal family of Atlantis. Most of the standalones follow a similar structure: Aquaman encounters a villain, demonstrates his poor superheroing ability, gets into a predicament (he's trying his best, okay?), then gets bailed out by summoning some form of sea life. He does have a few moments of badassery, but looking cool was never classic Aquaman's jam.
I'm so glad I read this book. So glad I experienced the moments that would become the basis for such enduring ridicule. And you know what? It did nothing to sully or diminish my opinion of the guy. I am now and will probably always be an Aquafan. He has since become infinitely cooler, but back in the day he was such an endearing goofball.
For my review of Adventure Comics #435-437 and #441-452, please see the individual issues. This collected edition is called Death of the Prince but I have to say that little of these issues had anything to do with Arthur Jr.’s death! Aquaman was filled with rage that fueled his journey for many of the later issues but there were a lot of single issues that could have been culled to make a more focused story. I really enjoyed the Mera-centric back up stories in the Aquaman issues #58-60. It showed off just how powerful and determined she was. This collection also includes a few Aqualad centered stories and while it was a nice bonus to get more information on his past, I’m not sure how that connected to the 'main' plot of Aquababy dying! Overall, I feel like a lot of the earlier issues (mainly the issues I read separately) could be skipped to have a more focused story on the death of the prince.
The current onslaught of collected comics from my childhood is enough to make my head spin. If you had told the childhood me that I would be able to purchase a collected Aquaman paperback in my adulthood, I would have told me I was crazy. Why would anyone do a thing like that? And yet, here we are.
This is really an amazing piece of work--as a collected piece of my youth, I should say. The story itself, written by a half dozen or so talents, is . . . well, it's very much a product of its time. There's a "dramatic" incident, but the stuff around it is the usual superhero fare. I did like and remember quite fondly Paul Levitz's little story about how Aquaman needed a day off after his rather eventful day off. Sort of like my life, except that not nearly as many people are trying to kill me (except maybe my employer).
I love Jim Aparo, though, as well as Don Newton. Again, another half dozen artists show up, including Mike Grell at the beginning, but . . . this was probably around the time I started to realize that people actually wrote and drew these things, and that they weren't simply chronicles in the adventures of my favorite heroes.
And I have to add that the paper and the color are really top-notch, which is surprising when you consider that this is Aquaman we're talking about here.
About that: I think that part of the reason why I was so high on this particular character was that I never learned how to swim, so the oceans were really another world to me. Even now, I can only barely sort of dog paddle.
Finally: I read this in one sitting more as a testament to my misspent youth than as a work entire. So every issue was a souvenir of where I was when I found it, and what happened to me while I was reading it. (I don't have a photographic memory, but I do have a highly associative one.) And . . . I distinctly remember the "Black Manta" revelation being wrapped up in the time I also discovered The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
The series starts off a little slowly, stuck in that 70s sort of comics style, but once it gets going, it's very impressive. The story's a page-turner, and Aquaman's a more complex character than I'd expected. Great art, too.
A big slab of 70’s cheeze featuring that greatest of heroes, AQUAMAN!
The headliner here is Paul Levitz, on what seems to been his first big job writing a major(?) character. His inexperience shows in his early scripts, which are clunky, but per his introduction older writers quickly took him in hand and he learned a lot from them. By the time he moves up to editing the book — David Michelinie takes over on the scripts — the stories are both ambitious and pretty good.
Levitz and Michelinie never quite transcend Aquaman’s limitations, and most of the stories follow the usual superhero beats of “meet villain, fight villain, get knocked out and trapped a lot, use signature powers, win, villain escapes for another day”. They make a serious effort at developing ongoing emotional stories for both Arthur and his supporting cast, though. The result is not exactly great drama, but it does lay a bit of a foundation under the character, and Levitz builds up a lot of skills that he puts to (in my very biased opinion) much better use with the Legion of Superheroes and later projects.
This is not a great story and it is not helping the reputation of Aquaman. His son has just died and he is fighting with revenge in his mind, and he still has enough humor to say puns? Absurd!
This did not make me a fan of Aquaman but it did make me a fan of Mera.
This was a bit of a stinker but even through the stinkiness there was some nostalgia fun to it and some solid art.
Let's start with the good stuff. Paul Levitz writes about how he started writing Aquaman and the editor Carmine Infantino thought he stunk and forced him to co-write with more experienced writers at first. This is interesting because Paul - after all is said and done - is clearly the best writer of everyone. He knows how to use old villains, tell a long form story while still making it episodic and (most importantly) he can write believable characters. I feel the last half would have been much better if he and not David Michelinie and especially not Paul Kupperberg had ended the tale. He also left before the wrong headed decision to kill Aquababy. So yes, the Levitz part of the this book was fun. It involved Aquaman getting exiled, fighting some old villains and then we come back to see the resolution of the exile and have it end on a satisfying note. These are drawn by Jim Aparo who is not my favourite artist BUT I think he did a great job on Aquaman and really captured the dynamic of his swimming in the ocean.
Then we get Michelinie and the horrible death of Aquababy story. It makes so little sense it hurts to read. Aquaman's trusted octopus Topo steals the baby (who is never given a name - BTW neither is Aqualad...I mean - how stupid was the editorial staff and the writers back in those days? "Should we name these two key characters?" "Um...no" "So he's just called Aquababy and when he dies the parents just say Aquababy is dead?" "Um...yes.") and brings the baby to Black Mantas. The reason the octopus does this is because he senses Aqualad (no given name) is in trouble and thought luring Aquaman there with his baby (no given name) was the best idea. Do you find yourself weeping as you read this because it is all so stupid? Anyhoo, the baby dies but not really but then dies for real. And that isn't even the worst part. Aquaman and Aqualad's reaction is the worst part. The baby is dead and Aqualad gets pissy and says "I'm outta here" and Aquaman send the dead baby body (not quite dead yet) back to Mera the mother while he goes off and has 5 more adventures before returning home and wonders why Mera his wife is all pissy about that. He even has an inner dialogue about how "Should Mera be upset that I sent our dead baby body back to her on an octopus with no note to explain why the baby was dead and didn't follow up on it until a few weeks later?" but then decides "No, I totally had a good reason for doing five more super hero adventures before returning home - one of which involved Batman yelling at me and telling me I was useless". Oh, also, Aqualad (no given name) totally forgets the baby was dead and asks how Aquababy (no given name) on the very last page of this collection. Even though he was there when the baby died.
Also - the art duties are taken over at the end by Don Newton who I love as an artist but sucks at storytelling in this volume. There are complete parts of the story that make no sense thanks to how it is written or how it is drawn. One standout is how Mera, Aqualad (no given name) and Aquaman go into a crevice to track down Ocean Master - agree to split up to look for him - then Aquaman finds him and has a 30 minute fight with him (almost dies) and then we find Mera and Aqualad waiting at the top of the crevice because they decided to come here to wait when they couldn't find Ocean Master. Wha?!?! So they got bored of hunting for this killer and just left Aquaman alone (BTW the crevice was really small - they totally saw the fight and swam by it - I know this to be true).
Just a lot of lazy, bad writing and especially bad story telling by Don Newton.
Okay - enough of this review. I put more thought into it than Michelinie and Kupperberg put into writing their issues. Get this if you love Aquaman but prepare to hold your nose for the last half of it after Levitz leaves.
Obviously this is very old, so if you can't stand the writing style of comics from this era, then you won't enjoy this. But for anyone else, this is a pretty foundational chapter in Aquaman's history that fans will find some interest in. The title and cover of the book are a rather large spoiler for the entire story, but I suppose it's several decades old, after all. The story itself brought Aquaman out of the hokey Silver Age and into the more tragic, grounded Bronze Age. Sadly Aquaman's reputation was being ruined in the mainstream by pathetic representations in media like Super Friends, but his comic respectability was never really in question, and that's mostly because of this story and the path it set the character down. The collection actually could have massively benefited from being trimmed down a bit, as many of these stories do not contribute to the overall arc, and really mess with the pacing. They also just aren't as good as the core chapters. If you want an abridged version with just the core chapters, then only read Adventure Comics 435, 437, 442-443, 446-448, 450-452, and Aquaman 57, 62-63.
This is truly the pearl of classic Aquaman at times and ridiculously repetitive at other times.
This is another beautifully made book from the design to opening and what is collected inside!
The opening issues by Levitz do so much to recapture what made classic Aquaman amazing and continued him in a recontextualized and incredible fashion! The return of Mera being powerful, Topo, and Aquababy were much needed by this point.
Michelinie however loses that focus for a huge chunk of this book. Which bounce back and forth to amazing confrontations with villains (Black Manta shines the most) that become more iconic as this goes on; to "Wow Aquaman has been knocked unconscious and sounds bloodthirsty for the millionth time.".
A lot of Aquaman's characterization in the thick of this book is my least favorite from any Aquaman book I've ever read, but I do love when they finally get to some of the meat of that towards the end. Also Mera and Aqualad's focus in this book is rather appreciated as they were getting more and more underappreciated.
This book is kind of a must for Aquaman fans, because of some big character progressions and story turns!
The death of a child of a main hero character is quite a mature theme. The story around this theme, and a lot of the dialogue, were the usual silver age silliness. The theme unfortunately didn't really get the depth (pun not intended) it deserved. Aquaman got forgiven by Mera in a in a single issue, and he doesn't really 'deal' with the death much, instead focusing on battle after battle. So while unsatisfying for a modern reader, for the time it came out it was quite ballsy, and it is an important chapter in Aquaman's legacy. Stories like this are the gateway to the really dark stuff that came out in the eighties.
This is a great collection of stories from various DC comics from the 70s. There is a lot of history in these stories. Relationships are built, destroyed, and repaired. It's a great read if you can find a copy.
While the context of the series is a dark and tragic one, as evident from the title, the goofiness of the plot and silly dialogues take away the necessary emotional weight as demanded by the plot.
So hard to rate older comics. But this was a bit slow compared to some others. Would love more on Mera’s world though, which was cool to visit. So sad about Jr. So young; devastating.
Average beginning in the style of Skeates run, but as it appears Paul Levitz understands that style better and does it better making fine comics and then there comes Michelinie and does the best of this whole run. Overaly it's fine read and totally worth just for Michelinie's very good part. - 6/10
Es atendible que un comic vaya perdiendo frescura con los años. Su contexto temporal lo determina y no es materia de juicio. Sin embargo, si es posible reconocer que un comic antiguo pueda ser simplón y apegado a fórmula. Una cosa no implica otra y por eso, en toda época, hay comics mejores que otros. Esta saga de Aquaman en particular es bien mala. Tiene una premisa interesante para poner en juego, la que da título al mismo, y no deja de ser valiosa como punto de evolución para el personaje. Sin embargo, el abuso de la estructura narrativa que imponía la editorial hace que esa buena idea se arrastre innecesariamente por mas de 300 páginas. Es casi una tortura ver como el conflicto del "deber ser" en Aquaman se ve lastrado por decisiones absurdas que reflejan cualquier cosa, menos compromiso con lo que pregona. Técnicamente, este TPB contiene dos sagas unidas por un hecho trascendental para el protagonista. La primera arranca mejor pero cae en laxitudes que cierran burdamente y la segunda es una debacle de obviedades que solo sobre el final, cuando Paul Kuppeberg se hace con el guión, desarrolla su potencial, pero ya es tarde. No es excusa la época, pues había series que en esos mismos años desarrollaban subtramas a lo largo de varios números con perfecta sincronía, ni tampoco de editorial pues la misma DC por aquellos años lo hacia excelente con Batman, por ejemplo. El tomo es larguísimo y si se trata de lo mejor de una era para Aquaman, ciertamente merecen algo mejor. Algo de narrativa y menos de fórmula. Y un antagonista de peso, por Poseidón!!
a good, comprehensive collection of Aquaman solo stories from the mid-70s. ranging from appearances in Adventure Comics and the short lived revival of Aquaman's own magazine, this volume also includes back up stories featuring Mera and Aqualad, all of which are integral to the overall theme of this collection. most of the art is by the great Jim Aparo, but the writing duties fell to many different men: Paul Levitz, David Michelinie, Paul Kupperburg, and Steve Skeates. the artwork of Mike Grell and Don Newton also make an appearance, as well as that of Juan Ortiz and Carl Potts.
although some of the villains get redundant, and the heavy exposition and corny dialog may make modern readers wince a bit, this volume shows that Aquaman was never a joke, but always a forceful hero in his own right. not a perfect one, but filled with more humanity than a lot of the standard DC heroes at the time. this collection also marks the first time that Black Manta is revealed to be black, which i've been wondering about lately.
definitely give this a read. i was surprised at how hard it was for me to put down.
So this proves Aquaman is the worst husband ever, so if you ever feel like you are failing in your relationships remember you probably never ran off for months leaving your wife during a horrible family crisis. Win for you!
Doohicky, super villans say doohicky!
Hey Aquaman, if you catch Black Manta maybe you shouldn't let him go. Just saying!
I can say it's very real, many fish were killed in Aquaman's exploits.
Actually 2.5 stars due to the uneven nature of the collected stories and lackluster characterization of most to all figures in the stories. Maybe I expected more emotional punch or better writing, but I'd not recommend this book to any but established Aquaman fans for reading.
This earns three stars for nostalgia more than anything else. I found it a little slow and only slightly entertaining. It was interesting to see Mera and Aqualad get some solo adventures, but as a whole I didn't really enjoy this. The death of Arthur Jr. was a non-event. It was very strange.
An attempt to grapple with heavier subject matter, particularly the death of Aquaman and Mera's son, the rushed nature of most of the stories (the majority topping out at 12 pages) limits the emotional pull and characterization. Entertaining, but hardly definitive.
Hay una escena donde Aquaman está atrapado en una trampa y para liberarse le habla a un pez sierra para que venga y le ayude a cortar un piso de madera jajajja ABSOLUTELY PEAK