Black Manta #1 Preview

[Hypo]

Black Manta #1 Preview
Writer: Chuck Brown
Artist: Valentine De Landro

[Jabare]

wait there is a Black Manta book?!

[Frontier]

Well, not just a Aquaman rogue, but the Aquaman rogue.

[Customizer]

Chuck Brown?


....you have my attention.

[The Cool Thatguy]

What is his motivation these days, anyways? Just revenge on Aquaman for killing Daddo?

[Robotman]

What is his motivation these days, anyways? Just revenge on Aquaman for killing Daddo?

That was basically Johns’ approach because every character he writes needs to be traumatized by the death of their parent. Basically every character needs to be Batman.

I’m hoping this series can flesh out Manta a bit. He’s a super cool character and deserves this spotlight.

[Frontier]

Basically his motivation is 90% hates Aquaman and 10% getting what he feels he's owed by the sea.

[The Cool Thatguy]

That was basically Johns’ approach because every character he writes needs to be traumatized by the death of their parent. Basically every character needs to be Batman.

I’m hoping this series can flesh out Manta a bit. He’s a super cool character and deserves this spotlight.

It is a common fallback for Johns, which is odd, because he can write some interesting characterization for villains. Zoom, Mirror Master, Captain Cold and a host of others.

[Frontier]

I think it worked in the context of his run and makes the enmity more personal. And it got mined a lot for Manta's daddy issues in the KSD run.

At least Ocean Master wasn't really defined by his dead parents.

[John Venus]

First time hearing about this. The art looks good and story is promising. I'll check it out.

[Robotman]

I think it's pretty cool that the character he'll be going up against in this series is called Devil Ray. That was the name of the Black Manta knockoff on JLU. They apparently couldn't get the rights for Manta, so they created a stand-in.

[Frontier]

I think it's pretty cool that the character he'll be going up against in this series is called Devil Ray. That was the name of the Black Manta knockoff on JLU. They apparently couldn't get the rights for Manta, so they created a stand-in.

Yeah, it was because of the Mercy Reef pilot with Justin Hartley that they couldn't use Aquaman or his associated characters. Aquaman was supposed to fight Manta in the episode Devil Ray first appears in.

[K. Jones]

Oh cool. I think the Aquaman ongoing stuff lately has been interesting. Black Manta's first mini, Aqualad getting the push which feels kind of inspired by Young Justice. Aquaman himself is one of my top two DC heroes so I'm of course interested in what it all means for him and Mera, and I'm also quite stoked for the Green Arrow/Aquaman More Fun Mini than anything. Should be interesting to see where it goes.

The art here looks nice.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Other than dead parents, has anyone else ever updated his motivation since the silver age, where he wanted to create a black utopia underwater?

[lemonpeace]

Other than dead parents, has anyone else ever updated his motivation since the silver age, where he wanted to create a black utopia underwater?

pretty sure they retconned that as a lie long before Flashpoint even. I think the last time they touched on something to that effect was Black Manta's dad being hard in him to prepare him for the cruelty he'll face as a black man being a contributing factor to his cold and ruthless mentality. if im remembering it right, it basically implied that he was always gonna be this sorta ball of nihilistic black rage, it's just so happens Aquaman gave him something to aim it at.