Nagging Thoughts for 1/1
How did Aquaman and Green Arrow make it to the Silver Age?
Why isn't that made into a bigger deal?
That's quite the accomplishment, isn't it?
The other heroes who made it intact were the big names, Batman - Superman - Wonder Woman.
But Aquaman?
Green Arrow?
They did not even have their own COMICS!
Green Arrow did not even GET his own ongoing until the late 80s!
So the fact that they both managed to survive (without any real breaks in time) for over 60 years is pretty darn amazing, no?
Why is that not mentioned more?
Why isn't that made into a bigger deal?
That's quite the accomplishment, isn't it?
The other heroes who made it intact were the big names, Batman - Superman - Wonder Woman.
But Aquaman?
Green Arrow?
They did not even have their own COMICS!
Green Arrow did not even GET his own ongoing until the late 80s!
So the fact that they both managed to survive (without any real breaks in time) for over 60 years is pretty darn amazing, no?
Why is that not mentioned more?
posted by Brian Cronin at 11:31 PM
4 Comments:
And they both first appeared in the same comic: More Fun Comics #73, cover dated November 1941.
It's odd that GA has gotten so much love in recent years while Aquaman has been subjected to alternating periods of neglect and mutilation during the same period. There was a time when Aquaman was considered a big enough star to headline his own Saturday morning cartoon alongside Superman...while Green Arrow didn't really come into his own as a character until Neal Adams gave him a makeover.
On the other hand, GA was one of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory, while Aquaman had to wait another 19 years to get some of that profile-raising team action in the JLA...
But at some point after [i]Super Friends[/i] -- which didn't noticeably damage the reputations of any other DC characters -- Aquaman suddenly became a joke. What followed was several disconnected attempts to "rehabilitate" him and make him dark and serious and surly, perhaps with the idea of making him a DC counterpart to Sub-Mariner. With GA there's at least been some attempt at logical progression, a thread of continuity running through the character, whereas with Aquaman they've jumped from one wild idea to the next. The current version of the character is thoroughly broken, and based on what we've heard about DC's future plans I doubt we'll see him fixed any time soon.
Green Arrow sucks. Much as I hate to admit it. 20 year fan and I stopped buying the book.
I always heard that it was the heavy handed actions of one Mort Weisinger, creator of both Green Arrow and Aquaman, that saw that both strips survived, tucked away in the back of Adventure Comics until both were eventually made members of the Justice League of America. They were more or less safe after that, as the record shows.
I think the biggest thing in both Aquaman and GA's favour were that neither of them were carrying their own title, and seemed to be mostly relegated to back-up stories in comics starring Superboy or Superman. So they just kind of got through by staying under the radar, which is maybe why it's not such a celebrated feat.
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