Aqua-Mail!

Hey Aqua-Fans! Just to let you know, The Aquaman Shrine now has a dedicated email address from which we will be sending out occasional press releases and other info (like we're doing for this Sunday's 70th Birthday Celebration), so if would like to receive such messages from the Shrine, send an email to: aquamanshrine@comcast.net and we'll add you to the mailing list!

All other Shrine-related correspondence (F.O.A.M. submissions, comments, complaints, racy cosplay pictures) can remain addressed to me at my regular email handle. Thanks!

Aqua-Mail

It's time for another installment of AquaMail!

• First, this strip was pointed out to me by F.O.A.M. member Joe Mello:

I had never heard of the Medium Large strip--check it out, its pretty funny!

• Joe also sent me this link, to an article on the site Topless Robot, listing the Top 10 Worst Comic Book Vacation Destinations. As you can guess, Atlantis made the list!

• F.O.A.M.er King Megatrip sent another mention of the possible return of Aquaman from a Newsarama interview with Dan Didio:

13) Aquaman is showing up in Blackest Night--that much is known. Readers have been looking for the return of Aquaman for some time now, but yet, he seems to have trouble gaining a foothold lately when he does return...

DD: See--I'd argue that. Aquaman has trouble staying away--whenever he's not on the stage, we get tons of questions about when he's coming back (laughs).

NRAMA: But he is coming back in Blackest Night?

DD: Yes.

NRAMA: For better or for worse, as the general tone of Blackest Night seems to be hinting?

DD: One of the things that I find fun is a general misconception of what Blackest Night is. I think once #0 and #1 hit, people will understand much clearer the direction and the plans for some of the characters that are returning.

...I have no idea what any of that means, so I guess I'll just have to wait until Blackest Night to find out.

• The above panel is by by artist Shane Davis, who is mentioned in this interesting Newsarama piece about his possibly working on Aquaman:

Now that Davis has finished the Justice League issue, he said he's working on his next unannounced project. Rumors have been swirling that he'll be doing an Aquaman comic next, ever since artist Ethan Van Sciver told Newsarama last year, "You know who wants Aquaman? Shane Davis...And he drew Aquaman for Superman/Batman and it was awesome. And he deserves it."

"I want to draw Aquaman. I do," Davis admitted when we asked him about the rumor. "And I know Johns wants to write Aquaman. But you know why Ethan said that? We were at a dinner at a convention, and Ethan was sitting by me and he said, 'Oh, you want to draw Aquaman?' And I said, 'Well, yeah. I do.' And Ethan said, 'Shane, it's all yours.' Because Ethan really wants to do Plastic Man. And Dan DiDio was sitting right there and so was Johns. It was kind of weird how that all happened.

"If Ethan ends up drawing Aquaman, I'm not going to scream, 'That's my thing to do!''" Davis said with a laugh. "But a little part of Shane Davis would die inside me if I wasn't the one to draw Aquaman."

This link was sent to me by several F.O.A.M.ers, including Brian Knippenberg and George Rears. Thanks fellas!

• F.O.A.M.er Brandan E poured through page after page of a message board, finding these interesting exchanges between commenters and Ethan Van Sciver talking Aquaman:

So, Ethan...just how far away is Aquaman: Rebirth or are we closer to seeing Plastic Man: Year One?

I'll have a better idea about that once Flash: Rebirth is finished, and I'll be working on that all summer.

What is your Opinion on Aquaman?

Aquaman is one of DC's icons that seems to be so easy to goof up. Creative teams have either made him silly or boring in the past, and I just haven't enjoyed reading an Aquaman book in a long time. Sub Diego was a cool story. Geoff has ideas for him, I have ideas for him...would they work and be well received? Making Aquaman relevant now is a big challenge. But I really like the character, and wouldn't mind taking a crack at it.

• Finally, F.O.A.M.er Benton Grey sent me a link to this site:

FRPMods is a site for the mod community of a PC game. And the site actually interviewed Benton on the hows and whys of his love for Aquaman, which is way cool! (I'd love to be the subject of such an interview...I guess that's why I have the Shrine)

Benton makes some really good points about the Sea King, and the interview is interesting and in-depth. You should definitely go check it out!

Thanks to Joe, Brian, Brandan, King Megatrip, George, and Benton for helping keeping the Shrine up to date with all the Aqua-News out there on the world wide web!

Aqua-Mail

Aquaman's name has been bandied around on teh internets a lot lately--right after doing a long AquaMail segment, two F.O.A.M. members sent me some choice mentions of the Sea King they found, so here we are again!

• First, from Brandan E., this quote from an interview DC head honcho Dan Didio did (whoa! Say that three times fast) at the recently held MegaCon:

Question: At the end of Final Crisis, there is a panel with Arthur Curry, but we've also heard that Arthur Curry will be in Blackest Night. Are they the same Arthur Curry, and if so, how?

Dan Didio: They are not the same ones. One thing that Grant Morrison wanted to do was, with a big event story featuring the entire universe, some characters would be conspicuous by their absence. So the Arthur Curry used in Final Crisis is simply an alternate universe Arthur Curry who came over to help out. But the bigger story to tell is in Blackest Night. The panel in Final Crisis was simply an Easter Egg put in for the fans, but the bigger story is yet to come.

...ehh, that doesn't fill me with delight. I was really hoping Grant Morrison was simply using Final Crisis to bring Classic Aquaman back, and all someone had to do was take the ball and run with it. But...we'll see.


• F.O.A.M. member Brian Knippenberg is a veritable fountain of links--I don't know how he keeps up with all this stuff--and he recently sent me this Aqua-related bit of info concerning Brian Azzarello (from CBR):

A fan asked Brian about any future mainstream work for DC Comics, and the writer responded that Joker is his latest work, but he has stories in mind for characters such as Aquaman and Batman.

He doesn't want to commit to a long term run on any title, but he does have some stories to tell. The writer mentioned he prefers staying outside of continuity, as he wants to work with the iconic versions of the characters and not be bogged down by continuity details.

He gave the example that he has an Aquaman story in mind, but he doesn't want to deal with the water hand or hook hand or whatever the character may have going on. He wants to write comics the general public wants to read, and not just the comic reading public, and things like a water hand aren't well known".

...a Brian Azzarello Aquaman story, free of continuity? Sounds good--really good--to me. I hope DC takes him up on that.


• Here's a cool link that I discovered via Laura's Aquaman Website: Aquaman makes an appearance in a strip by James Kolchaka!


• And finally, check out F.O.A.M. member Caffeinated Joe's collection of custom-made Aquaman "A" icons. Way cool!





Thanks to Laura, Joe, Brandan E., and Brian for helping keeping the Shrine up to date with all the Aqua-News out there on the world wide web!

Aqua-Mail

It's time for another installment of Aqua-Mail!

It's been a really long time since we last took a dip in the Aquaman Shrine Mailbag, so I thought after the 1-2-3 punch of interviews with Mike Grell, Dan Jurgens, and Steve Epting, we'd spend today checking out some various bits o'Aquaman stuff around the web.

These shots were sent to me by F.O.A.M. member Doug Zawisza:

These are the spiffy new Aquaman and Mera busts, available from DC Direct in October 2009.

At $70 and $55, respectively, their certainly worth the price (that Mera one--hubba hubba!), but even at those reasonable price tags, these might be two items I have to wait for a while to order. Thanks Doug!

Next is an article on MSNBC, of all places, titled "9 Comic Book Characters to Watch in 2009." Aquaman isn't on the list, but they do throw in him at end:

What the above means, I have no idea, but each new year we always have our fingers crossed that Aquaman will receive a new solo feature!

This link was sent to me by new F.O.A.M. member Sal in Brooklyn. Thanks Sal!

In a conversation with DC head honcho Dan Didio by Newsarama, Didio goes over the various comments made to him at the 2009 NY Con, including this:

"And of course, someone wanted to see an Aquaman reboot. As DiDio said, 'There's one in every crowd.'"

...hmm. If only DC could figure out what that might mean, in terms of bringing Aquaman back. Why oh why must us comics fans talk in riddles?!?

That link was sent to me by the new F.O.A.M. member only known as "King Megatrip." Thanks King! Or is it thanks Megatrip?

Megatrip also sent me the above article, which appeared on the Topless Robot site, about the perceived slight the author thought was being delivered to Aquaman, since from the above photo he assumed Aquaman was not part of the new Brave and the Bold toy line.

He was quickly corrected by commenters, but his passion and sense of righteous anger over Aquaman getting dissed is always appreciated around these parts. F-words and everything!

...this really interesting article (click the image to read all of it) is all about the Creative Director of the upcoming DC Universe Online RPG game, a man named Jens Andersen, who is a big Aquaman fan. Huge. (Wait until you read about "Aquaman Wednesdays")

This article was sent to me F.O.A.M.er Richard Duncan. Thanks Richard!

This shot of Black Manta making time with the comely Lady Action at the NY Con (go Manta!) was sent to me by Ed Catto, one of the guys behind the revival of Captain Action, who of course has history with the Sea King.

I somehow managed to miss seeing the giant dome-headed Manta at the con (who am I, Matt Murdock?), so I appreciate Ed sending this photo along. Thanks Ed!

F.O.A.M. member Glenn Walker sent me a link to this podcast (scroll down to episode #103) where the hosts spend the good portion of an hour(!) talking about Aquaman.

I don't agree with everything they say, but their passion for the character is obvious, and of course Aquaman needs all the attention he can get. Thanks Glenn!

In a recent interview with Grant Morrison over at IGN, he had this to say about the "new" Aquaman he dropped into Final Crisis:

"IGN Comics: So how about this new Aquaman? Did he fall down to Earth along with Darkseid in the same way the Nazi Supergirl did?

Morrison: Yeah, that's pretty much the way I thought about it. Because everyone kept hounding us at conventions to bring Aquaman back, I just thought, 'Oh, f--k it. Here he is--take him back.' [laughs] And there's this prophecy that one day Aquaman will come back to save everyone, so I thought, 'You know, there's a series right there: an Aquaman who may be from another universe arrives to save the day on a monster sea-horse with death ray eyes...' It's all there in that panel. I saw him as a kind of High Plains Drifter Aquaman to start with.

IGN Comics: Dan DiDio is always talking about how everyone pitches him ideas for revamping Aquaman. Is that something you'd be interested in?

Morrison: Yeah, I love Aquaman, and I definitely have a ton of ideas for him. I just don't know if I'll get to it. So don't hold your breath. Probably, Geoff will get there first. [laughs]"

C'mon DC--get to it!

This bit o'info was sent me by new F.O.A.M. member Brandan E--thanks Brandan!

F.O.A.M. member Brian Knippenberg sent me this link, to a bunch of screenshots from the upcoming Brave and the Bold two-parter, airing 3/6 and 3/13.

I had seen the preview for the two-parter at the end of last week's show, but had no idea that Aquaman was part of it. But as you can see from the still above, he'll be there, along with Black Manta! Yowza!

Thanks for the tip Brian!

And finally, this shot was sent to me a while back, right after the last AquaMail segment I think:

...wow, that kid looks frighteningly like me, around age eight.

It was sent to me by my pal and longtime F.O.A.M.er Charles Howell, and, never having seen an episode of The Venture Bros., its something I would've missed if not for his eagle-eyes. Thanks Charles!

This concludes our latest rummaging through the Aqua-Mailbag, and, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of you AquaFans, it won't be the last. Thanks everybody, and Sal, Ed, Brandan, and King Megatrip, welcome to F.O.A.M.!


"Keep sending the links!"

Aqua-Mail

It's time for another installment of Aqua-Mail!

Like I mentioned the first time I did an Aqua-Mail segment, I get sent lots of stuff related to the Sea King.

Some of it is merchandise, but a lot of it is weird little mentions of Aquaman in the culture, which to me only serves to underscore the point of this blog, that Aquaman is quite literally everywhere.

So let's start with three submissions from F.O.A.M. member Tommy, who runs the uber-cool Bat-Blog site. First are two gag cartoons from the online strip Savage Chickens:

...I don't see Christopher Walken as Aquaman, myself. Maybe if they make a Shade: The Changing Man movie...

Tommy also found this item for sale:

...while I appreciate the, er, enthusiasm for the character that any woman wearing this shirt would have to have, I don't think this is an Officially Licensed Product.

And then there's this, from a link Tommy sent me:

...this AquaSimpson is from the blog Springfield Punx, which features all kinds of characters if they lived in Springfield drawn, by artist Dean Fraser. Absolutely spot-on, I can only hope Matt Groening checks out Dean's site.

Next is another comic strip appearance for Aquaman, this one sent to me by F.O.A.M.er John Lijewski III from the comic strip known as Evil, Inc.:

...I like the little tow-headed tyke in the last panel.

Aquaman makes yet another online comic strip appearance, this one sent to me by F.O.A.M. member Shag Matthews:

When I see this strip, it makes me think of Aquaman's appearance in that DC Challenge mini-series from the 80s. Am I weird?

F.O.A.M. member Russell Burbage sends me all kinds of fun stuff, and not just for the Aquaman Shrine; he is extraordinarily generous and a lot of the time, he doesn't even tell me something's on its way! I'll open my mailbox and I'll see a package usually decorated with something like this:

...it brightens my day, every time. And no matter what heroes Russell's chooses to decorate his packages, Aquaman is always included.

F.O.A.M. member Brian Heiler (of the awesome blog Plaid Stallions) sent me this item a while ago, it's a little game he plays with his son to help teach him writing and spelling:

...I love Aquaman's quizzical look. Man, I wish my Dad had done stuff like this when I was a kid.

A few months ago, I found this curious headline over at the political blog Talking Points Memo:

It's a satirical piece (as if you couldn't tell that already) wherein the author throws in "Aqua-Man" among a list of pop culture references.

Turns out he's confusing Aquaman with Sub-Mariner ("Rasmussen Reports, which polled on a yet wider range of subjects has determined that Marvel Comics superhero Aqua-Man") but luckily someone in the comments section sets him straight.

This striking photo was something I found over at the blog Occasional Superheroine:

...there are more pictures like this, so instead of me explaining it, just head over there (direct link to the post above) and read all about it. It's pretty cool.

Finally, I thought I'd mention that Aquaman scribe and Friend of the Shrine Paul Kupperberg now has his own blog, called And Then I Wrote..., featuring some writings and random thoughts by Paul.

Paul's been a great friend to me personally, and to the Shrine, and I'm glad to see he's joined us all here on the web. So go check it out!





This concludes our latest rummaging through the Aqua-Mailbag, and, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of you AquaFans, it won't be the last. Thanks everybody!

Aqua-Mail

Welcome to our first installment of Aqua-Mail!

You see, at this point, I get emailed so much material from you swell Aqua-Fans out there that the Shrine is now the closest thing to an Internet Perpetual Motion Machine.

That is something I deeply, deeply appreciate, and I want to make sure any time someone takes the time to send me something--either in the mail, via email, or even just a cool link--that it gets the attention it deserves.

So I decided to round up a couple of items sent to me that, for one reason or another, I don't want to devote a single day's post to. So we'll be doing the Aqua-Mail segment every time enough stuff comes in to make it worth it.

(The header is from the Sea King's solo book in the mid-70s, I figure he's not using it right now)

So let's start off with this sketch by Tiny Titans artist Franco Aureliani:

This was done at last month's New York Comic Con for Aqua-Fan Joe Hennes, who graciously scanned it and sent it to me--I love Arthur's frowny face. Thanks Joe!

Next, another item from the NY Con, this time a photo of a really industrious Black Manta fan, flanked by two comely lasses who like bad guys, apparently:

...how I missed this guy while I was there I have no idea, but luckily my pal Glenn Walker was quick enough to get a snapshot. Thanks Glenn!

Next is a link to something a few people sent me, but Adam "Dispatches from the Arrowcave" Thibault was first out of the gate, so he gets the nod.

It's a piece for McSweeney's by Glen Weldon called...well, it involves Aquaman and some very harsh, NSFW language, and let's leave it at that. Just click here to read it. Thanks Adam!

Next is a Scandinavian Superman comic, which came amid a pile of fun stuff from F.O.A.M. member extraordinaire Russell Burbage.

The comic is black and white on the inside, and features an assortment of features--two Superman stories, (one by Cary Bates, Curt Swan, and Frank Chiaramonte, the other by Bates, Swan, and Murphy Anderson), two pages about a Superman fan club called SuperKlubben, even a Hembeck strip(!).

There's also a classic Teen Titans story by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy, reprinted from Teen Titans #14.

It's here we get to see that, in, er, whatever language this is, Aqualad translates simply into "Aquaboy":

...I love seeing this stuff in other languages and other formats. Thanks Russell!

Finally, from already-enrolled F.O.A.M. member John Lijewski III came a link to an online video from a group called iFanboy, entitled "What's Wrong With Aquaman?":

Even with my diligent attention, there's a lot more Aquaman stuff out there then I could ever catch on my own. Luckily I have all you guys out there helping me out!

This concludes our first rummaging through the Aqua-Mailbag, but it won't be the last. So thanks guys, and Joe, Glenn, and Adam--welcome to F.O.A.M!