The Divine Right of Kings

It's been a busy couple of weeks at work and this trend is set to continue for the next month. However, I have planned a number of themed blogs on kings and rulers in comics and today's post is the first in this mini-series.

It's interesting that for the cultural product of a democracy, American super-hero comics are littered with regal protagonists and antagonists. Princess Diana aka Wonder Woman returns to cinemas in her own feature film imminently ( as has King Arthur, vaguely connected to Marvel's Black Knight) but she's far from the only royal scion in comics. Off the top of my head, there's Black Bolt, Black Panther, King Conan, King Kull of the Beastmen, Prince Daka, Prince Namor, Acroyear of the Micronauts, etc, etc. There's a seeming fascination for the absolute power and traditions of monarchy.

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Today, I'm looking at the "other" King Arthur, Aquaman, a hero whose pedigree dates back to the Golden Age of comics. My earliest memories of the character are from the JLA 80 pagers of the mid-to- late Sixties; the occasional cartoon as part of Glen Michael's Cavalcade on Sunday afternoons; Ramona Fradon reprints in the 70s and, towards the end of that decade, Marvel-style melodrama and tragedy in the short-lived Levitz/Aparo series.

Aquaman, like Wonder Woman, was one of the DC big hitters of whom I read enough to be very familiar with but never found compelling enough to seek out. In my early teens, when DC comics were easy to find in every town, Aquaman was the kind of title I'd only pick up if super-villains were prominently featured on the cover- as with the DC Super-Stars above. I had a real fascination for the DC villain stable, who were largely neglected outside of reprints in the early 70s.

I was briefly interested in the 80s miniseries which imported elements of sword and sorcery and Celtic myth to Aquaman and gave him a complex, camouflage look. I never paid very much attention to the Extreeeeeme!!!! Nineties version with the pirate hook and Ben Gunn makeover.

Last year, I think, when I was living and working in Elgin, I bought the first New 52 Aquaman collection The Trench, based on very positive reviews. The snarling teeth and the trident tines on the cover signal a very dark horror story, evoking Stephen King and John Carpenter. A dying, inbred race of creatures from the hydrothermal vents in the Mid-Atlantic prey on  the surface dwellers in a modern take on Lovecraft's Deep Ones. Mera is a barbarian queen, a much more aggressive character than I remember. The pop culture mockery of Aquaman is addressed in dialogue (" How's it feel to be a punchline...a laughing stock?")

In the second half of the collection, Arthur is lost in the desert and discovers a mystery about the sinking of Atlantis. It's an interesting series from Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis and I feel that viewing the hero as the protector of two worlds is a valid direction. The "Conan" version of Aquaman in the forthcoming DC movies seems just wrong to me. He's simply not the tormented, volatile Namor.

By contrast with The Trench, Aquaman Rebirth vol.1 The Drowning has a vivid, colourful cover with plenty of appeal. The bright blue background signifies the ocean and is contrasted with the vibrant orange of the logo and Aquaman's famous scaled shirt. The Pixar- flavoured clownfish are cute and the bubbles look a little silly, suggesting a humour title; this is not the case.

Dan Abnett and Brad Walker introduce the Atlantean dry land embassy, Spindrift Station, with a Royal navy liaison- Lt. Joanna Stubbs-  as a  point of view character. Aquaman is pitted against The Deluge, a xenophobic Atlantean terror cell. Black Manta is positioned as Arthur's principal antagonist, however, in a kingly revenge tragedy about mutual patricide. I don't know if he's still the father of the black incarnation of Aqualad.

 After  an attack  by Black Manta, Mera  has to break her king out of prison but Superman confronts the pair, who are now implicated as enemies of the state; Arthur even sees himself as "the creepy fish guy nobody trusts". Meanwhile, Manta seizes control of a clandestine organisation called NEMO, which features a female incarnation of Aquaman's venerable foe from the 40s, Blackjack.

This is a widescreen political/action thriller but it's still quite a heavy direction for a character who might be lighter and less angst-ridden. It's logical but unappealing to have Aquaman negotiate with his hair-trigger, sci-fi marine army  Perhaps DC should stop struggling against the tide and reboot Aquaman as the bumptious, "outrageous" Hercules knock-off from The Brave and the Bold animated series?

Coming soon: Black Panther and the Inhumans.

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