Aquaman's original origin story (as it has changed considerably since his first appearance) is sort of bonkers. As presented in flashback during his debut in 1941's More Fun Comics #73, the young Arthur Curry did not have the most normal childhood. Which you can mainly attribute to his father, a famous undersea explorer, who took sole custody of the baby after his wife died. Apparently his dad was a little more thorough in his undersea searches than your average James Cameron weekend submariner, discovering an ancient civilisation that he figured must be Atlantis. Turns out he wasn't a complete crackpot, mind: it actually was that lost kingdom. And what better place to raise a child? So Arthur Curry essentially became his dad's guinea pig, raised within a water-tight home in one of the palaces that he made, teaching his son how to live under the ocean by drawing oxygen from the sea. And using all the power of the sea to make him wonderfully strong and swift. His dad made him live underwater and risked drowning him. Nice guy.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
