Aquaman #1
Aquaman #1 (1994) is the opening chapter of what became the longest-running Aquaman series in DC history, the title that fundamentally repositioned a character who had been widely dismissed as one of the least compelling heroes in comics. Writer Peter David, fresh off his celebrated work on The Atlantis Chronicles and the Time and Tide miniseries, launched an Arthur Curry who was brooding, bearded, and caustic — a sharp departure from the clean-cut Super Friends persona — and this issue sets that transformation in motion. The villain introduced here, Charybdis, directly drives the signature event of the entire run: by the end of issue #2, Charybdis forces Aquaman's hand into a piranha-filled river, resulting in an amputation that leads to the harpoon-hand look that defined Aquaman's visual identity through both the comics and animated series of the 1990s and 2000s. That chain reaction, which begins in issue #1, made this series a touchstone for how DC could reinvent a stagnant character with darker, more grounded storytelling.
ComicBooks.com Value
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Peter David had already been building toward this series for years, first establishing Atlantean mythology in the 1990 Atlantis Chronicles and then retelling Aquaman's post-Crisis origin in the four-issue Time and Tide miniseries (1993–94), which was originally conceived as issues #14–17 of the preceding 1991 Aquaman series before that book was cancelled. DC, satisfied enough with that groundwork, handed David the ongoing title. In a 2018 interview, David recalled that when he announced he was writing Aquaman, the most common fan response was simply 'Why?' — reflecting how deeply the character had fallen in public esteem, a problem he set out to solve by stripping the book back to its mythological roots and giving Arthur a harder, more confrontational edge. Artist Martin Egeland and inker Brad Vancata provided the visual language for this reinvention starting with issue #1.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August 1994 by DC Comics; written by Peter David with pencils by Martin Egeland and inks by Brad Vancata.
- First appearance of Charybdis, the power-stealing villain whose technology allows him to drain Aquaman and Dolphin's abilities, including Aquaman's communication with sea life.
- Charybdis introduces Dolphin — a longstanding 'Forgotten Hero' from a Showcase backup feature — as a captive, effectively re-integrating her into the main DC Universe and setting up her lasting role in the series.
- The issue marks Aquaman's first appearance with long hair and a beard, the visual redesign that signals his new, harder-edged persona.
- The story is framed around a government mission to investigate a sunken nuclear submarine called the Triton — a trap set by Charybdis — which drags Aquaman out of self-imposed isolation; Aqualad (Garth) serves as the catalyst who pulls him back into action.
- This series, which launched with this issue, ran for 75 issues total (plus annuals) and is the longest-running Aquaman solo series in DC history.
- The run that this issue opens was collected in its entirety in the Aquaman by Peter David Omnibus (2024), which also includes Aquaman: Time and Tide #1–4, Aquaman Annual #1–4, Tempest #1–4, and additional stories — over 30 issues that had never been previously collected.
- The harpoon-hand look introduced during this opening arc influenced the animated series of the era and was prominent enough to be nodded to in DC's 2023 Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom film tie-in special.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Superboy #22 (1996), Aquaman by Peter David #1 (2018), Aquaman de Peter David #1
Key issues in Aquaman
Variants (2)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.