Blackest Night spoiler (2nd wave of figures)

[The Toyroom]

Put Aquaman in his classic duds, with both hands, put Johns on writing, Van Sciver on art, and it will sell. I'll buy it.

Me too! Aquaman has a lot of cool stuff that's been pretty much ignored for quite a while....Mera, Aqualad (or Tempest, whatever floats yer boat), Vulko, Black Manta, Ocean Master, The Shark, Fisherman, Marine Maurader, Aquababy (?!), giant sea horses....throw all that into a Rebirth-style story and we're good to go.

[The Toyroom]

If it works out that way, then it will be worth it. I was expecting much more out of Infinite Crisis though, and got really disappointed. The promise of the return of the real DC multiverse was there, and it was a wasted opportunity to not bring it back. The new one is more convoluted and confusing than it's predecessor by a long shot.

It's the only time Johns really disappointed me.

Problem right from the get-go was they had an "Earth-2" LIKE the original pre-Crisis Earth-2 but not quite. Same thing for Earths 4 (Charlton), Earth X (Quality, now known as Earth-10*), Earth S (Shazam, now known as Earth-5 I think), etc. It's like they want to have those Earths but didn't want to mess up where those characters existed now as part of the new Earth-1 (or New Earth or whatever it's called today). Kinda like having their cake and eating it too....

Plus, they insisted on there only being 52 universes...geez, I thought a "multi-verse" was unlimited. And most of those were made up of Elseworlds earths. Again...geez, I thought Elseworlds were one-shots stories or minis where you're in and then you're out of the story...no long term possibilities there. And all of this was laid at the feet of King Morrison for whenever he's ready to "explore" the multi-verse. Please, don't even bother....my head hurts enough after Final Crisis and Batman R.I.P. If I want to explore the DC multi-verse, I'll reread old issues of JLA or the original easy-to-follow Crisis on Infinite Earths.


* side-note, why does "X" not mean "X" anymore but they have to make it "10". Same thing happened to "Weapon X"....

[johnnystorm]

Me too! Aquaman has a lot of cool stuff that's been pretty much ignored for quite a while....Mera, Aqualad (or Tempest, whatever floats yer boat), Vulko, Black Manta, Ocean Master, The Shark, Fisherman, Marine Maurader, Aquababy (?!), giant sea horses....throw all that into a Rebirth-style story and we're good to go.

Yeah, I'd buy a classic Aquaman book, with classic costume, two hands, and none of that magic crap. Aquaman has all the trappings of a really great adventure story ala' the Knights of the Roundtable or even a good old TV Western, plus the added advantages of sci-fi tech and a familiar but alien setting undersea. The problem is they get too bogged down in court intrigue and the inevitable land vs. sea war (same happens in Sub-Mariner at Marvel). Get him out of Atlantis and exploring the entire undersea world, al the varios cities etc (that was the only part I liked out of that aborted One Year Later version). Give Aquaman some decent villains, a plot that doesn't involve Ocean Master taking over Atlantis, a few guest-stars now & then (not Batman- Atom, Superman, Green Lantern).
Increase his power level- remember on TV when he could throw those hard water baseballs- something more than the talking to fish. And make him and Mera a solid, loving married couple, let her be his partner/sidekick instead of Aqualad. Make them sort of the Lone Ranger & Tonto of the ocean floor.

[GreenLantern9999]

Holy crap! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!

[madmarva]

Some characters are just meant to be back-up characters and I'm afraid Aquaman is one of them.

Hawkman, Adam Strange and Atom fall into the same category for me.

I'd settle for a good 4-issue mini series every year or every other year featuring each of them or an anthology featuring them on a monthly basis.

[BlackKnight]

I'd buy an Aquaman Book if Johnns' Wrote it... Perhaps not if Morrision Wrote it... & thats the only kinda Tittle DC May give him soon,.. After Batman, Crisis & the Down Word Spiral of JLA .

[StrangeVisitor]

What does anyone know about the Black Lanterns? They are under Black Hand's control, right? Are their motivations anything like the Dark Judges in Judge Dredd? "The crime is LIFE"

[ctc]

>I'm not so sure about the Black Lanterns. It looks like DC' version of Marvel vs. Zombies.

I was kinda thinking that.... maybe not a direct ripoff; but Marvel and DC have a habit of "inspiring" each other that goes WAY back....

>as for why the zombie comic thing has hung on for a few years now I don't get.

Zombies aren't new; but having a bunch of superheroes turned into them was. And I think it's the first really novel thing that's been done in a superhero comic for a long time. So it made an impression. Doesn't mean it's a great idea for a story, or even a BAD one.... it's just something a little different. I'm just surprised it's taken DC so long to come up with a permutation on it, especially considering how prevalent magic and the supernatural are in the DC universe.

'Courtse, it's not to everyone's tastes. (Er.... no pun intended....) Yeah the books are gruesome, gory and disturbing; but really, zombies are SUPPOSED to be. If it wasn't repugnant I'd hafta say they weren't being true to the material.

>It's like they want to have those Earths but didn't want to mess up where those characters existed now as part of the new Earth-1

THAT sort of thing bothers me, 'cos it's like they WANT to do something, but don't have the stones to ACTUALLY do it. "Well, he's KINDA dead.... and there MIGHT be an alternate world like that.... and that COULD be how his powers work...."

Hence the endless parade of non-events; each negating the unpopular bits of the one before.

Don C.

[megocanada]

I agree with Earth 2 Chris:

"Great! My childhood heroes aren't only dead, now they're rotting guys with a fetish for black spandex.

I like Johns normally, but this doesn't entice me in the least.

Poor Earth 2 Supes...the original Super Hero deserves better.

Chris"

Earth 2 Superman deserves more. He is the really the hero that started it all. I love having my Earth 2 Superman figure from the Crisis of Infinite Earths but I don't like the idea of him as a Black Lantern. I love that there making another figure of him and he's in the comics again but I want him to be the hero he inspired everyone else to be. Just my thoughts.

Derek

[johnnystorm]

Some characters are just meant to be back-up characters and I'm afraid Aquaman is one of them.

Hawkman, Adam Strange and Atom fall into the same category for me.

I'd settle for a good 4-issue mini series every year or every other year featuring each of them or an anthology featuring them on a monthly basis.

I disagree..all of those characters headlined long-running series at one time. Adam Strange in particular was very successful, and the stories are considered classics of the genre. Ditto the Kubert Hawkman run.

The problem with all of these characters now lies in later "updating" (I calls it meddling) of the concept. It wasn't enough for Adam to be a interstellar sci-fi hero, battling menaces to the planet Rann. Alan Moore had to remake Rann as a barren, sterile world that tolerated the (to them) primitive Earthman because they needed his dna to reproduce. Hawkman couldn't just be an interplanetary policeman with a combination of sci-fi gadgets and vintage Earth weaponry (not to mention the sexy wife/sidekick and one of the most visually stunning costumes ever created)- no he too had to be from a downward spiraling war planet(if they could even decide that that was his origin-remember the American Indian one of the early 90s?). Atom couldn't be just a brilliant scientist with a gimmick power, exploring the micro-realm, fighting evil and living his happily married life. No he had to suffer through adultery, divorce, a turn as Conan, death of his new love, de-aging to teen age years, re-aging, retiring, having his ex-wife go mad and murder another heroes wife...not to mention the pointless Countdown trip through the Multiverse and the second death of his friends and family, oh and plus being replaced by a Chinese guy and being blamed for all the weird stuff in Ivytown.
Same with Aquaman- who, I would like to point out is one of only 5 heroes to be published from the Golden Age (the others being Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, & Green Arrow). Again, not enough as he was, they had to kill his child, drive his wife insane, cripple him, give him a magic water hand(?), destroy his home (repeatedly), then turn him into a bad imitation of Davy Jones from Pirates of the Carribean. Then kill him.

No, sorry, these are not bad characters. They've just been subjected to bad decisions from a string of bad writers and editors with little faith or knowledge of the original concept and why it worked.

[The Toyroom]

No, sorry, these are not bad characters. They've just been subjected to bad decisions from a string of bad writers and editors with little faith or knowledge of the original concept and why it worked.

It's like I always say....there are no "bad" characters....just bad writers/editors. And lately DC constantly is "refixing" and "rebooting" these properties so frequently that they don't remember what they did just yesterday.

The mishandling alone of Hawkman since Geoff Johns went and fixed everything is a great example. After Johns did a phenomenal job making Hawkman cool he eventually left the book and then we had a semi-decent team of writers with Gray and Palmiotti but then the book was handed to Simonson and Chaykin during the One Year Later/Hawkgirl rebranding fiasco and now we have to resort to Jim Starlin (overated and past his prime IMO) to "fix" Hawkman and undo everything that Johns put into place. All in the span of afew short years.....

[BlackKnight]

I still don't know How or Why Aquaman Died... or in what Book either.

As for the Blackest Night Figures,.. I just preOrdered the 1st Wave... More for me.

ReBirth,.. & The Sinestro Corps War are 2 of the Best stories I have ever read in recent Yrs... I have no Doubt Johns will not Disapoint be with Blackest Night... So far I Like what I am reading.

[The Toyroom]

I still don't know How or Why Aquaman Died... or in what Book either.

I think he was turned into the Dweller of the Deep around the time of "52" ....he later died in an issue of "Aquaman:Sword of Atlantis", which had been taken over by Artie Joe, the cheap knock-off.

[BlackKnight]

Artie Joe, the cheap knock-off.

My Grand Dad always told me,.. Never Trust a Man with 2 1st Names.

Maybe thats why I have Issues with Barry Allen.

[johnnystorm]

They ALL have two first names: Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Diana Prince(ok, so the second one is a pet's name). Aquaman was Arthur Curry- one first name, one Indian entree.