The success of last year’s Aquaman film (which was empty-headed and overlong, but still fun) apparently prompted DC Comics to finally reprint the classic “Search for Mera” serial that ran in the character’s original comic back in 1968-69. The resultant Aquaman: The Search For Mera Deluxe Edition collects the entire nine-issue storyline by the then-new creative team of writer Steve Skeates and artist Jim Aparo, who, under the eye of editor Dick Giordano, took over the book with issue #40 (July-August 1968), eventually concluding the storyline in #48 (November-December 1969). Previous Aquaman artist Nick Cardy was retained to provide attractive but often misleading covers (like the one depicted above) that were more symbolic than accurate.
“The Search for Mera” is pretty straightforward. While enjoying some quality time together, Aquaman and his wife Mera, along with their infant son, and Aquaman’s teen partner Aqualad, are attacked by unknown foes. The assailants (one of whom has a somewhat distinctive ring) escape after abducting Mera, forcing Aquaman (now King of Atlantis) to take a leave of absence from his royal duties to track down his missing wife.
Along the way, Aquaman and Aqualad (who get separated early on) run into strange underwater civilizations, giant sea monsters, arch-foe Black Manta (who’s very sadistic here), and land-dwelling gangsters, the latter of whom may actually know Mera’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, a wounded Aqualad must battle a fearsome monster, and the guy Aquaman put in charge of Atlantis is causing a lot of trouble for its citizens.
Skeates and Aparo start out a little tentatively (Aparo’s first few issues have him trying to imitate Cardy’s style, for example), but their stories quickly build in excitement and suspense. There’s some nice irony that, for the times was pretty wild (Mera is able to take care of herself and -mild spoiler alert! – even rescues Aquaman), although the rebellion scenes in Atlantis were obviously channeling the campus protests of the era. It’s also fun seeing Aquaman take on ordinary (but nasty) big city gangsters, and debate to himself whether or not to interrupt his search to help innocent bystanders in trouble. These issues are probably the closest DC came to copying the style of the more popular Marvel Comics of the time.
If you enjoyed the Aquaman movie, you’ll get a kick out of Aquaman: The Search For Mera Deluxe Edition. After fifty years it still holds up! Suitable for all ages.
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