Swimming Through the Decades: Aquaman: A Celebration of 75 Years

Review:

This handsome hard cover book gathers in one sweeping retrospective some of the key moments in Aquaman's first 75 years. From his first appearance in More Fun Comics #73 (1941) to a regular run as backup stories, leading to his first ongoing solo series in 1962 (issue #1 reprinted here), to multiple reboots, including the classic issue #2 of Peter David's run in the 1990s (in which Aquaman loses his hand), to the Geoff Johns reboot in 2011, it's all here.

His marriage to Mera, significantly the first DC Comics hero to wed, well before Superman or Batman, is here too. As is the reboot of Justice League, in which Aquaman shows his leadership chops in reconstructing a new team based in Detroit - leadership that would come naturally to a King of Atlantis but that was rarely shown so clearly.

There have been so many writers and artists who have taken on the Aquaman challenge through the years, and the best are represented here. What's missing are any of the cartoons and TV appearances which had an outsized influence in baking into the popular imagination some of the more ridiculous and embarrassing traits.

Talks to fish? Settled with maximum dismissiveness by Geoff Johns and his reboot.

Weak? see almost any of the representations of the past 30 years.

In reading this handsome edition, we are left with the clear sense of the strength, both physical and of character of this hero. We also see the strong pattern of outsider exclusion - this character never seems to fit into either world, not on land and not even in Atlantis.

Sure, Aqualad and Aquawoman are here too, but the camp is acknowledged in passing, before moving on to the depths of greatness this character, this half-demigod, this ruler of Atlantis, has grown into since.

Description:

Though often overshadowed or overlooked, Aquaman is among the greatest and most enduring characters in the DC Universe. The King of Atlantis is one of the few Golden Age characters to survive into the present day. He’s also a founding member of the Justice League, the first DC hero to start a family and soon will star in his own big-screen franchise.

From the lighthearted swashbuckling adventures of Aquaman’s early decades, through the loss of his son (not to mention his hand), to his modern reinvention as a formidable master of the sea, this collection provides a crash course in more than seven decades of DC history!

AQUAMAN: A CELEBRATION OF 75 YEARS collects 400 pages of the iconic hero’s finest moments—from his first appearance by Mort Weisinger and creator Paul Norris to his modern-day adventures—and features the work of such comics superstars as Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Jim Aparo, Steve Skeates, Peter David, Ramona Fradon, Paul Levitz, Nick Cardy and more.

Collects: More Fun Comics #73, 89; Adventure Comics #120, #174, #220, #260, #266, #269, #444, #452, #475; Aquaman (1962) #1, #18, #40; Justice League of America Annual #2; Aquaman (1986) #3; Aquaman (1991) #2, #34; Aquaman (1994) #4, #17; and Aquaman (2011) #1, #43

Authors: Various
Artists: Various
Published By: DC Comics
Published When: Oct. 25 2016
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN: 978-1401264468
Pages: 400 pages