Filming of the sequel to AQUAMAN, AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM has officially wrapped.
Also complete? Jason Momoa’s marriage to Lilakoi Moon/Lisa Bonet. The two have announced their separation after 16 years together (four of those married).
We won’t discuss Jason’s marriage or divorce other than to say we wish him and his family the best in these difficult times.
I am fascinated by the possibility of seeing the Aquaman movie because I want to see who they decide will be listed in the credits as his creator.
The single most surprising thing about comics history is that we simply don’t know who did what in many cases. Until recently, it was a complete mystery who inked Fantastic Four #1, one of the most famous comics of all time.
As is typical of comics of the 1940s, records were not often kept, especially for a backup (remember: Aquaman did not debut as a headliner but in a backup strip in another person’s comic - it used to be weird if a comic just had stories about one character), there were no “credits” in comics until the 1960s, and so it’s not entirely known with 100% certainty who Aquaman’s creator even is.
Apart from artist Paul Norris, nobody knows who created Aquaman. Nobody knows who wrote his debut story, if anyone. There is no first person account of the creation of this character from anyone who was there at all.
Wikipedia lists it as being Mort Weisenger and Paul Norris, but while I love Wikipedia so much, it’s better at giving flat answers rather than acknowledging controversies. Mort Weisenger for instance, is merely our best guess for who created Aquaman, and his role is not entirely known.
The idea Mort Weisenger created Aquaman is supported by one of the interviews with a man who was at DC at the time, Murphy Anderson:
“Uh, I’m not sure, but I think it was Mort Weisinger. Morty was the editor at the time and we think he created Green Arrow and Aquaman, but I’m not sure.”
Yep, that’s it. That’s the “proof” Weisenger created Aquaman, that one hearsay comment by one guy who wasn’t directly involved. You see how that definitive looking Wikipedia answer can be a tad misleading?
Nobody actually knows the level of involvement that Weisenger had. It was common among editors to just tell creatives, “okay, just give us our own version of the Sub-Mariner.” Fantastic Four for instance, and therefore the entire Marvel Age of Comics, started when Martin Goodman asked Stan Lee to make their own version of Justice League of America.
The idea that Weisenger created Aquaman, whatever the level of involvement he may have had, has some incidental support. For instance, the fact that this character was consistently revived and used over and over, despite not being a big-name character or a top seller, shows that someone powerful probably was looking out for him - like, say, Mort Weisenger, editor at DC. But right now, we don’t know for sure.
Whatever level of involvement the initial creators might have had, I simply can’t picture Aquaman without Ramona Fradon, one of the few female artists in comics’s silver age, who really contributed to his look and lore. She was clearly inspired by Alex Raymond, which is why Atlantis looks a lot like the planet Mongo.
Atlantis is the ultimate example of how DC, unlike Marvel, had trouble keeping their internal lore consistent. At last count, DC-Earth had 5 (!) different versions of Atlantis that all seem mutually contradictory.
The Mermaid Man (and Barnacle Boy!) story from the Free Comic Book Day issue of Spongebob Freestyle Funnies 2016, written by Evan Dorkin and drawn by the amazing Ramona Fradon!
Aqualad’s entry from Who’s Who in the DC Universe (1990 Looseleaf Edition), February 1991, art by the incomparable Steve Lightle. He even threw in Tusky!
I work in a comic book shop (that sells new comics), and I had this sneaky customer asking me if I personally had a copy of Action #521, the first appearance of Vixen. I know I did, because I’ve been running across this and other issues of Action in quarter bins for years. I mostly followed this series because of the back-up stories that ran in it at the time (early 80s) that featured a rotating cast of characters- Aquaman (my favorite!), the Atom, and Air Wave (son of the original, and cousin to Green Lantern!). Each of these characters would have three or so stories to himself, then he would team-up with the character that would take over the next arc of stories before leaving. Anyway, I wondered why he was having such trouble locating this issue. Looked it up on Ebay. Yup. Speculators! Vixen is supposedly going to be one of the characters in DC’s upcoming Suicide Squad movie. $35, $75, $119!!!! Well, I have five copies that I must have paid no more than two bucks total. ;)
PS: I re-read this issue, and wow, I am appalled at how Aquaman is depicted in this story. No wonder everyone thought he was so lame! Instead of demonstrating what a powerhouse he could be, the creators at DC at the time made it their goal to point out how unuseful they thought he was- making him the Charlie Brown of DC. I will have to create a separate post on this!
Steve Rude’s Flash 75th Anniversary variant cover for Aquaman #38 coming out in a few weeks (January 2015.) A photobomb riff on the classic Nick Cardy cover to Aquaman #42 (volume 1) (December 1968).
