JLA Plate by Glenn Orbik

During the heyday of the Warner Bros. mall stores, there was tons of merch produced with Aquaman on it, some of which I'm still discovering to this day. Case in point, this collector's plate of the then-JLA by legendary painter Glen Orbik (who unexpected passed away earlier this month). A really nice piece, but how is Batman doing what he's doing, exactly?


(h/t: Wonder Woman Collectors)

Justice League Plate by John Bolton

F.O.A.M.er Ilke Hincer is superb at finding Aquaman-related items on eBay and sending links along. Often as not, it's something I've never even seen before, and I like to think I'm an expert on this stuff!

This plate is one of those pieces, a collector's piece featuring the 1990s JLA drawn/painted by John Bolton, the only time I can think of this superb artist has ever handled the characters. Has anyone ever collected plates? They seem like a really fragile thing to get into, as well as hard to store, hard to display, and kinda pricey.

Thanks Ilke!

JLA Plastic Plate

This plastic plate was sent in by new F.O.A.M. member Kent Clark. Kent explains the nefarious way he ended up with it: "My nephew was given this plate back around 2000 and subsequently fell in love with Sonic the Hedgehog while losing interest in superheroes, which allowed me to snag it." Nice! Your nephew's loss is our gain, Kent!

I remember seeing this plate on sale at the late, great Warner Bros. Studio Stores. It's drawn by the similarly late, great Eduardo Barreto, who handled a lot of the merchandising art at the time. He does a good job of crowding a lot of characters into a tiny space!


Thanks Kent, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!

 

DC Super Friends Plate Set

I found this neat little item on eBay, yet another example of the DC Super Friends merchandising juggernaut I had never seen before.

I'm a little perturbed that Aquaman is nowhere on the package (come on, you could've fit him in there somewhere without having to do any further die-cuts), but at least he does show up on the two plates, which you can see. Since they seem to fit everybody on the plates, I think its safe to assume he's on the little plastic glass, too.

Although with Aquaman, you never know...

JLA Plastic Plate

Seal down to a hearty meal with your pals, the Justice League of America!

This was sent to me by our newest F.O.A.M. member Josh Hill, who picked this up the late, very-lamented Warner Bros. Studio Store. It features art by Eduardo Barreto, an underrated comics artist in my opinion--I'm glad to see he got so much licensing work, because I always thought he had a clean, direct, no frills style that was a real pleasure to look at.

I'd never seen this item before, proving that, even after three years of daily posts, there's still lots of Aquaman stuff out there still to discover.

Thanks Josh, and welcome to F.O.A.M.!

Super Friends Paper Plates - 1977

If you find yourself with more Twinkies than you can carry on your own (thanks to yesterday's swell sales pitch), then you can use these spiffy Super Friends paper plates to handle the job.

I simply never get tired of looking at this piece of Alex Toth art. I hear those opening "Bom-bom-bombom" Super Friends opening theme notes every time I look at it.

Curious, this sealed pack of plates comes in a quantity of eight--not five, not ten--but eight. Apparently the Super Friends weren't above participating in that weird 6 pack of Hot Dog buns/8 pack of Hot Dogs conspiracy foisted on us by Big Business.


And as you can see, my family got a lot of use out of these plates in the 70s:

DC Super Friends Cup - 2008

This cup was my end of a swell trade I did with founding F.O.A.M. member Chris Franklin. I sent Chris a few of the Super Jrs. paper plates I had, and he sent me this sturdy drinking cup, featuring the stars of the new DC Super Friends toy line.

All the heroes are represented (Flash and Green Lantern are not pictured, but they're there), but with like most of the DC Super Friends merch I've seen, Batman takes the lead.

I'm glad to see Aquaman is included on all this toddler-centric stuff. It's the best way to ensure there's a new generation of F.O.A.M. members...

Thanks Chris!

JLA Plate - 1985

This is an exciting "collector's plate" featuring a few members of the Justice League of America, drawn by the incomparable Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.

Aquaman looks quite majestic on his seahorse, Batman looks suitably dour, and I have to say, Red Tornado is a surprising inclusion.

I have another plate like this (that just features Aquaman) and I'm always afraid I'm going to end up breaking them into a thousand pieces.

I'm just saying, I think I would find collecting commemorative plates a very stressful hobby.

JLA WB Store Plate - 2000

This was originally a WB Store Collector's Plate, illustrated of course by Alex Ross. It's just beautiful.

That being said, I never bought the thing because it was pretty pricey at the time, and I find storing plates nearly impossible. It was later reprinted in an Alex Ross DC superhero postcard book, and that's where I got this image from.

Yeah, technically Superman should be at the top, but of course I wanted Aquaman front and center!
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Today's The Day! Yes, according to the 1976 DC Comics Calendar, today is Aquaman's birthday!

I hope Arthur, currently scattered amongst the world's oceans, is kicking back, taking a break, to prepare himself for a(fingers crossed) big return in 2008.

Happy Birthday Aquaman!

Pepsi Placemat - 1978

I thought why not follow up one placemat with another?

This was, I believe, part of a whole line of DC Comics placemats given out at Pizza Hut that feature a pin-up on the back (front?) and an origin story on the front (back?).

The pin-up is by Dick Giorando (too lazy to scan it in, so just trust me), and this origin sequence looks to be by Kurt Schaffenberger, who of course had a nice, clean, solid style, perfect for mass merchandising. In particular, there's something about this panel that really grabs me:

...it's so solidly layed out, so wonderfully composed. The colors are also quite nice. Methinks I didn't appreciate the late Mr. Schaffenberger's work enough when he was around.

Super Friends Placemat - 1976

Can you imagine having this beauty staring up at you from under your bowl of Count Chockula (or FrankenBerry, if you will) first thing in the morning? You'd just know it was going to be a good day, having the Super Friends smiling up at you like that.

It's not until I recently starting adding Super Friends stuff to my Aquaman collection that I began to fully understand how much of a merchandising juggernaut the show was in the seventies. I've come across literally hundreds of products either specifically created around the show or some pre-exisiting item retrofitted as to be a piece of SF merchandise.

And of course, all us Aquaman fans everywhere have that show's enormous success to thank for Aquaman's enduring, seemingly-indestructible presence in pop culture, even though that popularity has never been reflected in the arena of his original creation, comic books.

When I won this on ebay, it was for a set of four, so someday I can have a really fun, uber-nerd dinner party...

DC Superheroes Super Healthy Cookbook - 1981

Sometimes you eat the fish, sometimes the fish eats you.

I remembered this book had existed, and just a few days ago I thought to search for it on ebay. I found one for a good price, and the description mentions all the characters featured in it: "Beside Superman, there is Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batman, Robin, Superboy, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Woozy Winks, The Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Aquaman, Zatanna, Joker, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Morgan Edge, Commissioner Gordon, Vegetable Robots" said the seller. Aquaman? Vegetable robots? Buy it Now, indeed!

So I get it, and when it arrives I eagerly open it up looking for the tasty Aquaman-hosted recipes I'll be scanning in for the Shrine. We start with Batman and Robin, then Superboy, then Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Ok, cool.

Then we've got Green Lantern fighting giant pieces of villainous toast, Batman again, the Flash, then the Joker. The Joker? I'm going to take cullinary advice from a mass murderer? Um, ok...

Then there's Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Lois Lane (um, ok--she did have her own comic for years), Superman and Supergirl, Green Lantern again, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White(!), Batman, WW, and Green Arrow again as well. Then we've got Plastic Man spaghetti and meatballs--sure, appropriate.

By the time I got to "Commissioner Gordon's Undercover Vegetables", I started to despair. Then we get Flash, the Atom, and Supergirl. Still no Aquaman. More Green Lantern, Atom, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin, and Superman, and then we get this:










This represents the sum total of Aquaman's apperance in this book--a little walk-by during a JLA birthday party. Is this any way to treat a long-time staple of the DCU, I ask you!

I know that maybe having Aquaman present seafood recipes might come off a little creepy, but if Hawkman and Hawkgirl can have a scrambled-egg recipe (getting hungry yet, Sean?) then I think Aquaman could maybe give us some mahi-mahi or something.

And I know I'm reading way too much into this, but even in the group shot, he's not doing anything. Most everyone else is helping set up food, even the always-grumpy Batman (probably mentally noting what every one of the JLA likes to eat in case they go rogue). Aquaman's just sort of angrily striding by.

I'm not upset I bought this book, since it didn't cost much and it is a very cute item. But if Woozy Winks can appear with a recipe, then I don't think expecting the King of the Seven Seas to do more than a cameo is too much to ask.

Commemorative Plate - 1984

We continue our Formal Aquaman Dinner Party with this commemorative plate, released in 1984 and featuring beautiful Jose Luis-Garcia Lopez art (as if there's any other kind).

While it is a beautiful piece, I never quite understood the appeal of collectible plates--you can't do anything with them, and they're so incredibly fragile (pronunced "fra-geel-lay") that I find handling it to be a stressful experience (I'm not good under pressure, obviously).

Anyway, it's a nice piece, and goes along just swimmingly (ouch) with some Aquaman drinking glasses.