{"id":201,"date":"2008-11-17T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2008-11-17T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/?p=201"},"modified":"2008-11-17T02:34:53","modified_gmt":"2008-11-17T06:34:53","slug":"aquaman-week-long-live-the-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/onceuponageek.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/17\/aquaman-week-long-live-the-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Aquaman Week: Long Live the King"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aquaman\"<\/a>It was bound to happen sooner or later… it’s AQUAMAN WEEK here at Once Upon a Geek! Now for all you Aqua-haters out there, please give this week a chance.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something interesting. If nothing else, hang around so you can make pithy “go talk to some fish” comments.<\/p>\n

Why I Like Aquaman…<\/h3>\n

If you’ve read my blog before, then you know I’m an Aquaman fan<\/a>.\u00a0 Why is Aquaman one of my top five favorite superheroes?\u00a0 That’s a tough question.\u00a0 I’m not sure I can really put the answer into words.\u00a0 I just like the character.\u00a0 For example, how do you answer the question, “Why does chocolate taste good?”\u00a0 It just does.\u00a0 I’ll try to quantify some of what interests me about the character, but I’m not sure it will answer the big question.<\/p>\n

First off, I like the idea of a superhero that is royalty.\u00a0 King Hero! Here is a guy that is ruler of an entire nation, and yet he’s bad ass enough to go out there and fight on the front lines to protect his subjects.\u00a0 Maybe this is a concept that is\u00a0easier understood by\u00a0British readers.\u00a0 After all, here in the United States we don’t truly understand the love that the people typically feel towards their royalty. On top of being the sovereign King of Atlantis, he’s also considered the King of the Seven Seas.\u00a0 That means while Superman protects Metropolis and Batman protects Gotham City, Aquaman has to cover the other 75% of the planet.\u00a0 That’s a pretty big jurisdiction.<\/p>\n

Second, I like Aquaman’s origin (all the various versions).\u00a0 In the Silver Age, Aquaman was the son of\u00a0an exiled Atlantean\u00a0and an air-breathing lighthouse keeper.\u00a0 I liked that Aquaman was\u00a0of two worlds.\u00a0 He belonged both above and beneath the waves, yet didn’t fully belong in either.\u00a0 Everything he earned was through his own hard work and dedication.\u00a0 The modern Aquaman was born\u00a0to Queen Atlanna and the mysterious wizard Atlan in the Atlantean city of Poseidonis.\u00a0 He was\u00a0then left for dead as an infant on Mercy Reef due to old superstitions.\u00a0 He was raised by other sea creatures and later tutored by an air-breathing lighthouse keeper.\u00a0 I like the mythical origins of Aquaman’s story.\u00a0 Go and read “Atlantis Chronicles” some time.\u00a0 It covers the origins of the undersea kingdom of Atlantis.\u00a0 Great reading!<\/p>\n

Third, I like that Aquaman is super-powered, but not overly so.\u00a0 Given the moderate level of powers he has, he seems more relatable than the mega-powered characters like Superman or Captain Marvel.\u00a0 Aquaman can get hurt and is fallible, but still powerful enough to get the job done.\u00a0 Everyone knows that Aquaman can breathe underwater and talk to fish.\u00a0 But many people don’t realize he’s super-strong (he can easily throw a car hundreds of feet), his skin is super-dense (to survive the pressures of the bottom of the ocean), he is able to swim at very high speeds, he can see in near total darkness and has enhanced hearing.\u00a0 Additionally, on a few occasions he has used his telepathic powers (that he normally uses to “talk to fish”) on human beings. He was able to affect humans with his telepathy, even to the point of making them more agreeable to his suggestions.\u00a0 Not necessarily the most moral of actions, but still a powerful demonstration of his abilities.<\/p>\n

Fourth, I like the idea of exploring the wild unknown regions of the ocean.\u00a0 There is so much about our planet that we don’t know.\u00a0 How many times have you got sucked in by\u00a0a Discovery Channel special about life in the ocean; it’s just plain fascinating.\u00a0 The ocean is a great untamed frontier and it’s Aquaman’s job to keep it in line.\u00a0 I think this was best demonstrated during the Kurt Busiek<\/a> “Sword of Atlantis” run a few years back.\u00a0 During that era, the ocean was essentially a sword-and-sorcery society.\u00a0 Very rugged and untamed like something out of Conan.<\/p>\n

Fifth, Aquaman was a family man.\u00a0 Back in the Silver Age, Aquaman had the whole extended family thing going on: Mera his wife, Arthur Jr. his infant son, Aqualad his sidekick, and Aquagirl (Aqualad’s girlfriend).\u00a0 As a parent myself, I kind of dig the idea of a family man superhero.\u00a0 … Okay, I think I should clarify that what follows is not something I “like” about Aquaman, but something that really hits home with me as a parent. … In 1977 Aquaman’s world was changed forever when the Black Manta murdered Arthur Jr<\/a>.\u00a0 Lots of horrible things have happened to superheroes in the modern age, but this ranks up there as one of the absolute worst.\u00a0 Black Manta murdered his infant son.<\/em> Let that sink in for a second.\u00a0 Reader, do you have any children, nephews or nieces?\u00a0 Just imagine what it would do to your world if those children were murdered by a man simply because he hates you.\u00a0 Holy crap.\u00a0 I know if one of my children were killed by someone intentionally, I would never recover.\u00a0 This one incident shaped the next 25+ years of Aquaman stories.\u00a0 Mera, Aquaman’s wife, was driven insane by the grief; while Aquaman became an angry, surly person.\u00a0 It was incredibly tragic and the idea still fills me with dread and rage when I think about the murder of a child in the real world.<\/p>\n

Sixth,\u00a0Aquaman is the underdog.\u00a0 Most comic readers mock him, yet at the end of the day Aquaman is still the King of the Seven Seas and\u00a0manages to save the world.\u00a0 Admittedly, he’s not always the most useful member of the Justice League.\u00a0 I think it’s fair to say that while he’s an “A-list” superhero and deserves the clout that comes from being on the Justice League, it really doesn’t make much sense for him to be on the team from a tactical point of view.\u00a0 He should probably stick to the water, air-breathing cities near the water, issues related to the ocean or the environment, and function in a political capacity as King of Atlantis (i.e. Ambassador to the United Nations).\u00a0 While most people mock him, it’s interesting that really popular writers like Peter David<\/a> and Geoff Johns<\/a> are excited about the opportunity to write him. That adds a lot to his credibility.<\/p>\n

My Earliest Memories of Aquaman…<\/h3>\n

I haven’t always been an Aqua-maniac.\u00a0 That didn’t happen until my college years.\u00a0 However, I’ve always had a mild interest in the character.\u00a0 My earliest memories of Aquaman\u00a0are from the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon. By the way, if you ever want to research the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon, you’ve got to check out Will’s Ultimate Super Friends Episode Guide<\/a>!\u00a0 What an amazing resource!<\/p>\n

There are\u00a0two Aquaman appearances in the ‘Super Friends’ cartoon\u00a0that have always stuck out in my mind.\u00a0 The first involved Aquaman suffering a terrible transformation into\u00a0some sort of shark creature.\u00a0 The second involved Aquaman being time-lost in the prehistoric era, and he figured out a plan to communicate with the modern day Super Friends.\u00a0 While preparing to write this blog post, I did some research and was able to find the actual cartoons online that I barely remember from my childhood.<\/p>\n

Here is the episode where Aquaman is transformed into the shark-like creature.\u00a0 As a child I felt sorry for\u00a0Aquaman when seeing this change.\u00a0 Aquaman was trying to protect everyone, but suffered from radiation exposure himself.\u00a0\u00a0I was also a little freaked out when I learned that Aquaman evolved from a shark creature.\u00a0 All this happens around the 5 minutes and 30 seconds mark.<\/p>\n

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Super Friends: Journey Through Inner Space<\/a> (1978)<\/p>\n

When a military jet carrying a deadly radioactive isotope crashes into the ocean, Aquaman comes to the rescue, but when he retrieves the isotope, the deadly radiation leaks through the canister and Aquaman is transformed into the primitive sea creature from which he evolved. The Super Friends capture him and with the help of a Japanese shrink ray, Superman and Wonder Woman in the Supermobile are shrunk to microscopic size to give the beast another dose of the isotope in the hopes of returning Aquaman to normal.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Here is the episode where Aquaman was trapped in the prehistoric era and figured out a way to communicate with the Super Friends in the future.\u00a0 I remember as a kid thinking his plan was brilliant; as an adult, it really doesn’t seem too feasible.\u00a0 I guess this was a sign of things to come with my interest in time travel stories.\u00a0 The scene I’m talking about\u00a0happens around the 14 minutes and 25 seconds mark.<\/p>\n

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Challenge Of The Super Friends: Time Trap (1978)<\/p>\n

Grodd supplies a time conveyor used to lure Aquaman and Apache Chief after Black Manta and Giganta into the prehistoric past. Then Green Lantern and Samurai are trapped in Camelot, and Batman and Robin in Imperial Rome. Aquaman thinks to bury his JLA communicator in the past to signal the Super Friends in the future, and Superman flies through the time barrier to rescue them. Then they confront the Legion at Sutter’s Mill in 1848.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\nWatch The Time Trap in Animation<\/a> |\u00a0\u00a0View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com<\/a><\/span><\/code><\/p>\n

Collecting the Aquaman Comic Book…<\/h3>\n

As a kid\u00a0I read a few comics here and there that featured Aquaman (Justice League of America, Crisis on Infinite Earths, etc).\u00a0 However, it was the 1986 Aquaman mini-series that was my real gateway drug into the Aquaman universe.\u00a0 The way I saw it back then, this was my chance to get in on the ground floor with a #1 issue.\u00a0 Back in the 1980’s, #1 issues were really a big deal.\u00a0 You never knew what comic was going to be the next big hit, so many of us bought almost\u00a0every #1 issue just to see if the comic was any good or would become valuable.\u00a0 On top of that, here was a character I had a mild interest in already from my ‘Super Friends’ watching days.\u00a0 So it seemed like\u00a0a win-win situation.<\/p>\n

This particular mini-series was written by the great Neal Pozner and illustrated by the amazing Craig Hamilton.\u00a0 It was a fantastic introduction for me to the Aquaman fishtank.\u00a0 It dealt with Atlantis, Vulko, Ocean Master, and magic beneath the sea.\u00a0The best known thing to come out of this mini-series was Aquaman’s camo (blue) costume.\u00a0 It didn’t stay around long, but it looked awesome!\u00a0 To this day I believe they should have kept this costume instead of returning to the orange and green.\u00a0 Years later they gave Tempest (formerly Aqualad) a modified red version of the suit in homage to its popularity.<\/p>\n

\"Aquaman<\/p>\n

While I loved the mini-series, there was no monthly book to follow.\u00a0 So my interest in Aquaman began to wane.\u00a0 There were a handful of\u00a0Aquaman Specials and mini-series to come out over the next four years.\u00a0 I picked them all up, but only the 1989 ‘Legend of Aquaman Special’\u00a0really captured my interest.\u00a0 Then in 1990 came the outstanding ‘Atlantis Chronicles’ mini-series by Peter David and Esteban Maroto.\u00a0 This was a mini-series that began in\u00a0ancient Atlantis thousands of years ago, and ended with the birth of Aquaman.<\/p>\n

Around the same time,\u00a0my good friend Ravenface had begun to collect back issues of old ‘Legion of Super-heroes’ stories.\u00a0 He would regale me with his misadventures in trying to acquire these old comics and the wacky fun of the Silver Age stories themselves. Keep in mind, back then there was no internet to order from, or trade paperbacks reprinting old stories. Ravenface’s escapades inspired me to go on a back issue quest myself, however, I needed to decide what old series\u00a0I would seek out.\u00a0 After much consideration, I decided to give old Silver Age Aquaman comic books a try.\u00a0 What a blast!\u00a0 I enjoyed the hunt and the catch of the experience!\u00a0 Those old Aquaman comics were so much fun.\u00a0 Ironically enough, the first Silver Age Aquaman comic I bought was ‘Aquaman #56’ because I liked the cover.\u00a0 Little did I know that was the last issue of the Silver Age series as it had been canceled with that issue.\u00a0 I liked the issue and continued to buy more of the Silver Age Aquaman series.\u00a0 I quickly expanded my search to include the Aquaman appearances in books such as Adventure Comics, Action Comics, and Worlds Finest.<\/p>\n

I was officially hooked on Aquaman\u00a0at that point.\u00a0 So I was in prime position to be totally jazzed when the late 1991 Aquaman monthly book started.\u00a0 I’ve been buying all related Aquaman stories since.<\/p>\n

Come back tomorrow for more Aquaman action! In the meantime, check out THE AQUAMAN SHRINE<\/a> run by the amazing cool Rob Kelly.\u00a0 It’s the best Aquaman site on the net, as well as being one of the best overall comic book blogs on the net. I’ll be plugging this site all week, so you darn well better go check it out!<\/p>\n

Tell the world about ONCE UPON A GEEK:<\/h3>