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Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think that Aquaman appeared out of thin air? No, he appeared through a moment of weakness from Thomas Curry, Aquaman’s father, when he hooked up with Atlanna. You know, the Queen of Atlantis? Wait, now you’re saying that you didn’t know Atlantis was real? Well gather around, dear friends, as we move closer to the campfire and get cozy on this tree log, and I am about to tell you the tale of Thomas Curry. More specifically, we are going to talk about how a mystical person was found on a raft and rescued, which turns into a story-book romance cliche.
In Adventure Comics 260, the tale is told by Aquaman himself. His father was an ex-sailor, and lived a solitary existence as a lighthouse keeper. He finds a beautiful girl floating on a raft. He can’t understand how she is unharmed, since the raft was almost upside down, with tons of water pounding on it. When the raft was driven to the island, Thomas Curry left the lighthouse and rescued her. He asks her where she came from, but vaguely says that she comes from far away, and her name is Atlanna.
Just two weeks later, they were married, and a year later, their son Arthur is born. Arthur, of course, become Aquaman. It was love at first sight. We know that Thomas Curry is a great father, because he managed to let Arthur accidentally fall over the side of a fishing boat. To his surprise, he was a great swimmer. At the age of two, Arthur hits his head while swimming and sinks to the bottom of the ocean for an hour. Again, this demonstrates some great parenting. Thomas finds him at the bottom of the sea, playing with a turtle. Apparently, the child can’t drown. When he is three years old, three sharks approach him while he is swimming, and the child harmlessly touches them. It’s amazing how many “accidents” this kid encountered under the watch of his father.
While on her deathbed, Atlanna explains that she came from Atlantis, and explains how her people adapted to a watery existence after the continent sank into the sea. Since she had a constant desire to visit the upper earth, and was caught trying to escape, she experienced permanent exile. (Kind of like The Little Mermaid, I guess.) She tells her son that he had inherited his ability to live underwater, communicate with sea creatures, and become ruler of the oceans.
It’s crazy that Thomas Curry let his wife Atlanna convince him to ignore how is son was able to breathe underwater and swim with sharks. Let’s also acknowledge the fantasy of a pretty woman appearing out of nowhere and immediately falling in love with the man. It’s the premise of the 1984 movie Splash with Tom Hanks, and as well the show I Dream of Jeannie. The fantasy is a double-dose, since not only doesn’t the man have to do any work to find her, but she becomes instantly faithful to him as well. It’s like finding a unicorn, or a mermaid!
So now that you know the origin of Aquaman’s father, you have to do your part. Go ahead and grab a copy (Affiliate Link), and show your friends that all you need to do to marry a beautiful woman is to be a lighthouse keeper.