DC Finest - Aquaman: The King of Atlantis

DC Finest - Aquaman #1956-1962

by Jack Miller (Writer), Ramona Fradon (Art, Pencil), Robert Bernstein (writer)

A major new line of DC collected editions begins with the earliest stories starring the King of the Seas: Aquaman!

Marking Aquaman’s early Silver Age appearances, this volume is the perfect starting point for fans of Arthur Curry’s retconned continuity that established him as the ruler of Atlantis and expanded his supporting cast to include Aqualad, Mera, Topo the octopus, and more.

Featuring art by Ramona Fradon and Nick Cardy, The King of Atlantis collects stories from ADVENTURE COMICS #229-280, #282, and #284: ACTION COMICS #272; DETECTIVE COMICS #293-300; WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #125; SHOWCASE #30-33; SUPERMAN’S GIRL FRIEND LOIS LANE #12; and AQUAMAN #1-3.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Fiction

624 pages, Paperback

Published January 7, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Other authors publishing under this name are:

Jack Miller, Sports
John "Jack" Miller, Novelist, Ex Airforce
Jack Miller
Jack Miller, Business, Real estate, Investment
Jack Miller
Jack Miller, Comics

Reviews

[Matt Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories and writing are objectively bad and childish but really fun short reads. The art by Ramona Fradon is too good and Aquaman too ridiculous to not appreciate. Covers 1956-1962. 9/10

[Constantine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this

[Matthew Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big fan of Aquaman’s more modern comics I was quite excited to take a look at his Silver Age appearances, even though I knew in my heart I’d probably end up feeling about it how I do most of DC’s Silver Age exploits.

It’s safe to say that’s largely what happened. The majority of this book is made up of light adventures starring Aquaman that have the barest thread of continuity if any, and from what I understand the character had been like this since the 1940s (almost 20 years by the time of this volume!). From what I can tell Aquaman doesn’t have a real name during the first half of this book, everyone just calls him Aquaman. There’s no Atlantis or deep lore behind him, he’s just a guy in an orange shirt living his best life and surfing the waves.

Not that I’m complaining these stories were a fun little change from the grittier stuff I was reading at the same time (and most of them are short at only 5 pages).

However about a hundred pages in they did start to wear out their welcome. These stories weren’t meant for binge reading, but even then their formula did start to wear thin.

Then at around the halfway point of the book (by this time I was largely skimming the stories) Aquaman actually gets an origin! Atlantis is finally mentioned and I’m not sure why but this really energised the book a bit more. Now unfortunately Atlantis doesn’t become too relevant again in this volume, but the introduction of Aqualad is a nice change up (as well as Aquaman’s first meeting with Superman). Unfortunately though I did find myself skimming the back half of these stories as well by the end as the tight continuity free storytelling returned.

Ramona Fradon does a great job on the art the whole way through. Her pencils and colours give a fun almost tropical feel to the world that makes every page pop a lot more than other Silver Age comics.

That being said I bought this book on sale for £16 and would have been more disappointed if I’d paid more. I’ll probably buy the next volume for the introduction of Mera and in hope we’ll eventually get the Death of a Prince storyline collected, but I can’t recommend this to anyone but diehard Aquaman or Silver Age DC fans.

It’s not bad by any means but it’s very much of its era.

[Jedi Master Nate Lightray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the collection, but the stories are not only repetitive, but in some cases the exact same story retold. Which is fine in a retelling with a new author. This is not that. But the DC Finest Collection is my favorite series, and honestly, I cannot wait until the next Aquaman volume. The second and third Showcases were superior to the first volume. Once Aquaman starts his full issue stories, the quality goes up radically.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice art, goofy and repetitive stories. Love that the Santa Anna ship gets robbed like 5 times in the first dozen tales!

[Doug Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book was alright, I can appreciate these stories but I didn't particularly enjoy much of what I read in here. I think the showcase issues were actually pretty good though.

[Michael Emond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I get into the review - this book is part of the DC Finest line. It is DC's 100th (feels like) try to collect its library of comics in a format people will collect. I am hopeful this line will stick around because it is doing a lot of things right. 1) great price point 2) large collection but not "omnibus large" so I can read it without breaking my arms 3) they are actually collecting some of the lesser known series that have never been collected in colour/affordable formats. Like Aquaman!

Which gets me to my review. As with all Silver age books (especially DC) you have to accept the fact - these were written for kids and many writers were phoning it in. Not all (Gardner Fox is one exception) but many. And I want to stress - just because it is written for kids doesn't mean it can't be clever and fun. Carl Barks proved this with his Duck tales. But there is a reason these Aquaman tales aren't considered classics. A lot of the stories are just insanely dumb.

I just want to be honest before I get into the reasons I love this collection and am very happy I have it. This isn't a superhero tale in sense you are used to - Aquaman has no villains gallery developed for him (Flying fish man - you don't count!) - Black Manta, Ocean Master would come later. At the start there is nobody for Aquaman to interact with. We know he comes from Atlantis but it is barely mentioned and he isn't allowed there (maybe?) and the writer isn't smart enough to develop it or the people from there in a meaningful way (Mera and Vulko would come later). Instead we get an Archie/Richie Rich vibe. Aquaman is this guy who commands fish and 90% of the time the fish do all the work. We get a lot of swordfishes cutting stuff and whales pushing stuff and lantern fish glowing and flying fish flying to the rescue and eels being ropes or electrifying things. We get outrageous tales of Aquaman being "fish doctor for a day". We get Aqualad going to school for a day and Aquaman using fish to help him cheat on a test. We get Aquaman just swimming around helping people in need. And as big as the Oceans are - it is pretty easy to flag Aquaman down if you need help.

So yeah - many stories are bad, but it does pick up. About a third of the way through, Aqualad comes around (in another ridiculous story - he was banished from Atlantis because he is scared of fish - I mean they didn't kill him but banishing a 10 year old to survive on his own is pretty close to murder, right?). After that we at least have someone for Aquaman to interact with. Then - for the last third we get Nick Cardy on art and both the art and stories get a lot better. Probably because the art is so much better. But also, the stories seem a little bit more serious. Now, don't get me wrong, Ramona (who draws the first two thirds) is a solid artist and I did like her art - but Nick Cardy makes it look more like a traditional super hero book instead of the more simplistic Archie/Richie Rich look from Ramona. If this Aquaman collection continues you will see some of my favourite covers of all time by him.

The other reason I loved this collection is because it was all new to me. Even the silliness of the early stories were fun because it is a piece of comic history I had never been exposed to. And even if many stories were outlandish - they still had a charm about them.

So yes - I recommend this collection but be warned - the stories are silly.

[Jason Grote · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for the art, one star for the writing. These are phoned-in stories for little kids, along the lines of Casper/Richie Rich, coming out a few years after comics were bowdlerized by congressional hearings, Frederic Wertham, and the Comics Code. Some of the comics of the era were still great - Sheldon Mayer, Carl Barks, and Gardner Fox were doing great comics for kids around this time - but it's wild to me that we're four years away from the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. Lee/Kirby/Ditko must have hit like water in a desert.

The writer(s) of these stories don't even seem to be interested in the potential of the character - most of the stories are resolved by Aquaman getting one or sea creatures to play deus ex machina, and there are at least two stories featuring "sea clowns" and three featuring "robot fish" - but the Fradon art is delightful. I had it in my head that she had illustrated all the Atlantis stories with Mera, Vulko, and the rest of the mythos (which might be true, the edition ends with the first three issues of his solo series, all drawn by Nick Cardy and guest-starring Aqualad only). I got to know her work as a kid, through Plastic Man and Super Friends, and was excited to see her work finally getting collected by DC. Metamorpho is probably way better, though.

[Steven desJardins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The new line of DC Finest reprints is good value. The paper feels a little thin compared to Marvel's Epic Collection, but far better than the old Showcases, and the quantity of material reprinted is very nice. I have read the stories from Showcase and his own magazine before, but most of the backups are new to me. I wouldn't read this all at once, the material does feel repetitive, but it's great to see some of these very obscure stories receive a modern printing.

[Del · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, light hearted silver age stories, stunning art.