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Friday, February 19, 2010

Monkey See: Aquaman!

sg
On Wednesday 2/17, Aquaman was the subject of a funny, irreverent--yet exhaustively-accurate--blogpost by Glen Weldon over on NPR's pop culture "Monkey See" blog.

Glen really captures some of the extreme ups and downs of being an Aquaman fan, I recommend you all head on over there and read the whole piece, its a lot of fun. (
maybe NPR should do a radio version of the piece? Hint, hint)

This article was pointed out to me by our newest member of F.O.A.M., Brent Almond (beating a tidal wave of FOAMers by about ten minutes!). Thanks Brent, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!


Update: The author of the above piece, Glen Weldon, just sent the Shrine this message of appreciation via Twitter:
sg
...thanks Glen. And once again, great piece!

4 comments:

David J. Cutler said...

A very good--and very thoroughly researched--article that made me proud and... sad, I guess, to be an Aquafan. One of the problems I've encountered with the character is that given how many incarnations and totally different personalities he's gone through, even among his fans people can't seem to decide who's the real Aquaman. I know real, genuine fans of the character who LIKE Arthur as brutal and brooding and a jerk to his friends.

How is any one going to reconcile what they want with what we want and somehow unite the fan-base while erasing a decade of damage from Aquaman bashing to attract a new audience? It'll be a feat.

Wings1295 said...

Read it yesterday, too. Pretty spot on, regarding Aquaman's ups and downs. I am just hoping Brightest Day ends WELL for our hero.

Wil Radcliffe said...

David: I would say the Cartoon Network "Brave & Bold" Aquaman is about the best mix of our Aquamen. He's confident, arrogant, and has a beard like the PAD era Aquaman. Yet he's also a devoted and cheerful family man like classic Aquaman. Not to mention he's pretty much consistently been shown to be among the most powerful heroes Batman has partnered with on the show. I've really become a fan of this interpretation of Arthur. I doubt that's what we'll get in the DC revival, considering he looks pretty pissed off and grim in the "Brightest Day" promo pic. But we can hope. Hell, the DC writers gave blood thirsty killer like Superboy Prime a happy ending. Why not a clasice hero like Arthur?

David J. Cutler said...

@Wil I love that Aquaman, but I would never want that to be THE Aquaman running around the DC Universe. He's hilarious in a separate continuity, but he's essentially too much THE OTHER way. For me, Anyway.

I want Aquaman to keep some aspect of that jerkiness and quick temper, but I also want him to be... a relatable guy. Some one cool, you know? But not above a fish pun every now and then.

I really liked the Grant Morrison JLA's Aquaman, which was like PAD's, but with a love of superheroing, and not yelling at people all the time. Someone who finds it all a bit silly but gets swept up in it despite himself because it's too fun being Aquaman not to. My favorite moments were when he'd begrudgingly admit that he's having the time of his life on the Justice League again, or when he'd let a one liner out and suddenly be a little embarrassed for himself. Constantly under-estimated by every foe they face and constantly leaving everyone from angels to white martians to evil Green Lanterns flat on their back.

I want that Aquaman, but cleanshaven, and with two hands. I have dreams, I tell you--dreams of a better world!