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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Undersea Heroes Part 3: Shark-Man

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Part 3 of our "Undersea Heroes" theme week, where we take a look at...Shark-Man!
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First Appearance: Shark-Man #1 (2006)

Created by: Michael Town, Ronald Shusett, and David Elliott

Powers: No powers, but wears a super-suit that gives the wearer the power of flight, super-strength, invulnerability, etc.

Group Affiliation: None

Likes: Making a profit, saving lives

Dislikes: Red ink

Fun Facts: In this very first issue, the man in the Shark-Man suit, Alan Gaskill, is murdered by an enemy!

Sample panel from the above issue of Shark-Man:
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Even though he's clearly a hero, I find Shark-Man's choice of costume to be utterly terrifying. I'm not sure I'd want to be saved by him, if it came to that.

But...I gotta give him credit. His look is really bad-ass, and I think maybe a touch of Shark-Man in Aquaman might be a good thing, and make him less of a punchline to comics fans. (Although Shark-Man does kill his opponents, something I definitely don't want to see Arthur do)

Current status: Had two brief solo series, then returned for a third under the Image Comics imprint. I don't see the book on their current schedule, so I don't know whether it's continuing.*

Could he beat Aquaman?: That's a tough one. Even though Aquaman has superior powers, you get the feeling Sharkman would fight dirty--and mean. I see biting, you know what I mean?


Tomorrow: Pirana!



*Update: I got an email from one of Shark-Man's creators, Michael Town (who is also a member of F.O.A.M.!), telling me that he is working on some new Shark-Man material, which is good news!

He also pointed out that the super-villain She-Witch's costume is an "Aquaman-inspired wetsuit." I completely missed that, but here's Exhibit A, also courtesy Mr. Town:
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...awesome! (How the heck did I miss the orange and green?) Thanks Michael!

2 comments:

Wings1295 said...

Another I have never heard of! Pretty interesting. And I love the "Aquaman-inspired" costume! hahahaha!

Diabolu Frank said...

I LOVE Steve Pugh, one of the few artists I'll still buy a book for. I've been waiting on the trade for most of the '00s, though. Since they were at Atomika...