Aquaman: The History Behind the King of the Seven Seas

[AvengingJustice]

There are things that I'm curious about regarding the hero Aquaman and his history in the comics, in shows such as Super Friends, etc. that I was hoping to here from you guys on:

1. Do you guys think that Aquaman is a useless hero? Why or why not?
2. Can Aquaman be taken seriously as a hero?
3. If you answered yes to the first question, what would you guys change about the hero to make him more useful?

[DebkoX]

I think DC fans don't appreciate water heroes, they find them useless which their not. Look at namor, he's more corny ten aquaman but he's loved.

[Deviates]

1. No. Any comic book hero has the possibility of being a legitimate hero with the right writing, just as an hero has the chance to be useless with the wrong writing. Aquaman is no different in that respect, it's just he's suffered from some ribbing in mainstream media thanks to his Dr Dolittle power.

2. By who? If by comic book fans, then sure without question. As long as people give him a fair shot they'll see he's an excellent hero. As for the general public, that's a little more tough. Some will have been exposed to the ridicule Aquaman as a character has received, but place him in JL film (before he has his own), and make him a badass (possibly drop the Aquaman) and he'll make it.

[NexusTenebrare]

Haven't you read his DCnU series?
Aquaman is great. In no way useless.
That said, I love that they joke around with how he isn't taken seriously by the regular folk in the DC universe.

[Dudepool]

1. Aquaman sux. Water people suck in general. If I had it my way there would be a giant crossover event that featured all the water folk and had them kill each other for good. And I still wouldn't read that.

2. Again Aquaman sux. WTF is he doing at the Watchtower? No fish there. Keep his fish smelling butt in the water.

3. Change his costume and reboot some powers and give him an awsome writer and artist. Maybe. But again I wouldnt read it.

[Deviates]

1. Aquaman sux. Water people suck in general. If I had it my way there would be a giant crossover event that featured all the water folk and had them kill each other for good. And I still wouldn't read that.

2. Again Aquaman sux. WTF is he doing at the Watchtower? No fish there. Keep his fish smelling butt in the water.

3. Change his costume and reboot some powers and give him an awsome writer and artist. Maybe. But again I wouldnt read it.

I always find it difficult to take people who intentionally misspell words seriously. Especially when there opinion makes no sense.

[Harbinger of Apocalypse]

Really, one needs to read the recent Aquaman to get the feeling on whether Aquaman sucks or not. I don't think he does, its just he gets this undeserved reputation really. Mind you, I like Namor more then Aquaman but Aquaman can be shown to be quite ruthless and powerful at times.

[dupersuper]

There are things that I'm curious about regarding the hero Aquaman and his history in the comics, in shows such as Super Friends, etc. that I was hoping to here from you guys on:

1. Do you guys think that Aquaman is a useless hero? Why or why not?
2. Can Aquaman be taken seriously as a hero?
3. If you answered yes to the first question, what would you guys change about the hero to make him more useful?

1 no: over 70% of the Earths surface is water
2 yes
3 they already have by downplaying the "gets deathly weak when out of water for an hour" thing from the silver age

[stk]

1 no: over 70% of the Earths surface is water

Yet only about 1.03% of non-Aquaman comic stories take place there. That is the basis for the claim of uselessness. I don't agree with it, but I do understand where it's coming from. Let's face it, any hero whose natural habitat is not New York city or one of its analogues has an uphill battle in the fight for acceptance. We, as comic readers, have been conditioned to want heroes based in urban environments.

[Guicho]

1. No
2. Yes
3. Answered here - http://forums.comicbookresources.com...1#post12867076
Johns and Reyes have pretty much above and beyond accomplished that mission.

[NeonSaxon1]

1. He's been with the JLA for 5 years and apparently everyone [even in harbor villages] find him to be a joke. Either he isn't around in the fights enough, or he doesn't contribute enough where people notice it, and find him to Still be a joke. The character himself though? I like the qualities and construction the character has and believe he can be very useful.

2. Yes he can, as show cased in the JL/U cartoon, where although he wasn't shown often, he was badass in every episode.

3. Not spend 4 issues making him a joke to try and make him seem like a badass [cause to me that doesn't work, as explained above], or better yet not do the story after 5 years with the justice league story, but do an introduction arc that is only 1 year after he fought Darkseid [that way it's more excusable why a Harbor Town views Aquaman as a joke].

Another good thing to do would be to tie Atlantis down and make it a key place in the DCnU [Sooner or later you're going to have to do underwater stories and it would be good if they expanded on Atlantis itself, making it not only a kingdom, but a whole country with multiple kingdoms that went down]. You can quickly tie in some multiple god stories, like for example the people leaving their old water god for Poseidon, except he failed them at a key moment and Atlantis ended up sinking; and you have a whole nation unhappy with the gods that Wonder Women comes from [And you then can have Flashpoint being a foreshadowing of tensions between Aquaman and Wonder Women]. Then have Demon Knights be the ones who had to sink the whole country of Atlantis in order to save the whole planet [That's an easy connection to the Demon Knights and Stormwatch books right there for some mystic stories]. Then since Atlantis is only one of the kingdoms of the land, have Ocean Master take control of another, and you can have a fantasy war epic story of 2 nations going at war [Which would be great timing with Game of Thrones being a hit] There's really Alot you can do with Atlantis besides the usual, 'We're tired of being underwater or what not and are going to now attack everyone on land' story, or whatever it comes up to.

[geoff2005]

Haven't you read his DCnU series?
Aquaman is great. In no way useless.
That said, I love that they joke around with how he isn't taken seriously by the regular folk in the DC universe.

read first few pages of issue 1, enough said

hopefully with this new crossover arc, Geoff Johns will give Aquaman a full rebirth

[Hostile Kangaroo]

3. Change his costume and reboot some powers and give him an awsome writer and artist.

You mean... exactly like the current Aquaman series?