Justice League Beyond 2.0 #12 - Jan. 2014

Comics Weekend "System Override Part 4" by Christos Gage, Iban Coello, and Rob Lean.

Over on the digital front, DC has been publishing Justice League Beyond 2.0, featuring Batman Beyond-era adventures of the Justice League, of which Aquagirl, daughter of Aquaman, is a member.

The ongoing story involves the JL's fight against Brainiac, who is (of course), trying to take over the world. In this issue, #12, the members reach out to help, which includes a certain Sea King:

Aquaman doesn't appear again in the issue, but it's still great to see him (and Mera!) show up and help their daughter kick some android butt. More, please!

(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Jeff Petersen)

Batman Beyond #3 - May 2011

Comics Weekend "The Heart of the Matter" by Adam Beechen, Ryan Benjamin, and John Stanisci.

Whew! Busy Comics Weekend day today!

Anyway, when last we left Batman and the Justice League (in Batman Beyond #2) they were facing off the newly-minted Matter Master.

With his amazing powers more than his addled mind can handle, Matter Master is pretty brutal when facing off against Big Barda, Micron, Warhawk and, inevitably, Aquagirl:

With the help of Bruce Wayne talking in his ear, Batman finds a way to knock Matter Master off his feet long enough to be able to get the JLA to help him. Using all their powers together, they cause Matter Master to overload himself, so much so he ends up transmuting into some sort of metal. He dies there, on the ground, using his last words to insult the heroes who took him down.

Later, after all the potential victims are taken care of, Aquagirl shows she's got some of the old man's moxie by offering Batman membership in the League, over Warhawk's heated objections:

To be continued?

With Batman becoming a member of the League, it leads one to think that they will be somewhat regular characters in this new Batman Beyond book. While what I've read so far is perfectly good, I've never been that big a fan of the BB concept, so I think I'll be passing on this book if Aquagirl isn't in it. But I'll keep my eye out...

Batman Beyond #2 - April 2011

Comics Weekend "The Heart of the Matter" by Adam Beechen, Ryan Benjamin, and John Stanici.

The first issue of the new Batman Beyond series (sent in by F.O.A.M.er Joe Huber) featured a guest appearance by the then-version of the JLA, and that means Aquagirl!

That issue ended with Batman facing off against the JLA, who are both trying to apprehend an employee of the watchtower who has gone mad with power when they got a hold of some super-villain technology. This second issue starts off with Bruce Wayne giving Terry advice on how to deal with the team of heroes: start with the most powerful one, and...

Batman defeats Macron and Big Barda, while taunting Warhawk (who is unable to fly at the moment). Bruce then warns Terry he still has "the toughest one to face"...Aquagirl!

This stops Batman...for the moment. A blast from his boot jets frees him, but before the fight can start all over again he decides a different tactic: surrendering!

Bruce is against this, but Terry is determined to try and get the JLA to follow his lead. But before he can get a word out, Green Lantern--named Kai-Ro--whomps Terry upside the head as payback.

Warhawk decides to be next, but Aquagirl--clearly different than her ancestor--decides to be peacemaker by calming everyone down and listening to Terry. They quickly hatch a plan, and head for the mall, where the power mad young man is running amok.

They find a secret entrance to the mall below ground, and while Warhawk and Barda smash their way in, Terry and Aquagirl do a little flirting:

But as soon as they get inside, they see the young man has graduated from out of control kid to full-fledged supervillain: he now calls himself the new Matter Master! To be continued!


I was never that big a fan of the Batman Beyond concept, and I'm still not, but I really like this Aquagirl character, both in her appearance and demeanor, so I'm going to keep buying this book as long as she's in it!

Batman Beyond #1 - March 2011

Comics Weekend "Rough Justice" by Adam Beechen, Ryan Benjamin, and John Stanici.

This week's Brightest Day might have been Aqua-less this week, but all was not totally lost for us Aqua-fans.

F.O.A.M.er Joe Huber was kind enough to send in scans from this week's Batman Beyond #1, which features a guest appearance by that book's future-era version of the Justice League, which includes Aquagirl!

Here's how Joe describes what goes on this issue: "One of the workers at the Watchtower is dying thanks to his exposure to villain tech housed there. He of course goes a tad insane, breaks into the weapons vault and steals the Matter Master's wand, which bonds to his arm so now he can transmute matter with just a touch."

"He holds a mall captive where Terry's mom and brother are shopping. The JLU comes to take him down, but Batman has other plans":

To be continued!


Hmm...I knew that Aquagirl and the JLA were guest-starring in this book, but I didn't know they were in it right off the, er, bat. I may have to add this to my pull list, that way the Shrine has a greater chance of putting up something new every single weekend!

Joe was also nice enough to send in the awesome variant cover by Darwyn Cooke:

Love it, thanks so much Joe!

AquaSketch by Neil Vokes - 2010

Its that time of year again--just minutes ago I got back from the annual Midnight Madness sale at my LCS All Things Fun, and once again I got a superb, killer sketch by artist Neil Vokes!

This is Neil's fifth Aqua-Family sketch for me, and each year he knocks it out of the park while I'm wandering the store buying stuff ("Ooh, Kyle Baker drawing Deadpool? Cool!"). Having previously done sketches for me of Aquaman, Mera, Black Manta, and Dolphin, I thought this would be a good opportunity to let Aquagirl--the original--be represented in my book.

And it doubly made sense, because Neil draws irresistible women--sexy and cute, alluring but coy, all at the same time. Plus his command of the wash technique to achieve different tones is fantastic, giving these sketches a depth and visual interest that turns them into something much more than a "sketch."

Neil reminded me that there are more members of the Aqua-Family we have yet to get to, so I fully expect to see him at All Things Fun next Christmas, with my sketchbook in hand.

Thanks to Neil for the great piece, and to my pals Ed and Dee of All Things Fun. Merry Christmas!

Mera and Aquagirl by Mike Madrid

These beautiful custom model kits of Mera and Aquagirl are by sculptor and author Mike Madrid, from his website (where he has even more examples of his work).

Madrid's stuff, as you can see, is sleek, cool, and classic--and its great to see two members of the Aqua-Family represented!


(h/t: F.O.A.M.er Ed Catto)

Teen Titans #84 - Aug. 2010

Comics Weekend "It's A Wyld Wyld World" by Felicia D. Anderson, Jose Luis, and Mariah Benes.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned how I missed seeing the "new" Aquagirl in current comics, and Tegan of The Unofficial Aquaman Website told me that Lorena is a member of the Teen Titans and regularly appears in that book.

So I made the effort to pick up the newest issue of the series, #84, which does indeed feature Aquagirl in a major role. Yay!

And since tomorrow is July 4th and the Shrine won't be doing a Comics Weekend recap in observance of the holiday, I thought I'd double up today and do two. So let's get started!

This issue opens with two different aircraft, over two different oceans, dropping members of the Titans into the water below. One group consists of Superboy (can I call him that?), Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Static, and Wonder Girl, and the other Aquagirl and Bombshell(I think). who are on a mission to open a mystical portal deep in the Atlantic so their teammates can rescue their fellow Titan Raven:

The other Titans enter "Wyld's World" and run into all sorts of trouble, including quicksand and killer tumbleweeds(!).

Meanwhile, back under water, Aquagirl and Bomshell have time to relax before having to reopen the portal. They chat about their respective levels of comfort, and Lorena admits for the first time that she's actually more comfortable living down below:

Later, Aquagirl notices something's wrong--the portal seems to be moving! They give chase, and Lorena pins it to the ocean floor with her trident.

Bombshell notices a cute little fish and steps in before its gets eaten by a bigger fish. Big mistake:

Meanwhile, back at Titans Tower, Miss Martian arrives to say that if she doesn't make it to Wyld's World immediately, all her friends might be stuck there forever. To be continued!


Teen Titans comes with a back-up feature, Coven of Three, that I am similarly unfamiliar with. That means the main story was only twenty pages, and half of that was spent away from the Aquagirl sequence. So, not a whole lot of Lorena for my $3.99.

That said, I really enjoyed seeing her again--I really love the character, and while I'd prefer to see her back with Aquaman, I can see why she was taken and used by other writers while her erstwhile mentor was...er, dead and a zombie (in that order).

Not having read the book before, I didn't really know what was going on, and had only a vague knowledge of some of the characters, but of course that's not the book's fault. I can't say I'm going to keep buying Teen Titans just to catch up with Lorena every month, but its nice to know I can find her if I want to!

Aquaman (Vol. 7) #20 - Sept. 2004

Comics Weekend Back when I did my Favorite Aquaman Covers week, I picked this one because it's such an exciting, dynamic image, expertly rendered by Alan Davis. Sadly, it was the last one he would do for the series. At least he went out on a high note.

Last issue ended with Aquaman taking Lorena back to the water to save her life, and dragging mad scientist Geist along with him.

Aquaman takes Geist on a grim tour of the destruction his experiment has wrought. He tells Geist just what if the people here knew Geist was the cause of all their misery...?

Geist though is confused, since all the mass destruction was not part of his equation. He then tells Aquaman that the people who helped him pull the plan off must have double-crossed him, and in fact they are probably watching all of this right now, via an implant they put in Geist a few years ago!

This leads to a really creepy sequence, where Aquaman morphs his water hand into Plastic Man-like form, and digs into Geist's head and pulls the implant out! Eww!

Unfortunately, Geist can't tell Aquaman who the really bad guys are, since it was all done through fronts and middlemen. Geist realizes that, now that he has been discovered, these same guys will have no problem killing Geist to wrap up any loose ends.

Geist heads to the surface, still being watched by this shady organization, and watches him commit suicide by opening up his veins. As if that wasn't gruesome enough, a school of sharks come by and chomp Geist to bits. The bad guys thank Mother Nature for doing their job for them. Or did they?:

...turns out it was all a fake! Aquaman figured they'd be watching, and he wanted them to think Geist was dead. The sharks added the final touch of verisimilitude. I love that line about "fighting 100 million years of evolution."

Aquaman tells Geist this is his chance to atone for what he's done, so he will live down here, with the people, and try and help them put their lives back together.

Lorena is disappointed that Aquaman allowed Geist to live, but Aquaman tells her that was not the right thing to do. And since these people can never leave the ocean, and they are all genetically connected to him, he will take the responsibility of looking out for them.

And we see just that, as the fish in the sea help the humans adjust, as well as Lorena start taking it upon herself to dispense some justice to would-be crooks. And as Aquaman watches from above, he thinks:

...a great final image to wrap up this storyline with, courtesy Patrick Gleason and Christian Alamy.

Rereading this storyline again, all the grim stuff that bothered me so much the first time played a lot better, and the great moments writer Will Pfeifer gave to Aquaman are just that--great. Sure, Arthur is serious and grim, but he's not a jerk, an important distinction not all writers have recognized.

Will Pfeifer would go on to write two more issues of the series, but we'll stop here for now and move on to something else next weekend. I for one would love to see these issues collected in a trade...especially if you included the Alan Davis covers!

DC Super-Stars #7 - Sept. 1976

I've been wanting to get to this book for Comic Friday for a while now, so now's a good a time as any--Aquaman as star of DC Super-Stars, their omnibus title which ran for eighteen issues from 1976 to 1978.

Comics like DCSS were sort of a lost art for a long time, though occasionally you'll see DC do one again and Marvel seems to going back to them more regularly--both companies realizing the mountain of material they have lying around, a lot of which current comics fans have never seen.

After an exciting cover and splash page by Jim Aparo, the first story reprinted is "Between Two Dooms!" by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy, from Aquaman #35. This story is the first appearance of Black Manta, which we talked about here.

Next is a fun two-page feature called "Diabolical Demons of the Depths", featuring little profiles of Aquaman's most feasome foes:
(click here to supersize)

...I think this spread helps underscore the difficulties Aquaman has had as a solo star--his relatively weak Rogues Gallery. Sure, Orm and Manta are classic bad guys, but past those two it starts getting a little thin(though if Tad Williams can bring back the Human Flying Fish and make him work, for Neptune's sake, then there's always hope).

The second story is "Some Call It Noise!", an Aqualad/Aquagirl solo story by Steve Skeates and Cardy, from Teen Titans #30. Get to see Garth and Tula go to a rock concert! (Thank god it wasn't one of Bruce Springsteen's three-hour plus shows, otherwise they'd have died in the attempt. And don't tell me they could've just bought bottles of water. A 6oz. bottle of AquaFina at a concert costs about seven bucks, and those two wouldn't have enough money to keep themselves alive. Hmm, I think I've gotten slightly off point...)

Anyway, it's a fun story, and Aqualad gets to save the day, and Cardy's rendition of Tula is about as adorable as Betty or Veronica:
(...man, did Nick Cardy know how to stage a scene. Even this little throwaway establishing shot is a masterpiece of depth and layout.)

To finish off the issue, there's a one-page "AquaMail" page, giving some background info on the Sea King, like where he first appeared, his powers, and such.

A fine primer for the character featuring two fun stories, all the members of the AquaFamily, and fine work by mssrs. Haney, Skeates, Cardy, and Aparo.

Aqualad/Aquagirl Who's Who Entry - 1985

Jeez, in the very first issue of Who's Who, DC was already breaking the rules of the alphabet--AquaGirl should come before AquaLad, fellas!

Anyway, I thought it was a nice, cute touch to make this one piece, and of course you can't go wrong with George Perez when you need a lot of information in a small amount of space.

Unfortunately, DC had subjected this first issue to the grand experiment that was the Flexographic printing process(sold to DC by Halliburton, no doubt), and as you can see that worked out just great here--both Garth and Tula look like they're suffering from the heartbreak of Psoriasis.

Luckily, the Aquaman entry escaped such a fate, and by issue #3 DC had abandoned the process, noting at the time Who's Who was deemed "too important" to be used as an experiment. And how!