New York 2009 Comic Con Report

Today will be my report on the New York Comic Con, which just wrapped up yesterday!

The NY Comic Con folks were generous enough to grant me a "Press" pass, so I figure the least I can do is talk about the show and my experiences at it (I would do it anyway, even I paid to get in, but shhh, don't tell them that!)

Anyway, last year when I showed up to get my credentials, they had no record of me, so I didn't get an actual badge with the Shrine's name on it.

Luckily, this year things went more smoothly, and I got handed an official badge with the five magical words on it--"Rob Kelly", "Aquaman Shrine", and "Press." Ya-hoo! I would've bought one of those old-style Press hats from 40s movies, if I had thought of it. (I passed my pal, F.O.A.M. member, and fellow comics blogger Glenn Walker on the way in, who kept me from wandering the bowels of the Jacob Javitz Center, looking for the Press Room).

I got there around 1pm on Friday, and unfortunately the massive crowds had already started to gather. My main "targets" for Aquaman sketching duties were Brian Bolland and Jose Luis Garcia Lopez. Both of them being meticulous artists, I had doubts they'd even be doing sketches, but I thought I'd ask.

And it was here that I ran into the first of many signs that the show was going to be packed--by 1pm, Bolland was already basically filled up with sketch requests. I asked him if he did commissions by mail, but he politely said no, thereby ending my chance to get a Brian Bolland sketch. They said something about starting the list over on Saturday, but I figured unless I sat at Bolland's table at 9am, waiting for him to arrive, the sketch list was going to be even longer that day, so I moved on.

Next was Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, who was not yet at his table. As I was waiting, I ran into fellow blogger and F.O.A.M.er Richard Bensam, who is a wonderful person to walk a con with (not everyone is good at it, from my experience). I spent the first few minutes bitching to Richard about already feeling like I got to the con too late, so he accompanied me back to Lopez's table, to see if he had arrived.

When we got there, he was just setting up, pulling things out of his portfolio, and I didn't want to get in his face before he even sat down, so Richard and I wandered off for a moment. When we returned, there was already four or five people in line, so there weren't my moment! (Turns out Jose wasn't doing sketches, so I didn't really miss my chance)

We then ran into Paul Kupperberg, Patron Saint of the Aquaman Shrine (don't tell his Rabbi), who graciously took me over and introduced me to comics legend Len Wein, giving me the chance to thank Len for doing an interview with me for my JLA Satellite blog.

One of the things I noticed at the con were how many people--even on Friday, the traditionally quiet day--came to the con in costume. Now, as many regular con attendees know, many of these costumed con-goers are women, usually dressed in some sexed-up version of their favorite superheroine.

There was one woman I saw walking the con floor dressed as Supergirl, and she was, frankly, just about perfect--pretty much a walking, talking comic book drawing come to life. But even though I admired how perfectly put together her look and costume were, I'm shy about asking someone like that to pose for a picture--it feels a little pervy to me, asking some young woman to pose (who am I, Irving Klaw?), so I generally just walk on by.

Asking these guys to pose was more my speed:

...I mean, how many Solomon Grundy fans can there be out there? As you might guess, I'm a fan of the "B" characters, so when I see someone love Kid Flash so much they make a homemade costume, it makes me smile. (Later, I saw these same two on Saturday, which made me want to ask the Grundy guy, did he sleep in that outfit, or wash it all off and put it all back the next day?)

I went back to my sketch hunting, and came across the table of Chris Giarrusso, the artist behind those great Mini-Marvels strips and books. I asked him to do an Aquaman sketch for me, the result of which will be seen here tomorrow.

I wandered around Artist's Alley some more, and managed to make arrangements with two other favorite artists of mine to do Aquaman sketches, but I'm keeping those names a secret for now--I like still having a surprise or two here on the Shrine!

One of the nicest moments of the con for me was when I visited Kevin Maguire's table. After talking to Kevin (whose work I've always loved), Richard and I started to walk away, when a dapper-looking man walked past, and Kevin yelled out "Hey! Isn't that J.M. DeMatteis?"

In fact, it was, and he turned around to say hi to Kevin. I stopped in my tracks and waited, because J.M. DeMatteis, in addition to being a superb writer, has been another comics pro who has been extraordinarily generous with his time towards me and my blogs, having done two interviews with me for the Shrine (see sidebar) and one for JLA Satellite.

I waited until he was done talking to Kevin, then introduced myself. When he saw my badge, his face lit up, and he said something to the effect of "Wow! Great to finally meet you!" We talked for a few moments, then I got him to autograph a copy of Adventure Comics #475 I had with me, which features his first Aquaman story:

We shook hands and departed, and I felt elated. J.M. DeMatteis was happy to see me--me? Someone who read the above comic off the newsstand at age nine?

Later, Richard introduced me to the blogger known as Redhead Fangirl, who is as sweet in person as her blog persona. She looked over my sketchbook and we talked about famous redheaded comics characters. I couldn't help but think when I made an Insect Queen joke and she laughed, where were women like this when I was single?

I visited my friend Geoff Grogan, who I first met at last year's con when he was selling his treasury-sized book Look Out!! Monsters, which I admired immensely. He has a new series out now called Nice Work, set in the 1960s and all about the Rat Pack and JFK, and I picked up the first trade. We spent most of the time talking about treasury-sized comics, a topic I never grow tired of discussing.

After stopping by the legendary Joe Staton's table and picking up a Scooby-Doo commission for my nephew, it occurred to me that my sketchbook, in my attempt to collect fantastic pieces of artwork all within its covers, has become a little too beloved an artifact for me now to feel comfortable giving it to anyone to keep overnight, which is pretty SOP for most of the comics pros I seek sketches from.

Having a book with originals by Aparo, Cardy, Infantino, Fradon, Hamilton, Staton, Austin, Gleason, etc., is simply too precious to me to leave with anyone for too long, so now I have to resign myself to mostly getting sketches on separate pieces of paper and then adding them to the book. I just can't bear to leave my baby with strangers!

By this point it was around 5pm, and I had to head back. I made plans to meet up with Richard again the next day and headed back to the Port Authority to make my way out of the city.

The next day, the Saturday crowds made the Friday ones look like a matinee of The Spirit. Every single aisle was packed within an inch of its life, and as we all know, not everyone is as polite as we'd like them to be. Just getting from one end to the other was a grueling ordeal, at least for me.

There were even more amazing self-made costumes on display, and I got a little more comfortable asking for pictures. Like when I saw these two:

I mean, that Catwoman...wow. Just getting in that thing must have been a feat of engineering.

(Looking back at this picture, it occurs to me I probably weigh more than both these women combined. Note to self: hit the WiiFit when done writing this post)

There was also this amazing two-some:

Not only did the Chewbacca stand about seven feet tall, but the guy playing Han Solo managed to keep the perfect bored smirk that Harrison Ford had all throughout Star Wars. Well done, fellas(?).

I always like to try and get a sketch by one artist who I've never heard of, just from spotting their work and liking what I see. I did that again this year, with DC Comics inker Derek Fridolfs. While DC seems to just use him primarily as an inker, he has a style that to me looks like a cross between Paul Pope and Bruce Timm, and I liked it immediately. I told him if he ever did the pencils and inks on a book, I'd buy it regardless of the story.

Bonus was that he was fast, doing sketches as you watched, so I actually got him to the piece in my book, and I was thrilled with it. It will show up here soon!

Around this time, I ran into F.O.A.M. member Vince Bartilucci and his charming wife Billi. Having never met Vince, or knowing what he looked like, it was up to him to spot me, which he did when he some guy clutching an Aquaman sketchbook to his chest. He flagged me down and we talked for a few minutes, and compared our con experiences. He even bestowed on me a small Aquaman-related gift, which will be the subject of a future post.

Shockingly, he then tried to steal my sketchbook and make a break for it! But luckily Billi stopped him:

Good catch, Mrs. B! (Btw,...like my Batman TV show-esque angle on the photo?)

I stopped by Geoff Grogan's table again. I had read the first half of his Nice Work trade Friday night and liked it, so I came back to pick up the second issue. It felt good to be able to go right back to someone and tell them you liked what they did, and were back for more.

By this point, the crowds were really started to get to me, so I decided to make my way out the door. But I wanted to run into Richard one more time, and I did, by the TwoMorrows table. Richard shamed me into admitting I had not even been to the other side of the Javitz Center, to see the other half of the con I was attending! I was like the Comic Con equivalent of one of the SoHo snobs.

Richard wanted to take me to the table of a dealer whom he thought might have some good Aqua-Swag, and on the way we stopped at the Mattel booth and saw some amazing new figures making their way to Targets all over this, er, great land:

I'm excited to see a Tala figure--the first Phantom Stranger-related character for the JLU line--plus the addition of Super Friends Apache Chief, Samurai, and Black Vulcan--wow! Meanwhile, Cyborg apparently suffers some technical difficulties.

I also got shots of the new History of the DC Universe Aquaman figure, a JLU-styled Aquaman but featuring the original costume, as well as a line of mini-Brave and the Bold features, including Aquaman and Black Manta! As Richard pointed out, when is Ocean Master going to get some injection-molded love?!?

Finally we got to the dealer in question, and while they didn't have any Aquaman stuff I didn't have (except for a Mint Yellow Card Aquaman, which I wasn't even going to ask about), it was here that I made my traditional, one-per-con Useless Purchase.

I guess one could argue every purchase at a con is a useless purchase, but go with me on this. Every con, I buy something that catches my fancy, that, in that moment, I really want, even though it doesn't tie in to any specific collection I'm maintaining (Aquaman stuff, Bob Dylan bootlegs, treasury-sized comics, etc.). And this time, it was this:

I've always loved Ray Harryhausen's movies, and I still remember my Dad taking me and my sister to see Clash of the Titans. So, for whatever reason, a foreign-carded Perseus figure was exactly what I wanted at that moment. (Note to all my friends: if you ever see a carded COTT Charon figure, please pick it up for me. I desperately want a "Death's Boatman" action figure!) Anyway, the price was right, and I clutched my newest con prize to my chest.

Somehow, Richard and I made it through the throng to a relatively quiet spot where we talked about Human Civilization's genetic need to hunt, and how that still manifests itself, all these eons later, even when looking for action figures. It was all very high-falutin' considering we were at an event featuring people dressed like Darkwing Duck.

By this time, I decided to head out, and made my way home. Another successful comic con has come and gone!


There was a point around 2002-2005 where I didn't attend many comic cons. The friends I had gone to SDCC with weren't around, and I hardly knew anyone at local shows. I wondered if going to cons at all was something I would just phase out of my life.

But now thanks to my blogs (mostly The Aquaman Shrine), I now get to meet up with lots of people, get to shake their hand and say hello, and make a connection beyond the 1s and 0s of the internet. It truly is a marvelous thing, and now I look forward to each and every comic con I can go to.

Next year's New York show isn't until October 2010, which seems like a long ways away...

Aquaman (Vol.6) #71 - Sept. 2000

Comics Weekend "To Enter The Lost World"

Regular artists Steve Epting and Norm Rapmund are back, and this time they and writer Dan Jurgens open up an issue of Aquaman not in Atlantis, but in the far off land of Skartaris:

Back in Atlantis, Garth and Dolphin are nesting with their new son Cerdian.

But all is not rainbows and unicorns, since Garth senses some sort of mystical disturbance...something bad.

Meanwhile, Arthur is dealing with the thousand mind-numbing tasks of being King, barely paying attention to all the proclamations and paperwork Vulko is putting in front of him:

Arthur meets with Ambassador Hart, who is surprised to learn that Arthur expects the Surafce World's ambassadors to live here in Atlantis, just like other world ambassadors do.

As they deal with this startling bit of news, Garth arrives to tell Arthur what he's been sensing. Garth is able to pinpoint the trouble as emanating from a distant sector of the sea, and Arthur decides to check it out, insisting Garth stay behind--he has a new son to tend to. He also lets Garth assume the throne in his absence.

Arthur has Mera go with him to check out the trouble:

While they're on their way, Arthur and Mera talk about their relationship, and it seems like Arthur is tip-toeing around the idea they might be together again.

But that has to wait, for they discover what the trouble is--a huge, glowing whirlpool!

The whirlpool is so powerful it sucks everything near it inside, including Mera! But Arthur is not about to let his love go so easily, and he grabs her hand, which ends up getting them both sucked into the whirlpool.

They come out the other side, and the first thing they see is a giant pre-historic sea creature known as a Elasmosauraus. Mera believes this means they have traveled back in time, but Arthur isn't so sure.

They poke their heads out of the water, to see a group of massive sailing ships headed towards them!

The ship's crew think Arthur and Mera are attacking them, so they start lobbing fireballs at them. When Arthur commands the Elasmosauraus to smash one of the ships, someone steps forward to take charge:

Aquaman and Warlord have it out for a few minutes, with Aquaman thinking this is somehow Oliver Queen he's dealing with.

Travis Morgan--The Warlord--understands the mistake and stops fighting. They talk for a moment, and Morgan says he recognizes the man in front of him as Aquaman, though he looks "different than how I remember."

Turns out that on Skartaris, there's a threat brewing, one so bad that Morgan's friend Mongo Ironhand thought they needed help, so they got some--Aquaman and Mera!

Aquaman wonders what kind of threat could be so bad, and as they make their way down the river, Morgan shows them:

...to be continued!

Nice to have Epting and Rapmund back, and Aquaman and Warlord make for an interesting team-up. Be here for next week's Comic Weekend, and we'll see what happens!

Aquaman (Vol.6) #70 - Aug. 2000

Comics Weekend "Unification By Division"

After getting to see how the war between Atlantis and Cerdia ended, this issue deals with the affairs of state a king has to contend with.

The people of Cerdia, still amid their destroyed home, are surprised to see their new King arrive:

At first, the people of Cerdia are none too keen on having their bitter enemy as their king, but Arthur convinces them that, over time, they will come to believe in him--he has no desire to force anyone to be his followers. He promises the people of Cerdia a better life than they can ever dream of (yes we can!). And if he fails to do so, he will step down, and Cerdia can elect whomever they want.

Unfortunately, all is not kumbaya back in Atlantis. There is a group of Atlanteans who want no part of Cerdia, and are holding a protest to let their king know how they feel.

Aquaman, Mera, and Vulko watch the demonstrations, and Mera asks how Arthur plans to unite everyone. He says he won't:

...this was an idea I thought was long overdue in the history of Aquaman. With the constant tug of war between being King and being a superhero driving Aquaman to distraction, it only makes sense to turn to his most trusted partner, his Queen, to assume more of a leadership role in Atlantis.

But as this moment in Atlantean history is being born, we see that the anger towards Cerdia is taking a nastier turn than just protests--a group of Atlanteans commandeer a warship, with plans to blast Cerdia completely off the map!

As Mera talks to the protesters, Arthur goes to visit Garth and Dolphin (and their as-yet-unnamed son), reminding Garth that he is, for all intents and purposes, Atlantis' prince, and he has to assume some royal duties.

But the conversation is interrupted when Rodunn tells Arthur of the stolen warship. Of course, Aquaman heads out to catch up to them:

The rebel Atlanteans fire torpedoes on a Red Cross ship delivering supplies to Cerdia, but Aquaman knocks them off course so they miss their targets.

While the Cerdians think this is yet another attack by Atlantis, Aquaman swims right up the stolen ship's torpedo tube, knocking out several of the separatists.

When one of them sets the ship for self-destruct, Aquaman pilots the ship towards the sky, as high as he can get it before jumping out (along with the separatists), where it explodes without harming anyone.

Later that day, Arthur, as King, holds a ceremony for the people of Cerdia, along with Mera, Garth, Dolphin, and Vulko. As a gesture of good will, he introduces someone who will hopefully become a symbol of the unity of the two peoples--Garth and Dolphin's son Cerdian!:

Another fine issue, this story manages to deal with the enormous task facing any leader--how to deal with your people after a war is over.

So many times in comics, you have these giant battles between people, and then once the war is over, everything is fine again, which is of course not how it goes. Dan Jurgens manages to deal with what could be a dull subject, and builds a compelling story around the trappings of Arthur's office.

This issue was not drawn by the regular art team of Steve Epting and Norm Rapmund (it was by guest artists Gordon Purcell and Claude St. Aubin), but they will return next issue!

Target DC Superhero Boxers

This is the beautiful package for a pair of men's boxer shorts sold (I think) exclusively at Target.

I've never seen this for sale at my local Target, otherwise I would've picked them up. I love that this "DC Originals" off-shoot uses such (by current DCU standards) out of date versions of the characters, since, as we all know, these are the versions DC themselves should be using.

Oh well, at least us men can wear our heroes to bed, like we did as kids. (/arrested childhood)


With that, I am off to the New York Comic Con. Instead of doing two separate con reports over the weekend like I did last year, I will instead do one long one, appearing on Monday. F.O.A.M.ers unite!

Breaking News - More Final Crisis Aquaman

Newsarama.com recently ran an interview with Grant Morrison about Final Crisis, and the subject of Aquaman came up, briefly. Here's the exchange:

NRAMA: The return of Aquaman...that's the Aquaman? King Arthur returned in the hour of his people's greatest need?

GM: J.G. Jones and I figured it was time to bring back an Aquaman we could all understand, so there he is. Someone else will pick up on that story, I'm sure.

Interesting! That still doesn't explain why some of the participants didn't seem to recognize this Aquaman if its the original (although I guess there a multitude of explanations for that), but I take this as a welcome sign: Morrison and Jones put Classic Aquaman in a big box with a ribbon it, just waiting for some writer to come along and open it. Stay tuned.


This tidbit was caught and sent to me F.O.A.M. member Joe Mello. Thanks Joe!

DC Super Heroes Poster Book Ad - 1979

I've seen this ad in about a thousand different DCs from around 1979, but I don't think I've ever actually seen the book itself. I never knew anyone who had one, and I don't think I've ever come across it on eBay. Anyone out there have one?

It certainly looks very nice, what with that great Dick Giordano shot of the big stars of the DCU (and Dr. Sivana) charging at you...plus it has an intro by Isaac Asimov!

I'm grinning at the idea of having the author of I, Robot having to sit down and pen some words about, say, Catwoman.


Update: Within a few minutes of posting this, several of you left comments or sent me an email with links to more info about this book. (You guys are awesome)

On AbeBooks.com, several people are selling copies of the book, here's a shot of the cover:

While the book looks totally awesome, prices start at around fifty bucks (going all the way up to $125 on Amazon!) , which is insane.

I want to see what's in this thing, but not that bad.


Update 2: You F.O.A.M.ers keep coming through! David Kelly has the poster book and sent me a scan of the Aquaman image, a handsome shot by Dick Giordano:

This image was re-used as the flip side to a Pepsi brand placemat, which I posted on the Shrine here, which featured Aquaman's origin drawn by Kurt Schaffenberger.

So in the end, I'm not missing anything by not having the book itself, though of course I'd still like one. But at prices ranging from $50 to $125, I don't see one in my future any time soon.

Thanks David!

JLA Denim Shirt - 1997

This handsome denim shirt was one of the 10,000 items sold at the late, great Warner Bros. Studio Stores (*sniff*), featuring the classic JLA logo on the front, and informal shot of almost the entire original team on the back (Martian Manhunter frequently got screwed over on this stuff--sorry Frank).

Of the 10,000 items for sale, I only bought a handful, but luckily my pal and F.O.A.M. member Shag Matthews seemed to buy one of everything, since he's been sending me photos of his collection for a few months now. How the hell did the WB not make money from these stores??

It's a very nice shirt, I especially like the relatively classy front, with the real geek-out going on on the back. Though what's with Hal leaning on Arthur?

Channel 9 Will Return After These Messages

This is a TV station card for someone's local Channel 9, that I accidentally found during a Google image search. I had never seen it before, was totally charmed, and downloaded it.

Its a safe bet that this was used for this channel's Saturday morning cartoon line-up, given the copyright-violating mix of characters. I love the fact that Aquaman is pictured, but not Batman. Holy Globally Recognized Icons! How many times do you see that?

Brave and The Bold: "Journey to the Center of the Bat!"

Aquaman made a return appearance to Cartoon Network's Brave and the Bold series, as this time he brought The Atom with him!

Like all the episodes of the show so far, it opens up with a short, pre-title sequence, and this one mirrors the story that follows--it features three heroes, Batman, Plastic Man, and making his Brave and the Bold debut, The Elongated Man!

But the episode proper starts with the current Atom (Ryan Choi) in the middle of a scientific experiment. His phone rings, and on the other end of the line is...Aquaman!:

Turns out Aquaman and Batman have been fighting Chemo, the malevolent blob of toxic chemicals, and Batman took a big shot of Chemo in the face, making him very sick. Hence the need for a scientist.

Using the old traveling-over-phone lines bit, The Atom arrives and says the only way to combat the rogue cells in Batman's body is to venture inside him and take them out in person. Aquaman volunteers to join him, and in they go:

The Atom makes Bats promise no to do any strenuous activity, since that will help spread the disease. Bats agrees (yeah, right), and we find that Aquaman and The Atom don't exactly see eye to eye on how to go about the mission.

Aquaman is a man of action, and The Atom is a little more cautious, leading to a moment where The Atom explains a scientific theory in the same tone he would talk to a child with ADD, even going so far as to referring to the diseased cells as "cooties":

...this leads to a moment that made me genuinely laugh out loud, where Aquaman goes "Ah, yes, cooties" before getting really quiet, as if realized in that moment he's been condescended to.

Later, while being a chased by a horde of Chemo cells, they find their way into Batman's blood stream, where they are in danger of being swept away by the current. But Aquaman's powers work in mysterious ways, and he's able to call a collection of red blood cells to use as a steed:

Using his new steed Platelet, they manage to escape being killed by the Chemo cells. While they take a moment to regroup, we get another aspect to this version of Aquaman I really enjoy, his love and appreciation of the animal kingdom, even when it isn't an animal. He gets a big "hug" from Platelet, and returns it right back:

Meanwhile, Batman jumps in his Bat Jet, and helps the Navy try and fight off Chemo. He does some investigating, and discovers who the brain is behind the mindless Chemo...the Brain!:

Soon after, Batman destroys Chemo, and then turns his attention on a nearby sub, which is where The Brain resides.

Inside Bats, Aquaman and The Atom make an assault on the nasty creature that is spawning all these nasty Chemo cells (it looks a little like mother face-hugger from Aliens). Atom has brought along a weapon that will destroy it, but it is currently surrounded by a swarm of the Chemo cells:

The Atom isn't sure what to do, so Aquaman makes a command decision by kicking The Atom off Platelet, and make a sort of suicide run at the Chemo cells.

He rides right into the center of them, attracting their attention, giving The Atom the chance to attack the head creature directly. During the melee, the Chemo cells attack Platelet, "killing" it. This act of murderous savagery enrages The Atom, who drops his cerebral reserve so he and Aquaman can kick some cellular butt:

The Atom sticks his doo-dad into the head creature, destroying it, and that's the end of the Chemo cells.

While Batman is sneaking onto The Brain's sub and dealing with him directly (knocking him over, rendering him helplessly rolling on the floor, which again made me laugh out loud), Aquaman and The Atom mourn the loss of Platelet:

Aquaman and The Atom learn to appreciate each other's approach to super-heroing a little more, and Aquaman vows to honor his steed's sacrifice by making sure they are as selfless and heroic as they can be.

Like the moment earlier in the show, I think this is a nice touch they give Aquaman, one from the comics that was one of my favorite elements to Aquaman's personality--his deep concern for all life forms, not just humans.

Having cured Batman, The Atom says the plan is to head up Batman's neck, and escape via his tear ducts:

"But surely", Aquaman responds, "Batman doesn't cry!"


We've now all had the chance to see about half a dozen Brave and the Bold episodes, and so far I can say I'm thoroughly impressed. These shows are so fun that they feel like Silver Age issues of the comic series from which the show takes its name pretty much put onto the screen--I mean, wow, an episode featuring Batman, Aquaman, and The Atom vs. Chemo and The Brain? Are we all living inside Bob Haney's head or something?

Aquaman is a little more of a headstrong doofus in this episode than he was in his debut show, but I still get the sense that a lot of that characterization is a sort of a put-on--there's just something I hear in the quality of actor John DiMaggio's voice as Aquaman that tells me this is partly an act of Aquaman's, conscious or not.

Maybe I'm reaching, but all I know is, as this devout Aquaman fan watches this version of the character, it makes me smile. This version of Aquaman reminds me a lot of the way Marvel's writers used to write Thor and Hercules--headstrong guys who maybe weren't as swift as, say, Captain America, but were brave and courageous, and a lot of fun to read about.

(Also, extra credit to whoever's idea it was to give The Brain that voice he had in the show. Hearing what sounded like Inspector Clouseau coming out of a green, glowing brain sitting in a pan with a skull on its front made me, again, laugh out loud)

But back to Aquaman--from the limited market research I've done (read: my 11-year old nephew) this version of Aquaman is a winner to the show's target audience. And if this Aquaman becomes as beloved to young kids as the Super Friends version was to my generation, then the makers of Brave and the Bold are doing the character a great service.

Oh, and if Mattel can find some way to make a Platelet accessory for their Aquaman figure, that'd be awesome.

Aquaman (Vol.6) #69 - July 2000

Comics Weekend "Glory"

Last issue ended with the war between Atlantis and Cerdia finally over, Tempest's son rescued, and Garth's granddaughter Donna finally getting to see the amazing nation of Atlantis.

This issue picks up with Donna delivering her report to her class (with the help of what looks like an iPod--Dan Jurgens was a few years ahead of Steve Jobs, it seems), and she tells of how the citizens of Atlantis started to return home:

Dolphin is overjoyed to see Garth, with their son, waiting for them in Atlantis.

Mera wonders where Aquaman is, and Vulko chimes in Atlantis needs it's king. But Arthur is already working on his kingly duties, namely the rebuilding of Atlantis, with the help of some friends:

Mera asks where Arthur is, and Garth tells her that he is chasing down Ocean Master.

And we see just that, as Aquaman uses an Atlantean ship to chase Orm down. Not deterred by his half-brother's obvious anger, Orm turns his ship around and fires several torpedoes at Arthur's ship, seemingly blasting it to pieces.

Orm thinks he's killed Arthur--yeah, right:

...I absolutely love this sequence. Steve Epting really took pains to give Aquaman a really impressive, powerful feel, either moving through the water like a bullet, or ripping open a bad guy's ship like the Man of Steel.

Orm's ship crashes, and Aquaman grabs Orm and saves him. Orm returns the favor by trying to blast him with that damn scepter, but Aquaman commands a bunch of his finny friends to pound him relentlessly.

He even calls forth a giant, prehistoric-looking sea monster, whom Orm assumes will eat him, causing him to officially give up.

Aquaman grabs Orm's scepter, breaking it in two, which reduces Orm to a helpless rag doll. He takes his brother from the clutches of the creature and heads back for his ship.

Later, Aquaman makes an appearance at the U.N. to address what has happened. He claims that, under the articles of war, Cerdia rightfully now belongs to Atlantis:

...the end.

A great storyline comes to a great ending, full of the majesty and honor that befits the character of a superhero who is also a king.

Its also a nice in that, in many ways, the seemingly-endless "Atlantis vs. The Surface World" arc that was part of Aquaman's back story for so long finally gets resolved. Why hasn't this series of issues been collected as a trade, DC?