Does Aquaman Suck?

[malinghi]

Anybody that follows comics knows that Aquaman has a really bad reputation, and that lots of people hate him and thinks think he's lame, especially since lots of people think his superpowers totally suck. The good news is, DC comics recently went through a big overhaul to try to increase sales, and one of the changes is that they put some of their best talent to work on Aquaman to try make the character popular.

So far the reviews are really good. I checked some online previews, and from what I've seen, the artwork looks great. Here are some excerpts I found:
First four pages of issue #1
(http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/07/27/preview-first-four-pages-of-aquaman-1/)First four pages of issue #2
(http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=preview&id=10236)First four pages of issue #3
(http://comics.ign.com/articles/121/1212947p1.html)First four pages of issue #4 (http://www.craveonline.com/comics/previews/180333-preview-aquaman-4)


I'm really pleased by this, cause I have a vested interest in whether people think the ability to breath underwater and withstand extreme temperatures and pressure is cool or not. Also, there aren't many famous aquatic characters that are male, and as a guy I kinda appreciate someone trying to make breathing underwater and hanging out in the ocean badass.

[AniaR]

Ive always kinda found aqua man awkward, lol. The art looks cool but his outfit still doesnt translate to me as fishy, I always thought those scales were feathers growing up. lol. In the previews for issue one, in one panel he has an entire top on, in the second one it looks like a corset! They're trying to make him look tough but man, I think he needs a costume make over. How about instead of wearing yellow and green he's just got a blue suit or something, and instead of using a trident he can manipulate water? Like think green lantern only water, so water punch hiya! They always seem to limit him to stuff that only really has to do with the ocean- but he could do all sorts of land based stuff fighting with water. But it's the woman with the red hair and green outfit who comes in and does all that stuff and actually looks badass doing it. lol

[Spindrift]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3yb-Zuykfc

I love this show.

[Spindrift]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Sword_of_Atlantis_54.jpg

[Spindrift]

Now something that actually stays (somewhat) on topic:

ReceptionAquaman was listed as the 147th greatest comic book character of all time by Wizard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_(magazine)) magazine.[69] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaman#cite_note-68) IGN (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGN) also ranked Aquaman as the 53rd greatest comic book hero of all time opining that even though he'll forever be the butt of jokes thanks to his fishy powers, comic readers have come to love Aquaman as a noble (and very powerful) figure who is forever torn between the worlds of land and sea.[70] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaman#cite_note-69)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquaman

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

I have been reading the new Aquaman issues (and several other of the Flashpoint revamped series), and I am enjoying them immensely.

I've always liked Aquaman (I used to rent the cartoon series of him from Blockbuster when I was a kid), and avoided the jokes about his powers.

First of all, Aquaman is a superhero. Here's something people forget about superheroes: they're not gods. A superhero is impressive because (s)he is a person we relate to, with some advantage or "power" that we lack, but with very human connections and needs and motivations, doing superhuman things that the rest of us can only imagine doing... righting wrongs and saving the world not through cosmic powers, but through gifts and hard work and sacrifice and heroism. The greatest and most beloved characters are actually not ones like superman, who have a variety of abilities and great powers, but the ones who have minor abilities, often animal-related, or no powers at all (Batman, Spiderman, Wolverine, Green Hornet, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, etc). Heck, Squirrel Girl has defeated Doctor Doom, the Mandarin, Giganto, MODOK, Thanos, Terrax, Bi-Beast (who is not as sexy as he sounds), Deadpool, Pluto, Fin Fang Foom, Baron Mordo, Korvac, Ego the Living Planet, and Wolverine. This is because we don't relate to Storm or Magneto or the Human Torch or Invisible Woman or Phoenix or Zatanna or Thor or the White Queen or Superman the same way we do someone who wears fish scales, swims really fast, breathes underwater, is adapted to survive the pressure and temperature and consistency of the water in the ocean depths and communicates with sea life.

I interviewed just about all of my friends in high school and the first year of college. All of them wanted some variation on these powers: flight, telepathy, telekinesis, invisibility (and a substantial number of people wanting x-ray vision as well). When I asked, a majority of people I questioned said they would prefer flight without wings of any sort. However, those characters are boring. There is a reason Jean Grey gets killed so often, the White Queen toys with evil constantly, Storm has every single origin story imaginable, Magneto had to survive the Holocaust, and Superman fights off meteors but can't get rid of a bald guy who has a lot of money. We have to work and be drawn in to liking people with the ability to control the elements or move objects with their minds. They're not us. Nothing about us reaches them. We do, however, have a lot in common with the animal side of the power spectrum. Some of us can run or swim fast, or hold our breath for a while, or devise ways of constructing wings and flying with them, or climb buildings and cliffs. How many of us would want to be Aang the Avatar if it actually did come with the role and responsibility (and need to learn languages, travel constantly, and put up with priests who are all too sickeningly human) just like every other major religion's leader? People hate the Pope and the Dalai Lama doesn't even have his own country anymore. Also, many mermaids have orange (Splash!) or green (Ariel) tails, so Aquaman's orange-and-green scale outfit really doesn't make that much of a difference. It stands out against the blue water, making him more dramatic and exotic looking, even if neither is a color I would have picked for him initially, either (it stands to note that I would probably dye clownfish purple as well if I could, but the orange works for Aquaman just like it does for the clownfish). Nobody really would look good in Superman's outfit, either (can you imagine trying to get a job if you went to the interview in red, yellow and blue spandex with a giant letter on your chest?), and try being Batman and not getting hit by cars for dressing entirely in black at night in Gotham City. Comic book costumes work very nicely when colorful and even garish (the same way warning coloration works on many species in nature). Costumes say "I am different, I stand out, I am dangerous and I am not part of the human norm"... not the sort of person you hang out with (could you imagine going to a bar with Superman? "I'm sorry, I can't pay attention to the conversation... I need to save those ladies on the other side of the room from the creep who just whispered something in their ear... oh wait, these mozzarella sticks are too cold, let me use my heat vision on them... oops, sorry about the sunburn there... let me fly back to my appartment at hypersonic speed and get some aloe for that.... or wait, I could fly backwards around the planet and turn back time... that's probably not going to ruin anything... oops").

Also, in the past Aquaman has had some ability to manipulate water. It usually comes with consequences that aren't worth it... it changes the kind of character he is. The X-men are a school, the Fantastic Four are a family, the Justice League is a football team... having a number of characters who are strong, fast, resilient, etc lets them do things that other teams with more varied and weaker powers don't have... and really, Green Lantern, while he has cool cosmic powers, received unfavorable reviews from critcs and underperformed at the box office (according to Wikipedia), and the movie itself was just an excuse to check out Ryan Reynolds' possibly cgi abs and for die hard fans of the comic to say "WE FINALLY HAVE A MOVIE... REJOICE!... but where's Kyle Rayner?"

Also, there is an aquaman in a blue costume... meet Marineman.
http://www.ianchurchillsmarineman.com/ianchurchillsmarineman.com/home.html

The hydrokinesis thing has been done... by Katara, Hydroman, the Thai girl from Captain Planet, Mera, possibly Iceman, Aspen Matthews and nearly the entire cast of Fathom, etc. Each of them does it differently and with a different style, scope and attitude. Relatively few characters, however, possess some of Aquaman's abilities (particularly the marine-life telepathy), making him stand out and be unique for the very thing for which so many people mock him.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Also, interestingly, Aquaman's Marvel counterpart, Namor the Sub-Mariner, has recently become an active member of the X-men as part of their extinction team (along with Cyclops, Emma Frost/the White Queen, Storm, Magneto, the alien-tech android Danger, the demon sorceress/swordswoman/teleporter Magik, the Juggernaut-powered Colossus, and Hope, the power-copying wildcard of the team, probably carrying the Phoenix force). The team's stated goal is to A) Replace the Avengers as the Marvel Universe's most powerful team of superheroes and B ) to deter humans from attacking mutants ever again because the team consists almost entirely of superheroes (sorta) with abilities on par with nuclear weapons. Namor lacks Aquaman's telepathy, but is possibly stronger and faster, and can fly thanks to wings on his feet (the reasoning for those wings has never been fully explained, but it's cool to have an aquatic character who can fly as well as swim).


And it turns out that Aquaman did have a blue costume for a time, before the series was cancelled for creative difficulties, whatever those could've been.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c8/Aquaman1_%281986%29.jpg

[Odette]

NOOOOO!! he is what i strive to be. he is awesome! i know someone who cosplays as Aquaman and i hope to take a swimming picture with him soon. i have some of the older issues and one of the new ones and i think the writers have gotten better in my opinion.

[AniaR]

marineman is awesome. Im totally liking that FB page

[malinghi]

I agree that his costume isn't great, but I still think these comics look good. I love the fourth preview cause the underwater scenes look fantastic. The lighting and the movement and the bubble trails look great. I hope they spend as much time as possible underwater.
http://cdn.craveonline.com/images/stories/2011/2011/December/Comics/dc/aquaman/aquaman4p4628.jpg?1325025873



Also, this is kind unrelated, but anyone ever see the episode of the cartoon Batman Beyond that has the justice league in it? There's a character named Aquagirl. See if you can recognize the voice actress:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6WGFnVcJWE

[malinghi]

Guess nobody is as interested in this as I am. Anyway, here's the answer:

http://cytokines.1hwy.com/images/aquagirl-credit.jpg

Isn't that kinda awesome? Its like if Ariel were a superhero!

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Actually, Mal, I've just been busy with schoolwork... first week of classes and all, involves a lot of panic over what I need to do but don't know about, particularly with online classes. It looks like your link didn't go through.

[malinghi]

Which link didn't work? They all appear normally for me.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

The superhero mind control clip doesn't work, the link you posted at 3:16 today (the answer) says Remote Linking forbidden... this host does not support remote linking of images or files for free accounts Please Upgrade Your Account to me.

[malinghi]

Oh, now the image has the error message like how you saw it. Weird. Anyway, it was just a link to this screencap of the credits:
http://cytokines.1hwy.com/images/aquagirl-credit.jpg

Jodi Benson does the voice of Aquagirl. I thought that was cool.

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Speaking of Ariel as a superhero, have you seen this page? Apparently a deviantartist drew a number of Disney Princesses as superheroes and made an Ariel in an aquaman style. A group of cosplayers brought those images to life. Here's the page of the Ariel cosplayer: VampireKitten/Candace, with all her pictures of her costume and the source image.
http://vampirekitten.net/archives/550

[Merman Dan]

It's too bad the Aquaman TV Series (http://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/aquaman/id168272184) didn't take off.

And here's how I found Aquaman, the other day:

https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/246410_3934739417709_288625751_n.jpg

[deepblue]

I love that comic panel. I find it damn cool they're going to revamp him. I've always loved him but felt he was too limited. The series Smallville did a good job with Aquaman, but even he was too limited.