Ocean Master Reading Guide

 

I made one of these for Brainiac when I made a death analysis on him and I said after I wanted to make one for comic characters I do death predictions/analysis blogs for. 

That said Ocean Master is signifigantly harder to do one for. First off he's just not a character that's as central to DC and until the New 52 didn't really have an overarching narrative of his own, instead showing up as an ocassional Aquaman villain. The biggest problem though is that Pre-Flashpoint Orm and Post-Flashpoint Orm are so clearly not the same character even though DC currently has them both as canon. Even Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Orm are kinda hard to reconcile, unlike Brainiac where different versions reference each other consistently and there's been numerous explanations for how they're all the same. There's also just not as much Ocean Master content. 

To resolve the biggest problem, I'm going to be dividing this into "Classic" Ocean Master (Pre-Crisis to Post-Crisis) and "Modern" Ocean Master (New 52 and Rebirth.) Like my Brainiac reading guide, this is not every Ocean Master appearence, this is just something I made to try and focus on the "story" of Ocean Master ignoring what amounts to "filler" and brief cameos in stories he's not really a part off. Bold means the issue is plot important, Italics means something I think is just a particularly good issue, both means I consider it a must-read and neither means I just suggest it to make it flow naturally. Most of these are gonna be bolded as almost all the Ocean Master appearences are plot important or they wouldn't be included as they don't contribute to his story. 

The whole thing is 56 issues, 32 for Classic Ocean Master and 24 for Modern Ocean Master, both divided into 3 "arcs" you can read like seasons of a television show. If you want to get into Ocean Master and learn his "story", this is what I would recommened. 

Classic Ocean Master:

Anti-Villain Introduction Arc:

1: Aquaman (1962) #29

2: Aquaman (1962) #32

3: Aquaman (1962) #35

4: Aquaman (1962) #37

5: Aquaman (1962) #50

6: Aquaman (1962) #51

7: Aquaman (1962) #52

8: Aquaman (1962) #53?

9: Aquaman (1962) #62

10: Aquaman (1962) #63

The Silver Age is pretty disconnected but I think the first 4 appearences of Ocean Master can be linked as a general sort of introduction of his character, an envious anti-villainous supergenius scientist that despite his villainous nature still protects children and won't take advantage of Aquaman being weakened culminating in the first apperance of Black Manta which is a pretty good issue for the time period overall. It leads nicely into the 2-parter at the end which I think is pretty good in itself and has the sense of finality to end an arc. Unfortunately Ocean Master finds out Arthur is his brother in the 4-parter starting in Aquaman #50 which I don't think is very good. Ocean Master doesn't even appear in part 53. That said recommending you read just the first 3 parts of a 4-parter doesn't make sense and skipping it entirely means you'd be confused how Ocean Master knows Aquaman is his brother. 

Mystical Rebirth Arc:

1: DC Comics Presents (1978) #5

2: Action Comics (1938) #517B

3: Action Comics (1938) #518B

4: Action Comics (1938) #519B

5: Action Comics (1938) #520B

6: Aquaman (1986) #1

7: Aquaman (1986) #2

8: Aquaman (1986) #3

9: Aquaman (1986) #4

10: Underworld Unleashed #1

An odd hybrid. Basically the last Pre-Crisis Ocean Master arc mixed with the first Post-Crisis Ocean Master arc. I also threw in DC Comics Presents 5 just because I think it's a cool issue that shows how dangerous Orm can be, and sorta leads into the Action Comics 517 arc. I don't think those 4 issues are particularly good, but it does set up the weirdness of Orm's identity and starts setting up for his magical rebirth at the start of Post-Crisis. The first Post-Crisis arc of Orm is actually my favorite Ocean Master arc, I think it's really good and it's really plot important given it introduced Orm's magical powers. Underworld Unleashed doesn't have much Ocean Master but it's how a bunch of villains come back to life including Orm so it's important, including Ocean Master's new magical source from Neron.

False King Arc:

1: Aquaman (1994) #18

2: Aquaman (1994) #19

3: Aquaman (1994) #20

4: Aquaman (1994) #63

5: Aquaman (1994) #64

6: Aquaman (1994) #65

7: Aquaman (1994) #66

8: Aquaman (1994) #67

9: Aquaman (1994) #68

10: Aquaman (1994) #69

11: Aquaman (2003) #26

12: Aquaman (2003) #27

During the Post-Crisis period after Orm's resurrection he gets up to a bunch of stuff, a lot pretty inconsequential to be honest. I decided to try and take the sub-arcs that had thematic importance, all centered around him as a false king envious of his brother, and string them together. You've got the 3-parter that reintroduced Orm as he becomes a false king of his own people, you've got the 7-part fairly long sub-arc of Orm manipulating a war between Atlantis and the surface so he could take charge. It's a pretty alright sub-arc with a good ending. Finally you've got the weird 2-parter where he switches lives with Aquaman, which I think is a pretty good way to end this particular arc and the Post-Crisis Orm's run. 

Modern Ocean Master:

Throne of Atlantis Arc:

1: Aquaman (2011) #14

2: Justice League (2011) #15

3: Aquaman (2011) #15

4: Justice League (2011) #16

5: Aquaman (2011) #16

6: Justice League (2011) #17

7: Aquaman (2011) #17

This one was kinda obvious. Throne of Atlantis is widely regarded as one of the best Aquaman arcs, was made to be accessible for new readers, prominently featured Ocean Master, and was meant to introduce the new Ocean Master to a wide audience. It's good, although I personally prefer the first Post-Crisis arc. It's meant to be read basically in itself. You could read this right after the last arc, although expect to be confused by how much it does not connect to what you read right before.

Atlantean Civil War Arc:

1: Aquaman (2011) #23.2

2: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #1

3: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2

4: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #3

5: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #4

6: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #5

7: Mera: Queen of Atlantis #6

8: Ocean Master: Year of the Villain

This was also fairly natural, excising some minor cameos. You have Ocean Master's escape and his settling briefly on the surface, his call back to action and the pretty good Mera: Queen of Atlantis miniseries where Orm and Mera strive to help resolve the Atlantean Civil War. Year of the Villain is not only a good conclusion given it shows Orm's response to the end of the Civil War, but also sets up the next arc with him finding Lernaea and setting himself up as King of Dagon.

King of Dagon Arc:

1: Aquaman (2016) #57

2: Aquaman (2016) #58

3: Aquaman (2016) #59

4: Aquaman (2016) #60

5: Aquaman (2016) #61

6: Aquaman (2016) #62

7: Aquaman (2016) #63

8: Aquaman (2016) #64

9: Aquaman (2016) #65

The latest Ocean Master Arc. I'm not a huge fan of it, but it's obviously massively important showing his incursion into Mera's reign. It's also a very fitting ending arc to the Modern Ocean Master story, for now as it ends symbolically with the defeat of his idealogy.

 If you're going to read any of these, I'd suggest the Throne of Atlantis arc and the Wizard Ocean Master Arc (Aquaman (1986) 1-4.) Those are I think the best depictions of Post and Pre-Flashpoint Orm respectively and will give a good feel for both.