Aquaman

Aquaman is a comic book superhero who appears in DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (Nov. 1941). Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title. During the late 1950's and 1960's superhero-revival period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books, he was a founding member of the Justice League of America. In the 1990's Modern Age of Comic Books, Aquaman's character became more serious than in most previous interpretations, with storylines depicting the weight of his role as king of Atlantis.

During the 1930s and 1940s — a period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books — the first version of Aquaman, was created by writer Mort Weisinger and artist Paul Norris, appeared in a backup feature in DC Comics' More Fun Comics #73-107 (Nov. 1941 - Feb. 1946), after which the series dropped superhero stories to become a humor title. Aquaman's feature moved to Adventure Comics #103-284 (April 1946 - May 1961) as a backup to the comic book's star, Superboy.

Shortly after the character's debut, Louis Cazeneuve succeeded Norris to become the longest-running artist of the undersea hero's Golden Age adventures. Cazeneuve debuted on "Aquaman" in More Fun Comics #82 (Aug. 1942), and continued with the feature through issue #107 (Feb. 1946), and its subsequent move to Adventure Comics #103-117, 119-120, 124 (April 1946 - June 1947, Aug.-Sept. 1947, Jan. 1948). The first recurring supporting characters in the feature were various sea creatures, including Ark, a pet seal who appeared in several of Aquaman's 1940s adventures, and Topo, Aquaman's pet octopus, who first appeared in Adventure Comics #229 (Oct. 1956).

Writer Robert Bernstein and penciler-inker Ramona Fradon, one of the few female comic artists of that period, introduced the Silver Age version of Aquaman in Adventure Comics #260 (May 1959), providing a new, substantially different origin for the character. Bernstein scripted through at least #282 (March 1961), introducing such major characters as Aqualad and Aquagirl, while Fradon's art established the look of Aquaman for several years. Aquaman continued to appear in Adventure Comics until issue #284 (May 1961), when the feature moved to Detective Comics from issues #293-300 (Jul 1961-Feb 1962), then to World's Finest Comics from issues #125-139 (May 1962-Feb 1964).