Justice League America #33 - Dec. 1989

Comics Weekend When I talked about Aquaman's excellent two-part guest-starring role in Justice League America #s 33 and 34, I was reminded in the comments section that Aquaman actually shows up in the end of this issue!

I used to own a copy of this issue; I have no idea what happened to it and I'm a little surprised I didn't remember Aquaman's appearance myself.

Anyway, after the issue's main plot concerning Guy Gardner and Kilowog, it moves onto the sub-plot of Booster Gold and Blue Beetle ending up in possession of the remote island KooeyKooeyKooey.

They ask Kilowog if he can put together a whole resort for them, and after he promises it'll take "around six hours", the Blue and the Gold do a happy dance, as they are sure they're about to become rich beyond their wildest dreams.

Of course, there is someone else not quite so thrilled about this:

...leading to this fine, heroic pin-up of the King of the Seven Seas, courtesy artists Adam Hughes and Art Nichols:

That little notation on the right hand side is someone's edict "Colorist: do not color sky" which obviously didn't get erased by the time the book went to the printers. I love stuff like that.

Aquaman Splashdown Ride - 2007

This simply blew me away.

Apparently, at the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park, there is an Aquaman water ride, called Aquaman Splashdown.

When these photos were posted, several AquaFans somehow noticed all at once, because I received several emails about it all around the same time. AquaFans don't miss anything.

As if having a theme park ride named Aquaman wasn't good enough, as you can see its got a nice big shot of the Sea King himself at the front (and Classic Aquaman, thank Neptune), plus the walkways are decorated with Aquaman's "A" insignia. Wow and double-wow.

Ever since I went freelance full-time, I don't have much time for trips, so I don't foresee ever making it down to Texas. But if I did...

By the way, I know these photos are copyrighted, but I just couldn't resist using the two most Aqua-centric of them for the Shrine. You can see more of them here, in the context photographer and/or copyright holder Bryant Yeager meant them to be seen with.


Update: A few minutes after posting this, I went looking for other mentions on the web of the Aquaman Splashdown ride. Then I found this:

...oh my god, this is the coolest thing ever in history ever!

Toyfare "Top 10" - 2008

For the first time I think ever, an Aquaman figure ranks as #1 on Toyfare's "Top 10" hottest action figures list.

I was lucky enough to find the Classic Aquaman (and Black Manta) DC Universe figure at my local Target one time--and have never seen it again since.

So I don't expect to find this variant version any time soon, but since I refuse to make some eBay toy predator any richer, I'm settling in for a loooong wait.

AquaSketch by Dan Parent - 2007

With the 2008 Philly Comic Con just around the corner, it's time to post the last sketch I picked up at the last one--Archie Andrews, King of the Seven Seas, by artist Dan Parent.

I saw that Dan was at the con, and I've been a fan of that Archie house style. I wondered if asking for an Aqua Archie sketch would be weird, but when I saw Dan's table covered with drawings of Veronica as Wonder Woman and Betty as Supergirl, I realized it wasn't that strange.

Dan put this together in just an hour or two, and I love it!

Hmm, maybe if Dan is there this year, I can get a Veronica as Mera sketch...

British Newspaper Strips, Part 1 - 1968

Smash! was a British weekly comic that reprinted--in order--the late 1960s Batman newspaper strip.

This logo and several strips from the sequence that guest-starred both Aquaman and Superman were sent to me by newest F.O.A.M. member Phil Rushton.

The strips are of course identical to their American counterparts, but Smash! (and another weekly, confusingly titled Smash! & Pow!) added fun little bits to them, in the manner of a sort of omniscient narrator.

So I'm going to be posting a few days worth of strips here over the next few weeks, since seeing Aquaman In Other Lands is one of my favorite things to put up here on the Shrine.

Here are the strips directly proceeding the Aquaman/Superman storyline, plus an original ad:

...those are four very diverse pieces of stock art. More to come soon!

Thanks Phil, welcome to F.O.A.M.!

WB Picture Frame - 1996

This was one of the approximately ten thousand cool items they used to sell in the Warner Bros. Studio stores--a picture frame featuring animated series-style, 3-D sculpted renditions of some of the big stars of the DCU (and Poison Ivy). Aquaman's beard looks so thick you could open a tin can with it.

For some reason, I never got around to picking this up. Luckily newest F.O.A.M. member Shag Matthews (aka The Irredeemable Shag) was nice enough to take a picture of his and send it to me! Thanks Shag!


Shag, Aquaman, and I have a peculiar history--he and I "met" online way back in 2001, when I had a small version of the Aquaman Shrine attached to my pro illustration site namtab.com. He emailed me about it and we corresponded a few times, bonding over our mutual case of hero worship.

When I almost lost an illustration gig because of the site's Aqua Content, I decided to get rid of all of it, figuring I'd find some other way to do an online Aqua Tribute. Shag and I lost touch and just recently he emailed me again, this time with each of us having a blog (or, in my case, fifty).

The only thing the above pic needs is a picture inside the frame. So...

...ah, that's much better.

Thanks Shag, welcome to F.O.A.M.!
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Contest Update: Remember, there's one week left to get your entries in for our Aquaman Design-A-Header Contest. All entries must be received by midnight, Sunday, June 1st.

Also--a fourth possible prize has been added. The chosen winner will be able to pick from a DC Super Friends Aquaman figure, a DC Universe Aquaman figure, a one-year subscription to a DC comic, or a MIB DC Super Friends Aqua Sub!

Get designin', AquaFans!
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Shameless Plug Department: Proving you can't keep a good blog down, starting today we have a week's worth of new posts over at my Digest Comics blog.

Those of you who love having to strain to read their comics, please check it out!

Wonder Woman #215 - Jan. 1975

Comics Weekend Another obscure Aquaman appearance, this was the Sea King's turn during the unusual storyline that featured Wonder Woman undergoing "trials" to see if she was qualified to return to the Justice League of America.

Diana had just wrapped up her powerless, Emma Peel phase, so now that she was Wonder Woman again, she had the JLA members--one by one--test her.

This issue's story, "Amazon Attack Against Atlantis!" is by Cary Bates, John Rosenberger, and Vince Colletta, and opens with the Amazing Amazon testifying in front of several League members, asserting that the mysteriously-helmeted person seated at the table is...guilty!

When the accused says Wonder Woman is lying, Aquaman offers up his own testimony:

Aquaman starts his tale, recalling how he was swimming up the polluted East River, on his way to meet Diana at her office at the United Nations Plaza.

Arthur then sees Diana flying overhead. Suddenly, a giant waterspout appears, seemingly attacking her on purpose!

Wonder Woman manages to fight off the water spout, dissipating it before it had the chance to hit the nearby docks. She then resumed her I.D. as Diana Prince and went out with her boss, Morgan Tracy to have dinner with an Argonian(?) diplomat.

How does Aquaman know this? That's because, in the same room, were Tracy's goldfish, who later relayed the story to Aquaman:

...ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of the most insane panels in Aquaman's history. I love his nonchalant stance, dressed in hip 70s fashion, telepathically listening to goldfish. I want this panel on a t-shirt.

Anyway, on the way to dinner, Diana is attacked by three giant dogs, who she subdues easily. Then the dogs calm down, and the attack is over as mysteriously as the water spout.

Later, as Aquaman continues to follow Diana, he realizes he has almost gone an hour without water! He heads to a nearby fountain to get a drink, when all the water turns into...oil?!?

The oil geiser sprays Wonder Woman, flying overhead in her invisible plane (on her way to Paradise Island). She manages to free her plane, flying it up into the stratosphere so the oil hardens to the point she can break it off with a mighty kick.

Meanwhile, Aquaman is almost passed out from thirst, until he snags some water from a local passerby. He then hears a distress call from one of his finny friends in a local sewer, who tells Aquaman a startling message.

It's here Aquaman gets to do a classic superhero reveal, something he rarely--if ever--gets to do:

The emergency is happening in Atlantis, where he sees his people about to defend themselves from an invading army of...Amazons from Paradise Island!!

Turns out the Amazons are under the mental control of Mars, the God of War! Mars has also been behind all the weird attacks on Diana, distracting her while he prepares the attack on Atlantis!

Since Mars "feeds" off of war, he needs to renew his mystic energies by creating a new one, and a Amazons vs. Atlanteans fight will do the trick!

Wonder Woman finds Aquaman underwater, and hey hatch a plan. First, Aquaman gets several giant whales to block the attacking Amazons, buying them some time.

Wonder Woman then confronts Mars directly:

The JLA finds Mars guilty as charged, and he is escorted to a "top security interplanetary prison." Done and done!

The JLA congratulate Diana on her successful mission, and she wonders who will be reporting on her next? Ah, that's a tale for some other blog...


A very fun story, totally insane, full of imagination and crazy goings-on. And Aquaman gets to talk to goldfish.

Brave and the Bold #51 - Jan. 1964

Comics Weekend It's a weekend of Aquaman team-ups this time around, so today we have an early Silver Age team-up between the King of the Seven Seas and the Winged Wonder, Hawkman!

The story is "Fury of the Exiled Creature", by Bob Haney and Howard Purcell. Since both of these gentlemen worked on Aquaman solo stories, I guess you could look at this as more like an Aquaman tale with Hawkman guest-starring, but let's see what happens...

The issue opens with a giant narwhal attacking the dome that surrounds Atlantis! They send a message out to Aquaman (and Aqualad) to come back home and try and stop the suddenly-mad creature!

Suddenly, the heroes' porpoise steeds also go berserk, and Aquaman tries to calm them down via his mental telepathy.

He tries the same thing with the narwhal, and he senses "someone else is fighting me for control!"

Aquaman decides to Swim It Old School, by distracting it away from the city:

Aquaman sees that the further the Narwhal gets away from the city, the more it calms down and the more Aquaman can use his telepathy on it. What's going on here?

We cut to a bizarre reptilian winged creature (as seen on the cover) who is frustrated by Aquaman's efforts, so he heads to his other kingdom--the air!

Meanwhile, Carter and Shayera Hall are visited by their giant condor friend Lokir(!), who has been wounded in a fight. As the Halls tend to his wounds, he explains to them(!!) that he got this way fighting a bizarre reptilian winged creature, and when the battle moved to the water, Lokir escaped, after seeing the monster could breathe underwater.

Back to Aquaman, where we find he and Aqualad going to visit The Old Man of the Oceans--a sort of oracle type--to see if he knows anything about this creature.

Purcell's art is detailed and effective, and he manages to cram a lot in a small space. But sometimes, when he does on full-on faces, it starts to get a little wonky:

...that is one off-model Aquaman!

Anyway, the Old Man gives them a sort of elliptical answer, telling them they only have one man to fear, and he is the answer to their question. Thanks a lot, Grandpa Simpson.

To give you an idea how much is crammed into this story, look how much description we have so far, and we're only on page seven.

Aquaman and Aqualad get caught in a water spout created by a horde of out of control birds, and as they are thrown into the sky, they are spotted by Hawkman and Hawkgirl!

The Hawks save our Aquatic heroes, and Aquaman learns that this creature was formerly an Atlantean named Tyros, who was blasted by a magical gem and turned into this weird, hybrid creature.

Tyros kidnaps Hawkgirl, and the gem turns her into a half-bird creature, who Tyros commands to attack Hawkman!

We're about halfway home, stay with me.

Tyros sets a trap for Aquaman and Aqualad, setting off an explosive, and looking like it has killed them. Tyros then returns to Atlantis, tells them he is now King of Atlantis because their protector, Aquaman, is dead!

Aquaman then gets cured by a giant spiny fish, and the three heroes meet up to compare notes:

..."he has given Shayera the Magic Pipe!"

Anyway, Tyros is so sure of his victory, he falls asleep on his throne, and Aquaman evacuates the whole city while he does, along with its water! This leaves his giant marine hordes writhing in agony on the city's floor. Aquaman = hardcore.

Tyros then finds that he can't control his bird army, and using an underwater tunnel, Hawkman has them fly into Atlantis and attack Tyros!

Meanwhile, a giant clam crunches down on the magical gem, turning Tyros back to normal. Hawkgirl wakes up, also having been returned to normal. The heroes take time to say goodbye at this, the end of one of their goofiest adventures:

Nobody, but nobody, packed more into a single comic book story than Bob Haney.

I need to take an aspirin and lie down.

DC Stars Trading Cards - 1991

Since we started this week with a contribution by new F.O.A.M. member Steve Leach, I thought we'd end with another contribution from him, too.

These are three of the pile of DC Stars trading cards he sent me, made by Impel in 1991, gratis. What a pal!

The first card is drawn by Joe Staton, the other two by the team of Paris Cullins and Dave Cooper.

As you can see, they highlight some of the most important battles of the DCU--the first Earth-1/Earth-2 Crisis, and then the Millennium battle almost thirty years later.

And, like all the other major skirmishes (up until recently) in the DC Universe, Aquaman is there. As Gregory Peck once said about Bob Dylan, Aquaman isn't about to get out of town before the shooting starts.

Thanks--again--Steve!


Tomorrow on the Aquaman Shrine:

"Smallville" Action Figure by DC Direct - 2008

This was a nice surprise when my pal (and F.O.A.M.er) John McLaren handed to me during my weekly trip to All Things Fun--the Smallville Aquaman action figure!

Like the Aqua Sub on Monday, I knew this was coming out sometime this year, but had no idea when. I'm always happy to have an Aquaman action figure handed to me.

It's not a bad figure, and it's a pretty good likeness of actor Alan Ritchson, though the hood and knife accessories make A.C. look like he's a gang member.

By my count, this is the third Aquaman figure (after the 3" Ideal one, and Aquaman as Captain Action) that comes with a deadly knife as an accessory. Wertham was right!

Mera Paper Doll - 2008

Not too long after I posted a newly bought Aquaman Paper Doll then a companion for Arthur showed up, a Mera Paper Doll!

Like I did the first time, I snatched this up as soon as I could, and it's just as cool and weird and idiosyncratic as Aquaman. I'm particularly impressed by the wavy pattern on Mera's jumpsuit, perfectly reproduced.

As I told the mad genius behind these paper dolls, if they ever make an Aqualad or a Black Manta, they've got a guaranteed sale.

The Return of Aquaman?

Scipio over at The Absorbascon has an interesting theory about what might be one of the results of Final Crisis.

From his blog to Neptune's ear!

Aquaman Meets The Blackhawks?

No, this isn't an episode of Surf & Turf: The Animated Series. (Oh, if only...)

This still, from a presumably unproduced episode of Filmation's Aquaman animated series, appeared in the back of Les Daniel's DC Comics encyclopedia, published way back in 1995.

Maddeningly, Daniels doesn't provide any context for the still other than the caption seen above. But since The Blackhawks never showed up on the show, it's a safe bet that this team-up didn't get much past this. Too bad, Aquaman and the Blackhawks pounding the crap out of some would-be alien conquerors sounds like fun five or six minutes.

I had forgotten all about this still until newest F.O.A.M. member Marc Tyler Nobleman asked me about it, and generously scanned it in for me to post here.

Thanks Marc, welcome to F.O.A.M.!


Update: As reflected in the comments, there was an article in an issue of Back Issue! that explained where the above piece came from and what it was for.

I went and found it, it was in the fifth issue in a piece written by Darren McNeil:

So this was a "presentation drawing", nothing more. Ok, good to know.

But now I know there were--are?--more out there, featuring Filmation Aquaman cavorting with The Flash, Metamorpho, Plastic Man, The Doom Patrol, the Metal Men, and B'Wana Beast! Great Neptune!

DC Super Friends Aqua Sub by Mattel - 2008

Score!

I had no idea this beauty was even out yet, until I received an email from our newest F.O.A.M. member, Steve Leach, who told me he saw them for sale at his local Target, and asked if I had picked one up yet.

I hadn't--like I said, I didn't even know they were out yet. And besides, I must live in an area with a high Comic Book Guy population, since it normally takes me months to find anything other than the most easily-found action figures/toys at all.

I figured that, when the Aqua Sub came out, I would simply have to wait for a long time until I could get one for myself. But Steve came to the rescue!

He offered to pick one up for me if I wanted him to, and of course I said yes. Little did I dream that Steve would go the extra mile (miles, actually) and pick one up for me that day, and have it in the mail to me the very next morning!

And to make it even cooler, when the package arrived on Thursday, I found inside, along with the sweet, sweet Aqua Sub, some other orange and green bric-a-brac like comics and trading cards! Great Neptune, this is better than Christmas!


As you can see from the photos, its an adorably cute little ship, and the thing even floats in water. How cool is that?

I am so jazzed that Aquaman is getting his own vehicle/playset, the first time Aquaman has been given such treatment since Mego's Aquaman Vs. The Great White Shark set. This is just a guess, but I would think this means the Aquaman figure sold pretty well, and Mattel thought an accessory vehicle would do well, too. At least, I hope that's what it means.

In any case, the line must be doing well, since they're adding on to it. As you can also see from the photos, two new characters--Hawkman and Cyborg--are on the way.

So thanks Steve, welcome to F.O.A.M! And if you'll all excuse me, I'm off to go fill my bathtub with water...


Curious Fact: I got an email from an Aqua Fan named John concerning a recently-purchased Aqua Sub, and he told me the same thing Steve did.

Namely, that when he went to the Target cashier to purchase the sub, there was no pre-set code for the item in the computer, as if the store's inventory wasn't "aware" it actually had the Aqua Sub in stock.

Could the Aqua Sub become a super-hot item? They're currently selling for around $20-$25 on eBay. Let's hope it inspires Mattel to create more Aquaman-related items!

I'd buy a DC Super Friends Aqua Cave Playset, wouldn't you?


Fun Fact! The Aqua Sub is the first new addition to the Aquaman Timeline.

Batman: Gotham Knights #18 - Aug. 2001

Comics Weekend This was an unusual little story, courtesy writer Devin Grayson and artists Roger Robinson and John Floyd, behind a very nifty cover by Brian Bolland (as usual).

Batman is having a quiet night, so he sits in the Batcave, brooding as he always does.

He then gets a video message from Aquaman, who was calling to express condolences (or something) related to Commissioner Gordon, presumably tying into a Bat-storyline going on at the time.

Anyway, Bats is his usual charming self, and when he tries to cut Aquaman off with a terse "I have rounds", Arthur sees that and raises it:

(I hope Mark Waid gets a royalty every time someone refers to that "I have to look out for 75% of the world's surface" line of his from Kingdom Come)

Bats then tries to talk to Oracle and Nightwing, both of whom basically say "yeah, nothing's going on", although Nightwing does it in substantially less cordial terms. He then goes out, busts some low-level crooks heads, and then takes a tour of Wayne Manor...in his bat-suit. Weird.

He then calls Aquaman back, and asks him for help. It seems due to the then-recent earthquakes, a few of his mementos have fallen down a crevice, and are now underwater.

One of those is the giant penny, which of course means a lot to him. Aquaman heads down and tries to get it out, but after a few tries to dislodge it, tells Bats what he already knows--that penny ain't going anywhere:

Kind of a goofy ending to a weird, downbeat story, but I like the idea of Arthur and Bruce spending time together watching movies and drinking beer.

Aquaman (Vol. 1) #50 - Apr. 1970

Comics Weekend I thought it might be nice to have a post script to our Dick Giordano Week by talking about some of the issues of Aquaman by the SAG team that we have yet to talk about here on the Shrine.

I picked this issue when I was reminded about it by AquaFan Shag Matthews (aka The Irredeemable Shag) because of a particular panel inside, which we'll get to in a moment.

Anyway, this is the fiftieth issue of Aquaman, featuring the first of three Deadman back-ups, written and drawn by Neal Adams, no less! Apparently this was to give Aquaman artist Jim Aparo a chance to get caught up on his deadlines (after all, Aparo was penciling and inking the book) by shortening his page count for a few months.

But these weren't any old back-ups: no, editor Dick Giordano had these Deadman stories tie into the main Aquaman story, so you felt like you were getting a complete, book-length story, even though both stories could stand on their own, as well. Neat!

After the spiffy cover by Nick Cardy, we have this boffo splash page by Aparo:

Aquaman wakes up, having been knocked unconscious last issue from a mysterious weapon wielded by some aliens. He wakes up in some weird fantasy world, filled with odd shapes and colors, and tries to recall what happened leading up to this...

He and Aqualad were coming home to Atlantis to see his old foe and half-brother, Ocean Master, talking to his wife Mera!

Orm tells Arthur he's not there to fight, and that he now knows that he is Arthur's half-brother. But he didn't know that when he contacted...them!

Them? Aquaman wonders. But before Orm can answer, "they" have arrived--two aliens who shoot Aquaman with the aforementioned weapon!

Aquaman encounters a weird, amoeba-like creature, which is fought off by a beautiful woman who he can't seem to communicate with. But before he can even try, Aquaman receives some sort of telepathic signal, which he heads off to investigate.

Turns out its coming from a futuristic city inside this weird dimension, and he follows the mental trail to inside a building.

On his way there is the "famous" panel where Aparo decided to work in the names of a few dozen comics pros, including himself, writer Steve Skeates, and editor Dick Giordano:

...see if you can name 'em all!

Aquaman finally makes it into the building (but not before fighting off an armed guard, who shoots him with a weapon that fires the green bubbles we see on the front cover), and its here where he and this mysterious woman can talk.

Aquaman tries to find out "where" this place is, but the woman doesn't offer any help other than they are in "the city." Aquaman wonders if there's anyone else here that can help him.

Yes, there is--the feared Brother Warnn, who arrives and demands to know who this stranger is! To be continued!

Meanwhile, over in the Deadman story, titled "Deadman Rides Again", Deadman tells Rama Kushna he wants to head out and confront the evil in the world (oh, is that all?) and Rama directs him towards a mysterious craft making its way through the ocean.

Deadman finds it to be manned by...Ocean Master! He doesn't know who this guy is, but follows and watches him as Orm makes a deal with the two aliens, who promise to kill Aquaman!

Deadman doesn't like the sound of that, so he takes over Ocean Master's body to find out what Orm's part of this deal with the aliens is. There's a part of Orm's brain Deadman can't pierce, so he tries a little harder:

...this makes Orm realize he is Aquaman's brother, and he immediately regrets the "hit" he put out on his brother. Deadman then goes to take over one of the aliens, but the other one seems to know something's up, and lets a small rat-like creature loose which is able to attack Deadman! To be continued!


I thought this was a really neat idea, having a back-up tie into the main story, to give it more context. And any comic with art by Jim Aparo and Neal Adams, with a Nick Cardy cover, is a pretty darn good comic book. We have editor Giordano to thank for putting together such a solid string of issues, this one being a particularly fine example.

According to the Statement of Ownership, at this time Aquaman had a print run of about 300,000 copies, selling around 156,000 for a sell-through of just over 50%, which wasn't too bad. Not Batman or Spider-Man numbers, but I think about three times what the last Aquaman comic sold.

*sigh*

Dick Giordano Week, Part 5 - Interview

What can I say?

I was thrilled--thrilled--to get to talk to the Dick Giordano, and he could not have been nicer to interview. He answered all my questions and then some. Take it away, Mr. G!:

Aquaman Shrine: Were you familiar with Aquaman much when you were assigned to edit the book?

Dick Giordano: Generally. My main information was gathered from the two people who interviewed me for the editorial position, Carmine Infantino and Irwin Donenfeld. They thought the editorial direction, which was based on the popular Saturday morning cartoon TV show, was wrong for the audience we were trying to attract. After reviewing the material, I agreed whole heartedly and formulated a plan of sorts.

AMS: One of the frequent comments I've read about your editorial style was, essentially, it was very hands-off. You hired who you thought were the right people for the job and then let them do it. Did this style develop over time or did you come into editing with it already in mind?

DG: As a freelancer, I came to recognize that my best work was done without a strong editorial hand dictating. I was hands off after I sat down with my creative people and we discussed the approach we would be taking.

After that was decided, I let them loose. It was, however, my idea to have Aquaman lose Mera, leave Aquatot, and the family walrus behind and explore new undersea worlds not shown previously in his quest to find Mera. I described it to them as a combination of Star Trek and The Fugitive but otherwise left them to their own devices on how to achieve these ends.

Jim submitted finished, lettered art without my having even seen the pencils and the only other editing I did on the series was editing down Steve's copy...with his prior knowledge. He had at that time a tendency to overwrite dialogue and I told him write the hell out of it...I'll edit to fit the art.

Years later, I read an interview with Steve in which he said that I had spoiled a plot point in an issue by my editing his copy. I don't remember the circumstances but I wish Steve had said something at the time that the gaff occurred.

AMS: Skeates and Aparo were certainly a good team. Did anyone within DC ever take notice? Something like "Hey, this Aquaman book you guys are doing is really working"?

DG: Actually, no! For reasons unknown to me, management said nothing at the time. I think Carmine and/or Irwin didn't personally like my approach. I got raves from the fans and sometimes from members of the editorial staff and freelancers.

In 1980, when I returned to my editorial desk at DC, Paul Levitz told me that sales records had been found that indicated Steve's and Jim's Aquaman was a sales success!

AMS: In an interview I did with Craig Hamilton, he said this of you: "He saw my portfolio and said come into the office, and there I got to meet Dick Giordano, which was just a thrill beyond measure. When I broke in I was so blessed to have people like Joe Orlando and Dick Giordano looking over my shoulder, teaching me as I worked."

Did you step in to help younger artists who you thought needed it, seeing it as part of your job?

DG: Yep! Did then and I still do. Seeing an artist mature is just as much a kick as seeing your children learn to walk! My current assistant is Rob Jones and he has grown as an artist in great spurts! He's currently reworking the origin to a self published title called Perfect Storm.

AMS: Did Neal Pozner come to you with his Aquaman mini-series proposal fully written out, or was it more just a germ of an idea? Did you have much input in the direction of it?

DG: Neal had an idea and I asked for an outline. He was shocked when I said, "Write it." I don't recall that I had much input with the idea but I certainly helped him over the speedbumps as work progressed.

AMS: When he proposed changing Aquaman's costume, was there a consideration towards the impact in licensing? While he's no Superman or Batman, Aquaman still did appear in a lot of merchandise outside of the comics.

DG: I'm an editor. My responsibilities are to turn in stories that are fun to read and cool to look at! Licensing can, and this case, did, ignore a new costume as having never happened. I was not asked to cease and desist...I would have, if so ordered.

AMS: Speaking of merchandising, your work certainly appeared on a lot of it. Did you pursue this work? Was it more fun for you doing these single-type illustrations instead of sequential storytelling?

DG: More fun, no! My pleasure is still sequential story telling, as it was then. It was fun to be able to use a different skillset but my involvement in licensing art was more practical matter.

Joe Orlando was in charge of Special Projects and he could call me upstairs to his office, give me instructions, reference and/or a script and sometimes get it back, finished, at the open of business the following morning. He knew of my routine of getting up at 4am and working until 7 or so before coming into the office. If it was a three hour job, he had finished art some sixteen hours after it was assigned. Joe also trusted me to know the needs of art that sells product or ideas...that's what we did at Continuity (with partner Neal Adams) before I came to DC.

AMS: When you found that you had skills as an editor as well as artist, did you find that as satisfying? For example, would you have ever wanted to be, say, the artist on Aquaman, or was it just as rewarding to oversee Skeates and Aparo and guide their work?

DG: I found a separate satisfaction in penciling, inking or editing. I enjoyed each and the different skill set used to do each job. I generally focused on the job at hand and was satisfied to let others enjoy doing their jobs.


I grew up enjoying and loving Mr. Giordano's work as both a penciler and an inker, and then as an editor through his regular Meanwhile... columns, where he gave readers a peek behind the curtain at a big time comic book company. For someone always just as interested in The Story Behind The Story, these columns were utterly fascinating to me.

This wraps up our Dick Giordano Week. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did putting it together. And, most of all, thanks Dick, for the interview, the sketch, and all the amazing work over the years!

Dick Giordano Week, Part 4 - Original Sketch

This is the brand-new sketch Mr. G did for me from his home in Florida, and of course it's awesome!

I generally prefer to get sketches from the artist in person, but since Dick rarely makes it to any con in my general area, we corresponded via email. Just a few weeks after commissioning him, this baby arrived on my doorstep.

This is the Aquaman I'm so used to seeing, all over DC merch of the 70s and 80s--dynamic, exciting, and happy. As I told him, I'm thrilled that I get to add Giordano to my list of sketches, alongside such other legends like Cardy, Fradon, Infantino, and Aparo.

Tomorrow: a word or two from the man himself!

Dick Giordano Week, Part 3 - 3-D Valentine's Day Card

This is one of two 3-D Valentine's Day cards I found on eBay a few months ago. I assume they were part of a larger set, and for all I know there may be more than two (I'm saving the other for next Feb. 14th) Aquaman ones.

Drawn by the Big G, this card pops out on the bottom so that it can rock slightly back and forth, a cute little effect. And of course Aquaman looks majestic on his steed, followed by the nice, Valentine's Day sentiment.

How could any potential sweetheart say no to this card?

Dick Giordano Week, Part 2 - Super Heroes Bingo

This is probably the only way you could've gotten me to play bingo as a kid--Super Heroes Bingo!

This was made in 1976 by Hasbro, and uses an assortment of stock art for the box (strange that Robin gets more of a spotlight than Superman, no?), including Dick Giordano's shot of Aquaman from the cover to the Justice League of America Treasury Comic:

On the inside, the stock art is all swapped out for different stock art, this time using Murphy Anderson's classic Aquaman icon.

Bingo!

Dick Giordano Week, Part 1 - Aqua-Mail

I've been waiting for a while to do this, and I'm thrilled the time has come!

As I'm sure all of you know, Dick Giordano is a legend in the comics business. Over the course of his long career, he's been artist, an editor, and an executive at DC Comics.

Dick's connection to Aquaman started in 1968, when he moved from Charlton to assume an editorial position at DC. Here he took over Aquaman (among other titles), and brought along two of Charlton's brightest talents, writer Steve Skeates and artist Jim Aparo, to take over the reigns of DC's King of the Seven Seas.

In my opinion, these were some--if not the--finest Aquaman comics ever done, and fans at the time agreed--sales on Aquaman picked up, and their sixteen issue run on the book remains popular to Aqua-Fans to this day.

As an artist, Dick also handled a lot of the merchandising art for DC-related products. His smooth, dynamic take on the stars of the DCU made him a perfect choice to represent them to people outside the world of comics fans. As I've said before, when you have an artist of such high caliber drawing an entire universe of heroes, it brings the "B" and "C" level stars up to the level of the "A" ones, because they all look so good.

And then later, when he returned to DC as an editor and executive, Dick was the voice of the company, through his regular "Meanwhile..." columns throughout the mid- to late 1980s.

For today, though, we're presenting some of Dick's responses to Aqua-Fans in the pages of the Aquaman letter column, Aqua-Mail:

It took DC a long time to catch up to that upstart Marvel, where Stan Lee figured out that a stronger, closer relationship with the fans led to more devoted fans, and ultimately greater sales.

Dick was one of the first editors at DC to try that approach, as we can see from some of these examples:

I love how he had the guts to razz a pissed-off fan there, Ms. Gomez. How the heck could she not like the Skeates/Aparo Aquaman?!?

(Oh, and that first letter is clearly from future Marvel writer and editor Mark Gruenwald, despite the transcription mistake)

This was the last letter Dick ever ran, in Aquaman #55:

An unreleased Aquaman Annual? Oh, man, that breaks my heart.

Anyway, all this week we'll be talking about stuff by the legendary Mr. G involving Aquaman, including some Giordano-drawn merchandise, an original sketch, as well as a brand-new interview!

As the man said, be here...it'll be good!