AQUAMAN: TIME AND TIDE begins with Aquaman's first encounter with surface world super-beings as the villainous Trickster commits a heist on the high seas. With the Flash (Barry Allen) in hot pursuit, their high-speed battle draws the attention of Aquaman, leading to the Sea King's own confrontation with Trickster.
Synopsis
The issue starts out with a little girl crying about having her goldfish named Goldie flushed down the toilet. Her mom promises her a kitten if she takes it easy on her and she confirms the little girl's thoughts about the toilet being a gateway to “fish heaven”. The dead fish floats through the sanitation department out into the ocean were it is eaten by a bigger fish. The fish swims around and enters a cave were Aquaman is reading and writing in the “Atlantis Chronicles." Over Aquaman's shoulder are images of Aqualad, Mera and Arther Jr. (Aquababy) on the wall. Vulko's image can also be seen in a frame on a ledge used as a table. Aquaman writes about what he knows of his lineage and the first time he was called a hero. This is where the comic tells the story of that time.
The story starts out with Trickster robbing a rich ocean liner. And making his escape running several feet above the water. Barry Allen (The Flash) is running after him on the surface of the water when Aquaman pops out of the water. Flash quickly runs around him and turns his head to see who he almost ran over. This gives Trickster the distraction he needs to toss a slinky at Flash's legs causing him to fall and skim over the water into the side of a shark. He then starts to sink into the ocean. Aquaman saves him from getting eaten by some easily distracted sharks and takes Flash to a subterranean cave.
When Flash regains consciousness Flash talks Aquaman into stopping the Trickster. Aquaman is suspicious but becomes convinced. They quickly find Trickster in a mini-sub and capture him with the help of some killer whales. After Trickster's capture Flash talks Aquaman into coming with him so the people of Crescent Shore can thank him for his heroics.
Aquaman is given the key to the city by the Mayer. Photographers start to take shots of them but they are so bright that they irritate Aquaman's eyes and Flash has to ask them to stop. It is at this point that Aquaman finds out that Trickster has already escaped. He leaves Aquaman with the Mayor who gets Aquaman in his limousine with Jack Shipp and Bart Saxton who are the Mayor's P.R. Staff. They want to make Crescent Shore a superhero city like Metropolis, Gotham and Central City. They have all sorts of merchandise that says Ocean King. They were hoping to change Aquaman's name to Ocean King and have him become the hero of the city. They even have a concept idea for a costume. This annoys Aquaman, but not as much as the smoke from Jack's cigar. He asks for something to drink and is given Vodka. Aquaman thought it was water and gets very upset about the whole thing. He becomes so enraged that he kicks the door off the limo while it is moving and jumps into the path of a semi-truck.
Aquaman avoids the semi and falls to the street were he is swarmed by fans. Aquaman yells at them to get away and as he breaks through the crowd he sees the Trickster. His scuffle with the crowd has left Aquaman's clothes torn and with blood seeping out of his mouth and nose. Fed up with the whole thing he just leaves. This ticks off the Trickster who uses a couple of gimmicks to make Aquaman turn and fight. Aquaman just keeps walking until Trickster becomes so bold as to walk right behind Aquaman and yell in his ear. With one punch Aquaman turns and knocks out Trickster. The crowd goes nuts and talks about how cool Aquaman was in the way he tricked the Trickster. Aquaman turns and tells them that he fully intended to leave them to the Trickster and only stopped Trickster when he got on his nerves. As he walks away a kid looks at a piece of his shirt and wonder out loud if it will be worth anything. Another guy says no he just splashes around and he's no big deal.
When Aquaman reaches the dock he is stopped by the Flash who apologizes for what happened. He then hands Aquaman the king of the city. Flash tells him he is one “hell of a guy”.
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