Arthur Curry / Aquaman Appreciation Thread 2020

[dornwolf]

It seems inconsistent. One minute the monarchy is deposed, the next the king's are back to being king's pretty much.

I only ever notice that with Aquaman. Black Panther, Namor and the Inhumans don't seem to go through this very much. Black Panther usually has to defend his throne yes but you don't usually seem to have writers have him King one run and then immediately in the next run not wanting to be King, and then back to wanting to be King again.

[Robanker]

Comes part and parcel when someone watches Excalibur and thinks "wait, we can do that undersea and it's Aquaman's DKR!"

I joke, but I do think the King Arthur of Atlantis mythic quality has always charmed writers though it rarely plays as successfully as it should. Abolishing the monarchy is a good change, and when it inevitably comes back, it provides a great opportunity to define what a monarchy in Atlantis actually looks like instead of the usually ill-defined shoulder shrug of "they're undersea isolationists with a hint of bigotry for that dramatic spice." Yawn.

We're at point where a ton of world building opportunities have arisen and I'm super excited.

[Flash Gordon]

Agreed!! It's super cool to see it all coming down like this and it's hilarious that as soon as we actually spoilers:

see the other Kingdoms of Atlantis this happens. I absolutely NEED the backstory of the The Trench Queen though. She was hilarious.

end of spoilers

I'm hella pumped to see where it all goes. I hope it's all handled well spoilers:

and we get to see the transition of power, and what the government body of Atlantis will become post-monarchy? Maybe a Peoples' Party can grow, especially with support in the Ninth Tride and Mera's attitudes towards inequality! While it makes sense for Aquaman to want to step down/go off and be an underwater cowboy- it wouldn't be enough for Mera and Arthur to just....leave. That would just be handing off a 'meh' system to someone else.

end of spoilers

[Frontier]

I only ever notice that with Aquaman. Black Panther, Namor and the Inhumans don't seem to go through this very much. Black Panther usually has to defend his throne yes but you don't usually seem to have writers have him King one run and then immediately in the next run not wanting to be King, and then back to wanting to be King again.

Other than Black Panther, we don't really see those other two characters in focus as much. The last big Inhuman push basically had Black Bolt ousted and ended with the Inhumans turning into a democracy and Wakanda's been wishy-washy about their government during the Coates era.

Comes part and parcel when someone watches Excalibur and thinks "wait, we can do that undersea and it's Aquaman's DKR!"

I joke, but I do think the King Arthur of Atlantis mythic quality has always charmed writers though it rarely plays as successfully as it should. Abolishing the monarchy is a good change, and when it inevitably comes back, it provides a great opportunity to define what a monarchy in Atlantis actually looks like instead of the usually ill-defined shoulder shrug of "they're undersea isolationists with a hint of bigotry for that dramatic spice." Yawn.

We're at point where a ton of world building opportunities have arisen and I'm super excited.

We always have world building opportunities with Atlantis though. I'm just not feeling the same song and dance to be honest.

I'm hella pumped to see where it all goes. I hope it's all handled well spoilers:

and we get to see the transition of power, and what the government body of Atlantis will become post-monarchy? Maybe a Peoples' Party can grow, especially with support in the Ninth Tride and Mera's attitudes towards inequality! While it makes sense for Aquaman to want to step down/go off and be an underwater cowboy- it wouldn't be enough for Mera and Arthur to just....leave. That would just be handing off a 'meh' system to someone else.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I think it would be hilarious if Arthur and Mera go through with this expecting it to finally free them only for it to end up leaving them to do even more ruling of Altantis .

end of spoilers

[Flash Gordon]

spoilers:

I think it would be hilarious if Arthur and Mera go through with this expecting it to finally free them only for it to end up leaving them to do even more ruling of Altantis .

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Yeah! I was thinking it'd be funny if they get appointed to leadership roles in the newly formed government, and are forced to take take the reigns of the central state apparatus once again, haha.

end of spoilers

[MadFacedKid]

spoilers:

Making a nation A democracy that full of a lot of xenophobic people who absolutely hate the surface world, Genius move by Mera. Given the whole Orm, Corum Rath thing you’d think that would be the last thing they decided to do. Doesn’t really make sense lore wise given Arthur was born to be the best ruler for Atlantis not of his own choice but his duty of who he is

end of spoilers

The idea of inviting the trench is interesting as hell too. Is their Queen capable of controlling their nature for wanting to consume other Atlanteans/Human like people.

[MadFacedKid]

From within the DC Universe, do we know how strong Aquaman is? It seems at times his strength is all over the place.

Pretty much is, but that’s any character honestly. Some writers seem to like going the “underdog” route Abnett’s interpretation of Aquaman honestly came off as weaker than Johns depiction but they’re opinions seem to be similar in placement with relations to other characters. Johns probably have Aquaman his best showing during that Death of a King arc and Parker and Bunn’s further riled it up with mentions of Atlantis in their runs making it more impressive.

[Frontier]

spoilers:

Making a nation A democracy that full of a lot of xenophobic people who absolutely hate the surface world, Genius move by Mera. Given the whole Orm, Corum Rath thing you’d think that would be the last thing they decided to do. Doesn’t really make sense lore wise given Arthur was born to be the best ruler for Atlantis not of his own choice but his duty of who he is

end of spoilers

The idea of inviting the trench is interesting as hell too. Is their Queen capable of controlling their nature for wanting to consume other Atlanteans/Human like people.

spoilers:

Now that you mention it, when you look at how the rank and file citizens of Atlantis are, do we truly trust them to make good decisions for themselves, the kingdom, and the world at large? There's a reason Arthur always has to come back and clean house even when they treat him like @#%$.

end of spoilers

[Flash Gordon]

spoilers:

Making a nation A democracy that full of a lot of xenophobic people who absolutely hate the surface world, Genius move by Mera. Given the whole Orm, Corum Rath thing you’d think that would be the last thing they decided to do. Doesn’t really make sense lore wise given Arthur was born to be the best ruler for Atlantis not of his own choice but his duty of who he is

end of spoilers

The idea of inviting the trench is interesting as hell too. Is their Queen capable of controlling their nature for wanting to consume other Atlanteans/Human like people.

spoilers:

I've grown pretty tired of seeing Arthur neglect his duty, too. There's a tendency in sci-fi to portray humans as ultra important...and this undermines the importance of Atlantean peoples- whom Arthur should be the champion of. That said, this issue was dope and I really want to see where the this goes. Dissolving the monarchy is brilliant.

end of spoilers

[Robanker]

Okay, with 5G in flux, can we please offer KSD and Mendonca more money and keep them on Aquaman? spoilers:

This issue was so much fun and I adore that Arthur knew to let Mera take care of herself. You can tell he absolutely loves and respects Mera so much, and this is a neat development for Mera herself who has become a lot angrier since Blackest Night. Under KSD, she's a more rounded, mature character but there's a lot of growth for her and Arthur from where we were and I'm excited for the next issue. Now just have Arthur crash the fight by tossing the trident into his brother.

end of spoilers

I'm loving this run.

[Flash Gordon]

Okay, with 5G in flux, can we please offer KSD and Mendonca more money and keep them on Aquaman? spoilers:

This issue was so much fun and I adore that Arthur knew to let Mera take care of herself. You can tell he absolutely loves and respects Mera so much, and this is a neat development for Mera herself who has become a lot angrier since Blackest Night. Under KSD, she's a more rounded, mature character but there's a lot of growth for her and Arthur from where we were and I'm excited for the next issue. Now just have Arthur crash the fight by tossing the trident into his brother.

end of spoilers

I'm loving this run.

Yeah! Off to the seventh circle of hell with 5G, let's keep KSD/Mendonca on the book for a nice long run!

[lemonpeace]

I'm in love with this page! it's what I've been waiting for for so long

[Psycwave]

Comes part and parcel when someone watches Excalibur and thinks "wait, we can do that undersea and it's Aquaman's DKR!"

I joke, but I do think the King Arthur of Atlantis mythic quality has always charmed writers though it rarely plays as successfully as it should. Abolishing the monarchy is a good change, and when it inevitably comes back, it provides a great opportunity to define what a monarchy in Atlantis actually looks like instead of the usually ill-defined shoulder shrug of "they're undersea isolationists with a hint of bigotry for that dramatic spice." Yawn.

We're at point where a ton of world building opportunities have arisen and I'm super excited.

Yeah, this is pretty much where I am with it. I think we've gotten so many gets the throne/loses the throne stories that I'm finally ready to move away from it completely for awhile. The world building of Atlantis always feels super surface level (heh) and if we can get some meat with this new era all the better.

I'm hella pumped to see where it all goes. I hope it's all handled well spoilers:

and we get to see the transition of power, and what the government body of Atlantis will become post-monarchy? Maybe a Peoples' Party can grow, especially with support in the Ninth Tride and Mera's attitudes towards inequality! While it makes sense for Aquaman to want to step down/go off and be an underwater cowboy- it wouldn't be enough for Mera and Arthur to just....leave. That would just be handing off a 'meh' system to someone else.

end of spoilers

I can totally see them being "given" roles as Ambassadors of Atlantis. Come in and play the political game when need be but still have enough free reign to do their own thing. I also hope this will bring Garth back into the fold and get him a new role in Atlantis. I love that KSD is giving love to Jackson, Tula and Dolphin but it's always so weird how Garth gets left out of so much stuff down under.

spoilers:

Making a nation A democracy that full of a lot of xenophobic people who absolutely hate the surface world, Genius move by Mera. Given the whole Orm, Corum Rath thing you’d think that would be the last thing they decided to do. Doesn’t really make sense lore wise given Arthur was born to be the best ruler for Atlantis not of his own choice but his duty of who he is

end of spoilers

The idea of inviting the trench is interesting as hell too. Is their Queen capable of controlling their nature for wanting to consume other Atlanteans/Human like people.

The Trench Queen was such a curveball for me. Absolutely need more of her.

[Frontier]

I'm in love with this page! it's what I've been waiting for for so long

To be honest, she's been asking for this since that wedding prep issue. And this is her own fault too .

[MadFacedKid]

The Trench Queen was such a curveball for me. Absolutely need more of her.

I’d be lying if I said the “feces” line didn’t crack me up