Emperor Aquaman

 I want discuss something I will call "serial sustainability".

There are two kinds of stories: ongoing (like an American soap opera or a newspaper drama strip) and self-contained (like a novel or a telenovela).  You might also think in terms of episodic storytelling, where each story can stand alone, but is part of a larger story being woven across many episodes.  But the two underlying principles remain: either what you have designated as "the story" is designed with an endpoint or it is not.

Historically, most stories are self-contained as short stories or novels.  They have luxury of doing whatever they need to do to tell the story; life-, even world-, changing events and character deaths and changes are all fair game.  They have a hard stop, but, essentially, no guard rails.  Ongoing stories are the opposite; they have no endpoints, but, as a result, they have to color in between the lines in such a way as to allow the story to continue.

After all, can't continue the story of Brenda Starr, Reporter if you kill off Brenda Starr.
Like by mailing her what appears to be a deadly tarantula named "Patch".

It may sound stupid of me to lay out for you such obvious concepts.  But I do so because sometimes it sees to me as though a lot of comic book writers DON'T understand such obvious concepts.

If you think about The Sword of the Atom,

(as I often do)

its goal is clear.  The Atom, as a concept, was out of juice, or, at least, out of favor with readers.  Given that, writing a story that colored WAY outside the lines, recasting atomic scientist Ray Palmer as the heroic center of a sword'n'sandals fantasy epic seemed like a worthwhile gamble. If the Atom wasn't selling or being used as part of the broader DCU, why not roll the dice by doing something wildly different with him?

But The Sword of the Atom was clearly a telenovela (or, as comics call it, a mini-series).  At the end of it, the tiny kingdom of Morlaidh was completely destroyed and Ray returned to civilization.

To degree that Jean Loring can be credibly considered part of "civilization".

From this ending, a new creative team could take Ray "The Atom" Palmer in whatever direction they see fit.

Let's look at another example: Jonah Hex.  Jonah Hex was a "weird western" characters introduced pretty much as DC's last Western character.  He had a great run, but after Crisis on Infinite Earths his comic, DC last Western comic, was cancelled (like much of DC's past).  But DC took the gamble of recasting Jonah Hex in a far-future post-apocalyptic wasteland comic, 

At least he got away from Bat Lash.

Even more than The Atom, Jonah Hex whose native setting -- the weird West -- had been played out and wouldn't sell with readers any more. They had little to lose by re-contextualizing him into a Mad Max setting, and this new ongoing series lasted 18 issues.  It wasn't intended as a mini-series, but before it was cancelled, its creators still had enough notice (and thoughtfulness) to end the series in an open-ended way

In fact, DC's greatest and most memorable "open ending" of all time.

And Jonah Hex DID return, in several subsequent miniseries and another regular series that put him back in the weird West.

I'm not always fond of these experiments with characters, but I can certainly understand why they happen and acknowledge that sometimes they enrich the characters long-term.  Such excursions can give you more options with a character and make them more usable in the broader DCU. Nowadays, if Ray Palmer ever nears to whip out a sword and hack somebody up, it's perfectly believable and in character, given his past adventures.  And, more than once, when there are time-travel shenanigans, modern day superheroes cross paths with Jonah Hex and he takes the concept of time-travel entirely in stride.  

This is not a conversation that Batman could have with, say, The Wyoming Kid.
God, I hate The Wyoming Kid.

Jonah Hex nearly killed Superman.
Can't say that about The Wyoming Kid.

Really, at this point, you can't time-travel WITHOUT running into Jonah Hex at some point.

So, in both of these instances, creators took marginal characters in unusual directions that made them better (or at least, more useful) characters in the broader storytelling of the DCU.  In both of these case, there was a general understanding, I think, that the re-contextualizations were did not have "serial substantability"; there was no illusion that this extended "side-quest" could really be maintained as the new status quo for the character.  We knew scientist Ray Palmer couldn't continue as a sword-n-sandals adventure and that Weird Western icon Jonah Hex wasn't going to remain in the future.

There are other times a character has a shift of context that is intended to broaden, update, or refresh their setting, but that are NOT clearly "side-quest"; they seem to be legitimately intended as permanent changes to the status quo. Such as the changes in the status quo for Superman and Batman.

In 1971, all kryptonite became inert, Superman lost a third of his power, and Clark Kent became a newscaster instead of a newspaper reporter.

In 1969, when Dick Grayson left for college, Batman shut down the Bat-cave and Wayne Manor, and Bruce Wayne moves into penthouse in the city and opens the "Victims Incorporated Program".

And these new statuses quo were sustainable.  There was nothing intrinsically off-model about them and both writers and editors believed that this was now The Way Things Would Be.

These two settings have long since been superseded by new ones, of course, because comic book universes are ONGOING storylines, designed with the fervent hope that they will NOT end.  They slowly but continually write and re-write themselves in such as way as to facilitate their expansion (or at a minimum their continuation). Individual stories may take characters in different directions, but not so far afield as to damage or unduly limit the storytelling prospects of the larger enterprise of which they are merely a part. 

Where does the 1977 murder of Aquababy fall along this spectrum? 
It is a subject for debate!

But that is why I am concerned when creative teams are allowed to take major characters -- not marginal or unused ones, but real icons -- into directions and contexts that do NOT seem sustainable.  

Or even non-major characters.

With all this as background, let usconsider the new direction that is currently charted for Aquaman and whether it has serial sustainability.

I'm sorry; I mean "EMPEROR Aquaman".

Now, Aquaman is no stranger to such shifts, such of which are now nearly forgotten.  

Like when Aquaman was a government spy, battling O.G.R.E. (the Organization for General Revenge and Enslavement), and wearing a dinner jacket underwater.

Or when he became a Medieval fantasy character with a magic hand made of water?

Or when he was turned into a submarine Tarzan, ridiculously raised by porpoises?

Or when he had a squid for a face?
I think everyone has agreed to forget that one.

These many experiences has made me skeptical of "new directions" for Aquaman. And this time, the redux is a real swing for the fences.

As the result of Some Crossover Nonsense, Aquaman now wields The Blue, a mytho-metaphysical abstract of water and the seas of this world and of other worlds.

[ASIDE] This is the crux of the shift, but as world-changing as it is, it's by no means NEW.

The concept of The Blue (a.k.a. The Clear) goes back to thirty years to 1995, when Mark Millar introduced it as a parallel expansion of the concepts of The Green and The Red, which had been introduced in Swamp Thing and Animal Man. The Green was plant life, the Red was animal life, and the Blue was water (the element necessary for life in general) along with the plant and animal life within the seas.  Aquaman was explained to be a champion of The Clear, with many of his powers a manifestation of his connection to it.  It wasn't emphasized outside of the context of Swamp Thing and all that jazz got run over when the New 52 hit in 2011.

Aquaman's newfound connection to "The Blue" has given him a general power-up and some specific power additions.  He now has aquakinesis and can use the Blue to travel around.  He is noticeably stronger and seems a lot more focused and confident. And, of course, he got a new trident.

Because Aquaman Gets A New Trident is basically a spring ritual at this point.

[ANOTHER ASIDE]: Now, from my perspective, this is pretty much already how Aquaman is and always has been. He's already had a connection to The Blue, he's had aquakinesis in several media interpretations, he's been shown repeatedly as able to go toe-to-toe with Superman or Wonder Woman, and seems to find Renewed Resolve and Purpose on a quarterly basis.  I think it's less that Aquaman needs to be powered up than writers simply keep FORGETTING how powerful he is and decide (again) that THEY will be the ones who will finally make Aquaman TRULY powerful.

The creative team isn't stopping at hitting this Blue schtick hard.

And they are hitting it almost COMEDICALLY hard.
Also; that is a truly perverse way to tile that room.  

They have taken other steps that, as we have observed here before, are smart and strong steps toward building a heroic dynasty.

They have quickly tidied up existing mytho-messiness, putting all the historical pieces back on the table in standard condition. Atlantis, a re-powered Mera, Tempest, Aqualad.  Places like Xebel and the other undersea kingdoms have been put into a coherent context. 

Impressively, they have also taken some of the flotsam from previous Aqua-runs and incorporated in appropriate tiers in the Aqua-dynasty: Arion, the Lady of the Lake (from Arthurian Legend), Captain Nemo (from the Land of Public Domain), Lori Lemaris (from Superman lore), and the Shiver (a trio of DCU's shark monsters, Titanus, Karshon and King Shark) and friggin' ZAN (from the SuperFriends). Making every significant water-character you can part of Aquaman's squad really expands his dynasty and makes him seem powerful and authoritative!  

I shall call it "The Time Everyone Joined My Beach Volleyball Team!"

This "Justice League Blue" (as Zan nicknames it so that the creators can be exonerated from doing so) are Arthur's "away team" who have begun to help him establish outposts in THE SEAS OF OTHER PLANETS.

The kind of thing he used to do off-panel in the Silver Age.

Yeah, this is a BIG swing.  Aquaman can travel to other planets now, on a whim.  Where he intends to set up "lighthouses"; stations to serve as beacons for ocean-dwellers on other planets to request assistance and connect all the oceans in big network of Doing Good.  

This is the first time a creative team has really carried the lighthouse theme of Aquaman's origin into the way he does business and, while it is not subtle, it is brilliant.

Turns out there's a treacherous problem on the first planet they visit (because of course there is), that they solve in record time with a generous helping of Aquaman's new eXXXtreme powers.

Pretty sure most people know that water becomes ice when it gets cold, Arthur.

But not before it's made very clear that
ZAN IS A STONE-COLD FREAK, who is up for anything.

I appreciate that, while the creative team is sure-footedly doing this heavy-work of world building, they are not skipping details and bits of character-building interactions. A few examples:

BOTH Tempest and Zan's eyes are consistently colored PURPLE, exactly as they should be.

Aquaman's hair is consistently fabulous. This is no joke. This is not merely an old-school joy. It sends a MESSAGE: Aquaman is the most on the ball person in the room. He's got it covered.

It's not easy to distinguish three nearly-identical shark-guys.  Here, the creative team does it with their short answers to one question; the Professional, the Zealot, and the Dumb Dog. This team knows how to write EFFICIENTLY, which is rare nowadays.

Tempest, Aqualad, and Mera are the protective types whom Aquaman can confidently rely upon to take care of things at home while he's away.  Zan is the Wacky Weird Foreigner, eager to be taken seriously, but less eager to take things seriously.  The kind who makes out with alien ant-people five minutes after he meets them.

Despite being powerful, Arthur is still very casual.

I could cite more example, but I think you should just read the new issues for yourself to enjoy them properly.

The gang at Weird Science describe the new "Emperor Aquaman" direction as "bold and sustainable".  It is definitely BOLD. 

But... do you think it is SUSTAINABLE?  

I certainly WANT it be, given how readable it is.  Making Aquaman a planet-hopping protector is a big jump.  It has many pluses beyond even those I have mentioned.  It frees the writers from trying to make Atlantis interesting (and SO MUCH effort has been poured into that black hole in the past);  it raises Aquaman's profile enormously; it allows endless vistas for stories.

In fact, what this direction reminds me of us MOST is: The Aquaman Filmation cartoon, in which Aquaman was always decisive and powerful, the world of land heroes was irrelevant, and the seas teemed with weird races, dangerous beings, and mysterious phenomena. 

But he had it handled.

What are your thought on this new direction for Aquaman and its sustainability?

P.S. Special consideration will be given to commenters who have written Aquaman comics...