Does Aquaman have any notable villains besides Black Manta and Ocean Master?
Those two seem to be the only ones anyone ever talks about.
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Does Aquaman have any notable villains besides Black Manta and Ocean Master? Those two seem to be the only ones anyone ever talks about.
Scavenger
Fisherman
Charybdis
Chimera
Siren
Dead Water
Kordax
The Thirst
Some of these villains even have more interesting concepts than Manta and Orm but they need to be revitalized for new readers like Johns did with Orm but the main problem now is that no one in DC is interested in writing Aquaman and the current writers working in Aquatitles aren't great either
I liked Dead Water a lot. Rath was alright for a newer villain too in Rebirth
Corum Rath started out strong but like the rest of that story arc overstayed its welcome but I would like a return of him in future comics
His henchman Kadaver was fricking cool as hell, dude can manipulate fire coral. I'd like to see him return.
>dude can manipulate fire coral
I love Aquaman's comics for the potential of cool shit like this and that's why it's so frustrating when writers are so uncreative like right now with the Aquamen comic where the main plot is atlantean suicide bombers in fricking land not even in the ocean like if I want read about terrorists fricking Gotham then I read Batman not Aquaman
I wish this dude would come back as a villain/rival for Garth or Jackson
None of these villains are interesting. They are 1) normal humans with silly themes (high tech fishing reels, lel), Greek-themed shit that Wonder Woman doesn't want to get wet to fight, and random magic monsters.
Aquaman has "my own evil brother!" and an autistic nog in scuba armor.
What's always hilarious is how they try to power-creep normal humans, like they do in Flash comics, so that we can pretend a guy with a gadget gun can fight the Speedforce or a guy who can give Superman a bloody nose, in his own oppressive native environment.
>None of these villains are interesting
Tell me you have never read Aquaman without telling me you have never read Aquaman
Fisherman is interesting specially Busiek's version
I've read even the olde Aquaman books, my grandmother had a basement full of Silver and Bronze age DC comics.
I read this in Shore Leave's voice
I'm kinda surprised no one considered making Killer Frost an Aquaman villain honestly
How would that make sense?
I think Killer Frost would not make a great villain for Aquaman specifically if Arthur is with Mera when he faced her, Mera's hydrokinesis would frick KF
>Scavenger
>Fisherman
>Charybdis
>Chimera
>Siren
>Dead Water
>Kordax
>The Thirst
good list in my humble opinion
"dead water" is such a fricking cool name, what's that one about?
They're like this parasitic eel-monster that the host transforms into when they're stressed out. They can move between any surface of water IIRC
Dead Water is an aquatic virus-like symbiote which possesses people and turns them into an eel-like hybrid-creature. It takes over their minds, forcing the consciousness of its host to act as a "passenger" while Dead Water takes over.
>They can move between any surface of water IIRC
Correct. Dead Water is able to transport himself into any source of water he can exit out of, basically teleporting him around water sources. He is also capable of manipulating his own matter into water. When Dead Water is not in contact with water anymore, it turns back into its human form.
Those are definitely villains, but none of them are exactly "notable".
They just need the Jonhs treatment like Ocean Master. Like people forget how awful was Orm as character pre New 52.
uh the exxon valdez?
>implying anyone is better than Human Flying Fish
The Ocean is just not an interesting setting for a running comic book.
-Barely anything lives there besides animals, and whatever communities of fish-guys you plop down.
-This means that "crime" and terrorism and whatnot is reduced to Kingdom A. wants to conquer Kingdom B. for no reason, as they have almost unlimited growth space and resources.
-Everyone can swim-"fly" around, so most terrain is meaningless, and a lot of traditional comic perils like fire, falling from height ect cannot exist. Others only exist if you ignore water physics on a Spongebob level, like laser weapons.
-Your average comic writer has a 4th grader's grasp of the conditions and variety of creatures in it. So sharks, octopi and stupid OC monsters.
So in the end Arthur gets to be the sovereign of an uninteresting kingdom filled with boring NPCs, then he's usurped by X, or defending it from attacks by mercenary Y, or the ancient Z has awoken from a crack in the ocean floor.
OR he's a generic strong-guy on the surface, hanging out with teams that are half-composed of people stronger than he is. Or they pull some half-baked "sea-theme" abilities out of the writer's ass.
>The Ocean is just not an interesting setting for a running comic book.
Its basically space 2.0, you just need to be creative but sadly that is a hard quality to find in modern writers
DC has a long, long tradition of making Space boring as frick too, all the way back to the golden age. Part of it is D-student writers who cannot get published in any form, or even write for crappy television shows.
>DC has a long, long tradition of making Space boring as frick too
Ok but then its not a settings problem but a writers problem
The City is just not an interesting setting for a running comic book.
-Barely anything lives there besides pidgeons, and whatever communities of guys you plop down.
-This means that "crime" and terrorism and whatnot is reduced to Company A. wants to conquer Company B. for no reason, as they have almost unlimited growth space and resources.
-Everyone can use the stairs, so most terrain is meaningless, and a lot of traditional comic perils like fire, falling from height ect cannot exist. Others only exist if you ignore physics on a Spongebob level, like laser weapons.
-Your average comic writer has a 4th grader's grasp of the conditions and variety of creatures in it. So mobsters, gangbangers and stupid OC monsters.
So in the end Batman gets to be the sovereign of an uninteresting city filled with boring NPCs, then he's usurped by X, or defending it from attacks by mercenary Y, or the ancient Z has awoken from a lazarus pit.
OR he's a generic strong-guy on the surface, hanging out with teams that are half-composed of people stronger than he is. Or they pull some half-baked "bat-theme" abilities out of the writer's ass.
At least you tried.
DC's writers ARE a problem. They have a hard enough time with "vigilante fighting crime in bustling city of the sort we are directly familiar with", let alone exotic adventures in some environment they might have tv-show vague familiarity with.
>Everyone can use the stairs, so most terrain is meaningless
okay, i laughed
Epic.
Anyone here reading Aquamen? If so what is your opinion of the book?
Aquaman has the same problem as Wonder Woman in the sense that both have villain rosters DC refuses to fricking use
They both need to do "done in one' villain based stories to build up the rosters.
See that's why early Amazing Spider-Man is so strong. It's rapid fire boom boom boom villains
Flash did the same thing.
I think when a writer does a huge multi-parter they feel like the stakes need to be larger than life so you can't use a "minor villain" and the pay off has to be big too.
Just use Aquaman villains for some small time adventure and if fans "connect" to them then bring them back
Its like wrestling ...you can't make every match a ladder match/ royal rumble type.
you need smaller matches to build up first.
I would say ASM, Fantastic Four, and the Silver Age Doom Patrol were the kings of setting up a rogues gallery at rapid speed. Within 2 years they had a whole gallery of enemies.
We need also more team ups between Arthur and Diana
Maybe an event between Atlanteans and Amazons that isn't awful like Flashpoint