Help Peter David

As most of you know by now, former Aquaman scribe Peter David recently suffered a stroke. PAD was responsible for much of the Sea King's success in the 1990s, bringing him a level of popularity not seen until very recently, while simultaneously deepening the character's history via the masterful Atlantis Chronicles mini-series.

While Mr. David and his family do have health insurance, there are of course going to many many other costs related to his recovery. Friends of Peter's have been linking to and sharing this post on PeterDavid.net, explaining how you can help contribute. The Aquaman Shrine suggests you check it out and see how you can help an Aquaman writer in need!

Here Is How You Can Help Peter

 

Aquaman (Vol.5) Annual #4 - 1998

It's Halloween--time for a spooky superhero blog crossover!

All across teh interwebs today, various superhero blogs are covering their particular characters from a Halloween-esque perspective, and the Aquaman Shrine is joining in the fun!

In our case, we're covering Aquaman Annual #4, which itself was part of a theme across several DC annuals--"Ghosts." As we all know, the Sea King has a lot of ghosts in his past...

Arthur Jr.'s ghost disappears as quickly as it appeared, which (of course) enrges Aquaman. He's sure he wasn't imagining it, and assumes this is someone's demented joke. He takes off, looking to draw this person out into the open.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a woman who murdered her husband is also visited by a ghost...of the very man she killed! She "kills" him again, convinced this is all a nightmare. Another ghost--in the form of Atlantean mytic Shalako--also appears at a church function. What's going on?

Vulko and Koryak also come across some ghosts, in this case taking the form of Honsu the Conqueror and Prince Kraken, who are busy beating up some royal guards. After making a speech, Honsu asks them all to help in their fight against the surface world--which is met with enthusiastic support, even from Vulko and Koryak!

Tempest is also visited by the ghost of Tula, aka Aquagirl, who asks if he would be with her again if she were alive again. "In a heartbeat", he answers.

Meanwhile, Aquaman confers with Orin the First, who reveals that the various ghosts of the original Atlanteans have come back to try and affect the living. Aquaman, naturally want to bring the fight, but Lorelei says that perhaps if the current residents of Atlantis are so easily whipped into a mob, maybe there's no point in saving them. She has...other ideas how to spend the time:

 

Dear Atlantis Forum: I never thought this would happen to me, but...

As Arthur, Orin, and Lorelei make Frederic Wetham spin in his grave, the ghosts who have been popping up across Atlantis start making their various pitches: Shalako's is more war-like, while Tula plays on Garth's undying love for her.

Meanwhile, back at the AquaCave:

 

Aquaman and Orin bring the fight to the other Atlantean ghosts, while trying to talk sense into the crazed mob. Orin takes on his brother Shalako, and using their two-pronged attack, defeat them all, just as the sun rises and the darkness of night fades.

Unfortunately, there is still one ghost left:

 

As the book says, The End? Who can really say, when you're talking about ghosts?

Make sure to visit the other participating sites to see other spooky content:

• The Atom @ Power of the Atom
• Batman @ Batman: Gotham Knights Online 
• Booster Gold @ Boosterrific
• DC Bloodlines @ DC Bloodlines
• Firestorm @ Firestorm Fan
• The Flash @ Speedforce
• Green Lantern @ Indigo Tribe
• Green Lantern @ Corps Conjecture
• JLA @ The Captain's JLA Blog
• JLD @ Justice League Detroit 
• Martian Manhunter @ The Idol-Head of Diabolu
• The Phantom Stranger @ I Am The Phantom Stranger
• Ragman @ The Suit of Souls
• The Spectre @ Siegel & Shuster Mythmaking 
• Superman @ Great Krpyton!
• Swamp Thing @ The Blog From The Bog
• Wonder Woman @ New Adventures of Wonder Woman

Thanks to Chad Bokelman for putting this all together!

Secret Origins #32 - Nov. 1988

Comics Weekend "All Together Now" by Keith Giffen, Peter David, and Eric Shanower.

Since the Shrine profiled the classic Justice League of America #200--which featured a recap and quasi-sequel to the also-classic JLA origin story--last Sunday, I thought it'd be fun to spend this last Comics Weekend segment of 2010 to look back at alternate take on the story, this time from Secret Origins #32.

Like JLA #200, this book even opens with a sort of three-page prologue:

The first hero to meet an Apellax alien is the new-to-this-world Martian Manhunter:

After seeing the residents of his adopted town have been turned to stone, Manhunter fights the giant Stone Creature. Using a combination of powers, Manhunter shatters the alien, rendering all the townspeople back to normal.

Having probed the giant's mind, Manhunter learned that other Apellax aliens are landing. He takes off to see if he can stop them before they "hatch."

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away:

Now in liquid form, Aquaman feels helpless, but quickly figures out that a nearby whirlpool might be of assistance.

With great effort--and annoyance--Aquaman commands some of his finny friends to lure the Mercury alien towards the whirlpool, where its great force tears it apart, returning Aquaman to normal:

Simultaneously, the second generation hero Black Canary is on patrol:

She takes on the Glass Creature, and a well-place Sonic Cry reduces him to bits. A local cop tells her of news reports about other aliens--but not before trying to pick her up. Unfortunately for him, Canary is all business.

Soon, Canary makes it to Florida, and find a giant glowing meteor. When she gets close to it, she realizes she's now paralyzed, along with some others...

At the same time, in outer space:

Lantern follows a nearby meteor to Earth, where it gives birth to the Golden Roc (of course its yellow!). With his power ring and some quick thinking, he defeats it, and then heads to Florida. He gets too close before he can be told to stay away, so...

Meanwhile, in England:

He meets and fights the Fire Creature, defeats him, and likewise heads to Florida. But, like the rest, he finds himself at the mercy of the glowing meteor, and begins a strange transformation:

This is the work of the Wood Creature, who commands the quintet to follow him to the final competitor, who is in Antarctica. Besides the obvious crisis, Aquaman is also upset that he and his fellow superheroes will now have to walk from Florida to Antarctica.

On the way, he gets an idea: knocking into Martian Manhunter, it causes him to scrape against Green Lantern, exposing GL's power ring from its wood cover. In turn, Lantern shoots a beam at Black Canary's head, restoring her voice back to normal. Using her Canary Cry, she aims at Flash, shattering his wood shell!

Now free, Flash uses his super-speed vibratory powers to reduce the Wood Creature to splinters, leaving the alien destroyed and his hands cut to ribbons. After some brief intros, they all decide to head to Antarctica to combat the last Apellax alien. Great plan, except:

Superman, concerned with other things, takes off before the other heroes can talk to him. Despite this anti-climactic end, Flash gets an idea in regards to combating menaces like the Apellax aliens: form a team!

Surprisingly, the rest of the group don't initially go for it, but Flash's charm and enthusiasm wins them over. After considering some team names like the Justice Society II and The Avengers (nice), they settle on the Justice League of America:

...the beginning!


Despite my general apathy--if not distaste--for ret-cons in general, I thought this was one great story. Totally removed from the doom-and-gloom aesthetic that would soon take over mainstream superhero comics, this story is as light as air (undoubtedly helped by the unusual choice of Eric Shanower on the art, who does a superb job here) yet still retains the beats of the classic original origin story.

Having Black Canary as an original member of the JLA never really sat well with me (she joined in JLA #75, dammit!), but it made sense at the time. Ultimately I'm glad DC ret-conned the ret-con, but even with that this issue remains a lot of fun, and its great to see Aquaman get so much to do!

Aquaman (Vol.6) #24 - Sept. 1996

"United We Fall" by Peter David, J. Calafiore, and Peter Palmiotti.

On the front lawn of the White House, something's a little amiss:

In a flash of light, the leader of the explorers arrives, a man named Ahk-Orrd. He says that he brings the world a hope for peace. Uh-huh.

Back in the golden city of Arion, Aquaman has his team assembled:

Aquaman does a brief recap of what's happened so far (appreciated, since I'm still a little confused as to all that's gone on). We then see Ahk-Ord tell the same story to the U.S. Government officials, but in substantially more positive terms.

The explorers' ship arrives just outside Arion, and Aquaman's team goes into action. Power Girl and Arion are first, followed by the Guardian and Nuada. But where's Aquaman?

Oh, here:

Aquaman breaches the hull of the ship, demanding the exact plans of the invasion. He is of course refused, but Aquaman makes the head explorer an offer he can't refuse.

Via a spell by Atlan, Aquaman is able to appear and communicate to all of the citizens of Atlantis to explain all that's going on, and warning them of the impending mass attack. The ships do indeed arrive, and each of the cities of Atlantis put up a defense, with the help of Aquaman's hand-picked team.

Meanwhile, in Poseidonis:

Aquaman wonders where the other heroes of Earth are, now that one of the explorers' ships is in Washington D.C. He uses a portal created by Atlan to head there, where he demands an audience with the President:

Normally I would end this with "to be continued" because of course it is, but I'm going to stop here, for now at least.


The Shrine's coverage of the PAD-era of Aquaman has always been a little lacking, and that's undoubtedly due to my general apathy for this version of the Sea King. And while I definitely have a greater appreciation for this material than I did when I started the Shrine, most of it still leaves me cold--the fantasy elements, the level of violence, the whole look and tone of the stories. In particular, these last couple of issues feature so many characters Aquaman feels like a guest star in his own book.

Reading these stories over again was certainly interesting, but they're just not anything I'd reread for pleasure, unlike lots of other Aquaman comics. As I've said before, under Peter David's tenure Aquaman was the most successful (in terms of sales) he's ever been, so obviously he tapped into something that made lots of new people read Aquaman, and that's always a good thing. If/when Aquaman gets a new series, whoever the writer is would be wise to retain some of the elements David brought to the character.

Rest assured, the Shrine, in its desire to cover every sing Aquaman comic book, ever, will come back to this series at some point down the road. But for now, we're putting a period on this sentence and moving on to another point in Aquaman's comic book career...

Aquaman (Vol.6) #23 - Aug. 1996

"Deep Trouble" by Peter David, Marty Egeland, Derec Aucoin, and Howard Shum.

In Washington, Ambassador Shaxak not only meets with the President, but also with Senator Perkins...Senator Neptune Perkins, former superhero!

Meanwhile, Aquaman, Aqualad, and Dolphin have made their way to Tritonis, only to find it...destroyed!:

They help rescue some of the citizens of Tritonis, left crucified by Kordax and his army (which includes Aquaman's son, Koryak). They head for the heart of the city, where they find who they're looking for:

Kordax offers a duel--but one between Aqualad and Koryak. Aquaman and Aqualad agree, and within moments Garth has knocked Koryak out!

Aquaman tries to get his son to break free of Kordax's mental control, but Kordax stops him. Aquaman then emits a telepathic blast so powerful ever single Atlantean on the planet can feel it. Kordax threatens that if he doesn't knock it off, Aquaman's attempt at wresting control with leave them all mindless vegetables.

Aquaman relents, and Kordax offers up one hostage back to the Sea King. They leave, and Kordax says they day of reckoning is coming soon.

After a talk with Garth, Aquaman helps out Dane Dorrance of the Sea Devils, whose ship is currently stuck in the ocean bed:

Also there is Power Girl, whom Aquaman called in to help. They all meet inside a half-destroyed building at the edge of Tritonis, and assembled is a powerful group to fight off Kordax: Atlan, the new guardian of Hy-Brasil, Arion, Aqualad, Tsunami, Nuada, Dolphin, in addition to Power Girl and the Sea Devils.

Arion wonders why Aquaman is in charge, leading Arthur to make a quick, concise case, ending with:

...to be continued!

Aquaman (Vol.6) #22 - July 1996

"Reunions" by Peter David, Martin Egeland, and Howard Shum.

This issue opens with an old man, chained to a wall, being tortured by one of the armed invaders we saw last issue, although now we are in the floating city of Basilia, another lost city of Atlantis.

When the enforcer removes their helmet, and we see inside the armor is a beautiful woman. Nevertheless, she is all too happy to whip the old man again, when she is stopped by:

A brief fight ensues, and the woman is knocked close enough to the old man for him to kick her upside the head, knocking her out. Aquaman then helps free the old man:

Meanwhile, Aqualad and Dolphin watch from another part of the city as more soldiers flood the streets of Basilia. A group of them spot Aquaman and Spought, and open fire!

Their gun's blasts are stopped by a force shield that, at first, Aquaman thinks is the effect of a protective spell he's under. But then he sees that it was the work of no less than Atlan, Aquaman's father! Aquaman responds to this with a quick punch across his father's face.

Over in Tritonis, more trouble:

Back in Basilia, Aquaman, Atlan, and Spought have donned the armor of the invaders, to sneak inside their headquarters. Atlan uses his god-like powers to blast the others inside, giving Aquaman the opportunity to tear into them with a ferocity that would give Wolverine a run for his (Canadian) money.

Spought hits a few buttons on a control panel, and all of a sudden Basilia floats up, up, out of the water, turning upside down, dumping the invaders off it surface like so many dead bugs.

Aqualad uses his powers to save himself and Dolphin, plopping them back onto Basilia. Inside, Aquaman tells Spought to direct the city towards Tritonis, where Atlan has told them about Kordax. On the way there, Aquaman and Atlan have a father and son talk:

Meanwhile, across the other side of the world we find ourselves at the White House, where the President has an audience with a special guest:

...to be continued!

Aquaman (Vol.6) #21 - June 1996

"First Strike!" by Peter David, J. Calafiore, and Peter Palmiotti.

Beauty of a cover by Mike Zeck, eh?

This issue opens in Thierna Na Oge, where two sisters--Bres and Nuada--are locked in a bitter battle for dominance:

Nuada triumphs, but cannot bring herself to kill Bres, so she banishes her to another dimension. She then turns to her subjects, warning they must prepare for a visitor--Aquaman!

Meanwhile, in the Himalayas, Aqualad, Dolphin, and an unconscious Aquaman blast their way out of the mountain. Dolphin wants to go back to Posedonis, but Aqualad suggests Thierna Na Oge.

Once they arrive there, Aquaman finally awakens:

While he talks with Nuada, Aqualad tells Dolphin about Thierna Na Oge and how it is the stronghold of Atlantean sorcery. Dolphin seems impressed at this new, confident man she sees before her, and Garth takes advantage of that, by planting a passionate kiss on her lips.

Dolphin reciprocates--briefly--before realizing what's happening. Aqualad takes off, just in time for the ground of Thierna Na Oge to start rumbling. But its not a seaquake--rather the moon-sized, skull-shaped orb that we've seen in previous issues is hovering right outside!

Aquaman hops in his ship and starts blasting away at it, combined with the mystical powers of the magicians of Thierna Na Oge. A phalanx of armed soldiers burst from it, and brutal, hand-to-hand combat ensues.

One of the soldiers is about to get the drop on Aquaman, but Dolphin is there to blast him in the nick of time. Aquaman is, of course, appreciative:

...to be continued!