Mera, Queen of the Seven Seas - Appreciation 2021

[Agent Z]

edited post. nvm.

[Agent Z]

WHO DREW THE BETTER MERA? Ramona Fradon or Nick Cardy? There are no wrong answers.

Nick Cardy.

[Robanker]

Ah man that's a rough one!

I'm going to go with Ramona Fradon. She's tops. I wish she was still taking commissions- I would love to get a Mera sketch by her. Nick Cardy's THE CREATURE THE DEVOURED DETRIOT cover on A-Man #56 is a hardcore favourite cover of mine though (Mera ain't on it, but felt like mentioning it).

She was before the pandemic. She's amazing. Dynamite put out an artbook of her stuff and I grabbed it immediately.

I think I prefer Cardy's just from memory but they're both so damn good. I love Aquaman #37 so much that it's what put Cardy over Fradon for me.



She's so stunning on there. Poor Garth, what is that liquid you're rising out of...


And since we're just talking all-time rad covers, holy goddamn I love Aquaman #53.




It's the movie poster for the 70s sci-fi Aquaman I've wanted my whole life. I can just hear the 70s announcer growling the text. So goddamn good. I'd frame it if I could.


Aquaman got made fun of a lot, but he's had some excellent artists working on him. Off memory in the silver age he (and Mera!) had Fradon, Cardy and Aparo. Daaaamn!

[Agent Z]

Mera with sleeves or no sleeves?

[Robanker]

Mera with sleeves or no sleeves?

I'm very partial to her Silver Age design (though I could do without the flipper feet) so I want to say without, but the Reis design was excellent too. Her more modern one is good too...

The real Mera design pleb filter is bangs or no bangs.

[hareluyafan1]

Not blaming Dolphin at all......I like her,

Awesome.

"what superhero loses his hand?"

Luke Skywalker for one.

It's gross, dude. PAD's run did nobody any favors.

It brought my second favourite comics character back from obscurity. It certainly did me a favour.

Abnett and especially Ksd made good use of Dolphin, in the proper way.

Absolutely, but like I said, that probably would have never happened if the PAD run hadn't occurred.

Anyway, on-topic:

Attachment 104828
Attachment 104829

Mother and Daughter

Excellent!

Well-drawn as that scene is, considering how much she hated being referred to as Aquawoman, I really didn't enjoy her putting the costume on. Glad that thread dropped in Rebirth.

True, but personally I thought it showed a lot of character that Mera would do something she disliked in order to help Arthur's goal of bringing Atlantis and the surface world together. Plus it showed a willingness to learn more about how the surface world ticks, which is also admirable.

[Goldrake]

Arthur's feud with Black Manta, his brother being his enemy, Black Manta having a son that came out of nowhere.



No I am not. David got the ball rolling on rescuing Aquaman from the scrappy heap. It didn't happen over night but he was very much instrumental in Aquaman's popularity rising.


Citation needed.



Repeating something does not make it true.



Again, David's run not being followed up on is not proof it was bad. I don't know if you're being deliberately obtuse here.




You really are one of those people who thinks hyperbole makes for a good argument aren't you? AJ being Aquaman's son wasn't even clear and Koryak isn't any worse an idea than Damian or Jackson.



So, because I said Mera is not the most powerful female in the DCU, it means I'm diminishing her strength? Are you for real?

You can't be serious.... Black Manta killed Aquababy and that feud was long before Geoff Johns learned to write, the rivalry with Orm pre dates Johns. And all you mentioned is not a soap opera stuff like the Koryak, dolphin, etc etc

YOU are the only one that keeps saying how great was that PAD run while the comic world says that Johns redefined him and made him awesome. While NOBODY recalls PAD run except for the hook hand and the dolphin affair.
Anyhow this is a Mera Thread, PAD is the one that got her out from a Aquaman book after she had been in it since nearly the word go in the sixties.
So let's stop here, we are insulting the Queen.

[Goldrake]

Awesome.



Luke Skywalker for one.



It brought my second favourite comics character back from obscurity. It certainly did me a favour.



Absolutely, but like I said, that probably would have never happened if the PAD run hadn't occurred.

Anyway, on-topic:



Excellent!



True, but personally I thought it showed a lot of character that Mera would do something she disliked in order to help Arthur's goal of bringing Atlantis and the surface world together. Plus it showed a willingness to learn more about how the surface world ticks, which is also admirable.

you can't compare Luke to Aquaman, its totally different. Such comparisons we can make them with superman etc have you ever seen superman going around with a hook hand. It was so absurd that the writer that took PAD place removed it immediately.

I never said that Pad did all wrong, You rightfully credit him for Dolphin, but that affair with Arthur also ruined her for many years in the eyes of fans and I suspect she is still seen in a bad light by some. That's why I liked how KSD managed her.

Agreed on Mera's willingness to learn more about how the surface world ticks.

[Goldrake]

Attachment 104828
Attachment 104829

Mother and Daughter

Its gonna be hard I suspect to say who looks better - for now I say the mother hen has still an edge, but the chick looks like her twin!

[Agent Z]

@MarFarr, you know what, I've wasted enough time on this conversation. You want to pretend anything David did was unusual for superhero comics, let alone that he didn't play a major part in revitalizing Aquaman for the 21st Century, go ahead. You clearly have no arguments beyond hyperbole and outright falsehoods.

[hareluyafan1]

you can't compare Luke to Aquaman, its totally different. Such comparisons we can make them with superman etc have you ever seen superman going around with a hook hand. It was so absurd that the writer that took PAD place removed it immediately.

True. I never liked the hook hand either.

I never said that Pad did all wrong,

I know. Sorry if I gave the wrong idea.

You rightfully credit him for Dolphin, but that affair with Arthur also ruined her for many years in the eyes of fans and I suspect she is still seen in a bad light by some. That's why I liked how KSD managed her.

That is a good point. One of my biggest concerns about future Aquaman movies/cartoons etc is that they'll portray Dolphin as an antagonist trying to split Arthur and Mera up. It's unlikely (since DC probably wants to focus on more recent comic runs), but I don't think the possibility can be completely ruled out.

Yes, KSD did a great job.

Agreed on Mera's willingness to learn more about how the surface world ticks.

Absolutely. I liked that issue when she was at a press conference and had them all eating out of her hand.

Its gonna be hard I suspect to say who looks better - for now I say the mother hen has still an edge, but the chick looks like her twin!

She sure has good genes. Not sure about that weird tonfa/trident hybrid weapon though. I get they want to make her distinct from her parents and I'm certainly no expert, but I wonder how effective it would actually be in battle. Something about it just looks wrong to me.

[Robanker]

The tonfa/sai are weird, but she looks so much like Mera and has her powers that without some stuff to link her to Arthur you could be forgiven for thinking it's irrelevant who her dad is. Personally, I think she should just inherit the trident and the call, but hey tonfa/sai are cool I guess.

[married guy]

While a lot of Peter David's run has gone by the wayside, I don't think you can deny that he helped get people interested in Aquaman again.
That said, I also don't think you can deny that he did a disservice to both Mera and Dolphin through his run!

That out of the way, what did everyone think of Mera's mini series??
MeraQueenOfAtlantis1BA62003_f.jpg

[Robanker]

While a lot of Peter David's run has gone by the wayside, I don't think you can deny that he helped get people interested in Aquaman again.
That said, I also don't think you can deny that he did a disservice to both Mera and Dolphin through his run!

That out of the way, what did everyone think of Mera's mini series??
MeraQueenOfAtlantis1BA62003_f.jpg

Sadly, it was just a way to move the King Rath story up a few months faster and still it went on too long. Her first mini was really just a long tie-in to Aquaman.

[married guy]

Sadly, it was just a way to move the King Rath story up a few months faster and still it went on too long. Her first mini was really just a long tie-in to Aquaman.

Yeah it was a tie-in, but I was OK with that. At least it moved things forward. I'd be up for another mini series with Abnett at the helm. I think he writes a good Mera and could come up with something great now he doesn't have to tie it with the Aquaman monthly book.