The most misunderstood character in comics Part 2

Hello, let's just do a quick review, shall we?

When we left off last time, Aquaman was just getting his first series cancelled for the first time in 1971. His TV Cartoon was cancelled in 1970. Where was this character to go?

Two answers. One a new TV show came along starting in 1973...

(This show, of course is where people started making the joke that Aquaman sucks, from everything from Family Guy to The Big Bang Theory...)

Aquaman's appearance in the Super-Friends was a bit of a surprise to most, as Green Lantern, Flash and even Green Arrow were better known at the time than Aquaman. He ended up being a member for almost every episode of the series, in all of it's incarnations.

In comic books, he was returned to the anthology series that before he had his longest run in with issue 441 (after a brief run from 433-435). He managed to stay here until issue 452 as the lead feature in the magazine. He disappeared for a few issues when his original magazine returned (starting with number 57 in 1976) and returned after the DC Implosion cancelled his title again for 7 more issues, starting with issue 460. During this period, little Arthur Curry Jr. (Aquababy) who became the first Silver Age baby born to a hero, tragically was murdered by Aquaman's biggest enemy, Black Manta, in Adventure 452 (August 1977).

This devastated Arthur and Mera, to the point that eventually, their marriage began to deteriorate. Black Manta ends up becoming one of the most feared super-villains after this incident. Aquaman buries his son at Mercy Reef, which was the same spot he was abandoned as a child (under his at the time current origin.) However, Black Manta eventually adds insult to injury and destroys the reef through his continued hatred of the Undersea King.

For the rest of the Pre-Crisis era, Aquaman only appeared regularly in Justice League of America. This led to his biggest moments as a JLAer when only a handful of members were available to help fight off an invasion of Earth from Mars in Justice League (v1) 228-230.

Aquaman was angry at the fact that those who fought with him only numbered four (not including the Martian Manhunter, as he was returning for the first time in 10 years), and that they were unheeded by most of the members. At this pint, he invoked a clause of the JLA Constitution making himself leader, and declaring that only people that were available full-time could be members of the League. Firestorm opted out, while the others there decided to join him. (This led to the Justice League Detroit era, which should merit it's own column one day, although many people have already written about it. Interesting sidebar about the four new characters added in this era, Vixen, Vibe, Gypsy and Steel, they are all currently on TV in the Arrowverse.) Aquaman remained with the League until issue 243, when he leaves with Mera to try and work things out in their marriage.

We shall pick this up in Part 3 in a few days time for the post-crisis Aquaman, or "How he began not to really suck and actually become pretty cool."

Ottawa Comic Notes  - I will begin today by mentioning that I personally get my weekly fix at Multizone Comics in Aylmer, Quebec (https://multizone.ca/), located in the Galeries Aylmer at 181 rue Principale, Gatineau, Quebec. They also have a store in Gatineau sector, located at 140 boulevard Greber that has the biggest game room in the Ottawa area. The owner of both stores is Dylan Montgomerie and he is friendly, knowledgeable in comics, board and card games, which is what the store chain specializes in. Multizone also strives to be inclusive in all of its events and products, and has a reputation of being very friendly for women in particular. Events held at Multizone are usually things like Batman Day, Free Comic Book Day, Lego Days, Toy Fairs and other miniatures gaming and card tournaments.

Please note that this review and future reviews are strictly that of the author and he is not compensated in any way for them. next time I will mention more stores around the area.