Random Happenstance

I recently had to re-organize, um, about everything; but I found an entire longbox in my closet that I'd missed! Some good stuff in there, and a book I'd been coming to and am legitimately surprised I didn't have to buy again. From 1996, Aquaman Annual #2, "Legends of the Dead Earth" Written by Peter David, pencils by Ed Hannigan, inks by Steve Mitchell.

On a distant world, on a natural bridge over the chasmous "vale of tears," two travellers meet: with no room for them to pass each other, they both claim to be storytellers, and agree whoever tells the best story would be able to go forward and the other would have to turn back. (The set-up is supposed to be like maybe a gazillion samurai stories? But also makes zero sense: that looks dangerous as hell, but you should also notice someone else was on there? And where would something like that lead, and why would someone be coming the other way?) The first tells a story of his favorite hero, the great and wise Aquaman. King of Atlantis on a waterless old Earth, the assorting remaining nations and people of earth came to beg, buy, or bargain for precious water. His people had priority, but whenever he could, Aquaman would give what he could. But, he started to wonder, what the people really thought of him, and went incognito to find out. He's disappointed to find, he wasn't universally beloved. Did he lord his control of the water over them? After being discovered during a bar brawl, the people tremble at the thought of his vengeance; but a small child offers Aquaman his rag to clean himself...and probably saves them all. Later, when the city begs for mercy and water, Aquaman gives him all they can carry, but has to admit to himself, with his ego hurt he very nearly would have killed them all, if not for that child.

The other storyteller scoffs, calling that unrealistic, since Aquaman was a villain and oppressor, him and his no-good son Koryak. (Koryak's coloring seems to vary in this, but he has He-Man's Prince Valiant haircut.) Aquaman had the flying skull-shaped city Poseidonis, which cemented his control of the seas: the city could drop like a mountain on ships that didn't offer tribute, or shoot down anyone trying to fly over. The remaining heroes of the earth (nobody we know!) wanted to stop Aquaman, and Ocean Master offers his assistance...for a price. He's spurned, the first time anyway: after getting their asses kicked, they promise him and his partner Black Manta whatever they want. Riding in on a mutated flying manta, the pair call out Aquaman: Koryak wants to just shoot them down, but Aquaman refuses to harm even a monstrously altered sea creature. He may be hesitating, since his former lover (Blue) Dolphin warned him, he would fight his brother, but afterwards he would lose everything. Not knowing the prophecy (and he wouldn't have cared, anyway) Koryak leaps into battle, killing Black Manta, then dying from the mutant manta's sting.

Aquaman leaps into battle against Ocean Master, but it's a short fight, since the mystic forces unleashed dump the citizens of Poseidonis into the ocean and seemingly either destroys the city or launches it into space, where the two would battle forever. But, Ocean Master would be remembered for his heroism; according to the second storyteller. The first calls his story "calumny,' although I'd personally be more offended that it was anti-climactic. Both storytellers then claim to be descendants of Aquaman, hero or villain, and begin to fight it out, like brothers in that line forever.

So both Poseidonis--which looked like a stone version of Brainiac's ship--and Koryak would've been recent additions from David's run: pretty sure Poseidonis would be blow'd up in short order, but Koryak would be around a bit longer. Couldn't say if he's appeared anytime recently, though.