"4 Reasons Why Aquaman Deserves More Respect: A Fan Speaks Out"

Upon news of Jason Momoa's casting as Aquaman in Batman v. Superman, Yahoo Movies was nice enough to ask me to write an article about why Aquaman is no joke. The piece, "4 Reasons Why Aquaman Deserves More Respect" can be found here!

Aquaman on the Web: Animated Movie?

This isn't "official" confirmation, but since it's coming from Geoff Johns himself, how much else do we need to expect an animated Aquaman movie?!? 

"And Yes, I'm Going To Say It: Aquaman"

DC Comics Entertainment Chief thinks Aquaman would make a great movie...



(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Daniel "Cynical" Adams)

Aquaman, King of Malware

This is definitely not helping...

Aquaman The Movie?

Oh, this again...

An Aquaman Wager

 March 26th, 2011

As fast as the Shrine was to rejoice and spread word of writer Geoff Johns' confirmation of Aquaman way back in the spring of 2011,  Richard Bruton, a writer for the British site Forbidden Planet International, was almost as quick to post a wager predicting the series' demise. The gist of his now infamous piece "Ten quid on cancelled by Christmas 2012; Aquaman and the problem of third tier heroes" was that a new Aquaman title's swim towards cancellation would be as inevitable as the tide since "third tier" heroes just can't sustain ongoing titles successfully; no way, no how. Here's an excerpt from Richard's piece:

"In truth, there are three tiers of comic characters with the big two companies when it comes to selling comics with their name on the cover: 

Top tier: Big legacy characters, the ever popular, the iconic – your Batmans, Supermans, Spider-Mans, Flashs and Green Lanterns. They will continue to be popular, a long standing brand with success in the past pointing to success in the future.

Second tier: Radical reinventions, that sometimes work and sometimes don’t, basically third tier characters pushed up to this tier by writers. Think Grant Morrison reinventing Animal Man, Alan Moore reinventing Swamp Thing.

Which brings us to the final, bottom, third tier – the failures, the bit parts, the supporting cast, the perennial team members, the never manage to support a continuing series. Ever.

Guess which category Aquaman fits into?"

Woah Richard, really???

Flash-forward to the present and still going strong, 2012 has been an outstanding year for the New 52's biggest break-out hit. Aquaman has been acclaimed by fans and critics alike, was nominated for four Eagle Awards, outsold every single Marvel comic not once, but twice, reached #1 on The New York Times Bestseller List, and is the #1-selling solo book in DC's Justice League title group--outselling the Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Hawkman, and Firestorm on a regular basis. Admittedly, even we did not expect this kind of unprecedented success for the new series!

 

And while some argue that it is Johns' name that sells Aquaman, we vehemently counter that it is not. Aquaman is a comics and a pop-culture icon. All joking aside, the Sea King has achieved a place in the pantheon of intellectual properties that most others never will. Namor, who? We hazard to guess that if Geoff Johns wrote Mister Miracle or Martian Manhunter or Black Lightning sales wouldn't even come close to where Aquaman has leveled out. A telling stat was recently reported by the Beat in that "The 10 [DC New 52] books that held on to the highest percentages of their debut sales over the last year, as of September 2012, are Animal Man (83.2%), Batman (83.1%), Aquaman and Nightwing (76.2% each)..." which certainly counters the "flash-in-the-pan" theory that Bruton insinuated.

So we waited patiently for over a year, not wanting to jinx anything, before reaching out to Richard earlier this month to discuss his impending "departure of financial assets." When we did he graciously responded to the Shrine, informing us that he planned to make a donation to a local library fund and referred us to his  "Ten Quid" follow-up post, aptly titled:  "I LOST." We quote: 

"I was wrong. Absolutely and completely wrong. Heck, I read [Aquaman] to see what it would be like, and surprised the life out of myself by really enjoying it.

Dear God, I like Aquaman." 

Vindication at last! 

So Merry Christmas 2012 everyone and here's to many more lost bets against Aquaman in the years to come!



Before we sign off with the post, I feel like I should just add a word or two about this post. Thanks to Shrine Correspondent Joe Slab for doing the legwork on this piece, and extra special thanks to Richard Bruton for being a good sport. We are, of course, happy that Richard was so wrong. 2012 has been an *amazing* year for Aquaman, thanks to the work of the aforementioned Geoff Johns, and of course Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis, and everyone else who contributed to the Sea King, both in and out of the pages of the comic. Happy Holidays to all you Aqua-Fans! -rob!

What Did Aquaman Ever Do To Neil deGrasse Tyson?

I mean, seriously.

Aquaman (Shrine) on the Web: Stone Arch Books

Stone Arch Books, maker of so many awesome Aqua-books, gave the Shrine a shout-out today over on their blog. Thanks guys!

Aquaman (Shrine) on the Web: RevCast

A couple of weeks ago I was the guest on the RevCast podcast, where the subject was Aquaman! You can listen or download the show here, or find it on iTunes.

Thanks to the RevCast crew for having me on!

Mera on the Web: Kicking Posterior

Over on the DC Women Kicking Ass blog, there's a poll on who was the most "Kick Ass" Mera artist. Go and vote, Mera fans!

Aquaman on the Web: IGN's Best of 2011

IGN has tallied the votes in its "Best of 2011" poll, and Aquaman came in at #3.

While the Shrine is of course disappointed he and it didn't make it to #1, the Sea King nevertheless had a great showing, beating out such stiff competition as Detective Comics, Justice League, and Amazing Spider-Man.

A heart congrats to Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Rod Reis for creating such a fan-favorite book right from the start!

Aquaman on the Web: How Aquaman Got His Groove Back

Check out this very solid, non-snarky article about Aquaman on TVGuide.com by Rich Sands: "How Aquaman Got His Groove Back."

Aquaman on the Web: Best Series of 2011?

IGN is running a poll concerning The Best Comic Book of Series of 2011. Among the choices you can vote for is Aquaman, so head on over there and vote for the work Johns, Reis, Prado, and Reis have been doing!

Aquaman on the Web: Justice League #4!

Over on EW.com, there's a multi-page preview of Justice League #4, Aquaman's big, er, splash in the book! Head on over there if you just can't wait until next Wednesday!


(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Brent Almond)

The Aquaman Shrine on Jim Aparo

Former DC editor Robert Greenberger, who pens a column for the Westfield Comics blog, put up a post today all about the legendary Jim Aparo. Bob was kind enough to ask me to contribute a quote about the man's work, since of course he had such a memorable run on the Sea King.

Click here to read the whole column, but here's the quote I sent to Bob: "Jim Aparo's work brought a sense of urgency and almost an film noir-ish feeling of danger to Aquaman, which was a perfect complement to the more high-stakes, character-driven scripts of Steve Skeates.

Aparo had important, memorable runs on Aquaman in both the '60s and the '70s (in Aquaman and Adventure Comics, respectively), cementing his reputation to many Aqua-Fans as the Aquaman artist, a tremendous accomplishment considering the Sea King has had many so fine artists illustrating his adventures.

He was one of Charlton's top talents, and when he moved on to DC he became of their top talents. Whether it be the jungle adventures of The Phantom, the groovy comedy of Tiffany Sinn, C.I.A. Agent, the fantasy world of Aquaman, or the gritty urban world of Batman, Aparo could handle any feature and make it distinctive."


Thanks Bob!

Aquaman on the Web: Agent of S.T.Y.L.E.

Newsarama Contributor, Alan Kissler aka the Agent of S.T.Y.L.E has a long-running series where he reviews a spotlight character's look as it has changed throughout publication. This week, the Sea King is featured in a piece aptly titled "Aquaman: The Emperor HAS Clothes." Check it out along with some great mash-ups of the Marine Marvel's looks throughout the years!

Aquaman on the Web: The Greatest Aquaman Stories Ever Told!

Our friend Brian Cronin who writes for CBR's blog Comics Should Be Good (@CSBG on the tweets) has been running a feature entitled "The Greatest ______ Stories Ever Told! where fans submit their top ten stories featuring the fill-in-the-blank character or team, and an ultimate list is compiled.

This week's TGSET! subject is none other than the King of the Seven Seas himself, Aquaman! Brian will do all the grunt work of crunching the numbers from submitted lists and will publish the Top 10 Greatest Aquaman Stories Ever Told! on Sunday November 27th.

This is a poll where F.O.A.M.ers can really participate & shine as we don't think there are many casual fans who can even name ten great Aquaman stories, let alone rank them in order of favorites. Stories are not limited to Aquaman series or mini-series either so if your favorite Aquaman story is a specific team-up with Batman in the Brave & the Bold or his storyline in Brightest Day, you can list those amongst your choices. Basically, any DC Comics story/run where Aquaman appeared and played a significant role is up for nomination.

For the full explanation of rules and how to submit your list, please head on over to CBSG Archive for all the deets.

Whether your favorite stories include "Attack of the Fire Trolls", "the Obsidian Age", "the Search for Mera", Emperor Aquaman, Time & Tide, the Sword of Atlantis run, or even the current "The Trench" storyline, the deadline for list submission is 11:59 PM PST November 26th, so get cracking fellow Aqua-fans!

Aquaman on the Web: The Geoff Johns Method!

Our friends over at Comics Alliance have put together a well thought-out essay about what they've termed "Johnsian Literalism". This is Aquaman writer Geoff Johns' tendency to "reduce the character or team into a single core idea and rebuild every aspect of the mythology around that idea" when revitalizing a series he is working on.

Many Aqua-fans have commented in the past that they have struggled with Johns "decompressed" writing-style and perhaps this piece can shed some light on his technique. Check it out and let us know what you think!

The Aquaman Shrine on The Source!

The Aquaman Shrine is mentioned on DC's official blog The Source today! Outrageous!

Aquaman on the Web: Aquaman #2!

There's a big article on Aquaman over at the L.A. Times' Hero Complex blog, along with a bunch of pages from Aquaman #2!

We're not posting it here because we don't want to spoil anything, but head on over there if you can't wait!