The Lie

This is Mera's first appearance, Aquaman #11 October 1963. Aquaman and Aqualad come across an abandonded ship running wild; but when they try to get it off the shipping lanes to prevent a disaster, a mysterious construct attacks them; then, out of nowhere, a second construct appears and destroys the ship.

The pair notices a girl swimming away at fantastic speeds; thinking she is a sea witch, they follow her, and right when they are about to catch up with her, the woman flies away in a bubble formed out of water. The bubble eventually bursts and Aquaman grabs the mysterious redhead. She claims she did not intend to hurt them, but saved them instead, and then starts telling her story...

Her name is Mera and she inherited the throne of an underwater world in another dimension upon her father's death, but an usurper to the throne, a man called Leron, was coming after her to kill her...

The Queen was taken by her people to the laboratory of a prominent scientist named "Xebel"...

The scientist had found the way to open a dimensional warp leading to Earth's oceans, where the Queen could find someone to help her regain the throne...

The redhead shed a few tears to make her story more believable, and so she convienced Aquaman and Aqualad to join her, and from that moment they became her dear friends; soon the King of Atlantis would become something more than that. The trap had been set, the naive heroes caught the bait, Mera had succeeded in making them believe THE LIE!