In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore. Today, we look at when Aquaman first met his Justice League teammates.

It's fascinating how much certain overarching themes are present in SO MANY discussions about comic books from a certain era. For instance, it is very difficult to talk about changes to comics in the 1950s without mentioning the Comics Code Authority. It is very difficult to talk about plotlines of Golden Age comic books without mentioning pulp fiction and/or adventure comic strips. And (hint hint this will tie in to today's feature) it is difficult to discuss the early years of Aquaman without discussing the specific format that comic books maintained for decades. This, of course, is what we're talking about here.

Comic books were generally anthologies filled with multiple 6-10 page features starring different characters. As time went by, and production costs rose, comic books just shrunk in size until they hit the modern limit of 36 pages (taking Adventure Comics as an example, it launched in 1935 with 84 pages, it then hit 68 pages in less than a year, then it hit 60 pages in 1943 and 52 the following year, then 44 pages in 1951, and finally 36 pages in 1956). So the comic books would just have less and less features as time went by. However, when they hit 36, the features remained mostly consistent throughout the rest of the decade, and into the 1960s. Luckily for Aquaman and Green Arrow, they survived all of the cuts, and maintained their place as back-ups in Adventure Comics (where they traveled to in the late 1940s after losing their original series, More Fun Comics, which became a humor comic) throughout the late 1940s and all through the 1950s.

Generally speaking, while they kept getting published, Green Arrow and Aquaman were pretty much hidden from the rest of the DC line of comic books. Aquaman literally did not appear on the cover of an American comic book until he appeared as a member of the Justice League in the Justice League's first appearance in 1959! Since Aquaman was so separated from the rest of the DC line of books, Aquaman stories were essentially devoid of continuity, and there wasn't even a consistent writer on the book. That changed, though, in the late 1950s, when Robert Bernstein took over the series, and really began to transform the feature by adding continuity, and consistency to the series. That, probably not so coincidentally, is also when Aquaman first started to meet OTHER superheroes. So let's take a look at when Aquaman first met his teammates in the Justice League!

Who was the first superhero that Aquaman met?

Recently, I discussed how Julius Schwartz taking over the editing duties on the Batman titles made it so that Batman actually started showing up in issues of the Justice League of America (as the previous editor, Jack Schiff, didn't like Batman making notable appearances in a non-Batman title). So, you might be SHOCKED to learn that Aquaman's first appearance outside of his own feature in Adventure Comics just happened to appear in a comic book written by Robert Bernstein, Aquaman's writer!

The appearance occurred in August 1959's Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane #12, where Aquaman not only made an appearance, but was essentially the co-star of the story (by Bernstein and artist Kurt Schaffenberger). Lois Lane is on vacation in Hawaii when she is badly injured while exploring a sunken ship. It crushes her legs terribly. Aquaman rescues her, and takes her to a local doctor that he knows. The doctor has a bold plan to save her life, but since she is in a coma, they make the call for her. That call? To turn her into a mermaid, naturally!

Yes, it really was as bonkers as all that.

Later, Superman visits Hawaii, and Lois decides to hide her condition from him, and when he leaves, tells Aquaman that she needs him to help her forget about Superman...

There is somehow even CRAZIER stuff in this story, but I'll skip over it (I might write about it in the future). Suffice it to say that Lois is cured after Aquaman gives her over to Superman (following Lois heroically saving Aquaman's life), and Superman flies her home, and they say goodbye to Aquaman along the way...

Just two months later, Bernstein wrote a clever pair of stories in Adventure Comics #267 (the first starring Aquaman, drawn by Ramona Fradon, and the second starring Green Arrow and Speedy, drawn by Lee Elias), where Aquaman is forced to fight a bad guy on land, while Green Arrow and Speedy fight a bad guy underwater.

At the end, Aquaman congratulates his fellow superhero...

Two superheroes in three months after NO superhero meetings in well over 15 years!! Wow!

When did Aquaman meet the rest of the Justice League?

Okay, so Superman was the first hero that Aquaman met, and Green Arrow was the second, although it is worth noting that, of course, Green Arrow was not yet a member of the Justice League when they met, in part because the Justice League did not form until two months AFTER that issue of Adventure Comics!

That went down in December 1959's The Brave and the Bold #28, where writer Gardner Fox, and artists Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs showed Aquaman sharing a story with Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman as the Justice League made its debut! Aquaman actually called the first League meeting in the comics...

Technically, Aquaman didn't share a panel with Batman in that first issue, so I'll show you the next issue, where they DO share a panel together...

Thanks to longtime reader Amy R. for suggesting this one! If anyone has a suggestion for a future When We First Met, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com! If you e-mail me the suggestion, it has the extra bonus of being searchable later, so I can properly credit you if I take a while before I write about it!