Arthur Curry aka Orin aka Aquaman Appreciation

[married guy]

I've been (pardon the pun) on a deep dive lately with Aquaman and picking up his first series.
Holy crap! The covers were AMAZING!!
Jim Aparo
Neal Adams
Nick Cardy
BRILLIANT artists and all of 'em contributed some of the coolest covers ever!
I thought Flash had some great Silver Age covers, these have been a kick discovering.

[HsssH]

Hah I was wondering why nobody had bothered to make a new thread for Aquaman this year.



I’m betting PKJ is writing a new Aquaman ongoing. He teased he’s doing a new ongoing, his Lazarus Planet one shot deals with mutated Trench, he set up some conflict between Superman and Aquaman over in Action, and he wrote that Annual that gave Arthur his own For The Man Who Has Everything. Plus his big breakout book was The Last God which was dark fantasy and that’s a natural fit for Arthur as a character. All that plus a new Aquaman movie coming out next year makes me feel confident Arthur will be getting a new book and PKJ a will be writing it.

Add to that Authority story with Dark Multiverse Ra's/Batman and PJK has set up a lot of stuff for the future with his Warworld saga.

[daBronzeBomma]

So kindly catch me up (since I haven't read Aquaman comix in a while): where is the main canon Arthur Curry at these days in the DCU?

Still King? With Mera? Is he a father? Shirtless or orange fishscale? Does he still have the Trident? Is he a part of any team?

Spill the tea, as the kids say!

[Frontier]

i wholeheatedly agreed with the bold. I feel the overwhelming amount of comic book heroes that have the barefaced short hair look is a relic of old aestethic sensibilities; it's too generic. idc what anyone says, the short hair + no facial hair just doesn't feel as regal (it very much gives princely not kingly) and the long hair is perfect for a water based hero.

I think it really depends on the artist and the execution in my opinion.

Because I can't agree with a notion that the Aquaman of Johns' run, or even for most of the New 52, didn't look regal or properly kingly when you saw how artists drew him. Especially Ivan Reis. Even in Rebirth (for how spotty artwise that run could be at times).

I mean, conversely, I feel like some artists draw the long hair and beard in a way that makes him come off more like a beach bum than a king or Superhero.

Also, put me on the camp that prefers Aquaman with beard and longer hair. The clean shave makes him look too young and combining that with short hair doesn’t make him feel like a king to me.
Plus, as someone said, the long hair in the ocean setting is great for artist to play with.

I don't see why that's a problem when none of his peers look "old" by comparison. I guess because of the PAD run and the fact that he has a kid there's an expectation of him to look older? Even though Batman's kid is older than his.

I just don't think the lack of facial hair prevented people from taking him seriously in Thrones of Atlantis, for instance. I mean, modern Orm doesn't have facial hair either and he's like Arthur's best rival for the throne.

And Mera has long hair, so I don't think Arthur absolutely needs it.

The Atlantean monarchy's still abolished right?

Never stopped it before.

So kindly catch me up (since I haven't read Aquaman comix in a while): where is the main canon Arthur Curry at these days in the DCU?

Still King? With Mera? Is he a father? Shirtless or orange fishscale? Does he still have the Trident? Is he a part of any team?

Spill the tea, as the kids say!

Still not king, still together with Mera, still has one daughter, finally brought back the scalemail, still has the trident, was last with the JL for Death of the JL.

[Mantis-Ray]

Thinking about Aquamen and why it tanked, I'd attribute it 3 reasons.

1. Jackson's characterization was unlikable, coming off the Becoming mini-series he entered an angsty angry phase leading him to become more combative and a jerk. Which is an issue as the book was mostly about Jackson and his succession as Aquaman and co-lead of the book.

2. Black Manta's attempted turn to being a good guy. Aside from the fact few liked the direction and thought it was ridiculous. Manta's involvement only serve to worsen Jackson's angry boy character and contrived him separating from Arthur for a significant portion of the series ruining the entire point of the comic which was Arthur and Jackson working together.

3. The actual plot wasn't interesting. Basically more "Atlantis hates the surface world" via sleeper agents activating and risking ANOTHER Atlantis/Surface war. Aside from the actual plot being very unclear what was happening it was snore inducing, they essentially put their worst foot forward.

All these I think simply resulted in a dull comic that quickly tanked.

[InfamousBG]

I have always been a fan of Aquaman. Guy can breath under the sea and is a King? Cool with me. Super Friends had me hooked...lol

[J. D. Guy]

i wholeheatedly agreed with the bold. I feel the overwhelming amount of comic book heroes that have the barefaced short hair look is a relic of old aestethic sensibilities; it's too generic. idc what anyone says, the short hair + no facial hair just doesn't feel as regal (it very much gives princely not kingly) and the long hair is perfect for a water based hero.

Seconding this, 100%.

[Frontier]

I wonder if he'll be back as king when the new run hits.

[daBronzeBomma]

Let's talk about the status of Aquaman's Rogues Gallery.

1. After Black Manta and Ocean Master (the Luthor/ Joker and Brainiac/Two-Face comps, respectively), who else would fill out a Top 5 or Top 10 for Aqua-Villians?

2. Do the Trench have a leader of any kind? Are they like the classic Borg of Star Trek (i.e. no leader)? Or are they more like the more recent versions (i.e. a Queen or King secretly leading them)?

3. Does Aquaman have a "Remote Overlord" villain among his rogues (a Mongul/Ras Al Ghul comp)? Someone with a massive (but far away) base of operations and an loyal army at their disposal who is playing the long game with Arthur?

[nj06]

I think we still have Siren and Nereus of Xebel. They both have history with Mera as well and have some warriors of their own. In regards the Trench, I think whoever wields the Trident of Poseidon (which Aquaman currently wields) controls them.

[nj06]

Still the GOAT:

I can't decide if I prefer short-haird, clean-cut Aquaman or long-haired, bearded Aquaman; however I can say without question that Ivan Reis is my favorite Aquaman artist. He just makes Arthur and Mera look great!

[nj06]

Recently rewatched the movie, man the costume design still holds up

Black Manta's costume is an achievement in itself



Ocean Master looks great too

Agreed 100%. Black Manta's armor looked menacing and formidable. Ocean Master looked DOPE! His armor looked great and worked great for him.

[Primal Slayer]

I can't decide if I prefer short-haird, clean-cut Aquaman or long-haired, bearded Aquaman; however I can say without question that Ivan Reis is my favorite Aquaman artist. He just makes Arthur and Mera look great!

Agreed. He was the definitive AM artist for me.

[daBronzeBomma]

Considering his breakout success in both the Harley Quinn animated show and in DCEU's The Suicide Squad movie, Shouldn't King Shark be a much more prominent presence in the Aquaverse.



He seems like an obvious fit for the "outwardly monstrous destructive reverse of the hero" slot (aka the Bizarro/Man-Bat comp).

Personally, I prefer the Great White look over the (admittedly more unique) Hammerhead look he rocks here.

[Frontier]

Considering his breakout success in both the Harley Quinn animated show and in DCEU's The Suicide Squad movie, Shouldn't King Shark be a much more prominent presence in the Aquaverse.



He seems like an obvious fit for the "outwardly monstrous destructive reverse of the hero" slot (aka the Bizarro/Man-Bat comp).

Personally, I prefer the Great White look over the (admittedly more unique) Hammerhead look he rocks here.

I don't think he was even originally an Aquaman villain.