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Monday, June 21, 2010

Breaking News - Geoff Johns on Aquaman, Ctd.

sg F.O.A.M.er Joe Slab sent me a link to an interview Geoff Johns did with IGN, where they cover Brightest Day, the DCU in general, and Aquaman in specific.

The talk about Arthur is on page three, and here's what was said:

IGN Comics: Aquaman is probably the character that has fans most excited about Brightest Day, partly because, like Martin Manhunter, he's an iconic character, but also because he's spent so long on the sidelines and – at least in some fans' eyes – even longer not living up to his potential. Why do you think the character has struggled to catch on the last decade or so? Some would even say he's never caught on as much as characters like Flash and Green Lantern even though he's always been as recognizable. Why is that?

Johns: Well I think the rest of the world, the mainstream world, likes Aquaman and knows who Aquaman is. It's the comic book world where Aquaman struggles a bit. I certainly think he's a major player in the DC Universe, and I think the scene in issue #1 illustrates that pretty beautifully. Between him and Mera, I just think they're a powerhouse team. I want Aquaman to be A-list in and outside of the comics.

IGN Comics: We've been waiting for Aquaman to be dusted off and overhauled for a long time now, but I think many fans were surprised to see you use Mera as a launching point for his big push. What made you look at Mera as such a vital piece of what makes Aquaman work as a character?

Johns: I just love Mera. She's been around for decades but hasn't really been pushed to the forefront of many stories. I wanted her to have the presence that Aquaman hasn't had. With him gone, I wanted her to be as regal and strong and as much a leader as he was. If you show Mera as this incredible, impressive woman, the fact that she's with Aquaman makes him impressive too. Your better half says a lot about who you are. Who you're with, and who you've committed your entire life to says a lot about who you are. And make no mistake, Mera is his better half.

IGN Comics: From these early issues of Brightest Day, it seems like Aquaman's experience in Blackest Night has left him with an uncertainty about the water and his powers, and we see why in issue #1 when he summons a bunch of undead sharks. Can you talk a little bit about what Aquaman is struggling with at the onset of Brightest Day?

Johns: He's back, but there's something off and he feels it. Maybe more than any of the others, he feels that there's something darker still left in all of them. He's more in touch with that than anybody else. Except maybe Firestorm.



Thanks for the tip Joe!

7 comments:

Rick L. Phillips said...

Brightest day is a great mini-series and I really want to find out what is going on with Aquaman, Firestorm and Deadman.

Joe Slab said...

I am frustrated by the SLOOOWWWW pace of Brightest Day thus far and am eager for a lot more Aquaman on panel...that being said, its clear Geoff is planting the seeds for a major Aquaman presence in the DCU later this year and in 2011 - with Mera and her doppelganger, the new Aqualad, Black Manta and Aquawarr.

I guess I just need to be more patient...ugh!

Unknown said...

i appreciate what Johns is saying, but i hate how creators jump on a character and then act like no one has told any good or poignant stories with them in such a LOOOONG time! not that long ago, Veitch and Pfeifer (and I would also toss Arcudi stuff in there, too) wrote some awesome Aquaman comics. and shortly before Veitch, Orin was a focal point in the Obsidian Age JLA crossover (granted he didn't get much screen time as i would liked to have seen, but it was centered around him and Atlantis). so while i can appreciate Johns' enthusiasm, his historical understanding of recent Aquaman comics is very revisionist to me.

Wings1295 said...

Cool - Glad to see someone in Arthur and Mera's corner!

Aquamariner! said...

Brightest Day is one big FAT dissapointment. I was expecting Geoff Johns to redefine Aquaman and the others, inster he just summarizes Aquaman's "new" Origin in a few lines, without even considering that with such lines he's erasing about a decade of storytelling... I mean he's back to being half-man, half Atlanten... So what happened to Atlan, Porm, Atlanna? And if they no longer exsist then what is Aquaman's origin?!

I've said it once and I shall again, Peter David has been THE ONLY writer who's shown Aquaman respect, Harpoon-hand and all. Heh, The Harpoon was a ready-to-use weapon on the surface, now they gave him that big hindrance that is his trident!

rob! said...

Its funny to me that, post-MTV, movies and TV books have gotten faster and faster, while comics have slowed waaaay down. I am enjoying BN, but we're four issues in and its still mostly just set-up, at least with Aquaman.

Pick up an issue of JLA from, say, 1975, and you'll find so much plot crammed into 22 pages that nowadays that story would fill a TPB.

I'm not saying one way is better than the other, just that, as an old time comics reader, I really notice the difference, and its a little harder for me to keep my interest, even at a bi-weekly rate.

David J. Cutler said...

@Aquamariner -- Seeing PAD's run on the character wherein Arthur lost his hand and became an angry Charles Manson-looking lunatic pirate who spends all day yelling at his friends referred to as 'the only time the character was ever treated with respect' is not something I expected to read haha... I like PAD and much of the run, but come on, if anything, that was a radical 90s experiment. I'm waiting for Brightest Day to work up to something too, but we're not even a fifth of the way through yet, and the comics' got like 20 central characters.