History TearJerker / Aquaman

* ''ComicBook/AquamanRebirth Annual #1'' had Aquaman and Mera fall victim to the Black Mercy, which gave them an ideal city-state where they had a son named Tom and coexisted peacefully with the surface. When Murk broke them out of the illusion, they spent a day mourning the son they never had.

* ''Aquaman Annual Vol. 8 #1'' had Aquaman and Mera fall victim to the Black Mercy, which gave them an ideal city-state where they had a son named Tom and coexisted peacefully with the surface. When Murk broke them out of the illusion, they spent a day mourning the son they never had.

* As shown in ''Blackest Night'', Arthur didn't want to be buried in a massive, royal tomb in Atlantis when he died; [[IJustWantToBeNormal he wants to be buried next to his father at the lighthouse he grew up in an otherwise unremarkable grave]].

** ''Aquaman Annual Volume 5 #4'' is a tie-in to the Ghosts crossover event where the dead came back for a night to haunt the living. Orin the First talks sense into Shalako and fights off past conquerors, Garth and Tula have a conversation about life and death as she's glad he's finally moved on from her memory, and there's a BlackComedy comic relief section about a wife who killed her annoying husband and finds he's returned. And then there's Arthur, who sees Arthur Jr., who keeps asking him "Why?" throughout the entire night, and finds out just as the ghosts begin to fade that what his son wanted was a ''hug''. He embraces Arthur Jr. and tells him he loves him just before he disappears.

* In ''Volume 5 #26'', the Sun-Eater eating the sun in an adjacent comic meant water began to freeze over even in tropical areas, making it hard for fish and mammals to breathe. Aquaman does his best to help everyone he can, with fish flocking to him in fear, but by the time he reaches the dolphins, he finds Porm--his adoptive mother, who raised him from infancy--was brutally murdered by Demon Gate. While later issues show she's able to communicate with him from the spirit world, his anguish on finding her body is gutwrenching.

* ''Aquaman Vol. 5 Annual #3'' has a story where Aquaman finds one of his childhood dolphin friends, Nera, has been captured and put in a tank to illegally test a sonic turbine propulsion system that's lethal to sea life and damaged her sonar. While Aquaman is able to rescue her, her sonar was so damaged that she's unable to return to open waters and is forced to live at a sea rescue center.

** ''Aquaman Annual Volume 5 #4'' is a tie-in to the Ghosts crossover event where the dead came back for a night to haunt the living. Orim the First talks sense into Shalako and fights off past conquerors, Garth and Tula have a conversation about life and death as she's glad he's finally moved on from her memory, and there's a BlackComedy comic relief section about a wife who killed her annoying husband and finds he's returned. And then there's Arthur, who sees Arthur Jr., who keeps asking him "Why?" throughout the entire night, and finds out just as the ghosts begin to fade that what his son wanted was a ''hug''. He embraces Arthur Jr. and tells him he loves him just before he disappears.

** ''Aquaman Annual Volume 5 #4'' is a tie-in to the Ghosts crossover event where the dead came back for a night to haunt the living. Orim the first talks sense into Shalako, Garth and Tula have a conversation about life and death, and there's a BlackComedy comic relief section about a wife who killed her annoying husband finds he's returned. And then there's Arthur, who sees Arthur Jr., who keeps asking him "Why?" throughout the entire night, and finds out just as the ghosts begin to fade that what his son wanted was a ''hug''. He embraces Arthur Jr. and tells him he loves him just before he disappears.

** When Mera attacked him and then left in the 1989 miniseries, still blaming Aquaman for the death of their son, Arthur breaks down sobbing and wonders why, of all the people he saved, he couldn't save his baby boy. Meanwhile, Mera herself was cooped up in her room making vent art with hard water sculptures, each of them misshapen and with holes.

* In the ''ComicBook/GreenArrow'' crossover ''Deep Target'', Arthur and Oliver accidentally swapped powers and memories due to time travel shenanigans. After a lengthy journey to set things right, they instead found a CloseEnoughTimeline where things were ''better'' for Arthur than the standard timeline--his mother was still alive, and he and Orm ruled together as dual kings. Unfortunately, Oliver pointed out that other people had it worse than in the regular timeline, and Arthur eventually had to put things back as he knew them. Then he went home to Atlantis to mourn at his mother's tomb.

* The death of Aquaman's son in ''Adventure Comics #452''. No parent should have to go through that.

** The first half of Volume 4 shows how Black Manta singlehandedly ruined Arthur's life. When not fighting past the point of exhaustion, Aquaman is lonely, depressed, and wonders how he can possibly move on from his past and find happiness again after all that's happened to him. When the Martian Manhunter talks to him and they commiserate over shared loss, J'onn notes that while Arthur has accepted what happened with Arthur Jr. and Mera, he hasn't ''faced'' it and is repressing his feelings. Then Black Manta shows up, asks how the wife and kid are, and blows up Arthur Jr.'s grave. By this point, Aquaman is ''entirely'' willing to kill his enemy, who he feels taught him hatred. Then after that battle, Thanatos shows up to torment him further with hallucinations of his loved ones scorning him. Thankfully, after all that trauma Arthur is ''finally'' able to heal when he overcomes Thanatos, lets go of his self-hatred, and realizes Mera and Arthur Jr. would forgive him if he forgave himself.

* Volume 4 shows how, unlike later runs where the Atlanteans distrust Aquaman, the people of Poseidonis have almost ''too much'' love for their hero and former king, as they're overjoyed to see him and inadvertently worsen his self-esteem with their hero worship. When he returns too late to save them from surface missiles and a teenager named Marin is killed saving him from more, the people praise her for saving Aquaman--and when the cracked dome brings sharks and many citizens are killed or injured, they're just happy Aquaman is there to help them. Meanwhile, Arthur himself feels unworthy of their praise and privately hides how lonely he is.

** When Mera attacked him and then left in the 1989 miniseries, still blaming Aquaman for the death of their son, Arthur breaks down sobbing and wonders why, of all the people he saved, he couldn't save his baby boy.

* ''Adventure Comics #192'' has Aquaman create a preserve for rare fish to teach humans about them. He's utterly is horrified when crooks start murdering the fish for their own gain and demands the murders stop, to no avail. It has a happy ending as the fifth fish only pretended to be killed and the crooks are defeated, but four fish were killed for real, and we see Aquaman's increasing sorrow and anger at the situation.

* ''Adventure Comics #192'' has Aquaman create a preserve for rare fish to teach humans about them. He's utterly is horrified when crooks start murdering the fish for their own gain. It has a happy ending as the fifth fish only pretended to be killed, but four fish were killed for real, and we see Aquaman's increasing sorrow and anger at the situation.

** The first half of Volume 4 shows how Black Manta singlehandedly ruined Arthur's life. When not fighting past the point of exhaustion, Aquaman is lonely, depressed, and wonders how he can possibly move on from his past and find happiness again after all that's happened to him. When the Martian Manhunter talks to him and they commiserate over shared loss, J'onn notes that while he's accepted what happened with Arthur Jr. and Mera, he hasn't ''faced'' it and is repressing his feelings. Then Black Manta shows up, asks how the wife and kid are, and blows up Arthur Jr.'s grave. By this point, Aquaman is ''entirely'' willing to kill his enemy, who he feels taught him hatred. Then after that battle, Thanatos shows up to torment him further with hallucinations of his loved ones scorning him. Thankfully, after all that trauma Arthur is ''finally'' able to heal when he overcomes Thanatos, lets go of his self-hatred, and realizes Mera and Arthur Jr. would forgive him if he forgave himself.

** The first half of Volume 4 shows how Black Manta singlehandedly ruined Arthur's life. When not fighting past the point of exhaustion, Aquaman is lonely, depressed, and wonders how he can possibly move on from his past and find happiness again after all that's happened to him. When the Martian Manhunter talks to him and they commiserate over shared loss, J'onn notes that while he's accepted what happened with Arthur Jr. and Mera, he hasn't ''faced'' it and is repressing his feelings. Then Black Manta shows up, asks how the wife and kid are, and blows up Arthur Jr.'s grave. By this point, Aquaman is ''entirely'' willing to kill his enemy, who he feels taught him hatred. Then after that battle, Thanatos shows up to torment him further with hallucinations of his loved ones scorning him. Thankfully, after all that trauma Arthur is ''finally'' able to heal when he overcomes Thanatos and realizes Arthur Jr. would forgive him.

* The death of Aquaman's son. No parent should have to go through that.