Titans #15 - Sept. 2009

Comics Weekend "Through Thine Eyes" by J.T. Krul, Jose Luis, and JP Mayer.

This Blackest Night tie-in books opens with a great image, a sight for sore eyes for us Classic Aquaman fans:

...yes, that was long ago, and now things are much different: Aquaman, Tula, Dolphin, and Tempest's son Cerdian are all dead, and their beloved Atlantis has been nearly destroyed.

Aqualad feels classic Survivor's Guilt, and he also feels the uneasy stares of his fellow Atlanteans, who sometimes look at him like a harbinger of doom.

In his gloom, he stops by the Atlantean cemetery:

He recalls his younger days, having adventures with Aquaman and the Teen Titans, romancing Tula. Then, the Crisis hit, and everything began to change.

While in the process of burying Dolphin and Cerdian, he is met a demonic-looking being known as Slizzath, Tempest's uncle. At first, Slizzath--who claims he can talk to the dead--seems to only want to taunt Tempest with cruel mocking, but soon they are drawn into battle, with Slizzath talking about how "the dead will rise."

Tempest blasts Slizzath, who explodes into a fireball. Tempest is then found unconscious by some Atlanteans, who thank him for getting rid of Slizzath. Tempest says he had little to do with it, that his uncle seemed to do it to himself.

They take him to the Royal Palace, where the throne remains empty:

Unsure what to do, Garth visits an old friend--Dick Grayson, now having taken the role of his mentor, Batman.

Dick's Batman, though, is warm and friendly, and offers advice to his old friend. But it seems that Garth has already made a decision as to the power vacuum in Atlantis. He returns to Atlantis, and as some of its citizens watch him, he assumes the throne:

...uh oh, I don't think Zombie Aquaman is going to like this!


I'm interested to see where this goes, because it certainly seems here that Tempest/Garth/Aqualad is finally getting "promoted" to the role of the DCU's Aquaman, the way Dick Grayson is now Batman.

Of course, that's not going to last (after the apocalypse, there will still be cockroaches, and Bruce Wayne will still be Batman), so maybe Garth will keep the throne warm until his old mentor returns.

Blackest Night #1 - Sept. 2009

Comics Weekend "Blackest Night" by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Oclair Albert.

Considering we talked about two Silver Age Aquaman stories drawn by Ramona Fradon for the last Comics Weekend, I'd say this book is about as far away from the tone of those stories as humanly possible, as this grim first page will attest:

Black Hand starts reanimating people, ending the conversation he's having with the skull of Bruce Wayne by licking it. Fun!

Cut to Coast City, where a celebration is taking place, attended by the Green Lanterns--Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Kyle Rainer, and Guy Gardner. The celebration is to honor all the fallen superheroes and to celebrate the rebuilt Coast City.

But while the Lanterns are enjoying the moment, there are others who are not celebrating. In Smallville, Clark Kent is mourning the loss of his father. In Pittsburgh, Professor Martin Stein is mourning Ronnie Raymond.

In Chicago, Blue Beetle's formers JLA teammates lay a rose on his grave, and we see that the rose, once placed on the tomb, immediately starts to die.

In Amnesty Bay, Aquaman's former queen, Mera, and his former sidekick, Garth, squabble over where Arthur should be buried:

Later, in the HQ of the Justice League of America, Hal Jordan and the recently-returned Barry Allen talk, with Hal catching Barry up on all that has happened while he was "away."

After some insisting from Barry, Hal shows him just how many heroes have been lost over the years:

Barry is particularly disturbed at the fate of his friends, Ralph and Sue Dibny (me, too).

Later, in St. Roch, we see Hawkman and Hawkwoman argue after Carter refuses to let his old friend, Ray Palmer, come visit the grave of his wife, Jean Loring, who of course caused so much destruction and death.

Far away, on the planet Oa, we see things really start going to hell, when one of the Guardians, who is part of the Black Hand, attack one of his fellow Oans by biting into his neck, zombie style!

This act sets off all the "Black Lantern" rings out there in space, and they hurtle great distances to arrive at various heroes' graves, like Aquaman's:

This causes all of them to rise from their graves, as zombies, and begin their gruesome march towards their former fellow heroes.

The zombie Martian Manhunter attacks Flash and Green Lantern, the zombie Ralph and Sue attack Hawkman and Hawkwoman, stabbing Kendra through the chest and ripping out Carter's heart for good measure.

As the Hawks' bodies wither away to empty husks, we see Black Hand, standing over them, claiming that they "Won't escape death this time."

Needless to say, to be continued!


I'm going to refrain from doing any sort of commentary about this issue, or the series in general, because I simply can't relate to what I'm reading.

As I've stated here many times before, I hate this level of violence and gore in superhero comics, but judging how these things seem to sell (I mean, there's a reason why Marvel put out approximately 12,000 Marvel Zombies spin-off books), I can see that I'm clearly in the minority of the comic book-buying public on this, so I don't see any need to belabor the point.

That said, Blackest Night will end up being an important series in the history of Aquaman, so I feel required to follow how it all plays out. Maybe, just maybe, if Aquaman ends up back as the Classic Aquaman we all know and love, with Mera at his side (beautifully drawn here by Reis and Albert), it'll be worth sitting through all the flesh chomping.

Black Manta Color Model Sheet by Alex Toth

After yesterday's video, I thought we'd spend a little more time on Black Manta this week, with this colored model sheet for the Challenge of the Super Friends version of Black Manta, which was sent to me by F.O.A.M.er Tommy Brookshire of the Bat-Blog. Thanks Tommy!

It's amazing to think, that its pretty much just from Manta's one season on the Super Friends show that he is as well known as he is in the wider culture (I think if you asked 100 random people who is Aquaman's #1 foe, at least some of them would be able to name Manta, while not a one would mention Ocean Master).

Part of it had to be that voice--that genius combo of voice actor and the reverb/echo effect was just so unusual, so memorable.

Plus, how does he get his head in there like that?

The Aquaman Shrine Meets Black Manta

If you'll recall, I posted the above photo from the 2009 Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con, featuring the awesomest Black Manta costume you'll ever see.

When I saw Manta at the con, I took the opportunity to go up to him and give him one my Aquaman Shrine business cards, which caused Manta to scream in rage, at the sight of his arch-nemesis having his own blog!

Little I did know, but that moment was captured on video, which can you see below! Warning: There are two giant heads in this video--mine's the one coming in from the left:

...I love it!

(Special thanks to Rudy Rinesko--aka Black Manta--for sending me the link!)

Geoff Johns on Aquaman

From a new Q&A with Geoff Johns @CBR:

My question, is there any chance you’ll be involved in an Aquaman book with Shane Davis? Or possibly a future Hawk-project? Neither seems out of the realm of possibility and both would be fantastic.

Carter Hall! Aquaman and his crew are all over “Blackest Night.” What’s next for him remains to be seen, but I certainly think he is one of the strongest characters with one of the richest mythologies in comics. I’ve loved what J. Michael Straczynski has done with Thor and it feels to me that Aquaman has that same epic scale behind him that only needs to be set free.

(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Max Handerson. Thanks Max!)


By the way: the Shrine will take a look at Blackest Night #1 this Saturday!

Aquaman Vs. Kobra

Shameless Self-Promotion Department: If you'll forgive me, I thought for today I'd post a few panels from Aquaman (Vol.1) #60, featuring the Sea King's first run-in with the supervillain Kobra, to bring attention to an article I have in the newest issue of TwoMorrows' fine magazine Back Issue, out today:

The theme is, as the cover states, Villains, villains, and more villains, and I had the pleasure of writing my first full-length piece for the magazine on DC's resident snake-themed would-be world conqueror.

I got the chance to talk to long time comics pro Marty Pasko, who wrote the entire Kobra series, to get some background info, and his contributions were invaluable (plus Marty is just plain fun to talk to).

If you haven't already ordered a copy through your LCS, you can click the cover above and order a copy directly from TwoMorrows!

JLA/JSA Pin-Up by Dave Gibbons

Back at the time of the Watchmen movie being released, I did a post focusing on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' rare interactions with Aquaman.

For Gibbons, I posted a couple of pages he drew for the World's Funnest one-shot, saying "[T]he only time he ever got to draw him[Aquaman] was in the 2003 one-shot World's Funnest, a fall-down-funny effort written by Evan Dorkin."

Well, of course, while going through some old comics, I looked through the above book (released in 1998), and found this pin-up by the one and only Mr. Gibbons, making my earlier statement wrong, wrong, wrong:

(click to see a larger version!)

In contrast to his work in Watchmen, everyone in the DCU looks so cheery when Gibbons draws them, Aquaman included!

Meet Orin

This handsome young Aqua-Fan is named Orin Brock, whose father Shawn wrote me one day last week and told me he and his wife actually named their son after Aquaman, and he was wondering, would that be enough to get him into F.O.A.M.?

Um, yeah!

Here's what Shawn had to say about how his son got named after the King of the Seven Seas:

"When my wife and I were discussing baby names, we were having difficulty agreeing on a name. Orin was a name I had been thinking about for a while, but wasn't sure how to approach with her. I decided to suggest it, and she liked it immediately. Deciding she needed to hear it from me rather than read it somewhere or hear from someone else, as soon as she said she liked it I told her where it came from.

I've been a huge Aquaman fan for as long as I can remember (I'm 41, so that's a long time), and knowing that and how big a fan I am, she readily agreed to the name.

And now, I have my own tribute to my favorite superhero (and an amazingly cool son too!) He is 4 now, and is a big fan and loves watching Aquaman in cartoons. Obviously I've worked hard to make him a fan, and it seems to be taking so far!"


What can I say? Honestly, this makes me all mushy inside when I hear a story about a young Aquaman fan such as this. Orin looks like a cool little guy, and he's got some way-cool parents!

I'm so blown away by this that I'm inducting the entire Brock Family into F.O.A.M., for dedication above and beyond the call! Welcome to F.O.A.M., Brock Family!

World's Finest #147 - Feb. 1965

Comics Weekend "The Underwater Olympics!" by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon.

After a little over three years of running as an alternating back-up in World's Finest with Green Arrow, Aquaman ended his run in the title with this story, reprinted from Adventure Comics #277:

Aquaman wins the drawing to see where the Underwater Olympics will be held, and he picks the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the many spectators is Bart Horval, who Aquaman knows as "The robber baron of salvage operations." Horval trash-talks Aquaman, saying he hopes Aqualad wins. Crooks were a lot nicer back then.

The first event features dueling swordfish:

You haven't lived until you've attended a boxing match featuring a walrus fighting an octopus.

Next up is a water polo game, which brings the score to a tie. The next set of games feature underwater skills, and Aqualad has to retrieve a lead crate from the bottom of the ocean!

Aquaman has to perform the same talk, but begs off, claiming he and his team have failed--Aqualad wins this round. Next is stopping some smugglers, and Aquaman loses that contest, too--what's going on here?

Next is a tug of war between the two heroes:

...so Aquaman took a hit, purposely throwing the Underwater Olympics, just to help his friend Superman! What a pal--I hope he mentioned this to Kal the next time they got together at the JLA Secret Sanctuary.

A fairly goofy story with an off-beat, out-of-left-field ending, this is Aquaman at his self-sacrificing best. My hero!

Adventure Comics #268 - Jan. 1960

Comics Weekend "The Adventures of Aquaboy" by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon.

I have a small collection of 1950s/1960s issues of Adventure Comics, and every so often I like to drop in a Comics Weekend where we talk about the wonderful Aquaman stories from this time--drawn by the incomparable Ramona Fradon, its always a sunny day, the villains are usually just mis-guided instead of evil, and Aquaman is a happy adventurer. They're like a cool drink on a hot day.

Anyway, this issue starts off with one goofy (and yet intriguing!) image, and then we find Aquaman rescuing an old man whose boat is about to be lost at sea:

Aquaman tries to reassure the man--named Captain Harte--that he does have these amazing powers, and that the man--having lived alone an island for twelve years--is just "out of touch."

Aquaman also feels like he's met Harte before, and then he remembers...it was back when he was the continuity-defying superhero Aquaboy!

Aquaboy--with the help of some whales--saved Harte when his boat collided with another. But Harte, instead of being grateful, is suspicious and defiant, refusing to believe this boy has the powers he says he has.

Years later, he is still convinced that "Aquaboy" was a hallucination:

(God, do I love Aquaman's look and pose in that last panel!)

Aquaman recalls other moments when, as Aquaboy, he tried to introduce himself to Surface Dwellers, but no one would believe what they saw.

As he tries to figure out how to convince Harte that he's real, a sea quake erupts:

...blind or not, living on a remote, sun-kissed island sounds like a pretty good life to me. And now that he has money for an operation to restore his sight, life's pretty sweet for Captain Harte!

Inadvertently, there's an interesting(?) observation one can make about the state of the DC Universe with this story: the plot hinges upon Captain Harte's complete refusal to believe someone with Aquaman's powers can possibly exist. Because, of course, there weren't really that many superheroes running around.

Now, of course, this story just plain wouldn't work--with so many superheroes in whatever world the DCU inhabits, who wouldn't believe in someone with amazing powers?

As usual, Ramona Fradon delivers a perfect art job. Another example of her great work on the Sea King tomorrow!

Original Art Gallery

I thought we'd have an "Original Art Gallery" day here at the Shrine, where we show off some original Aqua-centric pieces, not done for me or the blog.

The beautiful piece above is by cartoonist Evan "Doc" Shaner, who has this (and bunch of other great pieces) up on his blog. Here's what he said about the piece: "Here's a new bookmark/banner for you guys, Aquaman, king of Atlantis. At this point, I'm really just putting whatever characters I like in these, and despite his history I flippin' dig Aquaman."

I wholeheartedly agree, Evan!

This sweet rendering of the Sea King is by "Dapper" Dan Schoening, whose work you can find here. He has some other fine examples of the Aqua-Family in his style, which I really like (thanks to F.O.A.M.er Doug Zawisza for the tip). Now I can imagine what a Pixar Aquaman movie might look like!


The last piece I wanted to show off was sent to me ages ago by F.O.A.M. member Neal Snow, a wonderfully bright, cheery shot of Tula, aka Aquagirl:

...Neal sent this to me, like, a year ago and then I summarily lost the file. Bad Rob!

Luckily I was able to retrieve it from my dusty in-box, because I like it--it reminds me of those 60s Filmation cartoons, if Tula had ever shown up on the show. Thanks Neal!

Toyfare #145

These preview shots of the new Brave and Bold: Action League line are in the newest issue of Toyfare (#145), out this week.

I knew that there was an Aquaman/Black Manta 2-pack on the way (I saw it at the 2009 NY Comic Con):

...but the Batman/Ocean Master set is news to me! Glad to see ol' Orm is starting to catch up to Manta in the action figure sweepstakes!

These are due late 2009, so once again I'll be loitering in my local Target's toy aisle...

Question

...any of you Aqua-Fans out there have copies of the entire DC Vs. Marvel mini-series?


Update: As I knew you would, you AquaFans have stepped up to the plate and provided me with the images I need. Thanks!

Heroes of the DC Universe Sticker Book - 2007

DK Publishing put out a whole bunch of sticker books featuring Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, so I guess it was only natural all the other heroes of the DCU got a chance at sticker glory!

Alas, Aquaman only gets one sticker out of the whole book, but at least he's in there:

The caption reads: "Aquaman: The great ruler of the sea was raised by dolphins. His left hand is made of enchanted water, a gift from The Lady of the Lake."

These books are a real amalgam of art styles from various eras of DC publishing--the Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, and Black Canary shots are fairly recent, while the Hourman and Air Wave poses are from Who's Who!

French Ad - 1973

This---vibrant, let's say--ad appeared on the back cover of the French Aquaman comic we talked about last Saturday.

I really wished whoever put this ad together had tried to work in Aquaman, The Atom, et al, into the picture alongside Sugar and Spike (oh, excuse me, "Bib et Zette") and the rest. That would have made for one hell of an image!

The Ballad of the Yellow Glove, Part 2

Welcome back to The Ballad of the Yellow Glove!

This is our second pass at what I have come to call The Ballad of the Yellow Glove, where poor Aquaman was bedeviled by either an indifferent colorist or sloppy printing, leaving the Sea King to not look his best--something that rarely, if ever--seemed to happen to his more famous co-horts, like Superman or Batman.

After finding eight or so examples the first time, I assumed there weren't that many more instances still to be discovered. But I was happily(?) wrong--here are some more times when Aquaman looked like he mixed his color on Laundry Day:

(Adventure Comics #462)

(DC Challenge #12)

(Showcase #33)

(Invasion! #2)

Can't quite make out Aquaman in that large crowd? Let's zoom in:

This next one really hurt: on the editorial page of Aquaman Special #1 (1988), they dug out one of the classic Jose Luis Garcia Lopez stock shots to help fill the space. A nice gesture, yet:

And it wasn't just American printers! In France they did it, too:

...but it didn't stop with yellow gloves. Sometimes it was...yellow arms!

Or even...blue legs!

...and on the cover of the book, no less! That really hurts.


This ends our second take (in recording parlance) of The Ballad of Yellow Glove, we hope you sang along!

Aquaman Album #1 - Planet Comics

Comics Weekend From yesterday's stop in France, today we travel down under!

This title, Aquaman Album, hails from Australia, and started in 1978. Dig that funky "Album" in the Aquaman font!

Anyway, as the cover indicates, this book features a whopping 96 pages of content(!), and, unlike a lot of other foreign editions of American comics I've come across, it features material almost entirely centered around one character--the King of the Seven Seas!

It kicks off with a reprint of the first of three Adventure Comics stories drawn by Mike Grell:

...what's cool is, after the first story, this book features the following two stories, in order, making for a nice little collection!

Next up is a Sea Devils story--okay, sure, its not Aquaman, but its close:

Then the book jumps forward in time, back to another Aquaman story, this one from his solo strip in DC's Five-Star Super-Hero Spectacular by Gerry Conway and Dick Dillin:

Then the book travels back a few years, to Aquaman (Vol. 1) #56, reprinting the odd little two-page Aquagirl story (by Steve Skeates and Jim Aparo) that ended the issue, and the title at the time:

Then we're back to the Sea Devils, for another adventure:

Finally, the book manages to cram in one more Aquaman story, this one from Adventure Comics #441 (by Paul Levitz and Jim Aparo), Aquaman's first issue in the title as a headliner:

...whew! That's a lot of reading for a measly 75 cents (even by 1978 standards). If you were an Australian Aquaman fan, this book must have been a treasure trove.

One of the things I enjoy the most about looking at these foreign editions are the ads, which are almost always done by the "local" publishers, so they were never seen back in the U.S.

Here are a couple that ran in this issue, some featuring characters and titles us Americans are familiar with, some not:

I gotta say, that Doomsday comic looks pretty cool.