Aquaman (1986) is a 4-issue Aquaman miniseries by DC Comics. It's the last major Pre-Crisis storyline for the character, and is notable for introducing Aquaman's blue camouflage costume as well as adding magic to the lore of Atlantis. It was written by Neal Pozner and illustrated by Craig Hamilton, Steve Montano, Joe Orlando, and Bob Lappan.
When Aquaman's brother, Orm the Ocean Master, attacks and destroys his home of New Venice, he and Mera are shocked to discover Orm is much more powerful than he ever was before. In Atlantis, Vulko discovers the royal seal of Atlantis has been stolen and the likely culprits are from the isolationist, magical city of Thierna Na Oge.
Aquaman is dispatched to retrieve the seal, but finds Thierna Na Oge is in the middle of a war not unlike his own. The tyrant king, Bres, has overthrown her sister Nuada and suspects him of having stolen their own artifact, the Lia Fail. As Aquaman struggles to keep up in a world suddenly filled with magic, he learns that overcoming his anger and superiority complex may be the key to saving both kingdoms and stopping Orm.
This comic contains examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Aquaman's father Tom Curry is depicted here, and nowhere else, as a militant man who favored Arthur and left Orm in the shadows, seething with revenge.
- Aquaman himself is rather haughty and cruel in this series, building off of his Justice League Detroit characterization. A noted goal of the writers for this series was moving him past this mindset as he was felt to be too unlikable.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Bres's magic is noted in-story as being stylish and flashy over substance, and she's only an effective tyrant because the other, more skilled mages of the conclave obey her and combine their energy with hers.
- Break the Haughty: Aquaman is quickly rendered helpless by the magic of Thierna Na Oge and hates it, exerting himself to the point of pain trying and failing to break free of the Orichalcum chains.
- Doomed Hometown: The action starts when Ocean Master blows up the seaside town of New Venice, where Aquaman was currently living.
- False Flag Operation: Ocean Master plans for Atlantis and Thierna Na Oge to blame each other for the missing relics when he was the one that took them.
- Fed to the Beast: Bres has Aquaman battle Sreng, a fishlike beast under her mental control.
- Mind Rape: Bres uses her magic to extract every memory from Aquaman's mind for her to see, which he compares to being violated.
- The Power of Hate: Orm uses Aquaman's ample supply of anger to fuel his crystals' magic.
- The Power of Love: Arthur realizing that despite everything he does love his brother is what stops Orm's powers, as the crystals have no aggression to feed on.
- Psychopathic Man Child: Orm uses his newfound powers to bully and torment Arthur and others, and has a bevy of childish insults on hand to reinforce the fact that he hasn't really grown up.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Aquaman and Nuada flee Thierna Na Oge as soon as possible, leaving it in Bres' hands since stopping Orm is more important. It isn't until Aquaman (1994) that Bres is overthrown.
- She Is the King: Rulers of Thierna Na Oge are called kings even when female.
- Ship Tease: Nuada and Arthur are teased as a potential couple, though it doesn't go anywhere after this storyline.
- Vision Quest: The climax has Arthur traversing his own mind and memories, learning to accept all of the good and the bad, as he gathers the mental energy to battle Orm.
- Western Zodiac: The seal of Atlantis and the Lia Fail turn out to be two of the immensely powerful Zodiac Crystals. Orm manages to collect six of them by story's end, with four others appearing in the 1988 Aquaman Special under the control of Magus.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Nuada and Bres's storyline is taken from Celtic mythology's tale of Nuada Silverhand and Eochaid Bres, with the main difference being a Gender Flip.
