Aquaman / Plastic Man Shirt - 1996

This unusual, inescapably cool WB store shirt somehow slipped my grasp back when I could've bought it. Thankfully F.O.A.M. member Rick Phillips sent me some photos of it to post here (he used it over on his Plastic Man blog, Plastic Man Platitudes).

Why and how anyone at Warner Bros. came up with the solidly non-commerical idea just to put Aquaman and Plastic Man on a shirt, I don't know, but its sheer oddness makes it one of my favorite items the WB stores ever sold.

The Aquaman pose is pure Garcia Lopez stock art, the Plastic Man shot I'm not so sure. There's a certain amount of distortion of style when art is transposed to thread, so I don't know. In any case, Plas coming out of the pocket is perfect.

Thanks Rick!

DC Super Friends Cup - 2008

This cup was my end of a swell trade I did with founding F.O.A.M. member Chris Franklin. I sent Chris a few of the Super Jrs. paper plates I had, and he sent me this sturdy drinking cup, featuring the stars of the new DC Super Friends toy line.

All the heroes are represented (Flash and Green Lantern are not pictured, but they're there), but with like most of the DC Super Friends merch I've seen, Batman takes the lead.

I'm glad to see Aquaman is included on all this toddler-centric stuff. It's the best way to ensure there's a new generation of F.O.A.M. members...

Thanks Chris!

Aquaman #56 Ad - 1971

This as isn't one of DC's all-time best, but it ain't too bad, all in all.

It helps that this ad happens to be promoting two excellent series, Aquaman and Son of Tomahawk, who for my money were firing on all thrusters around this time. Plus both covers (by Joe Kubert and Nick Cardy, respectively) are eye-catching.

Interesting(?) to note, somewhere along the way, the "The Creature That Devoured Detroit!" title text got re-oriented, presumably to make it easier to read:

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Ok, we all remember this:

...when last we left this story, I contacted the president of the company making this hoodie (80s Tees.com), who was very nice but told me they would have to get between 150-200 pre-orders of this shirt for it to be put back into production.

Last Wednesday, I asked for a virtual headcount, and we got a total of 17 orders. While that's a great start, obviously it's not enough. I didn't know what to do.

Luckily, our newest F.O.A.M. member Eric Stettmeier stepped up to the plate, and created a place where all potential orders--not just from people who happen to come here--can, with just a few clicks, state they want to order one of these babies.

Eric's belief, and I agreed, is that if there was one, easy-to-use-and-find location for everyone to "sign up", it would help increase orders. So if you or anyone you know might want one of these beauties, head over to the page Eric created called It's A Cold Day In Atlantis and make your voice heard!

Thanks Eric!!

Chilean Super Friends Stamp Album, Part 1 - 1982

This is one page (of a few) of a Super Friends sticker/stamp album sent to me by a F.O.A.M. member whose name I've misplaced (I'm a little embarrassed by that; I've since come up with a better way of keeping track of such things, so if you're the one who sent these to me, clue me in so I can give you proper credit!).

These stickers use much softer, more painterly coloring, which I think gives them a nice, unusual look.

In addition, this page features Aquaman, Aqualad, and Mera (sadly not stickered in place), so it's a very Aqua-centric page!

Anybody know who or what "Los Gemelos Fantasticos" is?


Update: Darlin' Tracy, who knows a little Spanish, figured it out for me--"Wonder Twins."

Update 2: Based on a comment left by a reader named Sergio, I have corrected my original post. These stickers were Super Friends-based, not Super Powers toy line-based, as I had originally said. Thanks Sergio for setting me straight!
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Thanks to F.O.A.M.er John Lijewski III, here are some more photos of the Aquaman Brave and the Bold figures, including Black Manta and an Aquaman variant:

...between the Brave and the Bold, DC Universe, DC Universe Classics, and DC Super Friends toy lines, Aquaman is going to have a huge presence in toy aisles in 2009.

Thanks John!

Breaking News - SDCC, Part 2

More breaking action figure news from the San Diego Comic Con!

Pioneer F.O.A.M. member Chris Franklin pointed out to me that Action Figure Insider is running photos of the new Brave and the Bold action figures, to tie-in with the new cartoon series.

And along with Batman and some alien baddie, is Aquaman!:

...I dunno, I like that beard. He looks like like Richard Burton in Camelot.

Thanks for the tip Chris!

Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #115 - Oct. 1968

Comics Weekend How could any kid--or adult for that matter--turn down a comic book with a cover like this?

To me, this is what comics are all about--a gripping image, superbly rendered (in the penciling and inking by Neal Adams, and also the coloring, which is equally superb), tantalizing the reader, daring you not to pick the book up. "Yeah, kid, go ahead--go buy one of those lousy Marvels. Then you'll never know the awesome story behind this cover!"

When I saw this comic (I think online a few months ago, perhaps over at the fun DC Comics 40 Years Ago blog) I absolutely knew I had to have it. A few short eBay clicks later, I did.

I also knew that no story, but no story, would ever live up to this cover. There could be a heretofore unreleased chapter of Watchmen in between these covers and it still wouldn't be enough.

Have I said enough about the cover?

Anyway, a few weeks ago, the book arrived, and I set down to reading. As good as the cover is (ok, I'll stop) it does have an intriguing splash page, just as crazy, in its own way, as the cover:

The story opens with cub reporter Jimmy Olsen covering the maiden voyage of a new atomic sub, the U.S.S. Mako (named after famed character actor Mako, he of Conan The Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer).

While there, Jimmy meets an old sea captain, named Bane(!), who builds model ships. Jimmy marvels at how good they are, none more so than the ones inside glass cases. Captain Bane tells him those are his masterpieces, and are not for sale.

After Jimmy leaves, a wicked grin comes across Bane's face, and he talks of completing his newest masterpiece. He picks up a wooden replica of a sub, and suddenly, the Mako is caught in a whirpool, spinning madly out of control!

As the sailors try and take control of their sub, Jimmy jumps into the water, signaling Superman in the process. He sees that the sub has sunk to the bottom of the sea, but...suddenly, a school of eels show up, and turn themselves into a quasi "ladder" the sailors use to climb to the surface! Who could've dreamt up this plan?

Why, it's Aquaman, of course:

Aquaman then commands a school of pufferfish to get beneath the sub, inflate, and rise it to the surface!

Captain Bane watches from the shore, mad as all heck. He then hatches a plan to "get rid of that meddling Aquaman", and he'll use Superman to do it!

He goes to the edge of the shore, and waves his arms, seemingly making a giant whale attack Jimmy, who is floating in his rubber raft!

Jimmy does the old Pinocchio bit, and it swallowed whole. While inside, he turns on his lantern and sees a stone with several inscriptions on it. But before Jimmy can read them, the whale shoots him out its mouth.

Jimmy then sees that he can breathe underwater, and swim at tremendous speeds! He's just like Aquaman! On to Mera!

No, wait...Jimmy arrives on shore, and starts using his newfound powers to do some good, like helping an aircraft carrier caught in some sea junk. Superman arrives, and he and Aquaman take notice of Jimmy's powers:

...Superman takes a cheap shot about Aquaman's missing wife, and for some reason Aquaman agrees to compete against Jimmy to test each of their powers.

He takes them to the desert (cue the cover!) and leaves them alone for 55 minutes, seeing which one outlasts the other. Jeez, is this an Imaginary Tale? Why is Superman being such a jerk?

(Pause)

I looked all over, no indication this is an Imaginary Tale. Nope, this is canon.

Anyway, Jimmy ends up drinking the moisture left from Superman's boot prints in the sand to give him enough strength to survive...thereby besting Aquaman!

Aquaman, though, appears to be dead, and he is given a sea-faring funeral, complete with giant sea-shell coffin. Jimmy swears to try and replace Aquaman, and Superman mocks him, calling him a "puny mortal."

Its only this--and not everything leading up to it--that tips Jimmy off, and "Superman" reveals himself to the shape-shifting Captain Bane, who, you have to admit, has some pretty amazing powers.

Turns out Bane is actually Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, who explains he has been using his magic powers for years to create all kinds of sea-going trouble. When Jimmy tries to use his powers to command the creatures of the sea, Bane removes them!

Then, an ocean liner called the Seagull approaches, and Bane creates a reef for it to smash into! Just then:

The real Superman has finally arrived! Now things are gonna really get interesting!

So, next:

Wait a minute...what? Is this story continued on later pages, like those maddening articles in Rolling Stone?

Nope--I've just realized my copy of this book is missing the middle four pages--the centerfold--something the eBay seller either forgot to mention, or went out their way to not to (probably the former, they've been really solid other than this).

So...I have no idea how this story ends! Oh, cruel fate! Anyone have their own copy of this book, and can let me know how it ends?

Even with the missing pages, I'm still glad I got this book--its a fun, crazy story, written by Leo Dorfman and drawn by Pete Costanza, totally entertaining and has Aquaman doing lots of Aqua-stuff.

Before we sign off, let's look at the cover again, this time as big as possible:

Breaking News - SDCC

Sometimes I feel like Batman in that one scene in Kingdom Come, where we see him in front of a bank of monitors in the Batcave, communicating with his legion of agents, all reporting information to him.

Within the space of about an hour today, I got emails from various F.O.A.M. members, all with info about Aquaman that's debuting at the San Diego Comic Con, saving me the effort to have to look for this stuff myself. You guys rock!

I got several photos like this from F.O.A.M.ers Doug Zawisza and Joe Huber :

...apparently DC is doing a Camo Suit Aquaman for their DC Universe line. Wow! This storyline is supposedly "out of continuity", and yet we've got an action figure for it. Amazing.

I got a tantalizing list of upcoming action figures from F.O.A.M.er Charles Howell, which include a Brave and the Bold tie-in line that includes Aquaman and Black Manta, a Black Manta for the JLU line, and an Aquaman for the brand-new DC Universe Classics line. Looks there's going to be a lot orange and green at your local toy aisles, very soon.

And speaking of Brave and the Bold, they premiered a trailer of the new B&B cartoon at the con. Even though Aquaman is not shown, with shots like these:

...if the show is anywhere near as fun as it looks, I'll plant myself in front of the TV every Saturday morning to watch it.

Thanks everybody!

Adventures in The DC Universe #15 - June 1998

Comics Weekend Aquaman returns to Adventures in the DC Universe!

This issue was Aquaman's second, and last, solo outing in the fun, all-too-short-lived omnibus title. It was aimed primarily at kids (featuring, for the most part, John Delaney's cartoony art).

I thought the book did a pretty good job at that--the stories were fun, fast-paced, and for the most part had the heroes being brave and virtuous, without all the emotional turmoil that goes on in the regular titles.

Anyway, the first story stars Captain Marvel (or Shazam!, as Marvel's lawyers insist) in a story called "Out of the Dark Cloud"--but that's for the awesome Marvel Family blog, we're here to talk about Aquaman!

Aquaman stars in "Battle Royal" by Steve Vance, Delaney, and Dave Cooper. We find Aquaman bored out of his long-tressed skull as he deals with the soul-crushing minutiae of running an empire:

Aquaman gets so bored he takes off, leaving Vulko to handle all the technical stuff. Thanks, pal.

He aimlessly wanders the seas, and feels subtly drawn to a dark cavern he happens by. He wanders in, which sucks him into a vortex, and he comes out the other side, only to see a gang of lizard-like creatures attacking a castle.

He assesses the situation, but hesitates before jumping in fists first:

He gets blasted through the wall of the castle, where he meets a princess who seems to know him, as she calls him "Arthur." Turns out she summoned him here to defend her, since the knights he saw fighting off the intruders are just empty suits animated by magic. Magic?

Turns out this woman is Viviane, aka The Lady of the Lake. She talks of a sacred trust that must be bestowed...until she is interrupted:

Yep, it's Morgan Le Fay, who claims ownership of the sword.

What sword?, Aquaman wonders--oh, it's just Excalibur!

He reaches for the sword, only to be stopped by the lizard men. They are shocked to learn he can talk--Morgan told them "fleshy ones only grunted."

Aquaman convinces these guys they're being manipulated by Morgan, who pleasantly beg off and decide this is between them. Nice fellas!

While Morgan fights with Viviane, Aquaman grabs Excalibur, which he uses to fight off her magic powers. He then grabs onto her using his grappling hook hand, and she shape-shifts into a crow, flying out of the water and dumping Aquaman on land.

It's here he meets none other than King Arthur, who comments that he is happy to hear his subject's petty complaints, because that means his people have time for them, and not worrying about war, famine, and death.

Aquaman realizes the error of his ways, but hangs around long enough to see Viviane hand Arthur the mighty Excalibur. Vivaine then sends Aquaman back to his own time, and this time, Arthur is happy to be the King. The end.

A really fun tale, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And even though this was around Aquaman's angriest phase, here he's dynamic, thoughtful, and fun. I think I could've read an entire Aquaman series by Vance and Delaney if they had all been this good.

Aqua-Mail

It's time for another installment of Aqua-Mail!

Like I mentioned the first time I did an Aqua-Mail segment, I get sent lots of stuff related to the Sea King.

Some of it is merchandise, but a lot of it is weird little mentions of Aquaman in the culture, which to me only serves to underscore the point of this blog, that Aquaman is quite literally everywhere.

So let's start with three submissions from F.O.A.M. member Tommy, who runs the uber-cool Bat-Blog site. First are two gag cartoons from the online strip Savage Chickens:

...I don't see Christopher Walken as Aquaman, myself. Maybe if they make a Shade: The Changing Man movie...

Tommy also found this item for sale:

...while I appreciate the, er, enthusiasm for the character that any woman wearing this shirt would have to have, I don't think this is an Officially Licensed Product.

And then there's this, from a link Tommy sent me:

...this AquaSimpson is from the blog Springfield Punx, which features all kinds of characters if they lived in Springfield drawn, by artist Dean Fraser. Absolutely spot-on, I can only hope Matt Groening checks out Dean's site.

Next is another comic strip appearance for Aquaman, this one sent to me by F.O.A.M.er John Lijewski III from the comic strip known as Evil, Inc.:

...I like the little tow-headed tyke in the last panel.

Aquaman makes yet another online comic strip appearance, this one sent to me by F.O.A.M. member Shag Matthews:

When I see this strip, it makes me think of Aquaman's appearance in that DC Challenge mini-series from the 80s. Am I weird?

F.O.A.M. member Russell Burbage sends me all kinds of fun stuff, and not just for the Aquaman Shrine; he is extraordinarily generous and a lot of the time, he doesn't even tell me something's on its way! I'll open my mailbox and I'll see a package usually decorated with something like this:

...it brightens my day, every time. And no matter what heroes Russell's chooses to decorate his packages, Aquaman is always included.

F.O.A.M. member Brian Heiler (of the awesome blog Plaid Stallions) sent me this item a while ago, it's a little game he plays with his son to help teach him writing and spelling:

...I love Aquaman's quizzical look. Man, I wish my Dad had done stuff like this when I was a kid.

A few months ago, I found this curious headline over at the political blog Talking Points Memo:

It's a satirical piece (as if you couldn't tell that already) wherein the author throws in "Aqua-Man" among a list of pop culture references.

Turns out he's confusing Aquaman with Sub-Mariner ("Rasmussen Reports, which polled on a yet wider range of subjects has determined that Marvel Comics superhero Aqua-Man") but luckily someone in the comments section sets him straight.

This striking photo was something I found over at the blog Occasional Superheroine:

...there are more pictures like this, so instead of me explaining it, just head over there (direct link to the post above) and read all about it. It's pretty cool.

Finally, I thought I'd mention that Aquaman scribe and Friend of the Shrine Paul Kupperberg now has his own blog, called And Then I Wrote..., featuring some writings and random thoughts by Paul.

Paul's been a great friend to me personally, and to the Shrine, and I'm glad to see he's joined us all here on the web. So go check it out!





This concludes our latest rummaging through the Aqua-Mailbag, and, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of you AquaFans, it won't be the last. Thanks everybody!

Aquaman Poster - 1992

One last thing re: the fourth Aquaman solo series we wrapped up over the weekend.

DC didn't do a lot of merchandising or promotion for the fourth Aquaman solo series, the lone example being this promo poster culled from Kevin Maguire's cover to the first issue.

While its drawn beautifully, its an odd image for a poster, and the type at the bottom right is virtually unreadable.

*sigh*
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Last week I posted this pic:

...just today I got an email from F.O.A.M.er John Lijewski III concerning this hoodie. Apparently John pre-ordered one, but was told that "due to lack of demand" the shirt is not being produced. Great Neptune!

I don't know how many orders it might take for the company (80s Tees.com) to change their mind, but for those of us out there who wanted one, this might be the time to write company president Kevin Stecko and ask him to reconsider. Maybe if enough Aqua Fans write in, they'll change their mind!

Thanks for the tip John!

Update: I traded emails with Kevin, and while he didn't say they had any plans to reconsider, they also didn't say they wouldn't, you know? So if you're really interested in purchasing this item, leave a comment indicating such here. Then I'll total them all up, and email Kevin and see if that's enough for his company to reconsider.

Gerry Conway on Aquaman - 2008

I normally would never repeat content from one blog to another, but today over at my JLA Satellite blog, I have an interview with legendary comics writer--and longtime JLA scribe--Gerry Conway.

At this point on the blog, we're at the moment where Aquaman dissolved the original League and formed a new team, which came to be known unofficially as JLA Detroit.

Gerry was a lot of fun and easy to talk to, and I think it stands as one of the best interviews I've done for any of my blogs. And since the formation of the new JLA remains one of the most important moments in Aquaman's checkered publishing history, I thought I'd post the Aquaman-centric part of the interview here:

JLA Satellite: I specifically wanted to ask about Aquaman, because this [JLA Detroit] was a big moment in the character's history. Here was a character not in the book that much, and here he is taking the reins and taking charge.

When you were scoping out the plans for changing the book, was Aquaman someone you wanted to write more of, and this was the way to do it, or was it more of, "Hey, I have this idea to rejigger the team, and this character, because he's not appearing anywhere else right now, would be the most logical candidate"?

Gerry Conway: Yeah, it was that.

The goal was to have a group of characters who could relate to each other, specifically in this title, and we could do continuity within this title. That's why I started focusing on Red Tornado, say, and Zatanna, for story lines before this because they didn't have series anywhere else. And it made it easier to develop personal conflicts and personal storylines.

It was hard to get conflict between Superman and Batman if they don't have that conflict outside the book.

JLA Satellite: Looking back over your run, I was reminded how much of Red Tornado's story you built up in JLA--you developed his relationship with Kathy, you introduced the orphan girl, his adopted daughter Traya; a lot of the stuff that people would use when they were writing Red Tornado. So I wondered if you were looking to do that for Aquaman.

GC: I really like Aquaman, I really loved the Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo run in the 60s. I thought what they were doing was just awesome.

So I thought he had a lot of potential, it's just at that time--it really makes no sense for an ocean-based character to lead a team that's based on a lake.

JLA Satellite: [laughs]

GC: You know, if you think about it, it's really dumb, but hey! It seemed like a good idea at the time.

If I had to do over again, and I thought about it the way people think about it today, I would've picked a character like Martian Manhunter, but he wasn't as interesting a character as he would become later on.

JLA Satellite: You did that two or three-parter, where Aquaman goes to look for Mera [JLA #'s 241-243], and he quits! He finally says, you know, I need to be with my wife and I'm gonna leave.

That was very abrupt, because he sort of burnt a lot of bridges with this group, saying "You need to have commitment, commitment", dragged them all the way out to Detroit, and then goes "Naah, I'm gonna leave."

I look back on that and realize that was probably wasn't necessarily something that was your idea, because they had the [1986 Aquaman] mini-series...

GC: At that point, I was being told what to do. My autonomy on the book--whenever I had any--probably ended around the time I left the book that first time, and after that I was basically trying to manage my way within the DC system.

I don't think [Aquaman leaving] would've been my goal, leaving a group he had brought together.

JLA Satellite: [laughs] Yeah, I have to say, when I read those issues, I was fourteen or fifteen, I was really mad--"Gerry, you've made Aquaman a big jerk!"

But they had that Neal Pozner mini-series that I really loved, just a few months later, and I eventually I figured, oh, okay, this was probably some edict from DC, saying, we gotta get him out of this book.

When you're a kid, you tend to think the writer and artist are running everything, you think everyone is Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, totally running the show. Later on, you go, ok, I see what's going on.

GC: Nowadays they coordinate things a lot more, and I think it works a lot better. But back then you had a very weak management team at the top of things, and you had editors that have never done this kind of work before.


...Gerry and I talked for quite a while (and I even emailed him some follow up questions), so I showed him mercy and only asked him a tiny fraction of all the stuff I wanted to. He was a very good sport.

So please head over to the JLA Satellite blog to read the rest of the interview, and check out Gerry's blog, Conway's Corner, to read more from the man himself!

Aquaman & Ambush Bug - 1992

In honor of the Bug's return to the DCU tomorrow, here is the one and only time he and Aquaman met, in the 1992 Ambush Bug Nothing Special Special.

I loved Ambush Bug right from the beginning, and bought every comic he appeared in. I felt that the stories started drifting from funny and weird to just plain weird after a while, but since most comics take themselves so seriously, the Bug making fun of every sacred cow in comics was still too good to pass up.

Generally, AB goofed either on Big Three, or on the most obscure denizens of the DCU, like Egg Fu or Binky--he generally left the mid-level heroes, like Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc., alone.

But here the Bug tries to communicate with DC's King of the Seven Seas, and runs into typical Bug-like problems, courtesy Keith Giffen and Robert Loren Fleming.

*Pop!*

Aquaman Shrine Interview with Shaun McLaughlin

One of the nicest side benefits of doing this blog is having the opportunity to go back and re-read comics I haven't perused in a long time, since often I discover things I missed the first time around.

That was the case for the fourth Aquaman solo series, which ran only for a year but definitely contained some fine moments with the King of the Seven Seas.

The man responsible for those moments, and every single issue of Aquaman, Volume 4, was writer Shaun McLaughlin, and he was generous enough to talk with the Shrine about his time writing Aquaman:

Aquaman Shrine: How did you end up writing Aquaman?

Shaun McLaughlin: I knew [Editor Kevin] Dooley and had written a piece for Amazing Heroes. I was passionate about comics. I was one of those kids who would argue with their teachers about the literary value of comics. Actually, I'd argue about anything, but that was a recurring topic.

I had been collecting comics seriously since 5th grade and originally wanted to draw comics. I abandoned this idea when I realized I was hampered by an astonishing lack of drawing talent. I didn't argue that.

As a rule, I don't suffer fools gladly and I'm usually too vocal about telling people when I think they're wrong. That's hurt me professionally, but keeps my blood pressure low.

I was in a pool of people who were pitching for a new Aquaman series. I was the only non-published guy. As the others fell out, I got my shot.

AMS: How familiar were you with the character? You brought back so many elements from Aquaman's past (the Aqua Cave, Thanatos, the blue costume) I've always assumed you were a fan.

SM: Aquaman was my favorite DC character and I was a big DC fan. I grew up with two much-older brothers and they had a lot of comics from the 60s so I had a good, solid grounding in the DC universe and I had a nice set of Aquaman back issues.

Even as a little kid I knew those Steve Skeates issues were something special. I read and re-read those. I had only bits and pieces of the longer stories and I spent too much time trying to figure out how to piece things together.

AMS: How far ahead did you have Aquaman stories? Did you have any sort of overall goal for the character that you wanted to get to in, say, two, three years?

SM: The pitch had to have an outline for at least the first eight issues. I may have had the first year in there. I knew where I wanted to go. I had several goals for the character but was a bit hamstrung by editorial interference.

Really, I've done about 400 episodes of TV and a couple of movies since then and the hoops I had to jump through were pretty ridiculous. And I didn't know they were going to make it tougher by setting the hoops on fire and dousing me with gasoline later.

I wanted to use the first year to settle everything with Poseidonis. The first four issues of the second year were going to be my Time and Tide and round up all the origins into a coherent whole--which I was ordered to do and told that all continuity was sacrosanct.

The next thing was going to be a hunt for his surface world roots and then I thought we'd be in a better place to move forward with him being a sea hero with roots on the land.

There were characters introduced in the first four issues that were going to pay off a year and a half two years down the road. Minister F'ancha was going to be revealed as Orm and Wylie was going to be the major surface world villain, essentially Aquaman's Lex Luthor.

Part of the conventional wisdom of the character at that time was "sea stories don’t sell because people can't relate to them" but also "land stories don’t work with a sea hero". I was trying to pull that paradox together.

It's sad, but even all these years later, I get upset thinking about this. I invested a lot emotionally and professionally in those issues and am still frustrated at how things worked out. Most of those are not really me or what I wanted to do. The NKVDemon issue is close and #13 is almost exactly what I wanted with the exception that I was told we couldn't mention that these little kids had AIDS--which is typical of the dopey decisions they were making.

One of the few things I was allowed to do was play with the one-hour time limit. Holy, Christ, what an uproar. That was the one change the fans who wrote in really reacted to angrily. Comics and fandom were different then.

AMS: That's interesting, your idea of eventually revealing F'ancha to be Orm; I've always wondered why you never used him. Were there other villains (mostly other heroes' ones, since Aquaman's Rogues Gallery is rather thin) you wanted to use at some point?

SM: Hmmmm. I don't remember. It was a scramble to come up with the NKVDemon and there were a lot of other villains you just couldn't use because they were part of other character franchises and editorial was very protective of those. It was always hard to find a villain. We used to say "Marvel villains want to rule the world, DC villains want to rob a bank."

I didn't really like a lot of the rogues gallery. Never really understood The Fisherman or The Scavenger (who I wound up using in a very different way--and then that was bowdlerized in a really cynical attempt at humor). What did these guys want? Why were they there? A villain should really want something and have a reason for being a villain more compelling than the heroes' reason for being a hero.

The Fisherman stole things using customized lures and fishing equipment. Uh-huh. And why did he do that? If I could have figured out a why, he'd be worth using. But I had my own--um--fish to fry. Ahem. You don't have to do a huge, world threatening story. A fist fight can be as dramatic as a war if both parties have a lot at stake.

I was trying to build a big story with Orm where my whole point was that he was tired of getting the crap kicked out of him every time he went up against Aquaman, so he was going to use other people against Aquaman while he was the puppet master. The O.G.R.E. storyline was going to be a big one, almost all-out war.

AMS: Aquaman as a character comes with a lot more emotional baggage than most DC heroes. Did you feel like you had to deal with all that, and get it out of the way, to tell other kinds of stories with the character?

SM: Well, I was under editorial instruction to deal with all of it. I was told that all continuity was part of the package and needed to be dealt with.

That being said, I was okay with the emotional baggage. This was 1990-91 and only a few years after the Crisis, so it was a very different time in comics. I was initially told that the core DC reader was 15-25 and we should aim at that readership with more mature stories, not necessarily all-action. Then I was told we needed more action. Then I was told to gear the comics to 12 year-olds. Then aim for a younger audience that might be buying newsstand. It was very confusing and the way the series was being built, each issue laid the groundwork for what was to come after it.

It was also a time before the Vertigo imprint, when Swamp Thing and Sandman were a part of the regular DC lineup and I foolishly thought I would be allowed some of the same leeway as some writers from across the pond. I was a big fan of the Grant Morrison Animal Man and was shooting for that kind of tone in the beginning. As the Pushmi-pullyu aspect of editorial became more apparent, this was tough. A lot of this was on Usenet a few years ago when it turned out that Peter David, Eric Larsen and I all had the same problems. Good God, anyone who can get the three of us to agree...

Gerry Jones and I used to say that we should have walked in the first day with British accents. Then they would have left us alone.

Story telling wise, a character with emotional baggage is inherently more interesting than the (then) typical blank "heroic" slate. I initially wanted Aquaman even angrier under the surface, trying to control himself because he was still really trying to adhere to a 60's heroic ideal, and then crack and actually kill Manta (in self defense, but c'mon). Then he’d have to deal with the DCU fallout, all the other heroes wagging fingers. Wasn't allowed to do this. Sounds like a broken record, eh?

So I don’t know if it would ever have gotten out of the way, but I wanted to bring some closure to things that had been hanging in the Aquaman continuity for a long, long time and that no one seemed to notice as the basis of great stories. Aquababy, Manta, Mera, Orm. Then I wanted to give him two new love interests, one on land and one underwater to point up his duel aspect and then bring Mera back from where Thanatos had her trapped.

A character with a lot of history can corner you or you can look into that history and figure out how to tell stories using it or around it.

AMS: One of the things I liked about your run was making Aquaman more of a eco-centric character. Would you have pushed this more if the book had gone on?

SM: That was how the series was going to start in my first pitch, but that was kiboshed and pushed back to the middle of the series. He's a character who's always trying to retain/regain a balance, so I wanted to explore him in the middle of commerce vs. ecology. Especially since in comics at that time commerce usually came with big guns.

But it's a tough issue to dramatize. I'm not against issues with less action, but you need something to drive the story and so we were working up to a consortium of people trying to keep the seas free for commerce and bleeding heart Aquaman being a thorn in their side. Queequeg was going to come back just as nuts, but much more dangerous because of this. Again, this was 1991, so the corporate villain idea wasn't as hack as it would be now. I wouldn't try that plot now.

AMS: How closely did you work with Ken Hooper?

SM: Ken is fond of saying we co-plotted the last few issues. I don't think saying "Can we do something with dinosaurs and magic" amounts to co-plotting, but we spoke at least once a week.

We took each other's input and shared many of the same concerns about what was happening to our work. I saw a lot of the pencils and I can tell you that the inking and reproduction was not doing them justice. His art was sometimes statted and compositions changed, which is an editor's prerogative, but not always a good idea. Like making a right hand turn on a red light, just because you can do something it doesnt mean you should do it.

Ken was in a bad place because he came from a more illustrative background. He really liked Roy Krenkle and Hal Foster and people like that and I certainly didn't have the skills at that time to push him to make it more cinematic and comic-bookish and Dooley sure didn't. Now I know different and maybe could tailor my scripts a bit more. I asked him to do an awful lot of panels sometimes and I didn't go to town on the panel description. Had I been more experienced, I would have made it easier on him.

AMS: Why was the book canceled so abruptly? Did sales start out good and fall fast, or did the book always struggle?

SM: The book started out ridiculously strong and then fell off. The nadir was around #8 or #9 and then sales began to climb to the point that #13 brought me a nice royalty cheque, but I was already off.

I was told all along that the book was doing well until I handed in the script for #10 and was told that my re-up depended on my script for #11. The day I handed in #11 and was told to wrap up all my plot threads in #12.

Part of it was the comics boom of the early 90s followed by the bust in the market. We were cancelled at a sales number most comics would kill for today.

Part of it was that I was fighting constantly with the editor because I never had clear direction for more than a week at time and I was really, really angry about my dialogue being re-written into stuff that I thought sounded like it came from a 1944 issue of All-Star Comics. Not all my dialogue, but enough of it. And it's not like I wasn't around to do re-writes if he wanted. He just thought he knew better.

It would be fair to say that I wouldn't deal with me in that mood, but I've done a lot of story editing since then and I have never treated a writer or artist the way I was treated. I have given some executives heart attacks, tho'. And he must have liked something I was doing because he was asking me to pitch a 4-issue Wildcat mini at the same time I was doing Aquaman and it got far enough for me to have plotted the 4 issues and we were talking about artists.

Peter David became available his star was rising, he was interested in the book and they eventually decided to just start fresh with a new #1. They were originally going to keep Hooper, but then decided to start all over.

AMS: When you're a kid, you tend to think (or I did, at least) that all comics are done in the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby mode, where practically all the creative decisions are done by the writer and artist. So when a book and/or character is not what you, the reader, necessarily want, you tend to blame the writer and artist, not realizing there are so many levels of people these books have to go through before they hit the newsstand.

Being a comic fan yourself growing up, how disappointing was it, dealing with all this bureaucracy? Would you have been willing to deal with it if Aquaman had kept going? Is that partly why you moved on to work in TV and movies, like so many comic book writers have done?

SM: Well, to start off, the bureaucracy in TV and movies is much bigger and often more intrusive creatively than in comics. I've had many better experiences in TV and in movies than in comics, but I've also had few backstabbers that make what I went through on Aquaman look like milk time in Kindergarden.

It was terribly disappointing partially because I really did have an emotional attachment to the character and I wanted to do something really, really good. There was never a chance to do that or get any traction with the constant changes, re-writes and focus on piddling issues (I was once castigated for describing an instrument panel as having switches instead of pressure sensitive controls "…like on Star Trek.") A lot of it is just basic human interaction. Sometimes you get along with people, sometimes you don't. Add the creative aspect to it and it gets emotionally more charged.

I work much differently when I edit and it's partially because of my experience. I feel my job is to make the writer look good and to let the writer's idea be the best it can be. It's not to have it be written the way I would do it. If I wanted it that way I'd write it myself.

I'm not a total douche when it comes to having my way. I pitched for the first "Aquaman" episode of Justice League and didn't get the assignment. And I was one of the producers of the show! I didn't bitch about it or go home and cry into my pillow (which only would have annoyed my wife). I just did my job and went home to write my own stuff.

This is commercial writing and you're getting paid to provide a service. But if you're paying someone, you should let them provide that service. I always cared passionately about what I did. If my name was on it, I wanted to be able to stand behind it, good or bad. I was four months ahead of schedule, so I had plenty of time to re-write to the content of any heart.

When people do ask me about the series, I point to #8 and most especially #13. Good or bad, those are close to being what I like and what I would do. #13 is just about exactly what I wanted. You can say my run wasn't successful or you didn't like it, but in many ways it really wasn't my run. There was a co-credit on the Pinky and the Brain episode I did that was much closer to being my work.

I always wanted to do movies and TV so it's not like I ran there from comics. I continued to do some comics off and on, but I really lost a taste for it after awhile.

After my daughter was born, it became a question of where was my limited time better spent? The kicker was when I was writing a book based on a show I was working on. A new editor came on and told me they could no longer use me because they didn't feel I "understood the characters". Of a show I was working on as a day job. And a show I was freelancing TV scripts for. But I didn't understand the characters enough to write the comic.

I liked the stuff I did for Disney and Dark Horse, but if I can go pitch a feature to Tim Allen or a fill-in to a DC editor--both will take about the same amount of time. Tim Allen will treat me better and there's probably a slightly higher chance of selling him something. So why would I continue with comics?

AMS: What are you working on now?

SM: I was at Warner Animation from 1994-2006 where I started as a Production Assistant and eventually became a Line Producer on shows like Batman Beyond, Static Shock, and Justice League. I also wrote some television animation.

I just finished producing the movie Gene-Fusion for Beckett and hope to do more with them. I have three screenplays either sold or in negotiation, two animation and one live-action and am writing my thesis for my MFA in Creative Writing Screen/Stage.

AMS: If DC came to you (after apologizing profusely) and said "Shaun, here's Aquaman--go", what would you like to do?

SM: Well, I've done some stuff for DC since and it would be incredibly arrogant of me to dream of any kind of apology. It's their character and I was a tremendous pain in the editor's ass. I'm arrogant about a lot of things (also vain, moody and a bit obsessive), but I know where I stand here.

I have no clue what I'd do. I haven't followed the character since I left (could I really look at it with a non-jaundiced eye?) and I really don't even know what's going on with comics in general now. I've been cutting back more and more on my comics and the last thing I bought was one of the Superman Family collections and before that it was The Black Dossier.

I really wish there were more comics I like but I walk though the comic store and shrug a lot now. I've been working for Beckett and I really liked their Fade From Grace and The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty, but those are things I look at in wonder because I could never do a comic like that.

It's also been harder and harder for me to write comics as I get farther away. I used to have a real feel for a page and see it in my head (even if that wasn't what the artist did). I don't have that now. If I were to do a comic now, I think I'd almost have to write it like a TV script and find an artist that I was sympatico with. Not impossible but most of the guys I know like that are in animation and I don't think they'd like the pay cut.

I've come to the conclusion, post-Crisis, that every superhero universe should be blown up every 15 years and after that there should be a two-year moratorium on re-telling classic stories. Doing something like that with a classic hero would be fun. I'd like to do something fun for the joy of doing a comic.



Shaun was one of my most enthusiastic interviews, and his ideas for Aquaman stories down the line make me all the more sorry he never got the chance to tell them.

Thanks Shaun, and special thanks to John Schwirian, who introduced us!

Aquaman (Vol.4) #13 - Dec. 1992

Comics Weekend The final issue of Aquaman!

This fourth Aquaman solo series only ran thirteen issues, yet as we've seen over the past few weekends, it had a lot of fine moments. And, in many ways, it was (to date) the last series to feature what I've come to call Classic Aquaman.

An while the previous issue ended as a springboard for the soon-to-come Peter David Aquaman: Time & Tide mini, this series went out on a high note, with a very unusual, memorable issue.

Despite the action-filled cover, this issue's story, "My Hero" (by regular writer Shaun McLaughlin, guest penciler Chris Schenk, and inker Bob Dvorak) is about a young boy who idolizes the King of the Seven Seas:

The story opens in a hospital, as we see two boys, one of whom is clearly deathly ill, discussing their heroes. The sicker one insists Aquaman is no match for Superman or Batman, but the other, our narrator, thinks that is bunk.

After their nurse tells them its time to go to sleep, he sneaks out and hitches a ride with a trucker. He tells the tucker he wants to go the lake, and when he's asked why, he says its because he wants to see Aquaman.

The trucker tells him he saw Aquaman once, at a charity water show where some of the JLA were performing. When a gang of armed kidnappers arrive, the heroes do their thing:

...but he says that he snuck around the back of the heroes tent and saw that it was all faked, they were just actors! The kid doesn't believe it.

He gets out and then gets picked up by a woman in a car, who takes him for a meal at a diner. Aquaman comes up again, and this woman has her own story.

While vacationing in the Hamptons, a whaling ship surfaces, bringing forth the wrath of Aquaman:

The kid doesn't believer her either, since that doesn't sound like the Aquaman he knows. She pays for his meal and leaves, shocked at his rudeness.

Another stranger, overhearing their conversation, offers to take the kid to the lake.

When he asks why the kid wants to see Aquaman so bad, he's evasive, and the stranger surmises the kid is sick. The kid--who we learn is named Tony--won't admit at first, but the stranger's kindness gets him to drop his guard and admit that he is dying.

The stranger then tells him a story, involving the seagoing criminal The Scavenger. The Scavenger is attempting to steal some medical supplies that went down with a sunken ship, when Aquaman stops him.

The Scavenger gets Aquaman caught in his ship's pincers, but he relents when Aquaman tells him the vaccine is for kids with measles. The Scavenger remembers having them himself, and is floored that Aquaman would risk his life for such a cause.

When given the chance, Aquaman refuses to turn The Scavenger in; in fact, he tells the police that this is his partner! How does the stranger know all this? Well...:

While having a meal at the stranger's cabin, there's a knock at the door, and on the other side is...Aquaman!

The kid goes nuts, and The Scavenger, whom Aquaman calls Mort, tells the Sea King he'll explain everything. In the meantime:

...the end.

A very sweet and unusual story, and a fine way to end the series.

Rediscovering this series has been a real treat, and now that I look back on it I'm sorry this particular series didn't get a chance to go on longer. Writer Shaun McLaughlin was getting better and better as the series progressed, and was developing Aquaman away from the mopey grouch he had been for so long.

But we're not completely done talking about this series--be here tomorrow for an interview with the man himself, Shaun McLaughlin!