Animated "Young Justice" Aqualad Coming to Comics in September 2010

[Ed Liu]

Splitting this off from the solicitation thread 'cuz it's getting too far off topic.

Background: CN announced Young Justice animated series with black Aqualad. Now, Brightest Day #9-10 in September 2010 is going to bring that black Aqualad to comics:

The resurrected have discovered their purpose for being back, but where will the knowledge lead them? Who is the new Aqualad? And what strange event is taking place around the White Power Battery in New Mexico?

(Side note: the "White Power Battery"? Seriously? Nobody at DC Editorial looked at that and raised an eyebrow at how easy that is to take out of context/make fun of?)

We now return you to the discussion already in progress.

That doesn't mean we need to go around killing everyone in sight because they're just coming back later. That's how DC got into the mess they're in right now in terms of how they're viewed by fans at the moment.

Some fans, but the sales numbers still don't seem to indicate that this new view is affecting anybody's buying habits.

Even if it was, my point is that they didn't necessarily kill Garth because they wanted to put in a new Aqualad. Anybody who follows comics seriously enough to know that Garth was Aqualad would also know that he WASN'T going by "Aqualad" at the time of his death. He moved on to his grown-up superhero name a long time ago. This new guy is taking up the mantle of Aqualad, but I can't see how he's "replacing" Garth any more than Damian Wayne or even Tim Drake was "replacing" Dick Grayson as Robin.

Well, the traditional-sense Aquaman that they're using at the moment hasn't been really used that much in almost that long as well. Of all the characters to either come out of or be associated with Blackest Night, Aquaman seems to be the one that they're pushing the hardest to get over right now. I don't really see how having him share the spotlight with Product-Placement-Aqualad helps Aquaman himself.

A year down the road? Maybe. But 8 issues into a series he's sharing with ten other characters (and it being the only title Aquaman's in at the moment)? No.

If Aquaman's already sharing the spotlight with 10 other characters, one more isn't going to make much of a difference. If they're pushing him hard already, then wouldn't adding Aqualad help that effort by building up his supporting cast and adding some new stuff to the mix if/when they relaunch his title? With that name, Aqualad is and always will be an Aquaman supporting character. No matter who he is, an "Aqualad" forces people to consider "Aquaman" (in a way that "Tempest" doesn't).

If they were really trying to push Aquaman, it seems weird to me to do it by dropping him into a title that gives no indication that he's in it and where he has to share page time with 10 other characters. I only follow DC through the solicitations and what I see in headlines, and I didn't even know they were bringing him back (or even if they ever resolved what was going on in the Sword of Atlantis title I kind of liked). The number of reboots, restarts, new directions, and retcons he's gone through tells me that Aquaman is a character that's had trouble getting traction for a good, long time. I think introducing black Aqualad can only help, if only by drawing the curious who want to know what the heck's going on with that.

Besides, couldn't you argue that they're trying to bring Aquaman back into the comics now because of his success on Batman: The Brave and the Bold? He's really the breakout character on that show. Doesn't that make him tainted goods, too?

[Jin Kazama]

Even if it was, my point is that they didn't necessarily kill Garth because they wanted to put in a new Aqualad. Anybody who follows comics seriously enough to know that Garth was Aqualad would also know that he WASN'T going by "Aqualad" at the time of his death. He moved on to his grown-up superhero name a long time ago. This new guy is taking up the mantle of Aqualad, but I can't see how he's "replacing" Garth any more than Damian Wayne or even Tim Drake was "replacing" Dick Grayson as Robin.

Regardless of whatever name he wanted to be placed in, Garth was always, and more than likely will always, be viewed as "Aquaman's Sidekick." He's always been more "Robin" than "Nightwing" if we're making that comparison. And the fact that he was in that role of a second-to-Aquaman (seriously, how much of a presence was he in any comic other than "Aquaman"?), and was killed off to give someone else that role, irks me. Instead of improving the character, they offed him to make room for a media tie-in.

If Aquaman's already sharing the spotlight with 10 other characters, one more isn't going to make much of a difference. If they're pushing him hard already, then wouldn't adding Aqualad help that effort by building up his supporting cast and adding some new stuff to the mix if/when they relaunch his title? With that name, Aqualad is and always will be an Aquaman supporting character. No matter who he is, an "Aqualad" forces people to consider "Aquaman" (in a way that "Tempest" doesn't).

If you only get three pages an issue, and two of them are devoted to your new kid sidekick, you don't get much main-character progression. It's not "Aquaman." It's "Aqualad, Guest Starring Aquaman." If you're bringing back a character that's been off the shelf for a few years, you need to re-establish the character himself before building a supporting cast.

If they were really trying to push Aquaman, it seems weird to me to do it by dropping him into a title that gives no indication that he's in it and where he has to share page time with 10 other characters. I only follow DC through the solicitations and what I see in headlines, and I didn't even know they were bringing him back (or even if they ever resolved what was going on in the Sword of Atlantis title I kind of liked). The number of reboots, restarts, new directions, and retcons he's gone through tells me that Aquaman is a character that's had trouble getting traction for a good, long time. I think introducing black Aqualad can only help, if only by drawing the curious who want to know what the heck's going on with that.

All those reboots, restarts, new directions and retcons are because his comics don't sell. More than likely why he's in a comic like this instead of a new ongoing. To get people familiar with the character before trying again. Better this than trying another failed ongoing.

Introducing a new Aqualad can help, but not this early into it. People will read it for that, and get a half-done story with a character that hasn't even gotten his legs yet. They'll read one issue out of curiosity, and then stop reading. It doesn't help in the long run.

If they had planned this better, I'd still be a tad against it just because I dislike altering current comics to tie in with media projects, but I'd be more willing to give it a chance. This just comes off as "Oh, Crap! We Have A TV Show Coming Out, And We Need To Put This Character Somewhere!"

It's not like the character is going to be comic-less. We all know there's going to be a DC Kids Young Justice comic like there is for Brave and the Bold. They just wanted to shove the new guy into the "big kids" comic.

Besides, couldn't you argue that they're trying to bring Aquaman back into the comics now because of his success on Batman: The Brave and the Bold? He's really the breakout character on that show. Doesn't that make him tainted goods, too?

I'd buy that if the Aquaman in comics right now was in any way like the Aquaman on the show. The fans went nuts for how great Mera was in Blackest Night, so they turned that interest into a bigger Aquaman relaunch. I have no doubt they were planning on using him after the story, but not as heavily as they are now. Even if his popularity in the show were a deciding factor, unless they gave him the attitude of the show's version, I wouldn't consider it "tainted" because it's still a character that already existed. Not a new character designed for a show that's now being pushed into other mediums.

And, can I say, I don't think I've ever typed the word "Aqua" so much in my life? It's starting to look weird.

[Ed Liu]

If you only get three pages an issue, and two of them are devoted to your new kid sidekick, you don't get much main-character progression. It's not "Aquaman." It's "Aqualad, Guest Starring Aquaman." If you're bringing back a character that's been off the shelf for a few years, you need to re-establish the character himself before building a supporting cast.

Lemme step back a second, because I think I might be conflating two separate problems you have with tossing new Aqualad into the comics:

1. Aquaman needs more time to get himself established
2. They killed the old Aqualad to make room for this new one.

It sounds like you're viewing those as two separate problems, but the way I see it, they're connected and mutually reinforcing. Aquaman is not obscure, no matter how long he's been gone from the mainstream comic pages. If all they're planning to do is try business-as-usual with him, I don't think a re-establishment is required because anybody who reads comics already knows who he is (and probably what a mess has been made of him lately). It only makes sense to "re-establish" Aquaman if you're going to be tweaking and changing stuff about him in another effort to make him popular with the audience. If that's so, then who's to say that this new Aqualad isn't an integral part to those changes and tweaks? Killing off Garth in that scenario would also be part of that initiative, as a means to make a cleaner break from the past. It sounds like they've already done some pretty major changes to Mera, who wasn't ever anything other than "Aquaman's wife, sometimes" in the comics.

If they had planned this better, I'd still be a tad against it just because I dislike altering current comics to tie in with media projects, but I'd be more willing to give it a chance. This just comes off as "Oh, Crap! We Have A TV Show Coming Out, And We Need To Put This Character Somewhere!"

Does Geoff Johns' word about it change your opinion on how well-planned out it was?

Aqualad’s story actually begins in a few short weeks in BRIGHTEST DAY #4. I won’t tell you much yet, but I will tell you – he has no idea he’s about to become Aqualad. In fact, he lives in one of the driest places in America – Silver City, New Mexico.

Our goals with the DC Entertainment are to not only bring you BATMAN and SUPERMAN, but also introduce new characters in the comics and film, tv and animation simultaneously with our partners at Warner Brothers – in this case, the talented crew who’s heading up the YOUNG JUSTICE animated series, including Greg Weissman (who actually wrote CAPTAIN ATOM back in the day!).

For once, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation are actually working together ahead of time rather than living in two separate-but-unequal worlds (since DC Comics could veto decisions made by WBA for stuff like the JL episode "Legends" or the inclusion of characters like Plastic Man, while they could cherry pick what they wanted for the comics like Harley Quinn and making John Stewart the primary GL in the Justice League for a stretch). It sure sounds to me like they came up with this new Aqualad jointly and figured out where to put him in the two different media.


Either way, I think a lot of this discussion is academic until we actually see the comics in action. Or, well, you do. I'm interested in the Young Justice cartoon, but I'm way too far gone to attempt to follow Blackest Night/Brightest Day/whatever nowadays.

[Jin Kazama]

It sounds like you're viewing those as two separate problems, but the way I see it, they're connected and mutually reinforcing. Aquaman is not obscure, no matter how long he's been gone from the mainstream comic pages. If all they're planning to do is try business-as-usual with him, I don't think a re-establishment is required because anybody who reads comics already knows who he is (and probably what a mess has been made of him lately). It only makes sense to "re-establish" Aquaman if you're going to be tweaking and changing stuff about him in another effort to make him popular with the audience. If that's so, then who's to say that this new Aqualad isn't an integral part to those changes and tweaks? Killing off Garth in that scenario would also be part of that initiative, as a means to make a cleaner break from the past. It sounds like they've already done some pretty major changes to Mera, who wasn't ever anything other than "Aquaman's wife, sometimes" in the comics.

I honestly do feel that they do need to re-establish Aquaman as a character. Regardless of how long he's been around, if you ask any five people, the general consensus you'll more than likely get is that he's a joke of a character or "that guy who's worthless on dry land." For a guy that's supposed to be one of DC's JLA-worthy top dogs, that's not good. Heck, I'm a fairly avid DC reader, and even I only pretty much know the Cliffsnotes version of the guy. The constant changes and re-boots don't exactly help the matter.

Regardless of how long he's been there, they need to take this chance to pretty much make a mission statement for the character. Mera was used primarily as a crutch to get the Aquaman story started, not as a tool to screw around with the character. He was dead when the story started, and he didn't come back to life until the final pages of the last issue. Just an undead zombie. Mera was used to make you want to see him come back. That showing her love and devotion to her husband would make you want him to come back and see them reunited. It just helped matters that she kicked tons of zombie butt in the process.

Does Geoff Johns' word about it change your opinion on how well-planned out it was?

For once, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation are actually working together ahead of time rather than living in two separate-but-unequal worlds (since DC Comics could veto decisions made by WBA for stuff like the JL episode "Legends" or the inclusion of characters like Plastic Man, while they could cherry pick what they wanted for the comics like Harley Quinn and making John Stewart the primary GL in the Justice League for a stretch). It sure sounds to me like they came up with this new Aqualad jointly and figured out where to put him in the two different media.

Either way, I think a lot of this discussion is academic until we actually see the comics in action. Or, well, you do. I'm interested in the Young Justice cartoon, but I'm way too far gone to attempt to follow Blackest Night/Brightest Day/whatever nowadays.

John's words don't really help me much, to be blunt. I want them to. I love his work. But nothing about that came off to me as "we planned this." How long has that cartoon been in the works? It starts in the fall, if I'm not mistaken. Around the same time as Brightest Day #9. Even if they tease him this month, it's still not a big head start before the show begins. It still comes off to me as a media tie-in.

A tie-in to a show that hasn't started, so we don't even know how it will be received. For all we know, the show could bomb. Or the Aqualad character in it could end up being despised by fans of it. Which, if either is the case, DC just shot themselves in the foot by putting him into a prominent role in one of their biggest-promoted titles of their core universe. All for a TV character.

[Ed Liu]

Just a quick update: the CBR panel report about the Young Justice TV series gives a bit more context on the creation of this new Aqualad:

One new character the producers developed for the show is the new Aqualad, who also recently debuted in the DC Universe proper. "Phil Bourassa, who is our lead character designer on the show, did the original design for Aqualad and Brandon and I basically created him; Geoff [Johns]came in and really liked the character and we talked about him a lot," Vietti recalled. Those discussions eventually led to Johns introducing the character in his "Brightest Day" series - although slightly altered from his cartoon counterpart.

The panel report also reveals the identity of the new Aqualad's father. All I'll say here is that it ties him into Aquaman history and could make for an interesting wrinkle.