Considering that the DC feature AQUAMAN spent about twenty years as an unmemorable backup feature, the series made fairly rapid progress once someone at DC made the decision to give the Sea King his own title. I have no info as to how this came about, but George Kashdan was the editor for much of the run. The original team on the book-- usually full-length stories, rather than two or three shorter tales-- was writer/editor Jack Miller and artist Nick Cardy. Cardy stayed with the book for most of its run, but Miller was replaced by Bob Haney with issue #25. Most of the stories prior to Haney are forgettable too, but in issues #1, Jack Miller introduced first a mediocre character who indirectly spawned a more important one in issue #11.
Possibly seeking a gimmick to help burn up pages for the Sea King's first full-length adventure, the opening story introduces Aquaman and Aqualad to a "water sprite" named Quisp. Though the imp is good-hearted-- he comes to Aquaman to alert the hero of the alien fire-troll menace-- he's also supposed to be given to minor pranks, sort of like a less aggressive Mxyzptlk. The one thing to note about Quisp in his first five adventures-- scattered across the first ten issues-- is that his powers are very generalized, even though one of his main tricks-- which his successor would inherit-- was to weave gouts of water into solid objects, to strike or seize enemies. DC featured Quisp on three covers, but by issue #10, the sales on AQUAMAN may not have been that impressive-- hence, a new supporting character was needed.
The title speaks of a "Dimension Aqua," though that name's never used: maybe the editor thought it sounded too much like the star's name. Aquaman and Aqualad encounter the shapely sea-witch Mera apparently creating havoc on the high seas with what would later be called "hard water powers." Her powers suddenly disappear, for reasons that will help extend the story into a long chase scene. Mera tells the duo that she was a queen in her own dimension, but was forced to flee a usurper, name of Leron. Then Leron and a handful of henchmen show up, and they're out to capture Mera and anyone with her.
Aquaman counters by summoning his water sprite buddy Quisp (how is not explained) to make Leron think that he Aquaman has hard-water powers. (Why not just have Quisp fight Leron's team openly?) Aquaman then asks the imp to summon more of his people to help Mera regain her queendom, but when Quisp leaves, Leron sees him and knocks him for a loop.
Leron and his men then capture Mera and the Aqua-duo and take them through a gateway into Mera's unnamed domain. The villain's reason for so doing is to extort the inventor of the dimension-gate into giving Leron the secret of the invention. A very minor trivia point: the scientist's name is Xebel, but over time he would be forgotten, and some later writer applied the name "Xebel" to Mera's domain.
The last caption asks readers of the bimonthly book to write if they want to see Mera again. But though issue #12 is Mera-less, she re-appears in AQUAMAN #13 (Jan-Feb 1964) and never leaves for the rest of the run, marrying the Sea King in issue #18. I think there was never any question that Mera was going to be a permanent part of the ensemble as soon as she was introduced, and the editors may have even anticipated fast-tracking Aquaman into marriage. Whether they did so just to add a little more drama to a staid series, or because DC thought the series could use more sex appeal, the world will never know.
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