my life, my own way , my crazy world

Aquaman 2-12 (1992)

The second and final year of this on-going Aquaman series had a largely consistent creative team, Shaun McLaughlin, Ken Hooper and Bob Dvorak (with artist Vince Giarrano stepping in for one two-parter and Chris Schenck for the finale). And the stories were consistently sound.

As a whole though, the series is vanilla. Middle ground. Averagely average. Pick your cliche. The stories lacked the dynamic narrative and visual flair that great super-hero comics have. But McLaughlin told a variety of story types and generally avoided the excesses of bad Aquaman stories that had defined the character for nearly 15 years by this point.

The large, and never resolved, plot arc of the series was the war between the surface country of Oumland and Atlantis. Aquaman had the role of peacekeeper while characters in both countries tried to manipulate events to their advantage.

Although there are scenes of emotional impact, there just isn’t enough of the intangible “oomph” in the drama to raise the series to a level that makes it stick with the reader. When rereading the issues, I often found my mind wandering from the story.

Most of the lack of dynamic atmosphere is McLaughlin’s storytelling style, which isn’t frantic enough for a mainstream super-hero comic. The pacing is too often dry (pun completely unintended, I swear). And McLaughlin points the reader’s attention in too many directions at times. For example, when Black Manta attacks Atlantis in issue 6, McLaughlin takes readers to see what is happening from six different viewpoints - Aquaman’s Black Manta’s, Vulko’s, King Thesily, Tritonis army soldiers and an Atlantean family. All of that occurs in three pages. As the story was about Aquaman and Black Manta, not the extras, a more streamlined focus would have done wonders for the scene.

The art contributes to the laid-back atmosphere. Ironically, the techniques that made the art seem like realistic underwater scenes, also contributed to the overall lack of energy in the series. Though aesthetically pleasing, Hooper and Dvorak’s art lacked the flow an action scene requires to get a reader’s blood pumping. The subdued coloring also contributed to the paradoxically mellow atmosphere of a war saga.

There was also a fair amount of emphasis on the political machinations of Atlantis. That hoary plot is never looked upon with favor here at the Comic Treadmill. It’s an underwater kingdom. Embrace its fantastic aspects. Don’t give me a story of City Hall corruption that I can get from the local news.

It may seem like I’m dwelling on the negative, so let me make it clear that these were the first serial Aquaman stories I didn’t loathe since the late 1970’s. For the most part, McLaughlin treated the character of Aquaman with respect not as a Sub-Mariner clone or hothead whose temper could help create conflict that a writer would otherwise need to develop more subtly. And for that I commend McLaughlin.

There were some interesting characters tossed into the mix too. I don’t usually enjoy Atlantis-oriented stories, but the overall theme of Atlantis at war with a surface city was a good one, which would be revisited later in a subsequent Aquaman series. The issues which pushed the war into the background were the best of the bunch though, including a one-part land-based thriller with a Batman foe, an environmental-themed two-parter guest starring the Sea Devils and the finale, an off-beat tale featuring a reformed Scavenger and a terminally ill kid. The latter is justly treasured by many Aqua-fans.

And perhaps it’s just the Moby Dick fan in me, but I truly enjoyed the brief role that the otherwise throw-away villain Queequeg had in the story even if Aquaman defeated him without working up an underwater sweat. And how cool is it that McLaughlin intended to reveal Queequeq as a minion of a new O.G.R.E.? I'll field that one. It was Super Aqua-cool.

A quick Black Manta origin is also given for the first time, one which I believe has since been contradicted, which is okay, because all this origin entailed was establishing that Black Manta had been shanghaied as a boy on the Baltimore docks. Not overly inspiring.

Had McLaughlin been allowed time and given more editorial help (relations between McLaughlin and the editorial powers were shaky), it is likely that his pacing and flow skills would have matured and the plots would have stood out more clearly. But, that was not to be.

Here’s a link to an interesting interview the Aquaman Shrine had with McLaughlin about the behind the scenes thought process for these stories. The Unofficial Aquaman Website also has McLaughlin's thwarted plans for the series.

One of the many pieces of baggage that comes with being a fan of a fictional serialized adventure character is a personal list of foes that one either unreasonably thrills to see appear (I’m looking at you Fisherman) or whose presence ruins an entire issue. Thanatos is an example of the latter for me. And when he shows up in issue 7, I abandoned all hope for that month. And, personal bias included, this is the worst issue of the 13 in this run. It is a rote hero gets visited by the ghosts of his past. Dull, predictable and a pothole in the journey the series had been making.

The Thanatos story was Mera's only appearance in this run. I’m a tremendous fan of the Mera character, but her backstory is now so convoluted, that like Hawkman, the only thing to be done is explicitly pretend that 90% of it has never happened and move forward with the appealing aspects of the character.

The point of the Thanatos story was admirable - to resolve Aquaman’s anger and grieving issues once and for all. However, this has become an obligatory story for every Aquaman writer to tell. Aquaman rages, he repents and then by the next writer is back to raging again. Although writers may feel compelled to keep trying to get this one right, speaking for readers, I’d like you guys to show Aquaman isn’t a hot-headed jerk by example, not by an “afternoon special” one-shot that is forgotten by the next issue.

For another view on these issues, check out this page at The Unofficial Aquaman Website.

Finally, here are the Finny Friends from these issues. There aren’t many, but there is a newcomer as Moses Sole join the club. A fish that secretes shark repellent? Another contribution to my education by comic books.

Moses Sole – Secrete shark repellent to prevent rogue sharks from attacking Atlanteans during a time when the dome had been shattered (Aq 3 -1992)

Octopi – Grab underwater soliders (Aq 2 – 1992)

Squids, Giant – use tentacles to grab submarines attacking Atlantis (Aq 2 – 1992)

Surgeon Fish – Cut Black Manta’s suit open (Aq 6 – 1992)