In 1967, Aquaman was arguably at the height of his popularity—with both his own comic and Saturday morning cartoon. The character had recently gotten married and had a baby, so it probably seemed the next logical expansion of his supporting cast was to create a love interest for his sidekick Aqualad.

Aquagirl was an orphan with a wild streak who came on strong to a lonely Aqualad. She convinced him to leave Aquaman and the underwater city of Atlantis and set out on their own. It”™s a story as old as time: throw a sexy chick with a skimpy costume and an unusual hairstyle at an under-appreciated teenage boy and he”™ll do whatever she wants. (By the way, the hairspray technology of Atlantis must be pretty advanced to keep her flamboyant flip in place underwater!)

Of course they ended up getting into a lot of trouble requiring Aquaman to save the day, but the kids ended up seeing the error of their ways and everyone lived happily ever after—at least until the next issue.

Aquagirl was apparently wildly popular with the readers but not much came of her. The writers of the time didn”™t seem to know what to do with female characters and she often just served as babysitter for Aquaman”™s son. Considering the recklessness and irresponsibility she exhibited in her first appearance, she might not have been the best choice for that job.

Check out the rest of the cards in the series.

Illustrating one playing card a day using characters found between 1957-1967 in DC Comics. Tomorrow: Bizzaro!