While Aquaman has decades of comic book history, the major eras of the DC hero's modern history have been captained by writers Geoff Johns and Peter David. The former revived and expanded a lot of the Sea King's Silver Age continuity in the New 52, cementing much of what informed the live-action Aquaman movie. Meanwhile, Peter David's acclaimed '90s run -- most famous for giving Aquaman a hook hand -- has only been collected again in recent years, starting with the rerelease of The Atlantis Chronicles.
Detailing the centuries-old history behind the true home of Aquaman, The Atlantis Chronicles was a Game of Thrones-esque tale of warring families and mystical intrigue. It also heavily informed Peter David's ensuing run on the character, being integral to his Post-Crisis continuity. Here's what the series was about and how, despite its importance, it never made as much of a splash at DC as it should have.
Aquaman: The Atlantis Chronicles
The Atlantis Chronicles was written by Peter David and drawn by Esteban Maroto, told over 7 sprawling issues in 1990. The story begins with the sinking of Atlantis, with the differing ideologies of the survivors resulting in a feud between royal brothers Orin and Shalako. Their species' mutations also lead to various offshoots of Atlantean society being created, with the central conflict involving the increasing divide between science and technology against mysticism, magic and ancient religions.
This fantasy-tinged story has more than a passing resemblance to tales such as Game of Thrones, with multiple generations of royal families conspiring against one another in order to rule. The actual ties to Aquaman himself, outside of being based in Atlantis, are rather minimal, with the future King of Atlantis only showing up near the end. Despite this, the roots of his rivalry with half-brother Ocean Master are established here, cementing Aquaman and his mythos as much more fantasy stories than typical superhero tales.
Why Has The Atlantis Chronicles Been Forgotten?
Despite its quality and its importance to Peter David's Aquaman run with artists like Martin Egeland and Jim Calafiore, The Atlantis Chronicles is rarely mentioned in the annals of great DC books such as Kingdom Come, All-Star Superman or The Dark Knight Returns. To a considerable extent, that can be attributed to Aquaman's uneasy place in the larger DC mythology, where he was seen by some as a joke next to major heroes like Batman or Superman. But in no small part, this also stems from the fact that it only became widely available again in the past few years after being released in anticipation of the first Aquaman movie. Likewise, this was the first time in a while that much of David's run was made available since its initial publication.
There's also the fact that The Atlantis Chronicles is explicitly a Post-Crisis Aquaman book and is only compatible with that version of the character's history. The Silver Age and New 52 origins, which were solidified in the DCEU, are notably a bit different, namely in terms of Aquaman's heritage. Thus, the story ends with an origin that's wildly different from what fans of the new comics or the movie would know. Nevertheless, The Atlantis Chronicles deserves to have its quality recognized, as does the rest of Peter David's Aquaman. Given the fact that the movies are possibly pulling more from this era of the character's comic books, it's possible that DC's Game of Thrones could be adapted in some manner, as well.