Arthur Curry/Orin/Aquaman - The King of the Seven Seas appreciation 2021

[Goldrake]

I don’t think he got any variant covers or anything special for his movie premier month.

That issue coincided with the first issue of KSD

[MadFacedKid]

My only concern atleast that I’d have with Bendis is I’d question how much he’d care about continuity, and I know he’ll probably want to make his own group of new characters in the book. Which will probably continue with an attempt to leave a mark on the book as well. Whether it would be a good mark is something I’d question. I definitely don’t see Bendis turning Aquaman into a joke but it’s more of a concern on ignoring elements that came before and putting social commentary in the book as well would be something I’m not interested in.


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Probably my favorite set of statues. The dragon reminds me of this scene
https://i.imgur.com/jqs76jk_d.webp?m...idelity=medium

Which I think would be an awesome super move for Injustice 3 lol

A variant for his own book is lackluster in comparison to what Wonder Woman and I believe GL got. I think BvS promo was better too

[Goldrake]

My only concern atleast that I’d have with Bendis is I’d question how much he’d care about continuity, and I know he’ll probably want to make his own group of new characters in the book. Which will probably continue with an attempt to leave a mark on the book as well. Whether it would be a good mark is something I’d question. I definitely don’t see Bendis turning Aquaman into a joke but it’s more of a concern on ignoring elements that came before and putting social commentary in the book as well would be something I’m not interested in.


BB1D933A-1DB7-4B66-9448-810EF19637FB.jpg3214BF38-954B-4AB9-B4CB-5BEA82C54508.jpg

Probably my favorite set of statues. The dragon reminds me of this scene
https://i.imgur.com/jqs76jk_d.webp?m...idelity=medium

Which I think would be an awesome super move for Injustice 3 lol

A variant for his own book is lackluster in comparison to what Wonder Woman and I believe GL got. I think BvS promo was better too

As for Bendis, Can't put my hand in fire, but I have reasons to believe that no he won't mess with KSD, they are great pals, and she is very passionate about her Aquaman, he won't change that much what she left, even because credit due to her she freed the book from the circular storytelling.
Even The Aquaverse guys are championing Bendis to take over the book, and they are great friends with KellySue.

See positive that he got a variant for his movie was already extraordinary thing for DC, problem was that variant deceived many and they thought it was like the movie, I recall reading on social media, people angry that the comic was nowhere near the movie.

first statue I believe was a custom made statue, recently was up for sale.ErTA1xzW8AAjiPR.jpg

[Goldrake]

A variant for his own book is lackluster in comparison to what Wonder Woman and I believe GL got. I think BvS promo was better too

some of the stuff we got when the movie was released (part one)

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[MadFacedKid]

I didn’t like KSD’s run. It felt pretty meaningless in my opinion and she’s example of throwing in characters I question ever seeing again. Like those pacific sea gods she brought in. They were kinda pointless. I honestly put a lot of the blame on the book being put back on the shelves on her. Though not her completely.

The only thing I think that will last from her run is Andy and that’s kind of a hard point to ignore especially with her gaining popularity with Future State and being a baby found adorable in the main title. Which I don’t mind. The rest of it I wouldn’t mind not seeing again but it looks like the meaningless tats will stay as well.

That custom made statue is epic looking. I believe I saw it for sale somewhere for a pretty hefty price

[Goldrake]

some of the stuff we got when the movie was released (part one)

some other stuff (Part two)
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[Frontier]

I didn’t like KSD’s run. It felt pretty meaningless in my opinion and she’s example of throwing in characters I question ever seeing again. Like those pacific sea gods she brought in. They were kinda pointless. I honestly put a lot of the blame on the book being put back on the shelves on her. Though not her completely.

The only thing I think that will last from her run is Andy and that’s kind of a hard point to ignore especially with her gaining popularity with Future State and being a baby found adorable in the main title. Which I don’t mind. The rest of it I wouldn’t mind not seeing again but it looks like the meaningless tats will stay as well.

That custom made statue is epic looking. I believe I saw it for sale somewhere for a pretty hefty price

I thought KSD was serviceable, not necessarily amazing.

She also brought Jackson in as Aqualad, which I feel was significant.

[Goldrake]

I didn’t like KSD’s run. It felt pretty meaningless in my opinion and she’s example of throwing in characters I question ever seeing again. Like those pacific sea gods she brought in. They were kinda pointless. I honestly put a lot of the blame on the book being put back on the shelves on her. Though not her completely.

The only thing I think that will last from her run is Andy and that’s kind of a hard point to ignore especially with her gaining popularity with Future State and being a baby found adorable in the main title. Which I don’t mind. The rest of it I wouldn’t mind not seeing again but it looks like the meaningless tats will stay as well.

That custom made statue is epic looking. I believe I saw it for sale somewhere for a pretty hefty price

KSD made lots of mistakes, she stretched her arcs beyond necessary, she had no reason to put Mera in a coma when she practically made no use of her till then. If you see the sales from than onwards the book really sinks, it had already began some months before, but from that issue it went in a free fall. As for the old Gods I liked them especially Caillie, but the rest could do without. The amnesiac arc was too long.

Another mistake she made apart from the dumb killing of Arthur which was not necessary, she made Arthur look out of character for most of the first 12 issues. He showed no interest in his unborn child that was out of character. But to her credit, she makes good use of Tula, dolphin and Jackson. Although the later seems he was forced on her. She also broke that monarchy that always was limiting him. Andy was a brilliant decision and she made her adorable. A mother's touch in that. She inherited a book that was honestly in a dead end with no options left. She left one that was righted, but yeah, she could have done it earlier without any doubts and that was one of the reasons why it lost readers. It became never ending.
To add insult to injury we had THREE fillers in 11 months, those issues definitely sank the book, see the sales, epic failure 12k sales, never in Aquaman's history. Once you give readers two months of fillers they become disengaged.

As for the statue a very hefty price - forget it if you arent rich. I am trying to find a reasonable for the two statues of arthur and mera showed before, to add to my collection, but till now the few available are asking too much.

[Goldrake]

I thought KSD was serviceable, not necessarily amazing.

She also brought Jackson in as Aqualad, which I feel was significant.

He was forced on her because of 5G, not that she asked for him. And at times you can feel that, on others she does a good job with him. Even the year of the villain she wasn't that keen about it.

[MadFacedKid]

I’d honestly be more interested in Kaldur if he was more calm, collected, and hard to read emotionally when he wants to be like his YJ-Earth16 counterpart. He’s been better since he’s first appeared in the New52 though but not to that calm cool collected character that got me interested in the character to begin with.


I definitely agree the killing of Arthur was dumb especially after Drowned Earth. KSD could of just followed through with that and used that as away to explain Aquaman’s amnesia but now it’s a plot hole on what even happened after drowned earth and Aquaman supposedly died like twice in short period of time... I let that slide and let the story continue.

The pacific Gods came into play. I was like cool I can’t wait to see what their about. We get a origin but for the most part they were pretty lackluster. Go around giving the worst gifts someone can get too. Which were the tats they bestowed on Aquaman. Which I wouldn’t mind getting two free sleeves myself but it was a corny way to try to make comic Aquaman resemble the movies and instead of being straight forward with it I’m pretty sure she denied the claim of trying to create synergy. Instead we got some claim in the comic it was suppose to connect him more with the sea. As a reader I said fine whatever maybe the tats will play a bigger role and be expanded on..

Did that ever happen? Nope.
She honestly nerfed Mera with that glucose thing. I never thought an explanation on how her powers work was needed and that one was... probably will hopefully be forgotten.
Ocean Master under her was horribly handled. But in her defense I’d argue Abnett handled him worse before she got her hands on Orm. Johns made Orm interesting and complex. A guy who you could tell cared about his family and had honor and a strong set of ideals and he was turned back into his generic post-crisis counterpart a mustache twirling villain.

I know at this point we were never going to get the rise of the seven seas event but her run even further implied that with her introducing the kingdoms which seemed fun but was lackluster in the sense of expecting a grand storyline with them.

That whole abolish the monarchy crap was just that too. Crap. I dont understand how anyone could read the Aquaman mythos and then have Aquaman or Mera suggest that they should become a democracy and have the Atlanteans make decisions on their own.... the whole point of Aquaman having the crown is because he knows the world would go to **** if he didn’t. I was fine with Mera on the throne because I could justify she’d understand the best interest of having to be on it, even though in a story standpoint that **** Abnett did by putting her on the throne made no sense, but to try to get rid of the throne all together and have a group that seems to base things off fear and paranoia. Completely genius.

I’ll live with Andy moving forward but I wouldn’t mind the rest of it not being mentioned. I’m honestly more curious to what happened to the people of Thule. If Orm is ever going to find out his mom is alive. Why Garth refuses to do magic, Or how that Nereus/Orm adventure went.

[Goldrake]

I’d honestly be more interested in Kaldur if he was more calm, collected, and hard to read emotionally when he wants to be like his YJ-Earth16 counterpart. He’s been better since he’s first appeared in the New52 though but not to that calm cool collected character that got me interested in the character to begin with.


I definitely agree the killing of Arthur was dumb especially after Drowned Earth. KSD could of just followed through with that and used that as away to explain Aquaman’s amnesia but now it’s a plot hole on what even happened after drowned earth and Aquaman supposedly died like twice in short period of time... I let that slide and let the story continue.

The pacific Gods came into play. I was like cool I can’t wait to see what their about. We get a origin but for the most part they were pretty lackluster. Go around giving the worst gifts someone can get too. Which were the tats they bestowed on Aquaman. Which I wouldn’t mind getting two free sleeves myself but it was a corny way to try to make comic Aquaman resemble the movies and instead of being straight forward with it I’m pretty sure she denied the claim of trying to create synergy. Instead we got some claim in the comic it was suppose to connect him more with the sea. As a reader I said fine whatever maybe the tats will play a bigger role and be expanded on..

Did that ever happen? Nope.
She honestly nerfed Mera with that glucose thing. I never thought an explanation on how her powers work was needed and that one was... probably will hopefully be forgotten.
Ocean Master under her was horribly handled. But in her defense I’d argue Abnett handled him worse before she got her hands on Orm. Johns made Orm interesting and complex. A guy who you could tell cared about his family and had honor and a strong set of ideals and he was turned back into his generic post-crisis counterpart a mustache twirling villain.

I know at this point we were never going to get the rise of the seven seas event but her run even further implied that with her introducing the kingdoms which seemed fun but was lackluster in the sense of expecting a grand storyline with them.

That whole abolish the monarchy crap was just that too. Crap. I dont understand how anyone could read the Aquaman mythos and then have Aquaman or Mera suggest that they should become a democracy and have the Atlanteans make decisions on their own.... the whole point of Aquaman having the crown is because he knows the world would go to **** if he didn’t. I was fine with Mera on the throne because I could justify she’d understand the best interest of having to be on it, even though in a story standpoint that **** Abnett did by putting her on the throne made no sense, but to try to get rid of the throne all together and have a group that seems to base things off fear and paranoia. Completely genius.

I’ll live with Andy moving forward but I wouldn’t mind the rest of it not being mentioned. I’m honestly more curious to what happened to the people of Thule. If Orm is ever going to find out his mom is alive. Why Garth refuses to do magic, Or how that Nereus/Orm adventure went.

No she did not deny the synergy with the movie about the the tats, on the contrary she said in various interviews that was their intention. Of all things tattoos should have been the last thing to connect to the movie.

The monarchy - well seems DC has decided that Aquaman should not be king in comics, seems that they view monarchy outdated concept. He hasn't been king for 3 years now.
KSD got their approval for that, although I don't think it will last.
Nor Mera being Queen made sense. She is a xebelian always hated Atlantis and that was reciprocated. Abnett came up with that, contradicting all that he did before in his run, but that was partly due to DC wanting to capitalize on the growing popularity of Mera, by having her mini solo. Problem was that to do that solo abnett stretched even more that Rath arc beyond reason.
Arthur being King - well this is an issue that some writers struggle with, Johns did it perfectly, Parker too while Abnett messed it. He made him look a bad king and he was, he was more interested in everything except his duties. He was often absent. A solution to that could be that now being married, Mera could at times act as regent. Or having Tula acting regent for Andy who is the heir when both Arthur and Mera are away.

As for KSD and the 7 kingdoms, she probably wanted to do it but she had to deal with THREE FILLERS and that Year of the Villain, which she wasn't keen about. She had plans and its evident from how she dealt with them although it was too rushed and not truly explored.

As for Jackson she wasn't even aware about his existence when they told her about him and had to go and read Brightest Day, he was introduced then never appeared in New 52. So she had to deal with a character who was not present in her plans.
KSD did some great world building, she made well use of characters forgotten such as Vulko, Tula and Dolphin. Andy as I said was a brilliant touch. She ties up at the end beautifully bringing in characters of her run, although she could have done it better as it was rushed.

What is contradictory in her run, she claimed that Mera was overshadowing Arthur, she takes her out in the first issues and when the big fight with Manta comes along, its Mera that saves Arthur's butt risking her life and that of the baby.
Another issue I had, Mera as we know is the kind that takes no prisoners, and she lets the widowhood(a horrible creation of Abnett) threaten her, when the same Mera is made to kill Arthur(out of character) who wanted just some fresh air.

All in all her run was much better than Abnett, who left her a mess, Unlike Abnett she had an idea how to end it from the start, it was the journey she took that was way too long. The book as it is now has plenty of possibilities ahead of it, plenty of story paths that can be taken.....unlike what Abnett left. Her run ends in hope and not in gloom. That hope Abnett wasted or better was forced by editorial to waste.

[MadFacedKid]

I was pretty confident I saw KSD state they weren’t trying to synergize the comics with the films but I can’t seem to find the interview so I’ll assume I misinterpreted something or could be wrong until I hopefully find it.

Jackson’s handling New52 onward isn’t KSD’s fault on introduction he was nothing like his YJ or in my opinion Brightest Day counterpart. He was hella talkative, whiny and extremely cheerful at the same time I didn’t care for it personally.

She also had Mera casually kill Aquaman. She turned his noble death at the end of Drowned Earth into Aquaman faking it so he can take a vacation. Honestly her depiction of Mera and Arthur made them come off as lazy. I’m honestly convinced Aquaman did t want the throne so he blindly ignored his entire knowledge of Atlantis and the Atlanteans and suggeste it would be better for them to rule themselves

Honestly the concepts she introduced were interesting it was the execution I found boring it all just felt pointless. Atleast to me

I’ll give her the fact she had to pick up after Abnett did some damage to the mythos but she didn’t really do much better.

[Frontier]

I was pretty confident I saw KSD state they weren’t trying to synergize the comics with the films but I can’t seem to find the interview so I’ll assume I misinterpreted something or could be wrong until I hopefully find it.

Jackson’s handling New52 onward isn’t KSD’s fault on introduction he was nothing like his YJ or in my opinion Brightest Day counterpart. He was hella talkative, whiny and extremely cheerful at the same time I didn’t care for it personally.

She also had Mera casually kill Aquaman. She turned his noble death at the end of Drowned Earth into Aquaman faking it so he can take a vacation. Honestly her depiction of Mera and Arthur made them come off as lazy. I’m honestly convinced Aquaman did t want the throne so he blindly ignored his entire knowledge of Atlantis and the Atlanteans and suggeste it would be better for them to rule themselves

Honestly the concepts she introduced were interesting it was the execution I found boring it all just felt pointless. Atleast to me

I’ll give her the fact she had to pick up after Abnett did some damage to the mythos but she didn’t really do much better.

That was kind of my takeway. He was so done with the monarchy that he just wanted to be completely rid of it.

[Goldrake]

I was pretty confident I saw KSD state they weren’t trying to synergize the comics with the films but I can’t seem to find the interview so I’ll assume I misinterpreted something or could be wrong until I hopefully find it.

Jackson’s handling New52 onward isn’t KSD’s fault on introduction he was nothing like his YJ or in my opinion Brightest Day counterpart. He was hella talkative, whiny and extremely cheerful at the same time I didn’t care for it personally.

She also had Mera casually kill Aquaman. She turned his noble death at the end of Drowned Earth into Aquaman faking it so he can take a vacation. Honestly her depiction of Mera and Arthur made them come off as lazy. I’m honestly convinced Aquaman did t want the throne so he blindly ignored his entire knowledge of Atlantis and the Atlanteans and suggeste it would be better for them to rule themselves

Honestly the concepts she introduced were interesting it was the execution I found boring it all just felt pointless. Atleast to me

I’ll give her the fact she had to pick up after Abnett did some damage to the mythos but she didn’t really do much better.

On the Aquaverse you can listen to her interviews with them, about the tattoos, although you have to listen to all interview since I don't remember at what minute of the interview she said that. You have to go I believe end of November and there was also another interview a year before. You can also ask Aquaverse to confirm it.

As for her run, She does better than Abnett because she leaves a book that can take various storylines directions without being bound with what the previous run left. There ain't no dead Arthur how to bring back, nor Mera being bound to a throne she never wanted, when she was the first to leave happily Atlantis when Arthur was dethroned.
She ended her run with hope not gloom. Johns and Parker also ended that way, leaving any incoming writer no shackles.

Her storylines had some great dialogue and at times profound and intense visuals like the speechless reconciliation between Arthur and Mera. Yet at times she falls into some scenes that should have been humorous according to her and weren't. Like when Mera meets Arthur for the first time since the killing, and tells Vulko how was her hair? and Vulko replies "Wet", really? when Arthur saw her in all state of undress and waking up with her having disheveled hair. It was unnecessary.
Other things that made nonsense when Arthur learned from mother shark the reason why she went into rage and resulted in killing him unwittingly, He knew it was because of his stupid actions and not intentional, Why he kept away from Mera and never sought to meet her? Even WW tells him she would have done the same, he acted stupidly because of a reason "His mother' which was solved in Parker's run.

On the other hand KSD delves brilliantly when Arthur is forced to give Andy to Wee for safe keeping. He felt a father and above all Aquaman we know.

Another point in her favor she makes reference various times to previous runs, like the Kahina vision of Arthur's future. Or the Prophecy of the Fatal Queen - which she brilliantly exploits and plays with it, making Mera the fatal Queen...... that dissolves the monarchy.

As a reviewer about Aquaman wrote she had excellent ideas, squandered execution at times and as another wrote.. at the end she leaves Aquaman No more pressure to rule, a family, a new ‘assistant’, and a home embracing the duality of his being. Kelly sue broke the circular storytelling of Aquaman and freed it up for new stories to be told. So it wasn’t ALL bad.

[Goldrake]

That was kind of my takeway. He was so done with the monarchy that he just wanted to be completely rid of it.

But its Mera that had the strength to get rid of it and freeing them "both" from the shackles to reign. The way she takes honestly hasn't me sold 100% and why she waited that long, when she could have done it much before. Again its a contradiction, because previously KSD claims that Mera overshadows Arthur and its Mera that ends the monarchy, practically overshadowing him.
But that's part of the drama I believe.