r/Aquaman

I’ve always loved DC, especially Batman, and I started reading Aquaman shortly after I really dove into Batman’s New 52 run.

One of the biggest things that initially drew me to Aquaman was, surprisingly, Black Manta. He’s my favorite villain of all time, and I wanted to read more about him. I knew he played a major role in Aquaman Vol. 2 of the New 52, so I figured I might as well start with Vol. 1, The Trench, first.

And man, what an introduction to Aquaman and his newly established mythos.

I absolutely loved it. I eventually discovered that Geoff Johns’ entire run had been collected in an omnibus, so I picked that up and pretty much couldn’t put it down. I grew to love the characters, the lore, and the entire world of Aquaman.

One of the things that really hooked me was how different it felt from so much of the rest of DC. So much of Aquaman’s world takes place in the ocean rather than another big city, and Atlantis and its mythology felt like this entire separate corner of the DC Universe waiting to be explored.

I think that’s ultimately a big part of why Aquaman became so special to me. I went down this passionate rabbit hole with the character right around the time I was getting really serious about reading comics.
After finishing the Johns run, I slowly started collecting all of the New 52 paperbacks, followed by Rebirth. Those books especially kept me occupied during the 2020 lockdown, so I have a lot of nostalgia attached to that era of Aquaman.

Since then, I’ve also gone back and collected his older runs, and I’ve developed a huge appreciation for his Silver Age stuff. Honestly, at this point, if it’s an Aquaman comic, I’m probably going to pick it up and love it. My fellow comic friends know me as the Aquaman guy. 😂

Funny enough, it all started because I wanted to read more Black Manta.

So what’s your origin story with Aquaman? What first got you into the character, and what made you stick around?