] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Adventure Comics #448 - Dec. 1976

sgComics Weekend A full-length Aquaman story this issue of Adventure Comics, where we finally get to learn the true identity of the villainous Karshon!

Aquaman's got a lot going against him on this cover--his own people, a shark, and then Karshon! Will he survive?

This issue's story is called "Crown, Crisis, and Cataclysm", drawn by Jim Aparo (of course) and written by Paul Levitz (one of the few issues where Levitz got solo credit).

After the interruption of last issue, this installment features the return of the very cool Aparo splash pages
:
sg
Since last issue, Aquaman has returned home, to find his home ransacked, and his wife and son kidnapped! Arthur figures Karshon is behind this, but is momentarily stunned by the turn of events.

Unfortunately, he doesn't have time to indulge himself, since Black Manta, like a bad penny, turns up again to taunt him. Aquaman isn't in the mood, and starts to bitch-slap Manta:
sg
...those slaps really look like they hurt.

After getting blasted by Manta, Aquaman wakes up imprisoned, chained to a wall, along with his old friend Vulko.

As Vulko fills Aquaman in on what's happened to Atlantis under Karshon's rule, Manta and Karshon squabble over the master plan. Manta wanted to kill Aquaman when he had the chance, but Karshon raps Manta across the face (dome?) and basically tells him to kiss off. Manta leaves, swearing revenge...

After the guards come in and take Aquaman away, Vulko is rescued by Aqualad, Aquagirl, and their friend Mupo, who start to clue Vulko in on their plan.

Meanwhile, Karshon tells his guards to release Aquaman, he wants to deal with him personally. Big mistake, since he is no match for the King of the Seven Seas--but of course, Karshon is tricky. He flips a switch, and:
sg
But Karshon is shocked to see that Aqualad and the others--followed by a throng of Atlantean citizens--are right behind him.

They see that Karshon has been lying to them, telling them that Vulko died while in prison, among other crimes. The crowd gets angry, and demands Karshon's head.

Aquaman demands to know where Mera and Arthur Jr. are, but he breaks free and reveals his true identity:
sg
...the supervillain The Shark!

Aquaman recognizes him from his previous fights with Superman and Green Lantern, and The Shark tells him that he has returned to his natural habitat--the sea--to go after the greatest, more powerful prey...Aquaman!

He shows that he has Mera and Arthur Jr. in a tank filled with sharks, used literally as bait. The Shark proposes a hunt, and if Aquaman survives, his family goes free!

Aquaman cautiously agrees, figuring its the only way to save his family. And since The Shark has been using his telepathic powers to keep everyone inside Atlantis, Aquaman must face The Shark all alone.

After a few well-thrown punches, The Shark lives up to his name:

sg
....ew!

While being chased, Aquaman makes his way to a bunch of barrels of radioactive waste, dumped there by the Surface World (damn Dirt Walkers). He then makes a giant water swirl around The Shark, temporarily confusing him.

When The Shark sees a trail of blood leading to the barrels, The Shark picks one of them up, smashing it into the others, causing a massive explosion!

Turns out this was Aquaman's plan--he figured the sight of blood would drive The Shark's inner shark into a frenzy, not thinking about what he was doing. The subsequent radiation set off by the explosion made The Shark revert back to his original form, "a helpless ordinary creature of the sea."

Aquaman passes out from the radiation, too. But he is soon found by his friends and family, ending with the proverbial Happy Ending :
sg
...nice! Aquaman has finally shed the burden of the throne, and is now free to be a full-time superhero and family man! Oh, if only it would last!


The Shark is a creepy villain, and this one of the few (only?) times I can think of when a bad guy actually went ahead and bit the hero. I'm sure The Joker must have tried it at least once...

Karshon/The Shark's palace--complete with Falling Net Action--practically cried out for a Mego playset. At the very least, they could've slapped a green bodysuit on a Batgirl body and called it Mera.

Oh, what could have been...

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Adventure Comics #447 - Oct. 1976

sgComics Weekend Aquaman faces more than one of his deadliest foes in this issue of Adventure Comics!

I've had such a fun time going back over this great Aquaman run in Adventure, I've decided to finish off the series over the next few weekends.

As usual, the artwork by Jim Aparo is top-notch--he really knew how to draw a punch, you know? I mean, look how bent over The Fisherman is--that looks massively painful, and yet he's still able to trash-talk the Sea King.

This particular issue is unusual in that it doesn't feature one of the hallmarks of the series, a dynamic, movie poster-ish splash page:
sg
...I can't put my finger on it, but this first page looks like it was fiddled with in production. The title box looks a little thrown together (and not incorporated into the artwork, like the earlier ones), plus the credit box is much smaller than usual, as if the left hand panel has been shrunk down to fit in a smaller space.

Anyway, last issue ended with Aquaman discovering Black Manta is running guns to Atlantis, and picks up here with Manta explaining what happened to a mysterious accomplice.

Meanwhile, Mera and Arthur Jr. are attacked by two giant sharks and then dragged off...

Top-side, Aquaman and Aqualad hatch a plan, and they split up to put it into gear. Aquaman stays behind to investigate where the cache of laser rifles they found have been made. He tracks them to a factory:
sg
...I like how spooky Aquaman looks in that first panel.

Anyway, Aquaman inadvertently trips an alarm, and a giant steel cage comes down and temporarily stops him, long enough to discover The Fisherman has returned, just days after Aquaman threw him in jail (in Adventure #443)!

Aquaman rears back and pastes The Fisherman one, only to have the villain implode!

Aquaman then wakes up, and finds himself in yet another super-villain death trap, dangling on a hook, as a series of laser rifles attempt to slice him into ribbons. But Aquaman manages to perform an escape worthy of Batman:
sg
Aquaman quickly catches up to The Fisherman (turns out the first one was a decoy used to sucker Aquaman) and knocks him out.

Meanwhile, back in Atlantis, the two rogue sharks arrive with Mera and Arthur Jr., and we get to see who is the mastermind behind all these plots against the Sea King:

sg
...the new King of Atlantis, Karshon! To be continued!

Another fine installment of the series, written by an ever-revolving writing team, this time consisting of Paul Levitz and Martin Pasko. Its sort of amazing, really, how well this series held together considering it had so many different hands working on it.

And, as ever, Jim Aparo brings his A game.
___________________________________________________________

sgIn this week's Ambush Bug: Year None #2, Aquaman makes his second guest appearance with the Bug.

It's just this one panel, but of course I'm always happy to see Classic Aquaman show up in any DC book.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Top Trumps - Ocean Master

sgThis was the last of four "Top Trumps" game cards sent to me a while ago by my pal (and curator of the cool Flash blog Crimson Lightning) Dixon.

I guess this was a costume redesign for Orm (not sure if it was ever used in the comics or what), but I don't think it holds up to the original--Orm's old mask looked like it smashed his nose down, which, to me, made him seem really badass--a bad guy who designs himself a painful costume on purpose.

Dixon was one of the first bloggers to write me and let me know how much he enjoyed what I was doing, and we had an informal team-up thing going between our respective JLA member-specific blogs, which was a lot of fun.
Sadly, though, he seems to have dropped off the face of the earth, blogger-wise. CL abruptly stopped being updated in 2007 and I haven't heard from him since.

Thanks Dixon, and if you're out there, drop us a line here at the Shrine!


Update: Great Neptune, this is spooky.

Just a few seconds after I posted this, I clicked over to Dixon's blog, just to double-check my link. And what do I see?

I see that Dixon has returned to posting at
Crimson Lightning, completely unbeknownst to me--I swear! WOW!

Glad to have you back, pal!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Hexor Game Pieces - 2003

sg
I received an email from our newest F.O.A.M. member, Wil Radcliffe, asking me if I had the Aquaman Hexor Game Piece.

Not knowing what any of those words meant except for "Aquaman", I told Wil I had no idea what that was, so Wil generously offered to send me the Aquaman piece (and, as you can see, a few others). According to Wil, the game didn't really take off so the game pieces can be found for cheap.

Which is kinda too bad, because they're really quite nice. I thought they'd be little cardboard doodads like pogs, but they're actually made from metal of some sort and have a real nice heft to them.

(Wil is the creator of Nogglestones, a fantasy novel that seems to have taken off, Lord of the Rings-style, into its own little cottage industry of podcasts, products, and other stuff. Amazing!)

Thanks Wil, and welcome to F.O.A.M!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Aquaman by Amy Walsh - 2008

sg
Last Friday, I posted an Aquaman-centric page from the newest issue of DC Super Friends (#6), but I think this is actually the coolest thing in the book.

This crayon portrait, by a little girl named Amy Walsh, appeared on the letters page, where Johnny DC is always encouraging kids to send in drawings of their favorite heroes. Amy, as you can see, has exceptional good taste in heroes.

Nice job, Amy!


Post Script: Amy's piece reminds me of another tribute to Aquaman, one that was made especially for me by my pal Simon Fraga, age 5:
sg
Simon's parents were the ones who introduced Tracy and I, so I'm repaying them the best way I know how: giving their son lots and lots of comics.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Aquaman #58 Ad - 1977

sg
DC got a lot of use out of this ad, where they just dropped in different covers in Superman's kryptonian mitt.

Aquaman--as a character or a book--didn't get a lot of ad space in the 1970s, so this version of the ad always jumped out at me when I would come across it in a comic.

Come to think of it, Aquaman should be automatically checked off on all subscription forms, anyway...

Monday, August 25, 2008

Mera Stock Art by Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

sg
A nice way to kick off the week!

We're almost completely through the mountain of stock art a generous (but anonymous!) soul sent me way back when, but we still have a couple of sweet pieces still unseen here, like this one of the beautiful Mera.


You know, looking at pics like this, it makes me think DC needs to do a Man of Steel-type reboot of Aquaman--I wanna see the handsome, brave King of the Seven Seas have underwater adventures with his beautiful bride Mera, as he fights bad guys like Black Manta and Ocean Master. Done and done.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Adventure Comics #446 - Aug. 1976

sgComics Weekend Aquaman takes on his most deadly foe in this Bicentennial issue of Adventure Comics!

Before we get to the story, let's take a moment to admire this cover--there's a lot of stuff going on here, but to my eye its very balanced and works quite well, despite all the clutter. Plus that shot of Aquaman on his steed holding an American flag should have been made into a 1976-era t-shirt.

Ok, inside the issue--we left off last issue with Aquaman and Mera returning home after a failed kidnapping (and ritual sacrifice!) of Mera. Presumably waiting for them is their son Arthur Jr., who got left behind during the melee.

But as we saw, Arthur Jr. has been violently grabbed by Aquaman's octopus pal, Topo! What's going on here? Well, let's see--first up, another wonderful Jim Aparo splash page:
sg
Turns out Topo was instinctively trying to protect the suddenly-alone Arthur Jr., but was using a little too much force in the attempt. Arthur tells Mera Topo "isn't the brightest creature in the sea."

Then, Aquaman gets a video-call from Robin, the Boy Wonder, who tells him that he can't find their mutual friend, Aqualad, anywhere! Aquaman says he'll search for Garth as well, but warns Robin about what has happened in Atlantis, saying if he runs into Aqualad first, to tell him to stay away from the city.

So where is Aqualad? Well, nothing mysterious, at least at first. He's on a date with Tula, aka Aquagirl. But of course, there's more to it than that:
sg
...I simply love Aparo's shifty, pencil-mustached mob guy and gun moll. They should get their own comic.

Aqualad gets dragged into the boat's kitchen, where he gets roughed up, until he's accidentally dunked with a pot of water. Big mistake!

Suddenly refreshed, Aqualad punches one guy's lights out, but then is knocked out from behind. When he wakes up, he sees an old foe waiting for him...Black Manta!

Manta then knocks out Tula, trusses her up, and dunks her overboard tied to an anchor, not realizing who she is. Manta is shocked to see Aqualad seemingly so indifferent to his date's fate, and throws him in the brig.

For a moment, we cut back to Atlantis where we see Karshon aiming to "teach Aquaman a lesson once and for all", whatever that means...

Back with Aquaman, we see him find Tula while on the hunt for Aqualad, and he frees her. They then prepare a frontal assault:
sg
We find Manta dunking Aqualad in a tank of lobotomized marine life, so that even if--when--Aquaman shows up, he won't be able to call them off.

But Aquaman shows up earlier than expected, and suckerpunches Manta in the throat!

Manta recovers, mentioning Aquaman's recent exile ("How does he know---?" Aquaman wonders), thinking that while all this is happening, Aqualad is being killed by the killer fish.

But he doesn't see that Tula freed him, so that he can join in on the fun:

sg
...I'm guessing Aquaman is pulling his punch in panel 1, since I don't see his green-gloved hand popping out the other side of Manta.

Manta jumps out an escape hatch into his Manta Ship, but Aquaman is ready with a giant squid to stop him! Unfortunately, Manta's ship is too powerful, and he does manage to get away.

As Aquaman and Aqualad hand over Manta's thugs to the police, Garth marvels that, in just the last few weeks, they've run into The Fisherman, Ocean Master, and now Manta! What's going on?

Aquaman thinks he knows--inside a crate dropped from Manta's ship is a laser rifle, the same kind that Karshon's men used on him (back in Adventure #444)! Black Manta is gun-running to Atlantis!

To be continued!

Jim Aparo was always so good at fight scenes--he really gets across how painful these superhero punches can be. How Black Manta--who doesn't have any real superpowers, especially--survives getting punched in the stomach by Aquaman is something that's beyond me. That's how Houdini died, you know!

Of course, this series ends very grimly, but these issues--the first half at least--really need to be collected into a trade. C'mon, DC, get on the stick!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Adventure Comics #445 - June 1976

sgComics Weekend More from Aquaman's excellent solo series in Adventure Comics!

At the end of last issue, Aquaman had been dethroned by his people and replaced by the mysterious, scheming Karshon.

Without having Atlantis to call home, Aquaman, Mera, and their son Arthur Jr. take up residence in a new home, a specially-built headquarters befitting a legendary superhero.

But of course, before they even get to enjoy it, trouble looms on the horizon, as we see in another of Jim Aparo's spiffy splash pages
:
sg
Aquaman gives Mera a tour of the new digs (not noticing the intruders following them), and it is a swanky place indeed:
sg
...this thing screams Mego Playset to me, too bad they never thought to make it. *sigh*

Anyway, while the family enjoys the peace and quiet, they are confronted by a group of armed amphibian men, who are here to kidnap Mera!

Aquaman of course isn't having any of that, and he starts busting heads, with the help of some nearby sharks, who are not as delicate as their master.

But one of them manages to hit the couple with tranquilizer darts, and they drag both of them away, leaving Arthur Jr. all alone to fend for himself. Soon, Aquaman and Mera wake up and start to learn what the heck is going on:
sg
Aquaman listens to what their leader, Toxxin, has to say, but he realizes that this giant squid-like creature isn't trying to harm these people. Instead, it just uses them as bait to capture curious sharks and other marine life.

Toxxin then offers Mera up to the creature as a sacrifice, but Aquaman grabs her headpiece and uses it to stab it, and it lets Mera go. Mera then uses her hard water powers to help free her husband.

Aquaman then charges the creature straight on, circling around it hundreds of times, causing a vacuum around it, depriving it of oxygen, which kills it. Wow, I don't think I've ever seen Aquaman do that before...cool!

Aquaman then slaps Toxxin upside the head with one of the creature's severed tentacles, and he and Mera swim off. The recently-liberated villagers are happy to free of the creature, not realizing the school of sharks headed their way...

Later, Aquaman and Mera arrive home, but there's still trouble:

sg
To be continued!

Another great issue--Aquaman is really, well, super in these stories, getting to be much more of a badass than he is generally known for. Knocking someone out with someone else's severed arm is painful and humiliating. Nicely done, Arthur.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Aquaman Tattoo

sg
Another example of someone liking Aquaman so much they want him imprinted on their flesh, this tattoo photo was sent to me by our newest F.O.A.M. member Patrick Hartley.

I never had any idea what went into tattoos, exactly, until I asked a friend who has a few of them explain it to me. Now that I know, seeing something like this--and understanding the sheer amount of time, effort, and money it takes to see it through--makes me appreciate how much you've gotta like Aquaman to get something like this.

Nice tattoo, Patrick, and thanks!
_________________________________________________________

The kid-friendly version of Aquaman (the only one alive at the moment) gets a lot of play in comics this week, as he gets a full Fact File page to himself in DC Super Friends #6:
sg
...I'm relieved to see that the origin listed for Arthur is the classic one--lonely lighthouse keeper, mysterious woman from Atlantis, etc. Plus a fish puzzle!

Plus, Aquaman (and his fellow JLAers) make a sort of Peanuts-esque appearance in Tiny Titans #7, courtesy the brilliant team of Art Baltazar and Franco:

sg
...where's our Tiny Titans plush line?? Get on it, Mattel!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Argentinian Rubber Ball

sg
I came across this on eBay, yet another rubber ball that looks only slightly like Official Merchandise.

The seller said it was manufactured in Argentina, no date, and was asking $100.00 for it. That seemed really exorbitant to me, so a few screen captures later and I at least get to show it off here on the Shrine.

If I ever saw this for sale again, but at a more reasonable price, I'd pick it up in a heartbeat.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Patch Subscription Ad - 2008

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about a 1970s DC Superhero Patch Ad, and I said at the time: "Patches were a real 70s and early-80s phenomenon; nowadays you don't see too many of them around, outside of bikers and people wearing the same jacket they had in 1974, which they attached patches like this to."

Well, I was more wrong than a blindfolded Dick Cheney, because a day later or so I got sent this by
F.O.A.M. member John Lijewksi III:
sg
Now this is an odd offer!

Apparently via a company called Willabee & Ward, you can "subscribe" to a series of DC superhero patches, featuring stock art we've all come to know and love.

John told me he was interested in this to get the Aquaman patch (drawn by Eduardo Baretto). But it costs $20 a month for 2 patches, which he thought was too pricey just to get the Aquaman one.

I agree, that's a lot to spend for one measly patch, and then finding yourself stuck with the rest of them. Wait a few months and we'll probably see the Aquaman one show up on eBay.

So, even though he didn't get the patch, John sent me scans of the multi-page ad for them. Cool, thanks John!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Who's Who Update - 1987

sg
Aquaman got one last listing in the appendix to the 1987 Who's Who Update series, reflecting the events in the 1986 mini-series and of course his new costume.

Its a fine drawing by Steve Bove, but since Craig Hamilton did such a superb job on the Who's Who entries he had drawn, I really wish they had tapped him to do this one.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Super-Homem #1

sg
This really intriguing-looking Brazilian comic book cover was sent to me by newest F.O.A.M. member Kyall Coulton, who runs the amazing site Wonder Woman Collectors.com (which I urge you all to check out).

Kyall and I started looking over each others sites, trying to find stuff that we could use for our own purposes. Kyall's collection truly is a thing to behold, so I didn't have too much, but I was glad to be able to offer up an item or two.

Since then, Kyall has sent me a bunch of cool stuff that happens to feature both the Amazing Amazon and the Sea King, like this cover. The art to my eyes kind of looks like a combo of Ernie Colon and Moebius, and colored in a very low-key way.

Interesting to note, of the three heroes, Aquaman is the one whose logo is presented. I guess that's because it didn't require any re-lettering to match the language.

It reprints DC Comics Presents #9, a Superman team-up with Wonder Woman. So why is Aquaman even on the cover? Oh well, it's nice-looking in any case...

Thanks Kyall!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Russell's Aquaman Birthday Package O'Fun

sg
sg
Waiting for me in my mailbox on my birthday was this giant envelope, from my pal and F.O.A.M. member Russell Burbage--it was stuffed to the gills (sorry) with all sorts of Aqua Bric-a-Brac! Wow!

As I've mentioned before, any mail Russell sends my way is always decorated with all kinds of stickers and doodles, making it even more fun. (In case it's too small to read, on the back Aquaman is saying "Gotta hurry, Robin! It's Rob's birthday!" to which the Teen Wonder replies "Right behind you, Aquaman!")

Inside the package was a vintage issue of Aquaman, two of the new DC Super Friends "Step Into Reading" tie-in books, the Aquaman page from the 1976 DC Comics Calendar, plus a whole smaller envelope full of Russell's specialty, hand-colored stickers:
sg
sg
...made from art that has appeared on the Shrine, Russell colored some examples from my Aqua Sketchbook and sent them only to me, making them sort of "limited editions." Neat-o! I now have enough stickers to decorate my letters and packages for the next several years.

Russell has been extraordinarily generous to both me and the Shrine (as well as my other blogs), and has been a really good friend, despite the fact that we've never met.

Every time I read some old crank complain that the internet is making us all so distant from one another, I think of guys like Russell.
___________________________________________________________

sg
F.O.A.M.er Vincent Bartilucci gave me the heads up on this, another Aquaman-related headline about Michael Phelps that appeared in yesterday's New York Post. Thanks, Vincent!

And just before I typed this, Michael Phelps won his record-breaking eighth gold medal. Nice job, Michael "Aquaman" Phelps!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

The "Checkers" Speech

sg
Ok, so this is me, on my 7th birthday, exactly thirty years ago today. It was quite the birthday haul, so much so that it left me plum exhausted and passed out on the floor of our cabin in the Poconos--a Shogun Warrior (Mazinga), some Star Wars items not pictured, and a DC Superheroes Checker Set. And therein lay the tragedy.

Over the years, I have been able--if I ever wanted to--repurchase all the wonderful toys I had as a kid, except,
for some strange reason, this DC Superheroes Checker Set. I have never seen it on eBay once, or at a convention, ever. The only evidence I have of its existence outside the above photo is this shot of it from a catalog:
sg
...as you can see, its way cool. Its got little pieces featuring the usual suspects like Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, but also The Cheetah, Gorilla Grodd, Dr. Light, Hawkman, and Black Canary!

Over the years, my desire to own this thing again has grown in direct proportion to my inability to find it. If I saw it on eBay all the time, I'm not sure I would even want it all that bad. Its because I can't find the damn thing that its become one of the Holy Grails of Aquaman Collecting.

So, basically, what I'm saying is, if one of you out there ever finds one of these, can you please let me know? You'd make the seven year-old me--and the + thirty years older version--very happy.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Michael Phelps is Aquaman!, Parts 2 + 3

sg
Various AquaFans were very helpful in the comments for yesterday's post, as they directed me to other instances where Michael Phelps has been called "Aquaman." I had no idea!

The above is from SI.com, where Phelps and Aquaman were compared in a regular feature called "Tale of the Tape." SI's info on Aquaman is pretty spot-on, except of course for "Mort Neisinger."

Below is the August 11th issue of ESPN magazine (who I even did some work for, a little while ago), which features two covers--one for newsstands, one for subscribers only, this being the sub-only one:
sg
A great cover, Aquaman mention or no, but of course the tag line makes it even cooler.

If any of you out there subscribes to ESPN, and has/gets this issue, please consider scanning it and sending it in, I'd love to run it sans, er, watermark. There's a F.O.A.M. membership in it for you!


Oh, and again: Dear DC Comics: We need an Aquaman book on the stands--
now.

Tomorrow: a special, non-Comics Weekend post!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Michael Phelps is Aquaman!

sg
This way-cool item arrived in my in-box yesterday courtesy newest F.O.A.M. member Rod Strickler, who hails from the Sunshine State.

This piece is a nexus of several of my favorite kinds of things to run on the Shrine--first, it's a local-only piece, so thanks to Rod's generosity and quick action I'm getting to see something I'd normally miss; second, it's very timely; and third, its a great example of Aquaman's vast presence in the popular culture--probably the Shrine's #1 mission.

And congrats to Michael Phelps, who is gobbling up gold medals the way The Dark Knight is gobbling up box office receipts.

Oh, and by the way, the Tampa Bay Times isn't the only news organization that is making the Aquaman connection. This is from today's Comcast news page:
sg
Dear DC Comics: We need an Aquaman book on the stands--now.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Aquaman "Munny" - 2008

sg
This funky little statue was sculpted by newest F.O.A.M. member Kristen Livingston.

Says Kristen: "A
side from comics, I'm pretty into painting scale models. Just recently I decided to expand my area of interest a tiny bit and try a DIY vinyl toy. The one I tried my hand at is called "Munny", and if you do a quick search you can find a whole bunch of info on them. Anyways, for my first one I ended up doing Aquaman. It was sort of inspired from watching Superfriends on Boomerang (a station I don't usually get when I'm up in Canada). There's nothing quite like learning magic tricks from Aquaman, right?

There's a bit of sculpting, but nothing intense. It was all done with a brush and acrylic paint. It's 4" tall. Hopefully I can save up enough money without squandering it on comics/video games/more Munnys and get an airbrush sooner or later. Then I'll try my hand a larger 7" Munny."

I loved it, and told Kristen so. I love any kind home-made Aquaman item, since its the product of such devotion to the character.

Plus, as I also told her, this Aquaman looks a little like Butters from South Park to me. And since he's my favorite character from that show, bonus points to Kristen!

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

DC Superheroes Sleeping Bag - 1975

sg
With all the Aqua-material that gets sent to me nowadays, I don't have to hunt on eBay for stuff as much (and for that I thank all of you!). But once in a while I come across something I just can't resist.

This is a full-size sleeping bag, featuring (some of) the biggest stars of the DCU--Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Arrow, and in a rare inclusion, The Atom!

The coloring gets a little--ok, a lot--wonky on some of the characters: what's with Batman in yellow, Atom in green, and Green Arrow in white?

That said, I really love the design on the individual shots--the combo of font and where the heroes names are placed looks really nice to me. I'm going to have steal that look for some future project.

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed this item once it arrived. It took me a week or so to getting around taking a photo of it, so Aquaman Shrine Mascot Berry T. Cat took it upon himself to measure the bag's "Comfy Factor":
sg
...two paws up!