DC Direct Boxed Set Ad - 2000

DC Direct's graphic designers are really top-notch; as good as the toys themselves are, I find the packaging and ads to be just as visually compelling.

This ad for the Aquaman and Aqualad boxed set is no exception, its really a thing of beauty--nice use of colors, well balanced, and there's a lot of text on there and yet it doesn't look crowded.

Nicely done, fellas!

Alan Davis on Aquaman - 2003

These are some beautiful character pin-ups of the Aquaman Family by Alan Davis, who was the original penciler for the 1986 Aquaman mini-series.

I have yet to interview Mr. Davis for the Shrine (although I have tried), but if you click on the image you'll read an interesting passage from TwoMorrows' Modern Masters: Alan Davis book that's all about the time he and the Sea King almost crossed paths!

Of course, Alan would eventually draw a half dozen covers for the last Aquaman series many years later, which ended up being some of my all-time favorite Aquaman covers.

Aquaman (Vol. 1) #4 - Aug. 1962

Comics Weekend The return of Quisp, everyone's third-favorite interdimensional imp!

Looking back over the Aquaman comics I've covered, I've seen that I've given short shrift to his early adventures.

I guess that's natural, since I grew up in the 70s and 80s, so it was those adventures where I first encountered Aquaman and made the strongest impression on me.

But the early tales deserve some attention too, so I thought for today I'd go back all the way to 1962, right after Aquaman finally got his own title and was showing DC he could be a headliner too, by gum!

This issue's story--a "3-Part Novel" as the cover promises--is "Menace of the Alien Island" by Jack Miller and Nick Cardy, and it starts with a freak tidal wave threatening a small fishing village.

Aquaman and Aqualad are too late to stop the wave, but do help rescue the citizenry, with the help of some finny friends. Then another tidal wave swoops in, but luckily someone else arrives to help, as well...Aquaman's impish pal, Quisp!:

Quisp dispels the wave, but disappears before Aquaman can thank him....strange!

Then, out of the mist, they see a giant island has suddenly materialized just a few miles away. Aquaman and Aqualad investigate, only to be attacked by some sort of laser cannon!

They escape that (and another death trap), then make their way to the other side, where they meet another strange being:

Between this and the next story page are three pages of ads, so the comic makes room for a second splash page:

...I miss this style of comic book storytelling. Having another splash page, complete with a separate chapter title, makes the book feel like a complete story, you know? Like they used to do on TV shows coming back from commercial.

Anyway, the alien they met is about to attack, when Quisp shows up again and saves Aquaman and Aqualad's bacon. Quisp tells our heroes that there are more of these aliens under the sea!

Aquaman and Aqualad climb in the elevator-type machine on the beach, which leads them to a spaceship, where they meet more of the aliens. Turns out these aliens are in the middle of an interspecies squabble--one set of them tried to steal a new machine some of the others were building.

When that happened, the scientists sent the machine into space(!), but the baddies imprisoned the scientists and followed the trail, which led to Earth.

Aquaman and Aqualad head out to find the machine and the aliens, and they are momentarily stopped by one of the aliens trapping them in an energy bubble (see the cover).

But Quisp is there, and he helps free them, but it looks like he loses his life in the attempt, as the alien blasts him into atoms!

No time for tears, though, as our heroes discover a group of the aliens have found the machine, and are carrying it onto land. There, they aim it at a giant stone wall, making it come alive!:

Aquaman manages to rope the creature and pull it down (yay Aquaman!), and then they try to lure the aliens out to sea.

The aliens fall for this, taking the machine with them. They climb into the water, and prepare to blast Aquaman and Aqualad, when:

...I love the faces of the octopi, with their furrowed brows. Classic.

The aliens are then surrounded by a wall of jellyfish, and Aquaman manages to get the machine away from them.

But one of the aliens breaks free, as is about to blast our heroes, when...you guessed it, Quisp returns to save the day! Turns out he wasn't killed, the laser beam simply teleported him(?) miles away.

The baddie aliens are imprisoned, the scientists are freed, and the aliens leave, hopefully never to return.

Quisp also takes off, promising to visit again some day. Meanwhile, the stone creature is still around, but inert, so the villagers decide to make it a tourist attraction:

...you have to be made of hearty stock to live in the DC universe. These people who live in a small, rural fishing village are only mildly inconvenienced by a horde of aliens attacking them, who turns part of the town into a living creature. They are nonplussed by all this, and even find a way to make a buck in the process.


A fun tale, totally goofy, but it moves at a breakneck pace and throws more in twenty-five pages than some whole mini-series do nowadays (he said, crankily).

I never warmed up to Quisp--he seemed way too Mxyzptlk for my tastes--but he's ok in small doses like this.

By the way, this comic was sent to me--gratis--by F.O.A.M.er Russell Burbage, who is unceasingly generous. Thanks Russell!

DC Challenge #4 - Feb. 1986

Comics Weekend The return of the DC Challenge!

Last week, we talked about Aquaman's small but, er, juicy role in the DC Challenge mini-series.

In issue #2, writer Len Wein left Aquaman stranded in the Sahara Desert, time running out, with no water anywhere.

Then in #3, Doug Moench grabbed the reins of the story, and came up with an ingenious solution--the Sea King, in a desperate last act, grabs one of the buzzards flying overhead and, in a very Conan-like gesture, bites into the neck of one of them, giving him just enough water to survive and keep going.

He was then "rescued" by some of his fellow JLAers, but soon they reveal themselves to a group of shape-shifting aliens!

As issue #3 ended, the aliens prepared to blast Aquaman, and that's where we find him in this issue...

The aliens, in classic bad guy fashion, start cluing Aquaman in on their plan. He then makes his only move--a frontal assault:

...at this point, the story shifts to an alien planet, where other members of the JLA (including the kidnapped Martian Manhunter) are in the clutches of the aliens.

From this point, Aquaman's major participation in the story ends, which was too bad, but I understand why writer Paul Levitz felt the need to move the story on, and not get bogged down Aquaman somehow stranded in the desert again. (Aquaman does return in the issues 7 and 12 of the series, which we'll get to next week!)

On the letters page, we have the previous issue's writer discuss the hows and whys of what they did, so here we have Doug Moench's thoughts on how he tried to get Aquaman out of his jam:

On a separate note, I really liked the unusual art combo of Gil Kane and Klaus Janson. You wouldn't necessarily think they're styles would mesh well., but I liked the look of it quite a bit.


Fun Fact: F.O.A.M. member Michael Town points out that Doug Moench, in fact, "lifted" Aquaman's escape from Edgar Rice Burroughs and his novel Tarzan The Untamed, and he helpfully sent along this painting by Boris Vallejo of the moment in question:

Thanks Michael, and good catch!

Stock Art Alternative Aquaman Logo

This...unusual logo was part of the massive pile of stock art I've been working my way through here on the Shrine.

I had never seen it before, and when I got to it, I was flummoxed--what the hell is this thing? Why would any merchandiser pick this over the classic, beautiful, original Aquaman logo?

I always try to be respectful towards other artists work, because lord knows I've produced my share of lame stuff, but...man, is this logo butt-ugly. Sheesh!


Update: Here's the one piece of merchandising and/or stock art where someone used this logo instead of the classic one:

No, no, and again, no.

Alex Ross Print - 2003

This beautiful portrait by Alex Ross was sent to me by F.O.A.M. member Andy Luckett. Thanks Andy!

These prints were sold as an exclusive for a store called Lee's Comics, and originall were printed at 11x17", which must have made them truly a wonder to behold.

Alex Ross never fails to render Aquaman as dynamically as possible, and this print is no exception--the colors, the shadows, and the pose are all exquisite.

If I was ever writing or editing an Aquaman comic, I would put together a stand-alone flashback issue featuring Classic Aquaman with Mera, Arthur Jr., etc., and hire Alex to illustrate it, giving him all the time in the world he'd need to really go to town on it. An instant classic!

(Dear DC: if someone wants to do this when the next Aquaman book starts, feel free to steal my idea!)

Custom T-Shirt - 2008

This custom t-shirt was made by F.O.A.M. member Kristen Livingston, who also created the Aquaman "Munny" figurine I posted a few weeks back. Kristen is a fountain of Aquaman custom merchandise!

Here's Kristen: "I've done a few of these now. Basically, take a dark, plain shirt, make a stencil of a design you want, stick it to the shirt and spray bleach. This one was the third one I did.

I've been going through volumes of Showcase Presents collections and keeping note of interesting panels. How could I pass on Aquaman and Aqualad eating cake? Credit to Ramona Fradon for the great original art."

Awesome, I love it! Thanks Kristen!

Mego Pocket Heroes Ad - 1978

This ad, for Mego's Pocket Heroes line, was sent to me by Tommy of The Bat-Blog. Thanks Tommy!

This is presumably a page from a catalog, not a stand-alone ad, and you can see that Mego was most interested in pushing the characters from the then-smash hit Superman: The Movie.

But the bottom row makes me giggle--it looks like Aquaman is about to smack Captain Marvel, who in turn is about to do that to Caveman Wonder Woman, while Midget Batman and Giant Robin look on. Oh, and The Joker is waving hello.

Mego was so awesome...

School Supplies Ad - 1977

This ad, another one for a bunch of school supplies emblazoned with DC characters, doesn't feature much Aquaman on it, but what it does feature represents a significant moment in my career(?) as an Aquaman Collector.

I had the Aquaman Pencil Case when I was a kid, and it was the first item that I ever used eBay for, since I wanted to find it again. I quickly did, which which was the first step on the long crazy road that's led me here!

I can picture some industrious kid trying to sell his parents on getting him a Bat-Copter--"But Mom, it's for school! It's a school supply!"

Superboy #171 - Jan. 1971

Comics Weekend Superboy meets...Aquaboy??

Having never been a big fan of Superboy, I never really bothered with his comics (I only ever bought The Legion of Superheroes until after they had pushed Superboy out of his own book), so this was one of those comics I only recently discovered--I think I saw the cover in Carmine Infantino's book, The Amazing World of Carmine Infantino, and made a mental note to pick it up sometime.

Before we get into the issue, let's talk about the nice, but strangely familiar cover, by Infantino and Murphy Anderson-- Aquaman/boy looks really roughed up there!

(As to the "strangely familiar" part, we'll get to that in a moment)

Anyway, inside, we see Superboy as he flies over two fishermen who seemed to have landed something big--really big:

Superboy sees who--or what--ever it is, its covered in crude oil! He grabs the unconscious creature, and takes it to an industrial detergents company, and dunks the poor sod into a vat of chemicals.

This works, and we see who the oil-caked being is:

...Aquaman! Er, Aquaboy!

Superboy doesn't know who this guy is, but is shocked to see that he can breath and talk underwater! He explains he is Aquaboy, and explains how he ended up covered in oil.

While in the ocean, he saw one of his finny friends--a dolphin--in the same condition, and tried to rescue it. Unfortunately, he is too late:

...I love Aquaman--er, Aquaboy(dang!) flying out of the water like that. It always looks so dynamic to me.

Anyway, Aquaboy asks to talk to the ship's captain, to tell him they are spilling oil into the water. They ship's crew doesn't care to listen, going so far as to hit Arthur over the head (starting a tradition that would last through his whole superhero career) and throwing him overboard, and then covering him in oil. The captain is not about to lose money and shut down production because of some orange-shirted, fish-loving freak!

It's here we come back to the present, and Superboy is equally unhappy with the situation. He takes Aquaboy to the headquarters of the oil company, who tell them both in no uncertain terms to get lost.

Superboy then tries a more direct approach, grabbing the offending tanker and moving it back to where it came from--Saudi Arabia!:

...and you think oil futures speculators and lack of refining capabilites drive up gas prices? Howabout out of control teenage superheroes??

Aquaboy and Superboy then hatch a plan to find all the ships that are carelessly leaking their cargo into the water, and then Superboy then carts it off. The head of the oil company doesn't appreciate this, of course, so they come up with a plan to stop them.

Via the oil company's spy network, they decide to find some, er, bait--Aquaboy's girlfriend, a lithesome, skimpily dressed redhead named Marita(?):

...we can see Aquaman obviously has a type.

Using Marita as a hostage, they lure Aquaman to one of their ships, where they trap him as soon as he frees Marita.

They then tell Superboy that unless he stops his reign of terror, they will drop Aquaboy into a vat of nitroglycerin!

But this is the Boy of Steel--he flies into the sky, turning around and gaining speed until he's moving faster than supersonic velocity. He grabs Aquaboy in his net, wraps him in his cape, and tears right through the ship's hull!

Superboy then arrests everybody, and the two young heroes part, knowing this is just the first part of a long fight:

...this story, by Frank Robbins (with art by Bob Brown and Murphy Anderson), is completely insane.

Superboy is violating laws by the ton, and causing all kinds of international incidents--but that's what makes this story so fun! Who wouldn't want to see Superboy stick it to fat cats like this, with no concern about legal niceties?

This Superboy harkens back to the original conception of Superman by Siegel and Shuster--the avenger for the common man, the bringer of justice for the oppressed.

I've never heard of this Marita character, and as far as I can tell she never made another appearance. I understand why it wasn't Mera (since it had been established that Aquaman met Mera as an adult), but its funny to me that she was drawn to look like a virtual doppleganger of Aquaman's eventual wife.


I mentioned above that this issue's cover looked somewhat familiar. That's because this general cover design--and even color scheme--ended up being used on three separate Aquaman-centric covers, all around the same time:

...weird, huh? Kind of like how the late, great Julius Schwartz always believed gorillas on a cover sold comics, they also must have thought Aquaman laying on a foreground beach under a bright yellow sky was a guaranteed sale.

DC Challenge #3 - Jan. 1986

Comics Weekend After finishing up a long run of Aquaman-centric comics, like we did in the last few weeks with our talk about his mid-70s Adventure Comics run, I like to take a break and examine some of Arthur's guest-appearances or cameos in other books.

So today we're talking about DC Challenge (or is that DC Challenge!?), the unusual round-robin min-series that ran for twelve issues in 1985 and 1986, which each issue done by a different creative team, trying their best to wrap up the previous issue's cliffhangers, move the story forward, and leave the next issue's creative team a whole new bunch of dangling plot threads.

From what I remember, DC Challenge wasn't that big a success, either critically or in sales, but I enjoyed the series quite a bit and thought it was exactly what it was meant to be--a lot of fun, featuring lots of different characters from the far-flung corners of the DC universe.

This third issue is by Doug Moench, Carmine Infantino, and Bob Smith, and they were left with, among other stories, a cliffhanger of Aquaman stranded in the desert, with the hour he can survive without water almost up:

As a kid, I never tried much to figure out who the murderer or culprit was in mystery movies, or books, and preferred to just let the story play out.

But this was different--this was Aquaman, near death, with the minutes of his life ticking away! It got me very concerned, and I tried mightily between issues 2 and 3 how he was going to get out of this. I was stumped.

But Doug Monech, always an ingenious writer, gave Aquaman a perfectly simple yet gruesome way out:

...eww! Never let it be said that Aquaman doesn't get the job done.

Having escaped certain death, Aquaman finds his way to an oasis, in the more ways than one--first, he finds a pool of refreshing water, and when he returns to the surface he sees some friendly faces:

The issue continues on with its other plot lines, concerning Hawkman and Hawkwoman, Jonah Hex, B'Wana Beast(!), and winds its way back to Aquaman, just in time to leave him in another jam:

Uh-oh!

The story is of course to be continued, and we'll see next Saturday how Aquaman (and writer Paul Levitz) gets out of this one!

Aquaman Vol.3 Ad - 1989

This is an ad for the third Aquaman series, his second mini-series following the gangbusters Neal Pozner/Craig Hamilton one.

This Aquaman mini is the last of the solo series that I haven't really focused much attention on here on the Shrine. I remember not thinking too much of it at the time, but since a lot of stuff I didn't like that much at the time reads better to me now, I should go back and re-read the series and give it another shot. The ad itself is quite nice.

One aside--man, that Aquaman is beefy. I mean, ToyBiz beefy!

Comic Book Guy's Guide To Life, Part 3 - 2006

This is the last Aquaman-related selection from the mini-hardcover book The Comic Book Guy's Guide to Life, just one small speck in the massive Simpsons global merchandising onslaught, sent to me by F.O.A.M. member Brian "Plaid Stallions" Heiler. Thanks Brian!

Like every pop culture target The Simpsons takes aim at, the subject is both beloved and mocked at the exact same time. As I've mentioned before, Aquaman has earned an inordinate amount of appearances/mentions on the show (around a half a dozen, I believe), so I bet at least someone on the staff is a fan.

DC Superheroes Activity Book Pages - 2005

These are two pages from the 2005 DC Superheroes Activity Book, a mammoth book of puzzles and coloring pages featuring a surprisingly high amount of Aqua Content.

I especially love the one on the left, with a smiling Aquaman and some of his finny friends--I think that's a great angle to play up with the character, especially in material aimed at very young kids.

Captain Action Ad - 1968

It's Captain Action, everyone's favorite license-hopping superhero!

In an age where DC and Marvel toys are completely segregated, its neat to recall a time when you could have Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Sgt. Fury, Captain America, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, The Lone Ranger, and Steve Canyon all mixed together like this.

And while this ad for Captain Action and all his various identities is nicely put together, I think Ideal might have done better if they hired Gil Kane, who delivered some gangbuster covers for the DC tie-in series.


By the way--Captain Action is back, in both comic and toy form, which you can learn more about here.

Also, the good Captain is spearheading a voter registration drive, which I think is a fine cause, which you can learn about here. Voter registration is something I bet all the guys--Superman, Batman, Aquaman, The Phantom, Steve Canyon, etc.--would get behind (well, maybe not Steve Canyon).

The Origin of Black Manta - 2007

Black Manta got the Secret Origin treatment in the back of an issue of DC's weekly series, 52, courtesy Scott Beatty, Mike Norton, and Rodney Ramos.

While its tough to condense an entire character's history in just two pages, this one does hit most of the major moments, even the, er, less-than-stellar time when DC changed his appearance into an actual manta-like creature.

To me, you just can't beat the big giant metal head.


And I'm not the only one who feels that way--this photo of Adam from Dispatches From The Arrowcave and the mysterious undersea villain himself proves that even a costume as hard to build as Black Manta's is no match for true fanboy devotion:

Adventure Comics #452 - Aug. 1977

Comics Weekend The most shocking event in Aquaman's life in this issue of Adventure Comics!

This is Aquaman's last issue in this superb Adventure run (his first as a headliner), and as we all know it ends with the single most controversial moment in the Sea King's career.

Obviously, this run was popular enough for DC to revive Aquaman's solo title, the first time he would headline a book in six years. And as we've seen over these past few weekends, it is an excellent series od stories, featuring some of Aquaman's finest moments.

This issue's story is "Dark Destiny, Deadly Dreams" by David Michelinie and features another nice splash page by Jim Aparo:

Last issue, Aquaman met two strangers, who had come from far away to find him. Aqualad apparently is in some sort of trouble...

Luckily, the city where these people hail from was in the path of where Topo had traveled after taking Arthur Jr., so Aquaman agrees to come along.

But before he gets there, they are all attacked by a group of scuba-wearing thugs. After taking care of them, Aquaman is told they are henchmen of the "usurper" who has taken control of their city!

Aquaman comes across more thugs, but this time, when he calls a hammerhead shark to help, it he who is the on the receiving end of its wrath:

...Aquaman wakes up captured, trussed up along with Aqualad and the man who got Garth involved in all this!

Turns out that his son, Syan, ran (swam?) away when a group of cultists started preaching in Atlantis, and when, years later, this man saw a picture of Aqualad--who has the same purple eyes as his son--he assumed Garth came from wherever Syan ended up.

This city is where they ended yup, but unfortunately its now come under the control of...:

Aquaman manages to break free and bust some heads, but he stops when he sees that Manta has Topo and Arthur Jr. caged!

Manta then forces Aquaman to fight Aqualad for his amusement, with an added inspiration for Aquaman:

Aquaman's face takes on a grim cast, and he attacks Aqualad with real ferocity.

As the battle goes on, Aquaman realizes that Manta has been using a sonic barrier to keep fish out of the city, meaning the only one here is...Topo!

Topo busts out of his cage and grabs Manta's controller, crushing it. As the air fills the bubble Arthur Jr. is in, Aquaman throws a trident into it, smashing it open, letting the water rush in.

As Manta escapes, Aquaman learns, to his horror, that he is too late:

...wow.

Has any superhero, ever, suffered a blow like this? The closest you can come is The Joker killing Robin, but Jason Todd was no Dick Grayson--someone thought of as a son, and Jason Todd was a superhero playing a rough game. This was an infant, which is such a brutal, unspeakable crime that, in the larger scheme of things, you'd think half the DCU would have been hunting Black Manta down once word got out.

When I interviewed David Michelinie back in December, he really couldn't remember where this idea came from. He recalled that it was something Paul Levitz had been loosely building to, and when he took over the strip he carried it out.

This story divides Aquaman fans probably about as much anything--some see it as an important moment, something that makes Aquaman truly unique; other look at it as a moment that derailed Aquaman and turned him into a mopey jerk that he never fully recovered from.

In any case, I think the idea isn't served well by the rushed execution--one page is just not enough to convey all that has to happen, and Aqualad is being probably the biggest jerk in the DCU by whining to Aquaman at this moment. Jeez, Garth, Aquaman is holding his dead infant son in his arms--can we deal with your issues later?

Plus, like I said above, there just isn't any justifiable reason why Black Manta is still alive. Like The Joker, Manta is of course too good a villain to get rid of, but if you're going to try and put these superheroes in a (slightly) more realistic world--one where little children can be murdered--then you have to deal with that.

And with all the superheroes in the DCU, there had to be at least one or two that would've taken it upon themselves to find Manta, cut his head off, and beam it to the JLA satellite addressed to Aquaman.

Black Manta committed the Ultimate Act of Evil--comic book world or no--and to have him still be around, dogging Aquaman for years afterwards, and to me, in a lot of ways it makes Aquaman look weak, if only in an unconscious way.

Aside from this, this Aquaman Adventure run was superb, and it was nice to see it lead to a promotion, if only for a brief time...

Adventure Comics #451 - June 1977

Comics Weekend Aquaman vs. Starro the Conqueror in this issue of Adventure Comics!

When we last left Arthur, he had just defeated The Flash villain The Weather Wizard, who basically admitted upfront that he was in the middle of a long plan of revenge against his old foe. And Aquaman, having stumbled upon it, should pretty much just butt out.

For somebody named The Weather Wizard, he sure has guts.

This issue's story is "The Secret of the Sinister Abyss" by David Michelinie and, of course, Jim Aparo.

Like I have for every issue in this run, I marvel at the wonderful splash pages Jim Aparo cooked up for them, and this issue's is a particularly fine one:

Unlike many of the previous splash pages, this one isn't a flash-foward in the story; rather it kicks off the story, as well follow Arthur as he chases after his finny friend Topo, who it looks like has kidnapped Arthur Jr!

We then flashback to how we got here--Topo had been trying repeatedly to get his master's attention, but Aquaman was so busy tending to Mera (who was injured last issue by the Weather Wizard) that he ignores him. Its here that Topo then takes off with Arthur Jr:

Aquaman then runs afoul of a giant crab, which attacks him after it tries--and fails--to snag Topo.

At the same time, we see some Atlanteans get attacked by a mysterious creature, which calls itself "a conqueror." Hmm...

Aquaman manages to escape the crab, but he is nearly fried by a blast from...you guessed it:

...Starro the Conqueror!

Turns out a small sliver of Starro survived his fight the newly-created JLA (in the classic Brave and the Bold #28), and it found its way to a deep crevice in the ocean and thrived on all the pollution in the water, regrowing him and making him more powerful than ever!

Starro uses the Atlanteans that discovered him to attack Aquaman, so Aquaman tries to go easy on them, since they are under Starro's control. He then gets an idea--he commands a school of Porcupine Fish to "attack" Starro with...water? Yes, water:

"...any questions?" Yeah!--I love it when Aquaman trash-talks.

Aquaman then calls his buddy Green Lantern to cart off the unconscious Starro, and meets back up with the Atlanteans.

Turns out these Atlanteans were searching for...Aquaman! Turns out a "great hero" recently returned to them, but is in deep trouble. This great hero is...Aqualad?!?

To be continued!

Let me just point out that it took the entire JLA to defeat Starro in B&B #28--and it would again when Starro returned in JLA #'s 189-190, but here, Aquaman did it all by himself.
__________________________________________________________

The Aquaman Shrine's 2nd Anniversary is a month away--October 13th--so please send in your pics of however it is you worship the King of the Seven Seas.

A few people have sent in theirs already, but I want more, more, more I say! Hang those who talk of less!

Deadline is October 12!