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Arthur Curry was born to a human father and a princess of Atlantis.
Both his parents died when he was young, leaving him to find out about
his true heritage when in his teens. Gradually needing contact with water
more often, Curry now has to be submerged once an hour or he will weaken
and die. Taking the name Aquaman, he fights crime with the help of his
finny friends. Aquaman has telepathic abilities with the creatures of
the sea. One day Aquaman came upon a curious sight during one of his routine
patrols. A strange little pod containing a sleeping small boy floated
on the surface of the ocean, and as Aquaman opened the lid, the child
awoke. It didn't take long to discern that the child was a reject from
Atlantis; his unusual purple-hued eyes were the visible sign of his tragic
origin. In cases of such rare births, it was the practice of the authorities
in Atlantis to send the afflicted child to the surface in hopes that a
passing boat might find it, for the eye color signified the child to be
a throwback to the air-breathing ancestors of the pre-submerged continent.
These children rarely lived longer than a few days, but this little boy
(clearly at least eleven years old) was an exception to the rule. Startled
by Aquaman's sea creature friends, the boy cried for his protection, for
though he could breathe oxygen through water as all Atlanteans can, he
suffered from a curious malady which resulted in his exile: he was afraid
of fish! Aquaman had a grand time using his finny friends to teach the
young boy that sea creatures were his friends and certainly no threat
to him, and, having done so, ordered the "Minnow" to return home. The
nameless orphan had other ideas, for he had no one to return to; instead,
he had decided to make Aquaman his family. The lonely Sea King didn't
take too much convincing, for the next day he agreed to allow the boy
to stay with him. |
