Once Upon a Geek

On Monday I featured quite a few comic book related t-shirts from my closet.  Today I’m finishing up the tour of my wardrobe by showing off my DC comics shirts.  Please feel free to share any of your favorite t-shirts you own either by commenting or via e-mail!

A great Superman t-shirt given to me by my family a couple years ago.  I really like that the “S” symbol is large.  I strongly believe the “S” on a Superman shirt should stretch across the entire chest horizontally.  Additionally, I like the “ringer” look of this shirt.  A “ringer” t-shirt typically features the jersey shirt fabric in one color, but the ribbing used for the collar and the sleeve bands are of a contrasting color.  I wear this one a lot.

A fun classic Superman style shirt I picked up in the 1990’s. I love the squinty 1940’s Superman!  The primary image above is the back of the shirt with the insert being the front left hand side.

A present from my friend Ed back in the 1990’s.  This shirt came in a cool telephone booth shaped box.

Another gift from the family.  Obviously this one was pre-stressed.

This was a clever idea for a shirt.  The primary image above is the back of the shirt, with the insert being the front left hand side.  I liked the idea of having a Daily Planet staff shirt.  The fading on the word “Staff” happened after one wash.  I was kind of bummed, but it sort of makes it look cooler.

Okay, what comic book reader in the 1990’s didn’t have a crush on Death?  I’m not talking Thanos-style, but the Death character from the Sandman comic.  She was absolutely adorable.  This 1993 shirt was the first Death shirt and was drawn by Chris Bachalo.  It’s still my favorite Death shirt.  The fading/stress on this shirt is genuine; I wore it a lot.

Here is another Death shirt.  I believe this one was done by Chris Bachalo also.

A great Death shirt from 1995 featuring a line from her first appearance.  You can clearly see the Bjork influence on the artwork at the time.

I got this Barry Allen Flash t-shirt from Target just a few months ago.  This was a pre-stressed item that looked so classic I had to get it.  Interestingly enough, if Target had waited just a few more months this wouldn’t have been “classic”, it would have been “current”.

I got this shirt in the 1990’s specifically because I thought it was awesome they made a Jay Garrick Flash t-shirt.  Additionally, this is the only comic book t-shirt I own that’s long sleeve.

A very thoughtful present from my friend Ed.  DC has never produced a t-shirt that just focuses on Firestorm, so Ed made me one!  The image is taken from a cover during Firestorm’s elemental period.  You can see the fading on this shirt is pretty severe.  I wore the heck out of it back in the mid-1990s.  Once it started fading, it became a frequent nightshirt.

Another present from a friend.  This one was a gift a couple years ago from my old college roommate, Serv.  You can see the image is a classic version of Aquaman; early 1970’s Super Friends era.  I really like the “ringer” look on this one along with the pre-faded image.

Another great classic Aquaman image; this time from the late-1970’s/early 1980’s.  The image has a little bit of pre-faded effect which suits it well.  This particular shirt was also given to me by Serv last year.  So do you think by giving me all these Aquaman shirts that Serv is trying to tell me he’s gay for me?

A white pocket t-shirt from the WB store with an embroidered Aquaman swimming out of the pocket.  I got this in the mid-1990s.  Fun!

Not truly a T-SHIRT, but still a comic book related SHIRT.  This embroidered denim shirt came from the WB store in the mid-1990s and is all kinds of awesome.  The top image is obviously the front, with the bottom image being the back.  Interesting observation, Aquaman and Green Lantern look all buddy-buddy here.  However, did Green Lantern freak out when Aquaman was killed (like he did when Martian Manhunter was killed)?  Nope.  I’m not even sure Hal has realized that Arthur kicked the bucket.  Well… Hal will know for sure soon enough.  C’mon “Blackest Night”!

This is a really fun take on superhero t-shirts.  This shirt presents the one-page origin of Batman from the earliest days of Detective Comics.  If I remember correctly, I got this shirt in a record shop in Atlanta in the mid-1990s.

This is another unusual item (and I know, not a t-shirt).  It’s a silk robe featuring the Superman “S” symbol.  If you look closely, you can see small versions of the symbol all over the fabric.  Then there is the obvious red “S” symbol on the front pocket and backside.  The robe is really pretty to look at, but somehow a silk robe just doesn’t scream manly to me.  Especially Super-manly.  Needless to say I haven’t worn it much.  But on my wife it looks hot!

Well there you go, a brief look into Shag’s closet.  Don’t forget, share your favorite comic book t-shirts if you’d like!

So my new pet theory is that Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver will give Aquaman their “Rebirth” treatment within the next few years.  I’m going to put a target date of 2013 on it simply because there was four years between “Green Lantern: Rebirth” and “Flash: Rebirth”.  With “Flash: Rebirth” coming out in 2009, four years later would be 2013.  If you do a quick Google search on “Aquaman: Rebirth”, you’ll discover I’m not the only person that has come to this conclusion.   However, since I’m “Irredeemable”, I’m going to claim the theory to be completely mine.  :)  Therefore, you heard it hear first… “Aquaman: Rebirth” shipping in 2013 by Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver!

Believe it or not, I really think this series could happen.  First off, both Johns and Sciver has publicly admitted their interest in working on Aquaman (see article snippets below).  Second, if you look at the “Big Seven” characters from the Justice League, Aquaman is the next obvious choice for them to revamp.  The “Big Seven” consist of the following: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter.  For the “Big Three” (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman), they most likely won’t be receiving a “Rebirth” style make-over anytime soon.  They’re simply too established and currently moving forward.  Johns & Sciver have already tackled Green Lantern & Flash.  That just leaves Aquaman and Martian Manhunter.  Well… Martian Manhunter is currently dead.  I’m sure DC will bring him back at some point, but he doesn’t have the rich legacy-filled history that Johns typically likes to dive into.

Maybe I’m wrong here, goodness knows most of my theories don’t pan out, but I’m putting pixel to screen on this one.  So in 2013, you may hear me shout across the inter-web, “I told you so!”

Below are the snippets from various articles showing both Geoff Johns & Ethan Van Sciver’s interest in working on Aquaman.

Ethan Van Sciver interview from Comic Book Resources…

Any other DC Characters that you’d really like to take a swing at?

Yeah, I’d like to work on Aquaman. But the only way I would do it is to take the original Aquaman and restore him. I’d want to re-present him in away that’s accessible to more fans. I really believe that all of these characters have a pure essence to them. You can go back and read the first ten issues of a character’s first appearance and then just use that [as a starting point]. If you’re going to do Batman then go back and read “Detective Comics” #27 on up for a little while and bring him back to his roots, for God’s sake.

The original intent of the creator is what I’m most interested in. So take Aquaman and just bring him back. Just straiten him out and untangle him. Give him to the audience as simply as possible and in a refined manner that people will find appealing.

And then, I always add a little touch of horror. There is always something a little scary about what I do. I believe in creepy, scary villains. I believe in dark shadows and really contrasting good and evil in my comics. Because I’m a DC Comics artist, I think that line is very definite in our books. So a character like Black Manta would be great. It would be an awful lot of fun to work on. I get shivers. I have goose-bumps right now just thinking about it. So I’d like to do an “Aquaman” book and work on our boy Arthur.

DC Nation Panel at Wizard World Chicago…

- Are we ever going to see the original Aquaman again?

At that point, Johns and Van Sciver began whispering, saying “can we say it?” Finally, Van Sciver stated, “We’d like you to refer to Blackest Night for the answer to that.”

DC Nation Panel at San Diego ComicCon…

A fan asked [Geoff] Johns what other DC books he wanted to write, with Johns rattling off a nearly-exhaustive look of titles, including “Mystery In Space” and “Aquaman”. “And he’s got proposals in for all of them,” joked DiDio.

Tell you what, I’ll meet you at the comic book shop on Wednesday in 2013 and we can buy our copies of “Aquaman: Rebirth” together.

Dude … Friggin’ Sweet!  Mattel keeps finding ways to get my money!  They are planning to put out quite possibly the coolest Aquaman figure of all time!  In 1986, there was a fantastic Aquaman mini-series by Neal Pozner and Craig Hamilton.  In this series, they gave Aquaman a new costume (supposedly designed to be underwater camouflage).  Regardless of the reasons for the new suit, the design was great.  This was a costume that looked like it belonged on a water-based hero.  While the mini-series is still fondly remembered by just about everyone, the costume did not last.  Tempest (formerly Aqualad) now wears a modified red version of this suit.  Nice job, Mattel!  As long as you keep making quality figures like these, I’ll keep buying them!

My thanks to Rob over at The Aquaman Shrine for the heads up on this new figure.  Here is the whole group of Mattel DC Universe Classics figures they showcased at San Diego Comic Con.  The Blue Beetle figure looks great!  Also, check out these awesome JSA figures from DC Direct!

Since I’ve already had a couple action figure posts this week, I thought this might make a fun one.  

These are plushes I got from the WB store back when they were still open.  Man I miss that store.  They had the coolest merchandise.  In fact, you can find two other items I got from the WB store posted on my buddy Rob’s blog, The Aquaman Shrine.  The items are a JLA winter coat and a DCU animated picture frame.  While you’re there, poke around his site.  It’s really impressive (even if you aren’t an Aquaman fan).

I’ve been trying to get my hands on two action figures lately. They came out a few months ago from Mattel in their line of DC Universe Classics (Wave 2).  This is the brand of figures that are now carried in stores like Target.  The action figure scuplts are surprisingly good for distribution in regular stores.

Personally, I’ve been trying to get a Firestorm and Aquaman figure.  You can see images of the figures here - they look great!  Unfortunately, they aren’t available anymore and are selling online for sick amounts of money.  For example, the Aquaman figure is going online for about $30, and that’s before shipping. In regard to the Firestorm figure, after weeks of bidding I actually just won an auction for one.  I mean JUST won.  When I started typing this blog entry, I was still searching for a Firestorm figure.  I happened to find an auction that actually had a somewhat reasonable price.  So I ended up paying $19 after shipping.  See what I mean, sick amounts of money for action figures.  But I gotta say that Firestorm figure looks bad ass.

Part of the reason the prices bother me is that I’m not a “mint in box” kind of collector.  I buy action figures of characters I really like, take them out of the package and display them.  If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you have probably seen a few entries where I showed off my figures, like here and here.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do about the Aquaman figure.  There is no way I’m going to spend that ludicrous amount of money on a figure, especially since I have lots of other Aquaman figures.  I’ve heard rumors that more of the Wave 2 figures will be released, so I’m going to cross my fingers they release some more Aquadude and the prices come down.

Also in that wave should be a modern-day Firestorm.  I’m looking forward to that figure too.

For all you “Aquaman” haters out there, a special request from me…  Please resist your natural instinct to simply skip reading this post.  The TV show was surprisingly good.  After reading this post, who knows… you might find yourself willing to give it a try.  C’mon, live a little!

Until the other day, I had never seen the live-action “Aquaman” failed pilot from 2006. Here was a show that conceptually should have been really bad. After all it spun-out of Smallville, was not picked up by WB/CW, and c’mon… it’s Aquaman. Let’s be realistic, even though I love the character, how good could a show be about a guy who can talk to fish, right? And if WB/CW turns you down, you know there must be issues.

The amazing thing is that it was actually pretty good. Well, at least as good as Smallville back when it was at its best. Even my wife enjoyed the pilot, expressing that she would watch further episodes if there had been any. This says a lot since she’s not a geek and typically doesn’t enjoy the same shows as me.

After seeing the Aquaman pilot, I’m surprised it didn’t get picked up by WB/CW. The formula for the show was similar to the popular Smallville: a likeable hunky hero with secret powers; a mysterious past even the hero isn’t fully aware of; lots of angsty scenes; strong supporting characters; good special effects; and beautiful women everywhere you turn. On that last note, having the show take place in the Florida Keys allows for a built-in mechanism to show girls in bikinis constantly. You’d think that would have resonated with the WB/CW execs. Even the proposed titles followed the formula; the working titles for this show were “Mercy Reef” and “Tempest Key”.

During season five of Smallville, they did an episode featuring Aquaman. Turns out that was the highest rated episode for the season. While the Aquaman pilot wasn’t exactly a spin-off from this episode of Smallville, it was inspired by it. For the Aquaman pilot, the creators kept some of the same concepts from the Smallville episode, but changed the character of A.C. around a bit and got a much better actor.

The basic premise is that A.C. (short for Arthur Curry) is able to breathe underwater, is extraordinarily strong, can sort of sense feelings from sea life (at least dolphins), and can swim at amazing speeds (we see him swimming and keeping pace with a fighter jet at one point). Though he makes efforts to protect the ocean and sea life from time to time, for the most part he’s a slacker with no direction. He’s in his late teens/early 20s and he’s passing time working in a bar and running a dive shop in Tempest Key, Florida. He’s been aware of his powers all his life, but was not aware where they stem from. By the end, he discovers that he’s an exiled Atlantean Prince and that his life will be full of danger now that his fellow Atlanteans know where to find him. He agrees to allow the local lighthouse keeper (also an exiled Atlantean) to help prepare him for the challenges to come.

There was a neat subplot hinted at in the pilot about the Bermuda Triangle and a possible connection to Atlantis. As viewers we were witness to a few people acting strangely that had apparently disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle decades ago, yet were back now and hadn’t aged a day. There was a FBI agent investigating these phenomena and he was trying to recruit a fighter pilot that A.C. had saved. Looks like this could have unfolded into an interesting plot.

The episode had a great cast. A.C. was played by Justin Hartley who later went on to star in Smallville as Oliver Queen (a.k.a. Green Arrow). Hartley really did an great job in all his scenes. Whether he was swimming underwater or above the surface, you could feel a connection with him. He was just as good as Tom Welling (Clark Kent in Smallville), if not better. A.C.’s adopted father was played by Lou Diamond Phillips; the lighthouse keeper and mentor was played by Ving Rhames; his best friend/co-worker was played by Amber McDonald; the investigating FBI agent was played by Rick Peters; and a potential love interest/fighter pilot was played by Denise Quiñones.

They did a good job drawing in elements of Aquaman’s comic book origin, while creating a new and fresh story. The writers of the show obviously cherry-picked the bits of Aquaman’s various comic book origins they wanted to use. For example:

• In the show, A.C. (as an infant) and his mother were found on Mercy Reef lost and with no identification. They were found by Tom Curry, Coast Guard Officer.
• In the silver age comic book origin, Aquaman’s mother was found by Tom Curry, lighthouse keeper. In the modern age comic book origin, Aquaman was left to die by the Atlanteans on Mercy Reef.

• In the show, A.C.’s mother was secretly the exiled Queen of Atlantis and he was the Prince. Eventually, Tom and A.C.’s mother are married, while Tom adopts A.C.. Later in life, the local lighthouse keeper agrees to mentor A.C. and help develop his abilities.
• In the silver age comic, Aquaman’s mother was also the exiled Queen of Atlantis. Tom and Aquaman’s mother do eventually marry and their offspring is Aquaman. In the modern day origin, a teenage Aquaman meets a lighthouse keeper who educates him in the ways of the surface world. This lighthouse keeper is named Arthur Curry.

One of the things I’ve always liked about Smallville is how Clark is always dressed in red and blue. This is done to provide almost a future echo to the viewers as the colors represent Superman’s costume. The same was done here with A.C. He’s always wearing green and orange. I know it’s a bit corny, but I love these kinds of comic book nods.

Funny aside… while the credits were rolling on Aquaman, my wife noticed the name Patrick A Duffy as a First Assistant Director. Well, if you know your Aquaman history, Patrick Duffy (from eventual “Dallas” fame) played in a TV show called “Man from Atlantis” which was basically a live action Aquaman TV show in the 1970s. Turns out the Patrick A. Duffy from the Aquaman pilot is a different guy than the Patrick Duffy from “Man from Atlantis”. Oh well. It still gave us a chuckle to think he would have been involved in this production.

Interestingly enough, the creators of the Aquaman pilot felt so strongly about it (even after being turned down by WB/CW) they released it via the web. It premiered on iTunes and was the most downloaded TV show for over a week. Additionally, it’s been released through other online platforms and done extremely well with those too. Pretty impressive for a guy who can talk to fish.

While there are no plans to pick up this show or concept again, it really merits watching. You can find it through a number of various methods. If you are a comics fan or ever enjoyed watching an episode of Smallville, I urge you to give this a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Watch the YouTube video below for a really funny Aquaman song by Ookla the Mok.  By the way, that is the coolest name for a band ever!  The video is mostly made up of clips from the failed Aquaman TV show pilot, however, I’m all about the lyrics of the song.

If you are unable to view the embedded video, click here.

One of my all-time favorite Aquaman scenes comes from Aquaman #50, 1970.  The scene features Aquaman swimming through a jumbled telepathic mess.  However, if you look closely the jumbled mess is actually the names of several of the various creators that have worked on the character over the years.  My buddy Ravenface and I would pour over this panel picking out the names we knew.  We loved saying “Gi-Or-Dan-O” in a warped, warbly voice that matched the lettering of his name in the panel.

Rob over at the fantastic Aquaman Shrine recently did a blog on this issue and included my favorite panel (see below).  Stop by the Aquaman Shrine and check out Rob’s thoughts on this issue.

Great job with the site, Rob!  Keep up the excellent work!  And remember, “Gi-Or-Dan-O”!

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.  Shag’s doing a post on “Aquaman“.  <<insert lame “talking to fish” joke here>>  Now that you’ve got that out of your system, let’s get down to it.  Wanting to write this VERY lengthy post is what actually fueled my drive to create ONCE UPON A GEEK.  I wanted a place where I could post something this insanely long without feeling like I had overstepped my posting boundaries. 

I wanted to stand up for one of the most under-rated periods of Aquaman’s 67 year publishing history.  Specifically, the “Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis” run.  Initially, I was a very vocal opponent of this run.  However, in all fairness, I had only read the first issue or so.  And honestly, I didn’t really “get” what they were trying to accomplish.  So like everyone else, I bad-mouthed the book.  I recently took the time to read the entire “Sword of Atlantis” run, issues #40-57.  I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this book… well, at least the first half of the run.  We’ll get into the second half in just a second.

To give you some background…

Aquaman has certainly gone through a lot of bad periods.  However, one of the worst in my opinion had to be from 2003 - 2004.  This would be the period by Rick Veitch who sought to take Aquaman in a more mystical direction.  While an interesting idea, it really wasn’t received well by the fans.  Surprisingly, in 2004 things turned around dramatically when writer Will Pfeifer came on board (and later John Arcudi).  They really took Aquaman back to basics.  Gone were the mysticism, the scruffy half-naked look, and the over-the-top anger.  What remained was a solid superhero comic that just happened to take place underwater.  It was somewhat reminiscent of the popular and enjoyable 1960’s Aquaman series, but with modern day sensibilities and storytelling. 

During this run (issues #15-39), a portion of San Diego plunged into the Pacific Ocean.  Through a series of circumstances, the residents in those portions of San Diego survived and adapted to water-breathing.  This underwater city was re-named “Sub Diego“.  This setting created a really interesting backdrop for Aquaman’s adventures as he essentially became the hero of this town.  Also during this run, Aquaman acquired a new sidekick, Aquagirl.  Finally, Aquaman’s long-estranged wife Mera also returned to the series.  All-in-all, this was the best the Aquaman comic had been since the departure of Peter David.

Apparently the whole “Sub Diego” storyline didn’t drive sales of the book high enough for DC’s liking.  So in 2006, DC was on the verge of cancelling the monthly Aquaman title.  That was until Kurt Busiek came forward with a proposal for Aquaman.  If you don’t know Kurt Busiek, he is a well-respected comic writer with some great credits to his name: Marvels, Astro City, Thunderbolts, Avengers, Iron Man, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA/Avengers, Superman, and Conan (for Dark Horse), just to name a few. 

Kurt had this original idea to turn the Aquaman series into a sword & sorcery book.  Let me be fair and mention that traditionally, I loathe sword & sorcery stuff.  I just have no interest in fantasy (yes, even Lord of the Rings).  Now Kurt had some experience in this genre writing the very popular Conan series for Dark Horse.  DC decided to let Kurt go forward with this concept, thus saving the Aquaman series from cancellation.  It was conveniently timed with the “One Year Later” storyline DC was putting together.  In this storyline, all their mainstream superhero comics shifted forward one year, leaving the reader to wonder what happened during that missing year.  In the case of Aquaman, Kurt’s plan was to follow a new character rather than the original character of Aquaman (a.k.a. Arthur Curry or Orin).

Enough background.  On with Shag’s initial thoughts on “Sword of Atlantis”… 

So in early 2006, the first issue of the “Sword of Atlantis” run (issue #40) hits the stands as part of the “One Year Later” storyline.   It was a tremendous flop.  There was an angry outcry from Aquaman fans, and the non-Aquaman fans just didn’t care enough to pick it up.  During the issue we’re introduced to a young water-breathing man coincidentally named Arthur Curry (for the sake of distinction, we’ll just call him “Arthur” going forward).  This Arthur is not the original Aquaman (for the sake of distinction, we’ll just call the original Aquaman … well “Aquaman” going forward) that we saw just published last month in issue #39 which actually took place a year earlier.  This Arthur Curry is younger, looks slightly different, doesn’t go by the name Aquaman, and has an entirely different background.  Well… entirely different background as compared to the Post-Crisis Aquaman origin.  In fact, this new Arthur’s background is very reminiscent of the Golden Age Aquaman’s origin, as well as the origin of the Golden Age hero Neptune Perkins.  Nothing really to read into here, just a nice nod to the Golden Age. 

By the end of this first “Sword of Atlantis” issue, Arthur is wearing a fantasy-based version of Aquaman’s costume and carrying a sword made from coral.  Umm… okay, I guess.   We’re also introduced to a new supporting cast, including the Dweller of the Depths (a Pirates of the Caribbean Davy Jones-looking character) and King Shark (an old Superboy villain).  It’s also worth mentioning that the art in this issue was provided by Butch Guice and colors by Dan Brown.  Upon first glance to me, the art and coloring just looked really muddy and indistinct.

To sum up for the listeners at home… My opinion at first is that this brand-spanking new direction for Aquaman features: a new lead character (that just looks to be a bad mimeograph copy of the original), a Pirates of the Caribbean knock-off, a talking half-man/half-shark (whose name is NOT Cobra McPunch), really messy art, and a shift from superheroics to sword & sorcery.  Hmmm… sounds like a formula for suckage to me at this point. 

I really didn’t like this issue the first time I read it.  In fact, I was one of the fanboys yelling how crappy the comic was (regardless of how good Kurt Busiek had been in the past on other books).  I had a really hard time with the dramatic changes after really enjoying the Sub Diego period as much as I did.  I continued to buy the comic (because I will always support an Aquaman book).  However, I was so underwhelmed, these issues just sat there unread for about two years.  In fact, by the time I finally got around to reading them the series had already been cancelled at issue #57.

Shag’s opinion after re-reading the first issue ….

After the dust had collected almost too thick to see through, I finally got up the nerve to sit down and read these issues.  I will be the first to admit that my first impressions were wrong.  Boy was I wrong.  Kurt Busiek’s run on Aquaman was really great!  This time I “got” it.  I had to let go of my preconceived superhero comic notions; let go of the Aquaman I had always known; and give sword & sorcery a try.  As I mentioned before, I’ve never really been a big fan of sword & sorcery, but it really worked for me here.  I think I just had to look at this book differently.  There is a fine history between sword & sorcery and comic books; such as Conan, Red Sonja, Claw the Unconquered, and Tor.  Kurt Busiek had recreated that flavor here in Aquaman, one of the most unlikely places.

From Wikipedia:

Sword and sorcery is a fantasy subgenre generally characterized by swashbuckling heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus mainly on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters.

That is a great description for this series.  Here was the sword-wielding Arthur battling creatures and mer-people, all the while being the reluctant hero.  Women pass into and out of his life.  And the Dweller of the Depths is his magical mentor, while Arthur’s partner is the human/shark hybrid King Shark (son of The God of All Sharks).  Also, the majority of the plot was driven by quests and small personal stories (like searching for Arthur’s father, learning from the Dweller of the Depths, and talking with the ghost of Vulko).

Remember how I said I thought the art and coloring looked muddy and indistinct?  I was an idiot.  Admittedly, the colors are of a darker palate, but that’s on purpose.  This is the bottom of the ocean and sunlight doesn’t really reach this far down.  Murky is actually the perfect word to describe the bottom of the ocean and the excellent color choices for this book.  And the art.  THE ART!  Brilliant!  I was a fool, why didn’t I see it before?  The art style of this book was purposefully emulating the old sword & sorcery comics.  This was Joe Kubert’s Tor art style reincarnated, with a tip of the hat to Barry Windsor-Smith’s Conan style.  Without the perspective of the past, I think it’s very hard to appreciate Butch Guice’s art on this series.

Overall, I felt Kurt Busiek and Butch Guice created a great sword & sorcery comic.  They also threw in some DC Universe continuity items without really breaking the sword & sorcery mold.  Issues #40 - 49 contained some really great things like: the rag-tag survivors of Atlantis led by Mera, great sword fights, the Windward Home (an enormous gothic-looking house floating on the ocean that housed the Sea Devils, the aged Golden Age hero Red Torpedo, the widow of the Silver Age hero Prince Ra-Man, and the ghost of Vulko), Ocean Master, a flashback story featuring the original Aquaman, a cool reinterpretation of the Fisherman, and the eventual realization that the Dweller of the Depths is actually the original Aquaman horribly transformed.

You can get issues #40-45 in the trade paperback “Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis“.  If you are interested, your local comic shop should be able to order it for you.

Issues #50 - 57 of Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis…

Unfortunately, I can not speak as favorably about the following issues of the “Sword of Atlantis” run.  These were written by Tad Williams and drawn by Shawn McManus.  While Tad is an accomplished fantasy writer, I feel this run really never found its legs. To me it seemed confused as to whether it was a superhero comic or a sword & sorcery comic.  Obviously Tad did his research because there were many nods to various eras of Aquaman.  In Tad’s run we saw the return of: Tempest, the denizens of Sub Diego, Cal Durham (a supporting character that hadn’t been unused for 25 years), a reimagined Topo the Octopus, Koryak (Aquaman’s illegitimate son), Aquagirl, and Black Manta.  We also got some new developments, such as the Deep Church of Dyss, the Clownfish, and the fact that a piece of Aquaman’s soul resides in Arthur.  Again, even with some interesting ideas, the comics never really came together for me.

In my opinion, Shawn McManus’ art on this run was not his best work either.  I’m a HUGE fan of his and think his Doctor Fate series is one of the best drawn comics of the late 80’s/early 90’s.  Unfortunately, I just wasn’t feeling it here.

After the cancellation…

Since the cancellation of the Aquaman book, the new Arthur has appeared in a few places.  He was in a Batman & the Outsiders mini-series, as well as an issue of Superman/Batman.  In both cases, he remained the sword & sorcery character and was handled well.  Rumor is that DC has plans for Aquaman in the near future, so my hope is they find a way to make the sword & sorcery Arthur a viable character (rather than just re-writing him and returning him to the “classic” Aquaman).

In conclusion…

I feel like I owe Kurt Busiek and Butch Guice an apology for my initial reaction to their “Sword of Atlantis” run.  This really was a great comic and I’d recommend it to anyone willing to take a chance on a sword and sorcery comic.

Thanks for your time.