I grew up in a coastal town, and spent a lot of time at the beach. Playing in the ocean, it was pretty natural to pretend I was Aquaman, when I was a child. I always had a fascination with marine life, especially sharks, and here was a hero who could control it. I spent my childhood years reading books on Arthurian legend and Greek Mythology, and Aquaman combined elements of both. He was another KIng Arthur, who ruled over a mythical kingdom, and founded a fellowship of noble warriors. His God was Poseidon. Aquaman was also always growing as a character. His adventures were never stagnant. Whereas Superman, the Atom, and Green Lantern spent years... decades even... mooning over their respective love interests, Aquaman moved on Mera fast. He married her 6 months after she was introduced. They had a child a few months after that. Said child was then murdered by Aquaman's arch nemesis, Black Manta, which was just not the sort of thing you saw in comic books, at that time. His series featured some of the best artists of the day, and his was one of the first titles to feature an epic length story that ran for 9 issues. Unfortunately, after introducing such an adult concept as infanticide to, what was then considered, juvenile literature, the writers waffled very badly with the series, all but ignoring the death of Aquaman's son, for several months. The DC Implosion killed the series, and ever since then, thanks to the perception of the character fostered by the Super Friends cartoon series, every writer that took on the character in subsequent series felt the need to re-invent Aquaman, to make him seem cool to the readers. The truth is, the character was always cool. Still is. Glad he's finally getting the mainstream respect he's always deserved.
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