Not your father's Aquaman.
Aquaman (1994) is an Aquaman series from DC Comics that ran from 1994 to 2001. At 75 issues total, plus annuals, it's the longest-running Aquaman series to date, and follows up from the 4-issue miniseries Aquaman Time And Tide.
The first 46 issues were written by Peter David, who shaped much of the post-Crisis Aquaman continuity by way of tying the series in with The Atlantis Chronicles, a heavy dose of Canon Welding, and a new look for the hero that coincided with Aquaman losing his hand. Now sporting a beard and a gladiator-style outfit, a harpoon to replace his lost hand, and a healthy dose of snark, Aquaman spent time learning about Atlantis' past and helping its present, reconciling his feelings for the newcomer Dolphin with his existing feelings for Mera, battling the aliens that originally sunk Atlantis, and dealing with his own troubled past. And Aquaman's past runs deep, from his wizard father Atlan to his half-brother Orm to his illegitimate Inuit son, Koryak, and the curse of Kordax that had him exiled as an infant. David's run climaxed with a battle of gods as Triton killed the sea god Poseidon and made a move to claim Atlantis, which was narrowly foiled. Meanwhile, Garth gained new powers and a new look as Tempest, which was covered in a separate miniseries by Phil Jimenez.
After David departed, the series was continued by Dan Abnett, Erik Larsen, Gary Coleman, and Dan Jurgens, who continued the saga by having Aquaman get a prosthetic hand instead of a harpoon, had Garth and Dolphin marry and have a child, and closed the series with issue 75 and glimpses at a possible future for the character. It was followed by Aquaman (2003), where the fallout from the Obsidian Age crossover upended Atlantis' history and retooled Aquaman yet again.
This series contains examples of:
- '90s Anti-Hero:
- Aquaman grew his beard out to adopt a Father Neptune look, and lost one of his hands and had it replaced first by a hook and then by a form-changing magical water-hand. He also adopted a more aggressive attitude on behalf of Atlantis.
- Koryak, Aquaman's Inuk son, is a straighter example of this. He was arrogant, hot-tempered, prone to violence and was a rival/foil to Garth, the original Aqualad. Koryak did mellow out later on after he unwittingly caused a war between Atlantis and the sea god Triton and was banished from Atlantis by his father. Koryak could be considered a deconstruction of the 90s anti-hero given that his aggressive and antisocial tendencies are frequently criticized and often lead to disaster and it is not until he becomes a nicer person that he is accepted by his father.
- An Arm and a Leg: Aquaman loses his right hand when Charybdis commands a school of piranha to strip it to the bone.
- Back for the Dead:
- Bres returns from Aquaman (1986), still battling with her sister Nuada, and is quickly killed shortly after returning.
- Thanatos returns and succeeds in replacing Aquaman, and is almost immediately killed by Major Disaster.
- Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: The realm Thanatos occupies is a reverse purgatory where those who are deemed evil enough go free, while good people are detained until they become sufficiently evil.
- Bag of Holding: An artifact Atlan the wizard possesses is a bag of holding, which he used to contain Tiamat. When Atlan was grievously wounded by Triton, his fish retainers had to put him in the bag.
- Beard of Sorrow: After reading the Atlantis Chronicles in full Aquaman grows a full beard out of grief and confusion, keeping it for the entire run.
- Beta Couple: Garth and Dolphin eventually become a couple and even have a child, Cerdian.
- The Big Bad Shuffle: Kordax, Tiamat, and the Hunter/Gatherers are all presented as main villains around the same time, and are each disposed of in the same issue as all their plans converge and collide.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Nuada Silverhand returns when her last appearance was Pre-Crisis, and she becomes an ally of Aquaman's.
- Mera reappears after a cameo in Aquaman (1991) showing she was imprisoned in Thanatos's dimension. Once freed, she disappeared for a bit and then stayed for the entire run.
- Canon Welding: Peter David worked to tie in as many existing underwater characters as he could to Aquaman's world, most prominently Dolphin, who was originally unrelated to the franchise.
- Colony Drop: Atlantis was originally sunk by a massive asteroid. Shalako and his followers believed it to be this, sent by the Goddess of the Sky to punish the Atlanteans for forsaking her. But most assume it was just a natural event. It turns out it was neither; it was a literal Colony Drop by the alien Annunake, who later attempted to destroy another city the same way; fortunately the second attempt was stopped.
- Darker and Edgier: The run started with Aquaman losing his hand and sporting a beard, and generally dealt with high-end threats, personal issues, and negative history repeating.
- Deadpan Snarker: Arthur becomes one as a defense mechanism against all the changes he endures.
- Deal with the Devil: Black Manta survived his last encounter by selling his soul to Neron in order to become a literal devil-ray, and gains dominion over the lower depths of the ocean. During this period he acts as gatekeeper of Devil's Deep, a trench in the ocean that supposedly led to Neron's realm in Hell.
- Eldritch Ocean Abyss: A recurring element is a trench so deep it supposedly leads to the Underworld and is inhabited by a creature so big all we see are its teeth. Downplayed in that ordinary deep-sea life also appears in the descent and Aquaman is fascinated and comforted by it.
- Engineered Public Confession: When Aquaman learns that the alien Hunter/Gatherers want to lead Earth into a Golden Age by razing it, he tricks their leader into confessing and broadcasts it worldwide.
- Genre Throwback: Annual #3 was part of a "Pulp Heroes" event that took superheroes back to their pulp-inspired roots. Aquaman had three noir-style adventures as he searched for his missing friend Tusky, rescued Nera, a dolphin friend of his, and went undercover to infiltrate a gang.
- To Hell and Back: Near the end of Peter David's run, Triton has killed Poseidon and is kicking the crap out of Aquaman and friends. Aquaman lets Triton kill him, so he can get to the afterlife. Once there, he decks Charon, rallies the souls who didn't have boatfare, jacks Charon's boat, runs Charon over with his own boat, storms the literal Gates of Hell, cuts off one of Cerberus' heads, marches right up to Pluto and demands Poseidon back, ultimately convincing Hades with a very solid Batman Gambit. On his way out, Cerberus is back, and Aquaman has just one word for the titanic guardian of the underworld: Stay.
- History Repeats: A major conflict of the series is a cycle of brother against brother and father against son, with Arthur and Orm being enemies just like Orin I and Shalako were. Arthur's fraught relationships with his father Atlan and his son, Koryak, are also mirrored when Triton attempts to kill his father Poseidon.
- Hook Hand: Aquaman's famous harpoon hand debuts here after his normal hand was eaten by piranhas.
- Indentured Servitude: The displaced people of Poseidonis are pressed into service by Iqula and the Tritonians. Garth later puts an end to it.
- Nothing Is Scarier: A recurring element is the deep trench that leads to Neron's realm, which houses a creature so big all we see is its teeth.
- Power Parasite: Charybdis uses machines to steal Dolphin and Aquaman's powers, including water-breathing and communicating with sea life.
- Power-Upgrading Deformation: After battling Kordax and extending his limits fighting off the creature at Devil's Deep, Aquaman grows green scales and sharp teeth like Kordax, causing the sea life to fear him.
- Psychic Link: The living ship Ramona develops a psychic link with Aquaman, giving him a wealth of knowledge and a bit of a militant view. Kordax later reveals it's controlling Aquaman to a degree.
- Science Fantasy: David's run adds more sci-fi elements to Aquaman's world, with the most prominent being the living ship Ramona, which was the actual form of the meteor that destroyed Atlantis millennia ago. It's eventually destroyed by an angry Triton, while the aliens responsible for it vacated Earth.
- Skeleton Motif: In #71, when Aquaman and Mera briefly wind up stranded in Skartaris, the Warlord quickly talks them into helping him fight the Villain of the Week, an evil wizard. En route, Mera asks her husband if they should be taking the word of someone they just met that another person is, well, evil. Just then, they arrive at their destination, take a look at the wizard's lair, and Arthur answers her succinctly that the wizard lives in a skull. Mera can't contest the logic of that.
- Soft Reboot: Peter David concluded his run by destroying the spaceship Aquaman had been using to get around and returning Poseidonis to the bottom of the sea, fresh for following writers to do what they wanted with.
- Targeted to Hurt the Hero: Porm, Aquaman's adoptive dolphin mother, is killed by Demon Gate as vengeance against Arthur.
- Thanatos Gambit: As part of a plan to free Poseidon from Hades, Aquaman goads Triton into killing him so he can reach the Underworld and escape with Poseidon in tow.
- Vision Quest: An issue titled "Vision Quest" had Arthur go into the past, and his own mind, to battle his inner demons.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In Dan Jurgens' run on the book, the tyrannical surface nation of Cerdia went to war with Atlantis. Arthur appealed to the U.N. for help, to no avail. So Arthur and his people fought back and won, conquering Cerdia—all nice and legal because it was a defensive war, and Arthur had gone to the United Nations first. Arthur swears to the Cerdians that he will be a better ruler than the tyrants he has deposed, and is optimistic that having territory on dry land will make Atlantis more of a "real country" in the eyes of the world. A Flash Forward story even confirms that that will happen. Then the book was canceled, and we never heard anything about Cerdia ever again except in the name of Garth's son.
- Who Writes This Crap?!: In Annual #3 Arthur gets captured by some goons who threaten him about his one hour outside of water weakness. He melodramatically fakes his death, then ponders who comes up with this stuff when they throw the 'body' overboard.
