Damn, people really are pissed Arthur isn't wearing a shirt?
It's not my preferred look for him, but having him shirtless doesn't break the character. He's been doing it since the 90s lol. And it's not like he doesn't have a series (Deep Target) coming out in a few months where he's fully clothed.
Are people entitled to have an opinion? well facts say it does not sell, while the clean shaven with classic suit Arthur of N52 and in the start of Rebirth instead sold and did not get canceled.
So what if he's been doing since the 90's? it did not work then nor it is working now, as a matter of fact, N52 was a repudiation of that Aquaman.
Besides he does not have an ongoing, just an attempt by DC to try and accommodate Aquafans and the GA ones, which will please none. AquaFans want a book with Arthur, Mera etc not one shared with GA, the same applies for the Green Arrow Fans. This series will only put into the sidelines characters like Mera and Black Canary, Having two superheroes is already difficult to balance let alone 4 and to do that you need an A List writer, and that excludes Thomas. His FS Aquaman was the lowest selling book of the series.
Arthur and Oliver have their 80th Anniversary and its a shame they don't have their own book.
Arthur had good sales for most of the decade, he was punished for few months of low sales, due to a take DC approved in first place and they knew it could be controversial. Instead of admitting their mistake, they punish the character and the fans, for not getting on board, due to a run they did not like.
Lol I doubt DeConnick's run would have sold any better if Arthur was wearing a shirt.
You're entitled to your opinion, but I definitely don't think a large number of fans are refusing to buy his books because of this. There's no way to even know what look most fans prefer. Only if they launched two identital comics and only changed this one detail, could we really know which look sells better.
I do agree that Arthur shouldn't be without an ongoing just because his last run didn't sell so well. Johns proved he can be a great seller. And like it or not, PAD's run managed to stick around for quite a while too, so there's a lot of merit that as well.
DC just doesn't seem to be bothered to give him another try for now. I for one am glad he's at least getting featured pretty often.
I apologise for going off-topic but that would be an excellent crossover. One thing I despise in crossovers is when characters act out of character and behave like immature, belligerant idiots for manufactured tension (Masters of the Universe/Thundercats was a really bad example of this). But in this case the tension/confict would be completely natural and in-character.
Plus, if it had to have the cliche "hero vs hero" fight, there's a perfect solution. Arthur and Namor tangle for a bit and then Mera steps in and breaks it up somehow. That way neither looks bad because the fight was interrupted without a clear winner.
Imagine Mera summoning waves to push them both apart, immobilising Namor in a block of solid water and then telling them to cut it out because they have bigger problems. Wouldn't that be great?