Endorsement: Aquaman

Before I get to my main subject, I want to continue an observation I was making yesterday during my discussion of Justice League Unlimited:  the creators taking the opportunity to recalibrate the Martian Manhunter.

First, they wisely realized that if ANY character needs to just LOSE some powers (as result of the Absolute Power shenanigans), it's definitely the Martian Manhunter

"Most tryingly, I can no longer conjure ice cream cones from the atoms in the void, and I sorely need ice cream right about now."

The choices for what powers to remove from MM were purposeful.  It's his "ranged powers" as we call them in Heroclix games; the powers he can use at a distance.  He retains speed, strength, flight and (I presume) toughness and his two most unique powers, invisibility and intangibility. 

It's surprisingly how far you have to search in the DCU for those two powers to become available.

But his Brobdingnagian telepathic abilities (a power he basically didn't even HAVE in his classic appearances) are gone (I hope for good).  

In the process, they have also shown that JJ is deceptive, untrusting, insecure, and emotionally unstable.

Which I happen to think are some of J'onn's most interesting qualities.

Love J'onn, but... he's simply more interesting as, well, a weirdo.  A character who doesn't quite fit in and it is always, at heart, an alien, no matter how much time goes by.  It makes him a great contrast to Superman.  I much prefer him as someone who needs the JL's help and understanding rather than as "the heart of the League".  J'onn's not the heart of anything. I don't think he even HAS a heart.  

They haven't mentioned his shape-shifting ability, but I have hope that has also been severely tamped down if not eliminated. Classic MM wasn't Plastic Man or even Chameleon Boy; he could shift into other humanoid shapes and that was it.  Let's hope all this right-sizing of MM's power set leads to a Renaissance of his TRUE signature power:

MARS-HALATION.
After all, now that Red Tornado has no body, the League is left without a blowhard.

Which brings us to Aquaman, who in short, didn't lose powers but gained them. Specifically, aquakinesis.

Even more specifically, MERA's aquakinesis.

Look, I love Mera. We ALL love Mera.  But Mera's AK was originally just sort of ... fun.  

Mera's power mostly meant she was able to save HERSELF, so that she wasn't always some damsel in distress. It's one of the reasons we love Mera.

But the use and depicted strength of her AK skyrocketed over the years, until we all knew that Mera seemed more powerful than Aquaman.  And, sexist or not, it just doesn't do to have a member of a superhero dynasty who is more powerful than the putative centerpiece of the dynasty.  

I'm sorry Mera doesn't seem to have her signature powers, but I am very glad AQUAMAN has aquakinesis now (which he has had, at least to a limited degree, in many non-comics portrayals of the character, because it simply makes sense).  Unlike weird attempts in the past (the hook hand, the water hand), this one makes such intuitive sense that I feel confident it will immediately be accepted as an essential part of the character. In a few years, there will be readers who will shocked to discover there was a time when Aquaman DIDN'T have aquakinesis.

And even without AK, Mera is hardly "powerless".  Mera will kick your *** and make you thank her for it.

I would laugh if Mera got J'onn's SPINNING ability, and she went around making lots of underwater whirlpools to shove in people's faces.

A first I was worried that they might have deprived Aquaman of his aquatelepathy, but that is pretty clearly in tact.

I assume that's the point of this panel in Aquaman #1.  If it were Mera controlling that sealife it would have been mentioned.

The other thing that happens in Aquaman #1 is, in essence, showing that Aquaman finds being king tedious.

You can tell how silly he feels in that little hat. You know how hard it is to make AQUAMAN feel silly? It's VERY hard.

This is clever on several levels. First, it is very consistent with Aquaman's character as an adventurer and his historical ambivalence about being king of Atlantis.  "King of Atlantis" is his "Bruce Wayne"; it's a role that both enables and yet hampers him from being his superheroic self. Second, it helps distinguish Aquaman from Namor.

We should all forget Cullen Bunn. But we should all NEVER forget what he DID to Aquaman.

Namor is really crabby, resents "The Surface World", and his identity is really wrapped in being king. Therefore Aquaman should never be any of those things.

Third, it acknowledges an ugly truth: Atlantis is boring not just to him, but to US. It always has been.  We don't care about Atlantis's petty problems and prejudices and, despite being a fantastical mythical underwater world with magic and super science, it has less CHARACTER than Gotham or Metropolis or even Central City.  

How many buildings in Atlantis can you name? None.
Yet you know the name of Central City's COFFEE SHOP.

Atlantis exists only to be threatened so that Aquaman has to protect it. Mera doesn't need to be a damsel in distress because ATLANTIS IS.

So, in Aquaman's first issue, the creators do the logical thing:

They get rid of it.

Of course, it's just a quest that Arthur will need to go on, if for no other reason than that his wife and daughter have gone missing along with Atlantis.  But it is good sign the creators know what Atlantis's purpose is and are not going to try and suck us into bothersome details about class conflict among the "trides".  

Apparently, the incident is the fault of some Magic Pearl that Jackson "Aqualad" Hyde found (in an earlier issue of the current run of Brave & The Bold).

It is highly reminiscent of the Silver Sphere, which, I am sure you will remember, sparked war between the Tortoids and the Lizardians, averted only by Aquaman's mediation.  

One of the undercurrents of the issue is the Aquaman was too distracted by his duties as king to give Aqualad's discover of the Pearl sufficient attention, which might have forestalled the disappearance of Atlantis.  I can hope only that where they are headed with this is Aquaman appointing SOMEBODY regent (like Garth the Giant-Headed Purple-Eyed Freak which would at least give that character SOMETHING to do).

Make no mistake; this recommendation isn't because I trust Garth.
It just shows how little I think of Atlanteans, who really need to get their own **** together.

One of the nicest touches in the story is the fact that Aquaman immediately goes to seek advice and possible assistance from the Justice League.

No more of readers asking, "but why didn't Hero-Person asked their super friends for help?"  They will. It won't solve the problem, but done right it can speed up the story.

That is exactly how the League SHOULD work. And they do give him some information and back-up, but he still has to go on the quest by himself.  No one, not even the big icons, should be ashamed of needing help from the League.

Well... ALMOST no one.

It's only the first issue but there are all signs that this creative team knows what to do with Aquaman, both underwater and in the larger context of the DCU. That's why it has my unhesitating endorsement.