Aquaman was born in the middle of World War II, inMore Fun Comics#73 (November 1941), under the pen of Mort Weisinger and the pencil of Paul Norris. Long confined to supporting roles, he obtained his own series in 1962, went through a founding drama with the death of his son facing Black Manta in 1977, reinvented himself as a one-eyed hero in the 1990s with Peter David, then regained his prestige thanks to Geoff Johns from 2011 and the cinema saga carried by Jason Momoa since 2018. Each editorial turn has left identifiable collector comics, war pulp not found in modern prints.
For decades, Aquaman has had a reputation as a second-rate hero, mocked for his power to “talk to fish”. This misleading image, however, hides one of DC Comics' longest and most eventful editorial journeys: more than eight decades of uninterrupted publication, a handful of narrative deaths and resurrections, a radical change in visual identity in the 1990s, then a complete reconquest of the general public thanks to cinema. Understanding this story means understanding why some numbers are worth a fortune and others almost nothing.
This article traces the character's complete timeline, from the Golden Age pulps to the post-DCEU era, explaining at each stage what was at stake editorially and why it matters to a collector today. It is deliberately distinguished from two other files on the site: if you are looking for the precise list of numbers to have for the period 1960-1970, head to our guide tokey issues of Aquaman from the Silver Age; if you want to know which modern series to read as a priority to appreciate the character today, our selection ofbest Aquaman runsanswers this specific question. Here, the angle is narrative and chronological: we go back the entire thread, saga after saga, to understand how the king of the seas got there.
From origins in the middle of World War II to the Silver Age era
1941: the creation of a patriotic underwater hero
Aquaman first appears inMore Fun Comics#73, dated November 1941, in a story titled “The Submarine Strikes.” The character was created by screenwriter and future editor Mort Weisinger and drawn by Paul Norris. This same issue also marks the first-ever appearance of Green Arrow, making it a historic double issue for DC. In this origin story, the hero faces enemy submarines and already displays most of his arsenal of powers: aquatic breathing, superhuman strength and the ability to communicate with marine fauna.
The context of creation is not trivial: the United States has just entered the war, and a good part of the superheroes launched during this period have an obvious martial dimension, whether it involves sabotaging enemy submarines or protecting sea lanes. Aquaman fits into this vein of hero serving the war effort, long before becoming the Atlantean monarch we know today.More Fun Comics#73 is today a book of extreme rarity: the CGC census only has a little more than sixty copies submitted in all gradations, and only six copies rated above 7.5. A CGC FN+ (6.5) copy reached $192,000 at Heritage Auctions in January 2022, after a copy graded 7.5 had already sold for $111,000 in 2021.
An editorial wandering of twenty years
Unlike Superman or Batman, Aquaman didn't have a series to his name for over two decades. The character migrates throughout the 1940s and 1950s between several anthological titles: he remains a pillar ofMore Fun Comicsuntil its transfer toAdventure Comics, before also appearing occasionally inWorld's Finest ComicsetDetective Comics. This existence as a "supporting" character, published in short stories of a few pages in addition to other heroes, partly explains why he has had the image of a secondary hero for a long time, despite an uninterrupted presence on newsstands since 1941 - a regularity of publication that few DC characters of the Golden Age can claim.
1962: Aquaman finally gets his own series
We had to wait until 1962, and the favorable climate of the Silver Age was relaunched by conclusive tests inShowcase, so that DC finally launchesAquamanvolume 1. Issue 1, dated February 1962, was written by Jack Miller and drawn by Nick Cardy, who would become the character's iconic artist for the entire decade. The opening story, "The Invasion of the Fire Trolls", introduces the aquatic sprite Quisp, one of the very first recurring characters specific to this new series.
This first version of the series lasted 56 issues before being interrupted in 1971, a fate common to many superhero titles at this period of market decline. DC relaunched it in 1977 by continuing the original numbering, but the title was stopped again at number 63, victim of the wave of cancellations known as the "DC Implosion". This double interruption, specific to many Silver Age series, complicates the creation of a complete collection today and explains why certain issues from the end of the 1970s are significantly rarer than those from the heart of the 1960s. For the number by issue detail of this period and the keys to locate, our guide dedicated tokey issues of Aquaman's Silver Agedigs into this aspect in depth; we are not duplicating it here, the objective of this section being to situate this launch in the overall trajectory of the character.
1967: Aquaman conquers the small screen before the big one
The same decade saw the character establish itself on television, a vector of notoriety just as decisive as comics for the general public. The animated seriesAquaman, produced by the Filmation studio, was broadcast on CBS from September 9, 1967: it is a 30-minute version ofThe Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, rid of the segments devoted to Superman and Superboy. The hero is voiced by Marvin Miller, alongside Aqualad (voice of Jerry Dexter), and the program ends in June 1970 after leaving Superman's shadow for a solo season. This television appearance permanently establishes the character in American popular culture, before he joins the cast ofSuper Friendsfrom 1973, where he is credited in fourth position behind Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman - a place which says a lot about his notoriety at the time, solid without being dominant. This continuous television exposure from the end of the 1960s to the mid-1980s largely contributed to fixing the “classic” image of the king of the seas in the collective imagination, the one that the comic strip would then shake up on several occasions.
The 1970s: Black Manta and the drama of “Death of a Prince”
Two events from the 1970s weigh heavily in the character's history. First the arrival of his sworn enemy: Black Manta makes his first appearance inAquaman#35 (September-October 1967), under the pen of Bob Haney and the pencil of Nick Cardy. In this origin story, he is still just a nameless pirate seeking to take over Atlantean technology - his past and identity will be considerably fleshed out in the following decades, until he becomes one of the most complex antagonists in the DC Universe.
The second event, much darker, is the saga later known as "Death of a Prince", published inAdventure Comics#452 and #453 in 1977. Black Manta takes Aquababy, the son of Aquaman and Mera, hostage, locking him in a limited air bubble while he forces Aquaman and Aqualad to confront each other with a trident in an arena. The drama concludes with the child's death, a narrative shock that ends the historic partnership between Aquaman and his protégé Aqualad and pushes the king to temporarily abdicate his throne. This tragedy, rarely adapted anywhere other than in comics, remains one of the harshest moments ever inflicted on a DC hero of this era, and it has long shaped the more melancholy tone of stories involving Aquaman thereafter.
The 1990s: Peter David reinvents the king of the seas
After a more discreet 1980s, the character underwent its most radical transformation under the pen of Peter David, who took over the title in 1994 after the mini-seriesAquaman: Time and Tide. The opening arc shows Aquaman removed from the world, long hair and shaggy beard, before being brought back on a mission by Aqualad. Faced with the newcomer Charybdis, inAquaman#2, his hand is delivered to a school of piranhas during a confrontation in a river — he literally loses his hand. In the next issue,Aquaman#0, the hero replaces his stump with a harpoon, a strong visual choice which became the character's trademark for a good part of the decade, to the point of being today colloquially referred to as "the Aquaman of the 90s" by readers of the time.
The harpoon itself evolves over the course of the run: inAquaman#9, he is replaced by a high-tech version connected to the hero's thoughts, before a robotic hand permanently replaces him inAquaman#51. This period, long snubbed by a part of the fandom who considered it too far from the smiling king of the 1960s, has undergone a critical reassessment in recent years: it is today recognized as one of the most successful attempts to give Aquaman a true author's voice, far from the cliché of the hero who talks to fish. The very first issues of this relaunch (#0 and #2 in particular) are sought specifically for this visual and storyline shift.
2011: the New 52 and the refoundation by Geoff Johns
The next turning point came with the New 52 relaunch in September 2011.Aquaman(2011) #1, released on September 28, 2011 under the pen of Geoff Johns and the pencil of Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, directly attacks the reputation of the character: from the first pages, a civilian openly mocks Aquaman by calling him a hero who "talks to fish", a scene that has become emblematic which defuses the joke to better restore gravity to the king of Atlantis. The collection of the run is at the top of the New York Times bestsellers, confirming that this relaunch has permanently changed the public perception of the character.
This base was consolidated in 2016 when screenwriter Dan Abnett took chargeAquaman: Rebirth#1 (released June 8) then the new oneAquaman#1 of the Rebirth era (June 22), drawn notably by Brad Walker and Scot Eaton. Abnett claims an explicit desire to return to the foundation established by Johns while delving deeper into Mera and Arthur Curry's position as a man torn between two worlds, the surface and Atlantis. Unlike other DC headliners who were largely overhauled for Rebirth, Aquaman changed little in substance: the publisher relied on continuity rather than a new break, a sign that the character had finally found, with Johns then Abnett, a stable editorial identity after decades of reinvention.
It is this stabilized version of the character, more sovereign and strategist than simple vigilante, which serves as the matrix for the cinematic diptych carried by Jason Momoa - the comparison between the 2011 comic and the 2018 film is also striking as certain character traits of Arthur Curry overlap.
The impact of adaptations on the rating
The recent history of Aquaman is inseparable from his time in the cinema. The movieAquamanof 2018, directed by James Wan with Jason Momoa in the title role, has grossed $335 million domestically and $817 million internationally, for a worldwide total of approximately $1.152 billion – making it, to date, the most financially profitable DC Extended Universe film. The sequel,Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, released at the end of 2023, totals around $440 million worldwide (124.5 million in North America and 315.7 million internationally), a score significantly lower than the first part but which remains the most profitable DC film of the year 2023.
This massive cinematographic exhibition has a measurable effect on the old comic market: the most emblematic pieces of the character's editorial history see their demand supported by a broader audience who discover the origin of the hero via the big screen. This is visible on the auction results ofMore Fun Comics#73: the record of $192,000 established in January 2022 (CGC FN+ 6.5) is part of a dynamic of continuous increase since the release of the first film in 2018, driven both by the intrinsic rarity of the book – just over sixty copies listed in the CGC – and by an unprecedented notoriety of the character. On the more accessible Silver Age segment,Aquaman#1 (1962) illustrates the same phenomenon on a different scale: a CGC 9.6 copy sold for $38,400 in August 2019, when an intermediate grade 6.0 was trading around $1,092 at the start of 2023, and a copy readable in 2.0 remains accessible for around $300 to $350. The gap between these levels recalls a constant rule of the market: it is the conjunction of high-grade rarity and the notoriety of the character that raises the stakes, not notoriety alone.
Concretely, for a collector, this means that the valuation peaks are not uniformly distributed: the very first milestones (first appearance, first solo issue, first appearance of Black Manta) benefit the most from this cinema effect, while the intermediate issues of a long series remain significantly more stable and therefore more affordable for building a basic collection without breaking the bank.
Buying Guide: How to Collect Aquaman History
- Check the restoration on Golden Age pieces.UnMore Fun Comics#73 unrestored is extremely rare; many copies in circulation have undergone retouching of the spine or corners which must be mentioned by the seller and result in a significant discount compared to a universal copy (blue) in the CGC.
- Favor the first issues of the 1962 series for Nick Cardy's art.These entry-level Silver Age stapled comics often suffer from spine stress and dull corners: a physical examination (or high-resolution photos) before purchase avoids unpleasant surprises on the declared condition.
- Target rocking numbers from the Peter David era. Aquaman#0 and #2 (1994) concentrate most of the collector's value of this period, because they visually mark the transition to the harpoon; mid-run numbers are much more affordable.
- Do not overvalue modern prints without high grade. Aquaman(2011) #1 was printed in very large numbers: its value is based almost exclusively on CGC 9.8 grades, copies below this threshold trade close to the cover price.
- Always cross-reference recent comparables before bidding, especially on Golden Age pieces where the differences between two sales can be considerable depending on the presence of restoration or the color of the pages.
- View the full character profileonthe page dedicated to Aquamanto situate each number in global continuity before investing.
- Track your collection over timewithour collection management application, particularly useful for a series as long and fragmented into several volumes as that of Aquaman.