Review by Win Wiacek
Steve Skeates supplied a dramatic serialised adventure redefining Aquaman at the end of the 1960s, and Jim Aparo’s polished storytelling gave DC’s undersea monarch a smart makeover in tune with the times. See the results in The Search for Mera.
Deadly Waters picks up with Aquaman becoming embroiled in one of the earliest incidences of righteous eco-advocacy in American comics. It stylishly blends a trip to Alaska, industrial waste dumping, greedy factory owners and an old ally acting as judge, jury and executioner while blowing up chemical plants in terse, potent thriller ‘As the Seas Die’.
With Aquaman and young partner Aqualad reeling from indecision over genuinely momentous issues, the tone abruptly switches for ‘Can This Be Death?’Aparo stretches his creative muscles to enter the realms of psychedelia when the sea king is ambushed by aliens and banished to an incomprehensible otherworld.
The plot is ostensibly triggered by a vengeful Ocean Master, but Skeates provides plenty of twists and surprises for Neal Adams to cover in his back-up slot ‘Deadman Rides Again!’ A complex braided crossover unfolds with Aquaman surviving bizarre threats and incomprehensible rituals in his exile realm, while the ghost of Boston Brand acts invisibly and intangibly to save the Sea King and prevent an alien invasion plot.
‘The Big Pull’ sees Aquaman assisted by a mute, nameless companion searching for a way home, whilst ‘The World Cannot Wait for a Deadman’ finds the spirit flitting between dimensions with shapeshifting enigma Tatsinda, before the parallel plots converge and complete in ‘The Traders Trap’. Aquaman accidentally abandons his companion to slavers and returns to face fresh hellion Black Manta before ‘Never Underestimate a Deadman’ sees the extraterrestrial invaders sent packing by the ghost and his new pal.
Wry satire underpins ‘Is California Sinking? as agents of O.G.R.E. dupe a wealthy conservative to buy a nuke and bomb Atlantis in the deranged conviction he’ll prevent the Golden State from being submerged by tectonic forces. This all happens – and fails – without Aquaman’s interference since he’s still dealing with Black Manta.
It’s back to the surface and a return outing for the gangster who orchestrated Mera’s kidnap in ‘Crime Wave!’, a chilling psychodrama of people engulfed in mind-controlled malevolence. Strangely, a brush with humanity’s death-urge doesn’t stop Aquaman.
Seeking to clear up a loose end, Aquaman intends to liberate his former otherworldly companion in ‘Return of the Alien!’, but is shocked when confronting the slavers. Following that short sharp salutary vignette ‘Computer Trap!’ offers a never-untimely parable warning of the perils of mechanisation, dangers of conformity and benefits of youthful rebellion.
Despite some of the most avant-garde, intriguing, exciting and simply beautiful adventures, Skeates, Aparo and Aquaman fell victim to the industry shift from superhero to supernatural themes. The creators went out with a typically multi-layered bang as ‘The Creature that Devoured Detroit!’ has the Sea King battle a mammoth unstoppable fungal bloom inundating Motor City, thanks to perpetual sunlight caused by a satellite designed by a vigilante to cut crime by abolishing night and shadows. The madcap, trenchant and action-packed yarn is counterbalanced by an Aquagirl short warning of ‘The Cave of Death!’
Augmented by Skeates revealing background information, creator biographies and a truly stunning gallery of eye-catching experimental covers by Nick Cardy, this collection is a treasure of lost wonders, worthy of far more attention than they’ve received. While their reissue is just the commercial fallout of his movie incarnation, readers benefit from renewed exposure and unearthed gems of aquatic adventure.
