The Daily Planet - Dec. 1981

I found this December 1981 installment of The Daily Planet on the back cover of an old issue of World's Finest, and boy howdy was I excited. In addition to the fact it covers Justice League of America #200 (TSGPOLEPBWC), but it also features a slight variation of the classic cover by George Perez:

Here, the background elements (representing the settings of each chapter) are in the original black and white, before they were changed into different colors. Sure, not exactly the most earth-shattering difference, but to this fan of JLA #200, every extra little piece of arcana surrounding that comic is worth noticing. (Speaking of noticing, I love Aquaman riding on The Red Tornado's back, while strangling him at the same time. Bad-ass!)

Today just happens to be the 31st anniversary of the book's release on December 3, 1981. I remember buying the comic off the stands, and still have the same copy. I'll never get rid of it.

The Daily Planet - 1/9/78

Usually I try and match up these old Daily Planet columns with the current date, but I don't feel like waiting all the way until January, so...

This edition gives some coverage to Aquaman #61, which featured the Sea King teaming up with Batman to defeat Kobra. Has Kobra been reintroduced in the New 52 universe yet? I don't think so, and he should be--despite that fact that he's mostly been a Batman villain, I think he'd be an ideal adversary for Aquaman. After all, if you're interested in world domination, wouldn't you start with the world's water supply, as opposed to one crime-ridden city on the east coast of the United States? The answer is yessssss.

The Daily Planet - 12/11/78

Aquaman just barely makes it into this December 11, 1978 edition of The Daily Planet, as he awaits an apparently colorful death at the hands of The Time Trapper.

Of more interest is the "Ask The Answer Man" column, seen to the right. We've covered this before, but this question--and Bob Rozakis' confused answer--just makes me laugh every time I see it:

Nick Nolte as Aquaman?!? Who are you, Mr. Aaron Taylor, and why were you drinking so much as a child?

The Daily Planet - 10/80

This more-visually-drab-than-usual edition of The Daily Planet manages to squeeze in a little Aqua-News, specifically the events of Adventure Comics #476. Although the headline really should have been "Mera Disappears...Again!"

New Teen Titans, huh? That'll never last!

The Daily Planet - 1/24/77

JLA #142 was an unusual issue, in that it starred Aquaman, The Atom, and Elongated Man, and dealt directly with the idea of how these three heroes feel being on a team that features powerhouses like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. Great to see it--and they--getting the "above the fold" treatment for this edition of The Daily Planet!

Aqua-Bonus: He's the subject of clue #1 in the crossword!

The Daily Planet - 6/6/77

One of the duller Daily Planet headlines, it pretty much takes a really cool book and makes it sound...pretty boring, actually.

Love the Neal Adams headshots, though--I've always enjoyed the fact that Green Lantern looks even grimmer than Batman! Aquaman, meanwhile, just looks passive.

The Daily Planet - 2/7/77

Aquaman's battle with Starro in Adventure Comics #451 earned metaphoric above-the-fold placement for this February 7, 1977 edition of DC's Daily Planet feature.

There are a bunch of supervillains that Aquaman has fought but aren't really considered part of his Rogues Gallery the way Black Manta and Ocean Master are. Starro is one of those, and even though Geoff Johns is making a concentrated to boost the Sea King's bad guy roster (see: Siren), I'd love it if he could make Starro a recurring Aquaman villain.

The Daily Planet - 12/17/79

Another Daily Planet installment, this from exactly 31 years ago today!

This time around, DC decided to give Aquaman's new strip in World's Finest some ink, too bad that even with all that relative hoopla it only lasted three measly issues.

Another Aquaman-related bit shows up in the Ask the Answer Man column, where a reader asks how much Aquaman #1 is worth. "$1.20" is the response. I wonder if that guy's still interested in selling?

The Daily Planet - 11/14/77

I bet the Teen Titans have been waiting for this moment for a looong time!

I remember buying this issue of Teen Titans--#53--off the stands at the time, driven entirely by the story promised by the cover--not just Aquaman guest-starring in this one, but a whole bunch of other JLAers!

I was not a regular reader of the book at the time, and I don't recall whether it impressed me enough to think about getting the next issue. Of course, there was no next issue, Teen Titans becoming the victim of the infamous DC Implosion. #54 was promised on the last page, but never saw the light of day.

If you look at the "Direct Currents" column, you can see Aquaman #60 and Super Friends #10 were also on sale that week. A good week for Aquaman!


These Daily Planets I post are consistently the least popular feature on the Shrine, I guess because there's not all that much to them. But they were one of my favorite little bonus features DC gave you back in the day, so I'm going to keep running them when an appropriate date comes around!

Daily Planet - 8/16/76

Today's my birthday, and I'm taking the day off (or as close as I get with the Shrine). So here's DC's Daily Planet feature from August 16, 1976--thirty-four years ago today--featuring a little Aquaman-centric blurb, back when Arthur was headlining Adventure Comics.

Not sure what I'm going to do today, but since I spend so much time in front of my computer blogging, I should probably just go outside!


Update: This was the post I had originally scheduled for today, but once again F.O.A.M. member extraordinaire Russell Burbage and his fellow F.O.A.M.ers had something elaborate planned for my birthday, as you will see in the following post!

Showcase #100 Extra!

Two Saturdays ago I did an all-encompassing post on Showcase #100, one my all-time favorite single issue superhero comics, co-written by Shrine Patron Saint Paul Kupperberg and featuring Aquaman.

At least, at the time, I thought it was all-encompassing; less than a week or so later I was going through some files and found this edition of The Daily Planet which features a prominent write-up on the book. Dang!

As if on cue, the next day Paul then sent me an email where he found this blurb on the book in Amazing World of DC Comics #14:

Steve Englehart? Paul says, "I didn't recall Paul and I were second choice on this project...!"

I guess whoever wrote this blurb was overdoing it a bit. Obviously Steve Englehart wasn't quite the only one who could tell such a tale...

Great catch, thanks Paul!

Daily Planet - 5/8/78

Like Tuesday's house ad, this Aquaman-centric edition of The Daily Planet was sent to me by F.O.A.M. member Andy Mangels.

As nice as it is for Aquaman to get some ad love from DC (which didn't happen all that much), I'm more intrigued by the kid who wrote into The Answer Man, wondering if Sgt. Rock was a member of the JLA. Even the normally patient Bob Rozakis seems completely perplexed!

I like to post these Daily Planets on the same date as the one on the masthead. But since May 8th is a Saturday this week, today will just have to do. Thanks Andy!

Daily Planet - 2/19/79

This is another edition of The Daily Planet, part of a huge (virtual) pile of them sent to me by F.O.A.M.er Andy Mangels.

As you can see, this one has a healthy amount of Aqua-Content, from the Hembeck strip to the first question in the "Ask The Answer Man" segment. Too bad he wasn't in on the JLA vs. The Secret Society of Super-Villains case, which was the headline story!

Daily Planet - 9/5/77

Ah, those Daily Planet headline writers never met a pun they didn't like!

This installment of DC's Daily Planet feature gave Aquaman (the character and the title) the top slot, featuring a nice big shot by Jim Aparo.

Normally, I'd run one of these Daily Planets the day before we talk about the issue in question for a Comics Weekend segment; but since that's Christmas Day I'm posting it today. On Saturday, Dec. 26, we will take a look at Aquaman #59, where the Sea King finally catches up with The Fisherman!

Daily Planet - 5/5/77

Another Aqua-centric example of the virtual pile of Daily Planet ad pages sent to me by F.O.A.M.er Andy Mangels. Thanks Andy!

As most Aqua-Fans know, our hero didn't get all that much ad love from DC, so it was nice they promoted the return of his solo title, brief as though it was. (On an unrelated note, I wonder who/what you get if you call the number that was once the DC Hotline?)

Those seven issues of Aquaman remain some of my favorite stories of the character, and we'll finally be getting around to looking back at them starting tomorrow for Comics Weekend!

Daily Planet - 9/24/79

Remember those cool Daily Planet pages DC used to run in their comics? They were one of my favorite recurring features of DC's books in the 1970s, and this one is from September 24, 1979--thirty years ago today!

A few weeks ago, comics historian/writer/editor/director(!) Andy Mangels sent me a huge pile of Aquaman and treasury comic-related ads and Daily Planet pages from DC comics, which was very generous of him--it was about a month's worth of material, just for the Shrine alone!

This page not only highlights Aquaman in the main article, but he is also mentioned in the "Ask The Answer Man" feature by Bob Rozakis, where Bob admits that all of DC's heroes are subject to "selective aging."

What it does not do is feature the most exciting headline DC ever ran--although "Super Friends Star in Digest" is not as bad as previous Daily Planet leads like "Superman Saves Metropolis, Day", "Atom Has Marital Troubles", and "DC Changes 'Tales of the Unexpected' to 'The Unexpected', Saves Money on First Class Mailing Permit."

This is only one of the many, many items Andy sent me, making him our newest member of F.O.A.M.! Thanks Andy!

Ask the Answer Man Column - 1979

I saw this question in a April, 1979 Ask the Answer Man column and I never forgot it. I recently went digging through my comics and found it in Adventure Comics #462.

I'm assuming this particular fan, Aaron Taylor, probably had just seen The Deep and thought "Big blonde guy + water movie = Aquaman!" Not the most ridiculous conclusion to come to, when you think about it. I think my favorite part though, is our pal Bob Rozakis' flabbergasted reply.

I was intrigued at the idea of Aquaman actually being portrayed in live-action and for years, every time I saw Nick Nolte in a movie I thought "Yeah, maybe he could've been Aquaman!"

But maybe Mr. Taylor was on to something. Little did I know that there were plans afoot for Nolte to star in an Aquaman movie, and a recently discovered costume test bears this out:

(...I dunno, too easy?)