It finally hit me while reading the 3rd issue of Aquaman what the problem is: It’s the origin.

BATMAN: Parents gunned in alley. Bruce Wayne devotes life to stopping crime.

SUPERMAN: Home planet doomed. Rocketed to Earth by his parents to save him. Raised by the Kent’s and becomes the worlds first superhero.

GREEN LANTERN: Alien crash lands on Earth and gives Hal his power ring right before he dies. Hal becomes new Green Lantern.

AQUAMAN: Uhhh….. Price of Atlantis? No, no. Hmmm, born of fish parents…. no wait…. radioactive chemicals splash in his eyes……no, no, no.

In all my years of reading DC comics I really have no idea what Aquaman’s origin is. I find this weird. Why don’t I know this?!

Sure, admittedly I never read any of his solo comics thru the years, but I did read Justice League and watched Super Friends and yet I still knew nothing of his origin. And I have believe I’m not the only one with this problem. In fact, I’m going to go on record and state that the lack of a well-known origin is THE main problem with this character and his inability to resonate with comic book readers – and even with non-comic book readers. I can ask my Dad to tell me Batman’s origin and he can nail it. Aquaman? Not so much.

So there I was reading Aquaman #3 and there is a scene when Arthur is talking about when his “powers” started to surface. I paused. What? You mean Aquaman didn’t grow up inside a whales belly?

Thank you Geoff Johns. After 2 issues of minimal story this 3rd one seems to be worth the wait. If there is one thing Johns is good at it’s an origin story. Hopefully in a few more issues I’ll be able to confidently state that I know how Aquaman came to be.