Aquaman #35
Aquaman #35 earns its place among the most consequential Silver Age DC issues as the debut of Black Manta, the character who would grow into Aquaman's defining archenemy — the dark mirror the Sea King had been missing for the first quarter-century of his publication history. Writer Bob Haney and artist Nick Cardy introduced Manta with a confident, calculated menace: a technologically advanced underwater warlord commanding bio-magnetic submarines and a masked army of Manta-Men, instantly positioning him as a credible existential threat to Atlantis itself. The issue's narrative architecture — Black Manta and Ocean Master forced into rivalry on the same page, with Aquababy caught in the crossfire — established the personal, family-stakes storytelling that would define Aquaman's most powerful stories for decades, culminating in Manta's eventual murder of Arthur Curry Jr. in Adventure Comics #452. Beyond the page, Black Manta crossed into animation within months of this issue's release and later made a major-studio film debut, cementing his status as one of DC's most enduring villain creations.
In "Between Two Dooms!", Aquaman finds himself caught between two deadly threats as Black Manta launches a brutal assault on Atlantis. With the tide turning against him, Ocean Master steps in—determined to claim victory over Aquaman alone—leaving Aquababy caught in the crossfire of their escalating clash. Written by Bob Haney and brought to life with dynamic art by Nick Cardy, this 1967 classic showcases the underwater chaos and personal stakes that define DC’s sea-faring hero. Cover by Nick Cardy.
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The issue was written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Nick Cardy, with Cardy also providing the cover art — a dynamic composition showing Aquaman simultaneously besieged by both villains. George Kashdan served as editor on the title at the time of publication. The creative team introduced Black Manta as though he were already a seasoned foe, with the story explicitly acknowledging prior unchronicled clashes between the two, a deliberate Silver Age storytelling choice Haney and Cardy used to grant the character immediate weight and history. Intriguingly, the extremely rapid appearance of Black Manta in Filmation's concurrent Aquaman animated series — with the first Aquaman cartoon to air featuring the character just months after this issue went on sale — strongly suggests behind-the-scenes coordination between DC and Filmation, with Cardy reportedly involved in the character's animated design work.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Black Manta (David Milton Hyde), created by writer Bob Haney and artist Nick Cardy; Manta would become Aquaman's primary archenemy.
- Story title: 'Between Two Dooms!' — cover-dated October 1967, with an on-sale date documented as June 29, 1967 (Grand Comics Database) or August 29, 1967 (DC Database); sources disagree on the precise date.
- The issue also features an early appearance of Ocean Master (Orm), Aquaman's amnesiac half-brother, marking one of his first confrontations with both major Aquaman villains sharing the same story.
- The narrative features Aquababy (Arthur Curry Jr.) as a hostage — prefiguring the character's later role at the center of Aquaman's most tragic storylines involving Black Manta.
- The issue is often cited as the first appearance of Vulko, Atlantis's chief scientist, but the DC Database notes he actually debuted in The Brave and the Bold #73, published approximately one week earlier.
- The story was reprinted in DC Super-Stars #7 (1976), bringing it to a new generation of readers during DC's Bronze Age reprint era.
- The issue was later collected in Showcase Presents: Aquaman Vol. 3 (2009) and in DC's Aquaman: 80 Years of the King of the Seven Seas — The Deluxe Edition (2023), affirming its status as one of the definitive stories in the character's history.
- Black Manta appeared in the Filmation Aquaman animated series almost simultaneously with this comic debut, and later in live-action films portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Aquaman (2018) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Aquaman #17 (1973), DC Super Stars #7 (1976), Faucon Noir #5 (1977), Showcase Presents: Aquaman #3 (2009), Aquaman: 80 Years of the King of the Seven Seas The Deluxe Edition #[nn] (2023), Aquaman Classics #2517, Relatos Fabulosos #119, Top Comics Wassermann #111
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