If you look at comics as a whole one of the biggest problems with Aquaman is he doesn’t really stand out on his own, looks wise. With the long hair and beard, he looks like every other blonde haired blue eyed superhero out there. If you stick a Viking helmet on him he’d be Thor. Give him some arrows he’s Ollie Queen. Give him a magic sword and he’s He-Man.

First rule with Aquaman: Orange and Green suit. Alter it how ever but the colors remain. They tried to change it to the Blue and then he went shirtless but as you can see we’re back to Orange and Green.
Second rule, clean cut look. No beard. No long hair. If Superman grew a beard you’d say he looks like Bluto from Popeye. What’s with the beard? Ollie Queen has a beard. No beard on Aquaman.

This doesn’t have to be a rule but personally I think he should be kept normal size. I like the buffed up Aquaman but he’s a swimmer–most swimmers are slim and fit. I have a hard time trying to picture someone all buffed up moving through the water at a 100 miles per hour. With those big arms, he’d look silly doing a breast stroke. And imagine the size of his splashes when diving. Huge.

Another thing, give him back his hand. I like the water hand, hated the harpoon/javelin hand but this aspect doesn’t seem like Aquaman to me–it seems more like a gimmick. Like someone said “What can we do to make Aquaman more interesting. I got it–have him lose a hand. And then attach a cybernetic device to it his numb. Is it me or does it seem like someone read a Wolverine comic and said ‘What if Aquaman had a retractable unbreakable claw or something. Sorry, but Aquaman fights pirates he isn’t one. The metal hand is almost like giving him a hook. And why must he keep losing things. His son, his wife, his kingdom his hand. Aquaman is NOT A LOSER. If there is one thing about him he is a confident winner. Aquaman is so damn sure of himself that is why he expects the best from those around him. Sure he makes mistakes but that is due to the situation and not arrogance. He can be humble. He doesn’t need to be humbled. He humbles others. And let me ask you this, if Batman lost his hand and was given a robotic one you’d all be pissed. Sure it would be cool for a few issues but then the novelty would where off and you’d be like “Give Batman back his hand. Why’d you take it away? Like when Bane broke Batman’s back. Imagine if Batman stayed like that. It would suck. You’d never read another issue. Same with AQ. They took away his hand and then gave him a water one. Someone realized it sucks that he doesn’t have a hand. The water hand is cool but even that has lost its charm. Have it grow back like when a starfish loses a limb.

I agree with whoever said the shock value storylines are good for a few issue but they lose steam along the way–especially when you get new writers who don’t know what to do with that aspect of the story. I agree with Dasbender, Aquaman needs a central theme to follow and he needs stronger characterization. Aquaman’s character is based mainly on his abilities: to swim under water and talk to fish. Of course we as fans know that he has other superpowers but to the outside observer that is all they see and frankly that makes him seem ridiculous. Like Dave Chappelle said “Who wants to talk to a fish? What could a fish possibly say that would be at all interesting?” If all he can do is talk to fish and swim underwater, I would say his powers are lame too. That is you can’t go by superpowers alone. If you ask me he needs a better, stronger tighter back-story and he needs a personality tune up.

I don’t really feel Aquaman is who Aquaman really is or rather should be. I think people have tried to figure out who is and what to do with him so in trying to keep him fresh and exciting to fit in with the popularity of other superheroes and changing trends they never really did him justice. He started getting all these different origin stories and the origins included myths and legends and tales of other heroes. It’s like Aquaman’s stories weren’t his own but a grafting of other people’s stories. I really don’t like the sword and sorcery stuff. I don’t like the King Arthur stuff. And frankly, I think Atlantis started with Namor and should go back and stay with him. You want Atlantis in the story then make it a back-story or a side story. I don’t think it should be AQ’s main story.

Personally I don’t find Atlantis very interesting. I have no vested interested in Atlantis or the fate of its people. I think Aquaman was appealing when he fought pirates and smugglers and giant water monsters. I liked when it had a more real world feel to it and it was science-based. This is how he started out in the Golden Age. And yeah, that was Aquaman Earth 2 when he had yellow gloves—okay with that logic let’s then abandon Earth 1 AQ and let’s see what Earth 3 has to offer. Start completely fresh. New origins, same suit and he gets his hand back. This version fights above and below the ocean and it’s science-based. Get rid of the magic. If there is magic and myth, make them one-shot stories and not part of his main storyline. I know someone mentions story engine and I have to say Atlantis really is a good story engine. Once you’ve established Atlantis and it’s people you really can’t go that much further without repeating yourself and/or getting just plain old boring. Whenever there’s a story about Atlantis I find it takes me a lot longer to get through it. Atlantis was cool in the beginning back when AQ had a sort Flash Gordon exciting new world feel to it but then with all the politics and the exiling and junk it got tiresome. And besides it took AQ away from what made him interesting — fighting crime topside. Because I need to relate. I don’t relate nor do I care about Atlantis. Ever read an Atlantis Chronicles? They suck. Even Atlantis’ back-story sucks. And now it’s destroyed. Good. Leave Atlantis to Namor. He wanted to rule it. AQ just wants to swim with dolphins and save the day.

Now don’t get me wrong I enjoy his relationship with Aqualad and Mera and Vulko. I like Ocean Master but I never understood his hatred for AQ and why he wanted to rule Atlantis. If you’ve lived on land your whole life why would you want to rule underwater? I think they need to revamp Ocean Master as well. Isn’t AQ’s back-story his as well? If you are going to include Atlantis come up with a strong well-established story and leave it alone. Like Krypton. There are set rules to follow when coming up with stories for Krypton. You can come with a whole new history for it but it has to lead up to it exploding and Jor-El sending Superman to Earth. I’ve tried to follow Atlantis’ history I don’t see how it leads to AQ being exiled and all that has happened so far. Didn’t they send Atlantis back in time? Didn’t that have some affect on Atlantis’ history down the timeline? I don’t think anyone really established Atlantis and its history properly so much of it seems like they make it up as they went along. Just like the city itself it needs a strong foundation. No foundation and it will fall apart the more weight you add on.

Getting back to AQ but excuse me, where’s the superhero part. To me a superhero is someone who tries to fix the problems of the modern day, saving the innocent and stopping the villain. They spent so much time trying to beef Aquaman up and make him look like Fabio jump off a romance cover and landed on the Lord of the Rings that they forgot he’s a Superhero. Aquaman doesn’t come across as a Superhero anymore. Who is he saving? What villain is he stopping? What modern age problem is he trying to fix? What is he doing that concerns life as we know? Wouldn’t Aquaman be a great champion in this day and age to take on Global Warming, International Terrorism and Natural Disasters like Katrina and such? The last twenty years of Aquaman has been about life underwater. Who cares? What does that have to do with me? The Sub Diego stuff was good cause it touched on Global Warming and because we’re all familiar with San Diego (Comic Con) but then they left that and went back to the sword and sorcery stuff. Which brings me to the New Aquaman.

He is lame and I hate him. Is this Batman Beyond? Did we need an Aquaman clone? If so, why not do something more interesting? And what a total disrespect to our hero. This is how our AQ goes out — replaced by a failed imitation. Please get rid of this guy. I just read Superman/Batman 45 where they come across the New AQ and I am almost threw the issue across the room. I paid four bucks for this. I was all excited from the cover thinking all right they’re going to do something great with this new AQ have him take on Superman and Batman. Even Batman told him his wasn’t s**t. If Batman tells you that, pack up your swim trunks and get out of the water. You are f-ing lame pal.

I am a passionate Aquaman fan. I have gotten into near fist fights about him. I want an Aquaman that lives up to the one I feel inside my heart. I’m sure everyone has their version and I respect that. You don’t have to agree with just as long as you feel the way I do that Aquaman hasn’t been handled right and he needs a new revamping. Not a one shot deal and then pass it on to the next team of writers but someone who is going to give him the care and attention he deserves.

I started out loving Aquaman from the Superfriends. To me there will also be the Great Four Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. I like the new Trinity series but I feel Aquaman should be apart of it in some way. They have made it a little too convenient to keep him out of stories by saying he’s away helping Atlantis so he can’t be here. I think they should give Aquaman the same attention they give the three of them. He’s been around just as long. And what’s with the Justice League? They’re acting like he isn’t part of the team. He was one of the original seven. The cartoon has him doing guest appearances and don’t even acknowledge him as a founder. I know there was some sort of rights issues but come on. Back in the 80’s he’s was the one that kept the team together. Now they act like he doesn’t even exist. Bad enough every issue I read with him in it they have him knocked out for most of the story and showing up at the end for the wave goodbye. What the F?

My favorite Aquaman story and I just read it the other day is in an issue of JLA Incarnations, I think # 4 0r #6, Aquaman takes charge of the team and then tells everyone who is not 100% committed to the cause to resign. That is the Aquaman we need. He’s the guy totally dedicated to the job. The one that goes beyond the call of duty and gets the job done. But he’s also the one that knows it’s a group effort and if they are going to be a team they have to be the best they can possibly be. I mean someone so extreme he’ll tell Green Lantern he isn’t doing enough. Because if there is one thing about Aquaman and I’m sure you’ll all agree on this he never gets a moment to rest and he never takes a moment to rest. Sure he may go to Aquacave to take a break but even then he’s writing in his journals or plotting his next course of action. He’s like a shark. He doesn’t sleep. He keeps moving. Why? Because there is always something happening. If not below the surface of the ocean then above it or on land. And if not on Earth, then out in space or on another planet or another dimension. And remember the Earth is two-thirds water. He has much more area to cover. And not only is the ocean vast but it’s deep too.

I apologize if this is a bit long and a bit all over the place but when it comes to Aquaman I just let my emotions go and this is what comes out. But one last thing—can they beef up Black Manta. I think he is a great arch villain and deserves the proper respect. I consider him in the class or Evil Genius or at least should be. I don’t think they have done much with his character either. I hated the autism story line. It made him look like he had no choice in the matter. That’s what makes a great villain—the fact they choose to do what they do. With their brilliant minds and power they could be the Good Guy but instead they do the opposite looking for power and money and most of all – like Tony Montana – Respect. Why is he just crazy and vengeful? He’s after AQ because he saw him on TV? Or he was raped by a bunch of sailors? Who thought of that? This is the foundation for his character? Come on. Who writes this stuff? Black Manta is a member of the Legion of Doom. He’s right up there with Lex Luthor, Gorilla Grodd and The Joker (even though he was not a member) as one of the All Time Best Villains Ever. He killed Aquaman’s kid, Aquababy. How many villains have killed their nemesis’ kid? Come on.

Oh, and I have seen the Aquaman pilot. I liked it but my point exactly, the Atlantis stuff is terrible. Ving Rhames talking about Atlantis was laughable. I like him as an actor–I think he’s great but even he couldn’t make it sound convincing. I do like the location Tempest Key, Florida. I’m hoping it’s wink towards Aqualad. It would have been nice to see it as series and how it played out. I would really have liked it had Ving Rhames character turned out to be Black Manta. That would have been a great little twist. But sirens. This is what the young AQ would have been up against? I know what Aquaman really needs to make the whole franchise turn around and come back strong—better writers and people writing who really give a s**t about him as a character and as a Superhero.

On the subject of story-telling engines wearing down, I think that is true. A well written story has a logical ending implied by the beginning. A great origin story should suggest how the story ends for our hero. There is only so much “middle” that can get spun out of even the most fully realized concept. Sooner or later, the story has to go SOMEWHERE.

The Bronze Age Superman had that problem. After 40-odd years, you wanted to see the “love triangle for two” resolved. Readers had lost respect for Lois Lane not seeing through the world’s weakest disguise. The same was true for a lot Silver Age DCs.

We are seeing a real story-telling engine breakdown at Marvel right now. Spider-Man in the post-OMD period does not appear to be going anywhere. How much roster shuffling can you have before the Avengers become meaningless as a group? How long can mutants be oppressed before we notice that the X-Men just are not that effective?

Aquaman has suffered a bit with me from the feeling that his story has already been told. Think about it. He is an orphan who arrives in a strange culture. He adapts and makes it his home. He falls in love and marries. They make a family, but it is ruined by someone he thought that was in his past. To me, that is a beginning, a middle and (most importantly) an ENDING. Moreover, it is a very sad story that is hard to revisit.

The problem, IMHO, with Aquaman is similiar to Green Arrow’s in that he was developed as a cookie-cutter gimick hero who later was developed into an actual character.

The difference is that Green Arrow became A character, while Aquaman became a SERIES of characters depending on who was writing him.

For what it is worth, I think it is a tribute to PAD’s take on the character that it survived being ported into other titles (JLA) and other media (DCAU) intact.

I think that Aquaman would be a strong seller for DC today if they hadn’t replaced David with Larson who’s storytelling engine seemed to be “Undo everything so far done and make it as Not-PAD as possible.”

Theno

I agree and disagree.

I think my main point of disagreement with John Seaver is that I don’t think storytelling engines are perpetual motion machines.

Sometimes they break down due to unwise tampering, but sometimes they just wear down too: Superman, Superman is hailed as the great figure of the idealized Silver Age, but I’ve seen it hemorrhage readers and energy all through the 70s and early-80s, and none of the “shock tactics” was to blame.

No, the lesson is that some concepts and characters just suck too badly for anyone to help.

Pfft. Once that was the accepted wisdom about the Titans and Animal Man and Daredevil.

What I notice is that every time somebody around here writes about Aquaman, a whole bunch of people drop by to grump about how DC’s screwed him up. One would think that at some point that would somehow translate into a bunch of people that WOULD read an Aquaman book if only DC could get it together.

I rather liked the Busiek/Guice run, myself. I wish they’d stayed with it longer.

Anyway, I never gave David’s run a fair shot, I admit it. His Atlantic Chronicles mini made me scratch my head and wonder what the fuss was all about. So using that as the basis for his Aqua-run didn’t thrill me. Atlantis is a cool back-drop for stories but I’m not interested in a series ABOUT Atlantis anymore than I’m interested in a series about Oa or Asgard or Wakanda.

I want a series about Aquaman, the super-hero from Atlantis. Simple? Me? Sure, I’ll cop to that.

1. An Aquaman solo title always features many different themes (superhero, sword & sorcery, action/adventure, political, grim & gritty outcast, etc.) and therefore really features no theme. A title needs to pick a theme and run with it. Stop changing direction every 10 issues. Develop a single artistic vision and let it run its course.

2. Aquaman has no characterization. I can read a Green Arrow book and find myself saying “that is *so* Ollie”. Same goes for Superman and Batman. They do and say things that ring true to the core of their character. I feel I know them and could predict how any of them would react to a given situation. I don’t think Arthur (or Orin or whatever) has that level of defined characterization.

I think the one universally understood aspect of Aquaman is that he’s a loser. He’s lost his kid, wife, kingdom, etc, and he’s always one of the least respected superheros on the surface world. I think it’d be fun to play this up. Rather than trying to prove he can go toe-to-toe with powerful villains, show him out of his league (no pun intended) with the JLA. Focus on him not fitting in. Nobody likes him and nobody respects him. It might get kinda Emo, but I could really imagine this having a unique voice among mainstream superhero comics.

Here in Atlantis, it’s common for people to spell dollars with “two D’s”. But don’t let that mislead you. Your money will be save… err… I mean, safe!

With me! I mean, us!

Wanting
Every
Issue
To
Really
Amaze &
Tantalize

is a recipe for hack writing.

Having no game plan and just going for shock value is what gave us such masterpieces like the Spider-Clones and all those other wonderful stories from the 90′s Hall of Shame.

It’s the reason good writers have to spend time cleaning up after bad writers. And maybe it’s the reason that writers like Shaun McLaughlin, Erik Larsen, Gerard Jones and Peter David didn’t want to work with Editors like Kevin Dooley (the guy obviously needs help with his Acronyms).

As far as Aquaman goes, everybody seems to hate on PAD’s take on the character; but nobody admits that his version is the standard by which all other versions are judged.

And the brilliance of PAD’s run, the thing that people seem to miss is that he didn’t redefine Aquaman. That’s the shortsighted interpretation. He created a Storytelling Engine called Atlantis that had over 500 years of history, culture, idiosyncrasies and political struggles. Aquaman was just a cog in that machinery.

A cog who lost his hand, granted. But as PAD has mentioned on many interviews, that was only meant to be temporary. He just never got the chance to reverse it.

And as for the Orin thing, he has stated that Tom Curry’s status was changed in order to legitimize both Aquaman’s and the Ocean Master’s (a.k.a. Orm Curry) claim to the Throne of Atlantis.

I mean, honestly… Orm was fully human, and Aquaman was half-human; without any tweaking, you’d think that the only requisite to be King Of Atlantis is not to be from Atlantis!

Hell, I just got a great idea for a new Nigerian internet scam.

Get this, if you are reading this, you could be the legitimate ruler of Atlantis! All I need is for you to send me a $500 dollard deposit in order to secure your claim to the throne and crown! Don’t hesitate! Act Now! As you may expect, other Americans may be entitled to rule Atlantis; so hurry up!

GREAT statement. This is exactly what is wrong with a lot of comics these days.

These types of tactics work in the short term, but over the long run they destroy the character and the story telling engine that helped make the character work.

They’ve always been used to some degree, but it really started getting widespread starting with the death of Gwen Stacey, then with all the emphasis on “edgy and dark” as a result of the popularity of characters like The Punisher and Wolverine, and then finally absolutely exploding during the 90′s (otherwise knows as “The Era of Absolutely Dreadful Comics”).

The cheap tactics are fine if used wisely and in great moderation, but the comics market became (and to some degree still is) completely oversaturated with this stuff.

Readers don’t need shock tactics to buy comics. All they want is good storytelling and decent art. (And dropping prices wouldn’t hurt either, although likely that isn’t possible).

And this is the lesson for today: You cannot, in the long-term, improve the status of a character by wrecking their storytelling engine. Because shock events can only happen a limited number of times before you run out of them–you can only kill so many supporting cast members before you run out, you can only play the “death card” so many times before it loses its novelty, you can only revise the origin of a character so many times before it becomes too confusing to follow. When you are done with all those shocks, you will need to fall back on the storytelling engine to sustain the series…and if it’s not there anymore, audiences might not have the patience to wait while you repair it.

No, the lesson is that some concepts and characters just suck too badly for anyone to help.

Arthur Jr was killed in Adventure Comics #452 back in 1977 when that sort of thing just didn’t happen. I didn’t see it coming and it led to a really great relaunch for Aquaman’s solo book.

Granted, it doesn’t really change your point … just wanted to say …

As for Peter David’s take on Aquaman, I’m just throwing this question out there – how much can you reimagine a character before it’s not really the character anymore? Did Peter David make Aquaman popular or did he just make Peter David’s aquatic hero with a familiar-sounding name popular?

I know how I’d answer that question … but I’m a W.E.T.R.A.T.

As I’m sure we all know by now, I adore Aquaman and would love to see him restored to his glory– that is, as the orange-shirt-wearin’, cool, confident, adventuring King of the Seas.

All he really needs is a new coat of paint, a dash of revamp (let’s just ignore the convoluted bits of his past that don’t help us anymore), and storylines filled with wild new ideas.

Hell, that’s all any superhero needs right now.

I know storytelling engine is different from character, but writers such as Grant Morrison and Priest were able to use the new Aquaman quite well.

I think Wonder Woman has the same problem, really. It’s unavoidable, when you take concepts arrived at independently and try to present them as a seamless whole; some bits are going to fit better than others.