How do you know if you are going down the wrong path? Well talking to someone else about your project is always a good sign, and a piece of advice I see as being a good idea since that second set of eyes can lend some valuable insight. Unfortunately it’s not for me because this method requires you to pitch the idea, and I suck at doing that verbally. I cannot tell a joke to save my life and I find it impossible to recommend things to friends because coming from my mouth it sounds stupid. It has cost me a few sales at conventions.

So, how do I measure quality of my own comics? Well I do that by asking myself one very simple question: Would I buy it?

How could I not?

Let’s pretend Domain Tnemrot has nothing to do with me. I have never heard of it or the creators and I know nothing of its premise. I just saw it at my local comic store and picked it up. Can I honestly say I would go to the counter and purchase it? Can I honestly say that, upon getting home, I would read and enjoy it?

And I can honestly say the answer is yes. It may sound narcissistic but I can easily sit down and trawl the archives start to finish, and then I go read my scripts for the pages that haven’t been drawn yet. I still enjoy it. Same with Gemini Storm, I think I have read the trade five times since I got it from the printers.

I got the idea for this method from Penny Arcade. In the 11 ½ year anniversary book, the section on PAX talks about how it succeeded when other shows run by Gamespot and IGN failed. Robert Khoo, who wrote that section, says he realised that PAX worked because the entire idea behind it was to create a convention that they would attend and enjoy. And it’s not just PAX. Child’s Play is the type of charity they would donate to. If you’ve ever seen the Penny Arcade TV Series, you can see how they write the comic, which is entirely them trying to make each other laugh.

It is, to me, one of the best strategies I can think of. If you make something that you would want to read or watch, it’s highly likely that someone else would also like to read or watch that thing as well.

And it is not just webcomics. I’m a fan of The Cinema Snob’s movies. Well, I haven’t seen Freak Out yet and the forced abortion in Cheap means I’ll never re-watch it (That movie is not for those with a weak stomach) but I do love Midnight Heat, Hooker With a Heart of Gold and The Cinema Snob Movie.

In the intros to his pre-Snob movies, Brad Jones talks about how he still likes to sit down and watch these videos because they are the types of movies he enjoys watching. And they do have their fans, even though the budget is incredibly small and the camera quality is quite poor. In fact for some of them it adds to the charm of the movie. I can’t picture Midnight Heat being clean, it wouldn’t be as effective if it lost the gritty look.

Now, you could point out that Demo Reel used this method as well, but was poorly received and Doug Walker ended up quitting and going back to the Nostalgia Critic. I would say that is the perfect example of when doing what you like becomes self-indulgence. And also knowing your limits as a creator, which Walker does not. Make sure you find a nice balance between catering to yourself and making something you would enjoy if you had no association with.

But getting back on topic, the phrase ‘everyone’s a critic’ is usually used to dismiss and discredit criticism but it is true. Everyone has an opinion and individual tastes. By being honest with yourself, you can turn this into an advantage by using your own likes and dislikes to judge whether or not you’re doing the right thing and hopefully that will turn it into something your readers will enjoy.

At the very least, you’ll hopefully avoid any out-of-nowhere dramatic twists.

All it took for me was one drawing by Chris Samnee.

Not too long ago, Chris Arrant at Robot 6 wrote a piece entitled “DC Digital: Best Kept Secret or Worst Covered Gem?” While all the press has been on the New 52′s same-day-digital initiative, the DC Digital brand has silently be cultivating some interesting titles. It started when they launched Smallville Season 11, the follow up to the popular TV show. (Some fans attest it’s better than the mainline Superman titles. I’ve only read one Smallville issue, but from what I’ve seen of the New 52 Superman, I don’t find it hard to believe.) While New 52 remain controversial, dropping and adding titles on a regular basis, the DC Digital titles have been steadily building up. Batman Beyond Unlimited. Legends of the Dark Knight. Arrow. And, um … Ame-Comi Girls. (Which is… written by Jonah Hex‘s Jimmy Palmiotti. Oh, Jimmy.)

But let’s get back to that Chris Samnee image! That’s all I needed to download the first three issues of Adventures of Superman. Look at that glorious thing. Is there any current artist out there who’s perfect for illustrating Superman than Chris Samnee? Before the New 52, I mean? I mean, he can just draw him and I’m all, “Yes. YES. That is Superman… not some impostor running around wearing red and blue tights.” Here is a man that makes you want to go “Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!” every time you lay your eyes on him.

Well, it turns out only the first issue is illustrated by Mr. Samnee. (And it’s written by Jeff Parker.) Adventures of Superman is an anthology series… a bunch of short, low impact stories. Superman tries to talk a guy down from causing mayhem, two kids play around in the yard, and Superman deals with Bizarro.

Very few punches are thrown.

If you want to read about Darkseid’s ongoing plan to rule the world, this is probably not the comic for you. But you see… I love those stories. One of the best things about Superman from the Silver Age was how it was more focused on character relationships and wonder at the world than, say, Superman punching out the latest supervillain. It’s something that the previous incarnation of Superman really got wrong. Throughout the 80′s and the 90′s, it was about Superman beating up on villain after another. (Culminating in the best selling issue where he dies after being punched to death by Doomsday.)

Adventures of Superman brings us back to the good old days when all the Man of Steel had to do was rescue a kitty from a tree, and we’d cheer. He’s even wearing the red trunks! The same red trunks that the New 52 Superman and they guys doing the Henry Cavill movie are too embarrassed to include! Sure, the first issue sees Superman trying to subdue an out-of-control guy with superpowers who’s being secretly controlled by Lex Luthor. But the focus is on Superman saving innocent people and generally being a decent dude. This is the Big Blue Boy Scout I like to read about.

I know, I know. It’s a pretty naive way to look at Superman. Probably one that was outdated by the 1970′s, when Clark was a new anchor and Lois Lane was turning herself into a Black woman to show how racism was bad. But throw me a bone here…. I collected comics in the 90′s. And those Superman titles suuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkkkeeeedddddddd. (Seriously, if I ever dig up the comics in the basement of my mom’s house, I can guarantee you that every single one of them has Superman in that much hated, much mocked mullet. Also, Lex Luthor looked like a friggin’ gorilla. What was it with 90′s characters wearing 80′s hairstyles?!?!?!)

The next two stories are … less essential. Issue 2 is drawn by comic superstar Jeff Lemire. Now, admittedly, Lemire is a good storyteller. However, his art style is more appropriate toward indie releases like Essex County. His story is about two boys playing around, with one being Superman and the other being an assortment of Superman villains. In the end, we see Superman watching from a distance with an amused smile on his face. I would not fault you if you assumed it was Clayface is disguise. Lemire’s depiction of Superman looks very much like Frankenstein’s monster.

The third issue is done by two names I do not recognize: writer Justin Jordan and artist Riley Rossmo. It’s a fun little story where Superman has to outwit Bizarro using bizarro logic. The art’s an improvement over Lemire’s, and it turns out to be a fun little story. Like I said, there’s a very Silver Age feel to everything in these comics, and this one especially hits the mark. Shoot, if this issue had been drawn by Curt Swan, you would swear it was written 50 years ago.

Now, beyond the fact that bystanders aren’t getting their heads decapitated on every other page, the big difference between Adventures of Superman and the New 52 brand happen to be how self-contained the stories are. I had problem with other other DC Digital titles because of how the stories had been stretched out, covering perhaps only a third of the story. (Probably intentional, since the copies that hit the comic book store shelves usually collect them three digital issues at a time.) Not the case with Adventures of Superman.

In fact, I’d say you’re getting quite the bang for your buck. Each download costs $0.99. That’s a whole story for less than a dollar. Meanwhile, even at a discount, a New 52 title will cost you at the least $1.99 an issue… and for some of the bigger titles, that usually means you’re only getting 1/3th of the total story arc. (Or in the cast of the best selling Justice League title: $2.99 for 1/6th of the story.) Even though I was less than thrilled with the Jeff Lemire issue, I at least didn’t feel like I was ripped off… like when I downloaded Justice League #1. And honesty? I’d have to say that one issue of Adventures of Superman was more satisfying from a storytelling standpoint than whole story arcs of pretty much any New 52 story.

So my best of wishes to the crew behind the Adventures of Superman comics. I can say, without any hint of irony or any doubt, that this is going to be the only Superman title I ever plan on downloading from Comixology. If fun. It’s grand. It’s Superman. While I’d love to see more of Samnee’s take on the big guy, it’s still an enjoyable enough title that I actually look forward to the next issue even if he’s not involved.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5).

Some weeks ago, I solicited the readers for links to their comics or recommendations to webcomic that they liked. There were plenty of fantastic entries, some which I mentally bookmarked to slot for a review some time down the line. This is the first one, recommended by reader
IsharaDragone.

Why Piti Yindee’s Wuffle: The Big Nice Wolf? The reason is perhaps quite shallow: it was really, really pretty. I mean, the header shows a big yet cute cartoon wolf with a white volleyball under his arm that turns out to be a chicken. Look, people, there’s no big secret to getting me to pay attention: I’m like a moth to flame when it comes to cute things.

Our main character is Wuffle, the titular Big Nice Wolf. He’s a bit of a hayseed, what with living out in the country and wearing a sensible pair of overalls. He’s also, perhaps, a little too strong for his own good. However, Wuffle is a really nice guy. He’s a bit of a handyman supreme, fixing everything from malfunctioning fans to broken TVs and asking for nothing in return.

Rounding out the main cast is a roommate named Puipui (a grumpy hedgehog) and Foxxo and Joe (the local rich kid and his stern faced bodyguard). Wuffle and Puipui often find themselves at odds with Foxxo, who can be something of a selfish brat. Still, they’re all friends, and when Wuffle and Puipui go fishin’, then heck, there’s no reason Foxxo can’t come along.

Wuffle is the sort of comic you can plop in front of your children guilt-free. The gags are uncomplicated. Many of them revolve around the animals each character represents — which is the sort of humor kids would find in, say, “Old MacDonald”. Squirrels have puffy cheeks, goats eat garbage, thoroughbreds are speedy, and rabbits likes carrots. (One of my favorite strips is when a bedridden Foxxo spies the rabbit girl’s signature dish in abject horror.)

Then there are some less obvious gags. I love how the resident elderly couple are 1970′s disco types who are into roleplay collectibles and online gaming. I suppose that you could say that this is the sort of “rapping grannie” gag you can expect from Adam Sandler … but darn it, it works. Of course people who grew up in the 70′s would be elderly now. And bottom line, it’s adorable. ADORABLE. Game, set, match.

Mr. Yindee is not shy about his stylistic influences. He readily acknowledges his debt to the man who invented manga, Ozamu Tezuka. Quite enjoyably, in fact: he drew anAstroboy-themed sequence for Halloween 2012. Thematically, though, the webcomic as a whole reminds me a lot of the great Canadian cartoon The Raccoons, where all the woodland critters, even the curmudgeonly old guy who lives in the mansion, are generally decent folks who get along despite their unique personalities.

Wuffle features some of the most pleasing animation-style art I’ve ever seen in a webcomic. Yindee rescued the design of Wuffle from a “Three Little Pigs” comic he’d shelved, and I can see why he liked it so much. The guy’s like a modern day Li’l Abner: barrel-chested and tough but with soft contours to remind you that the guy’s ultimately a big softie. The coloring’s a big factor in the appeal, too. It resembles the palette for an 80′s children anime but with a softer touch. I suppose I can point out some minor quibbles. Yindee could’ve chosen a better font, for example. One that doesn’t look like Comic Sans. However, even that adds to the charm, as if Wuffle was a delightful, long-lost classic that had just recently discovered and fansubbed by enthusiastic devotees.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5).

The bane of any creator is when you hit that wall that stops you from going any further with your story, artwork, etc. It can come at any time. When you’ve just started, right in the middle or when you’re so close to the end you can taste it. And it can become aggravating as you struggle to get your brain to try and help you finish but all you can get from it is a headache and frustration.

I’ve seen a lot of pro level people talk about this, and they’ll almost always tell you that it’s a myth or simply something only amateurs deal with because they’re not putting in enough work. I have been writing most of my life, trying to make a career of it since I was sixteen, and I will still sit down with Word open and be unable to make the words come out of my fingers. Every time I saw “Writer’s block doesn’t exist” I would scoff and equate it to some magical fantasy like elves, leprechauns and Doug Walker’s sense of subtlety.

And then last month I finally found writing nirvana.

So yeah… I have some apologies to make.

However I will not entirely recant my position because I still find the idea of dismissing the whole thing as mythical to be unprofessional as well as anyone can hit a creative block. I saw an interview with Joe Quesada, pro artist and former Editor-In-Chief of Marvel, over at Comic Book Resources where he admitted some days he sits down to draw a page and just can’t get it out.

When I read or hear advice on getting past the wall, it seems to miss the point, in my opinion anyway. Over at webcomics.com, when it was still a free site, someone did an article about the subject that implied block were only the fear of continuing and that creators always have alternate routes that they just aren’t taking because of stubbornness or whatever. I tried to explain that this wasn’t a block, to me at least, but no one seemed to see where I was coming from and would just repeat what the article said, even though I would point out it wasn’t related to what I was asking.

My personal definition of writer’s block is when you reach a point in the story where you run out of ideas and cannot see where to go next. You can’t go back one or two pages, you would have to throw out most of the work you’ve done in order to push in another direction because the beginning is the only place you can see a new starting point. Hell, you might still be at the beginning. You strain and think but what happens next just refuses to come to you. That was the problem I always had and no one could give me an answer for it.

So how did I finally overcome my nemesis? Well a month ago my job had a training program and the instructors handed out pens and writing pads to take notes. And by writing pads, I mean A4 paper with about 70 pages. I used at most two, so on the train ride home I decided to kill time by writing a short story. That turned into a novel that I write every day to and from work on the train, which takes about an hour. This morning I finished my 120th page. Let me make it clear, I’ve tried writing novels before but I’m lucky if I can do forty in a month, which is why I usually give up since most of the time I just sit there straining. The train is also where I write articles for Webcomic Overlook, this one included.

It’s so simple it sounds stupid but I think that’s why pro creators tend to dismiss the idea as false. It’s all about finding a method that works best for you, and then easing yourself out of it so that you can write and draw whenever and wherever you have time to.

Before, I always wrote everything on my computer, typing up everything and focusing on it being perfect. But on paper, I don’t worry as much because I know it’s just a rough draft and that I’m going to rewrite it when I type it up as my second draft. I mean I still do my best to make it good but it’s more about getting everything down than making it into a masterpiece.

Really, getting past the block is about who you are as a creator and as I have found out, it’s not always something you can do by imitating what the pros do. I know creators who will say never write while listening to music as it will only serve as a distraction. I’ve never had that problem and in fact I write better with a little background noise. Others will say to just sit down, write, and stop complaining. No, it’s not always that simple, sometimes it’s about your environment.

Now some people may point out that a lot of pros would say the advice that I’m giving here would just breed bad habits as you’d have people who can only write at a certain coffee shop in a certain chair. It would not be beneficial in the long run. And they would be right, if you make that setting into your habit. But you can ease yourself in. I’ve started writing with pen and paper at my desk and it’s going well. Every body needs a starting point and some won’t find it unless they put themselves in a place where they can be their most creative. You just need to find that place. I did and I’ve gotten more work done than i could have hoped for.

If only I could get my art up to scratch.

I especially loved reading Chris Sims’ articles, which were full of fun and verve and crazy enthusiasm. His pieces pretty much convinced me to download the entire Starman Omnibus over at Comixology (and it’s definitely one of the best comics I’ve ever read), and for my money he had the last word on why comics in the 90′s shouldn’t be disparaged like some sort of dumb internet meme. Also, Sims did me a great honor by answering my question about Az-Bats. As you can see from just a smattering of his pieces, he was very knowledgeable, but always delivered the info with a jovial, smart-ass style that was incredibly appealing. While the Comics Alliance wasn’t necessarily the most informative comic news site (and sometimes a little late to some of comics’ most breaking news stories), it brought life and excitement to comics that you don’t see in, say, the more staid and professional sites like The Comic Journal.

The Comics Alliance gets one last hurrah at the Eisner Awards, where its been nominated for Comics Related Periodical/Journalism, but after that it once again disappears into the ether.

The Eisner nominees for Best Digital Comic often include some absolutely bizarre entries that look like they were done under some sort of chemical influence. I think Dash Shaw’s Bodyworld may have been one of them, but the geometry-based digressions, while challenging from the standpoint of linear storytelling, were so lucid it makes me doubt my assessment. Still, the webcomic itself was about smoking drugs, so I think it fits in some way. The thing about these sorts of comics is that the writer can wave away inconsistencies, plot holes, and artistic decisions under the catch-all excuse of “Just not getting it.” Which isn’t entirely untrue. But still!

Here’s what you need to know about Michael DeForge’s Ant Comic: the first sequence shows a depiction of two homosexual ants having sex. The second shows some ants marching into a giant ant vagina.

I was tempted to put up an NSFW tag, but I think most curious co-workers looking over your shoulder would have an impossible time figuring out what was going on. Still, probably not something you’d want to recommend for your kids.

DeForge designs his ants — the black ant variety, anyway — as Adventure Time-style cartoon characters. They have soft round bodies and pleasant noseless faces. Their bodies are also see-though, so you can see their digestive organs. It would be gross, but it’s rendered in bright primary colors so it’s more like “Child’s First Digestive System Chart” than anything.

Anyway, these ants live in a very structured society inside an apple core. They must gather food and then, at the end of the day, get in line to impregnate the queen ant to spawn a new society of ants. Along the way, they think about their lot in life and how they’re pretty much stuck in a repetitive cycle. Eventually, things collapse, and a small group of ants sorta have to figure out how to jump start a new society… and they can’t really move forward since their knowledge is of no use at all. Even a little kid, blessed with the power of foresight, can’t help but be entirely useless.

They must also fend off the advances of spiders (who have dog faces, for some reason) and the red ants, who are drawn to look more like conventional ants. The red ants enjoy lapping up the fluid that the dog-face spiders excrete while copulating because … I don’t know. The often gruesome nature of the stories are masked by the bright, rainbow-colored aesthetics. How can you be grossed out when a young ant swallows a puree of an earthworm, which turns into microscopic earthworms when it’s absorbed into his body? It’s so adorable!

I’ve read it somewhere that the problem with modern poetry is that it emphasizes too much on writing down what the poet is feeling. Sure, it leads to an honest display of emotions, but the final product is so disjointed it often resembles someone trying to tell you a dream they were having: relevant to the teller, confusing and kinda boring for the listener. I get the same sensation while reading Ant Comic. I can spin a whole number of theories as to what DeForge was going for. However, since I suspect it was one of those intentionally vague things where the reader is supposed to decided the meaning, I still come away feeling a little empty about the entire enterprise. It even ends abruptly, with one of the characters going off on a philosophical tangent and then … credits.

Still, the aesthetics are equally nightmarish and childish, giving off that weirdo 70′s vibe that you expect to be scored to Earth, Wind, and Fire. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t hate this comic. Existentialist pieces like this do have a place in the world of webcomics and on the Eisner nominations ballot. Still, I have to concede to the fact that I’m just not gettin’ it.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5).

Gather ’round children, and let me tell you a tale of webcomics past. Webcomics of yore! You see, there used to be a time when young men and women made webcomics based on unlikely prompts. Spam email! Palindromes! Ah, but the world is a more sophisticated place now, with no time for such primitive..,.

What’s that you say? There’s a Twitter: The Comic?

Yessiree, my friends, Mike Rosenthal (or, as he’s known on Twitter, “@vectorbelly“) has been moderating a posse of webcomic artists on Tumblr to create comics based on Tweets. They’re often quite funny. It helps that most of the Tweets selected tell a sort of minifiction in under 140 characters. Do you know anyone who actually tweets:

WELCOME TO APPLEBEES MAY I TAKE YOUR ORDER. DID U SAY “A PLATE OF SPIDERS” TOO LATE HERE IT COMES. U HAVE TO EAT IT ALL OR WE CALL THE COPS

Me neither. But apparently it got 1,000 retweets… and this rad webcomic.

I remember it vividly as if it were yesterday. The skies were clear this morning, but the temperatures were below zero. I had a scarf wrapped around my mouth and nose because it almost felt like ice crystals were forming. I was walking from my the parking lot to the building I work at. It was about a quarter mile walk since city restrictions prevented a parking garage from being built, so the company compensated by making the parking lot very, very large.

Fortunately the walkway was covered. However, as I walked down the path, I noticed something weird. There were lumps on the ground covered in frost. At first, I thought they were leaves. As I looked a little closer though, I discovered to my horror that they were birds. About a hundred birds, all littering the ground, dead and frosted. They’d taken shelter under the roof in an attempt to escape the cold snap. It was in vain. The frost had killed them.

Ryan Andrews, the writer of the Eisner-nominated Our Bloodstained Roof, taps into the same chilling realization that death is senseless, and how guilt has an unforgiving way of making our lives miserable for the rest of our lives.

The comic is fairly short at only four pages. A group of kids discover that a flock of geese has fallen dead onto the roof of their house, staining it with their blood. The blood is red — obviously — but it is the only color outside of black, white, and shades of gray represented in this comic. The kids want to kive the geese a funeral. Their dad gruffly rejects the idea. He says the bodies are diseased. He gathers the corpses in trash bags and plans to throw them in the city dump the next morning.

The kids, though, are afraid of what might happen if they don’t give the geese the right funeral. Will they come back to life and haunt them as ghosts? They hatch a plan to sneak out in the middle of the night, steal the geese, and give them a proper burial. Their hearts are in the right place, but the consequences of their actions continue to haunt them long after they’ve done the deed.

Some would call this a horror comic. However, it’s only one in the way that Andrews’ previous Eisner-nominated piece, Sarah and the Seed, was a horror comic: the most startling images reside purely in the imagination and the fear of the unknown. I can’t say that at any point did I feel frightened. What I did feel, though, was a sinking sense of melancholy.

Our Bloodstained Roof is a simple, understated story about the effects of guilt. The main thing driving the kids to bury the geese was a sense of guilt that they hadn’t done the right thing when they could. When that was done, though, the guilt was replaced by something else. The guilt of letting someone down, and a bloody red roof that would never let them forget it.

Or, to put it far more succinctly: some days, you just can’t win.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5).

“Aquaman’s not lame anymore!”

I have heard this refrain a thousand times. I imagine I will hear it a a thousand times more. It’s usually when writers try to “cool up” Aquaman. Oh, look, Aquaman’s badass now! Not that lame dude from the Superfriends who rode on a seahorse! Or the walking punchline from the Robot Chicken sketches!

Love him! LOVE HIM!

The first time I heard it was during Peter David’s run, where Aquaman lost a hand and replaced it with a hook. Then there was the time my favorite fantasy author, Tad Williams, wrote a bunch of Aquaman stories. And then there was the animated Justice League version. And then the Geoff Johns version where Aquaman is defying the public perception that he’s lame. I imagine it was being said when Aquaman was named leader of the all new, all different, and much maligned Justice League Detroit.

Most recently, people are saying it with regards to the Aquaman of the Injustice fighting game, where he attacks his enemies with sharks. (“Oh, man! They got eaten by sharks! Aquaman’s not lame anymore!”)

Here’s the thing, though. That phrase, “Aquaman’s not lame anymore”? It’s sorta like “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” Just by saying it, you’re reminding yourself that, hey, there are quite a few lame elements to the Aquaman character. And then you’re back to square one again.

This is why my favorite version of Aquaman is the guy who ruled the Seven Seas during the Silver Age.

Readers of “Know Thy History” will remember that, in my piece on the Green Lantern, there was an easy breaking point between the Golden Age and Silver Age characters. That’s because they were two different people. In the Golden Age, it was Alan Scott and his garish red-and-green piece. In the Silver Age, it was Hal Jordan… the guy from the movies. He was following in the footsteps of The Flash, who was Jay Garrick in the Golden Age and Barry Allen of the Silver Age. The Flash actually established the reasons behind the different characters by creating the concept of the Multiverse, something that’s gained plenty of traction in pop culture these days … but that’s a story for another day. (Shoot, I was tempted to do a “Know Thy History” on the Flash in wake of Carmine Infantino’s passing, but Arthur Curry won the toss up somehow.)

There’s really no breaking point between the Golden Age version of Aquaman. In the Golden Age, Aquaman was the son of an oceanographer who gained his abilities by harnessing the powers of the ocean, because … he really wanted those powers a lot? I think? The Silver Age one is the King of Atlantis version that current writers are still basing their stories on.

In fact, there’s a raging debate going on right now as to when the Silver Age Aquaman stories start. Was it in 1956 when he got his first sidekick, the loyal octopus friend Topo as some fans contend? Or is it, as the black-and-white collected works insist, the 1961 issue of DC Showcase when Aquaman reveals that he’s the son of an exiled Atlantean queen?

I tend to go with the “Topo represents the dawn of Silver Age” crowd because, well, the Aquaman-Topo team-ups are really fun. There’s a story where Topo and Arthur Curry are stranded on a desert island, for Pete’s sake! Which is totally worth it for this panel:

Look at that! A contemplative octopus!

There’s a specific challenge to being an artist for Aquaman. He lives in a world where you have to take full advantage of three dimensional space. Animals will be plentiful. Backgrounds will often be obscured by the blue expanse of water. Action sequences have to be slowed down a little to represent the environment. When they emerge from the water, they will have to look wet. And there will be many scenes where the characters don’t have their feet on the ground. These are challenges that they guys working on Superman or Batman have to rarely contend with.

Fortunately, Aquaman had two incredibly capable artists to start his Silver Age run. The first was Ramona Fradon, one of the few women to work in the comics field in her day. I adore her style. Her heroes don’t have stunning, Kirby-esque proportions we’ve come to expect from the world of body builder physiques. (Her biggest contribution to the title was creating Aqualad, Aquaman’s young sidekick who looked very much like a teen and not a tiny adult.) As you can see from that panel with Topo, Ms. Fradon was very adept in illustrating sea creatures with personalities… which came into play often since Aquaman’s most prominent (and most maligned) superpower is that he communicates with fishes.

Ms. Fradon went on to create legendary (and very odd) DC superhero, Metamorpho. Incredibly, Ms. Fradon is still working her magic in the comics world. During Free Comic Book day, she was hired to work on an issue of Spongebob Squarepants. Perfect for an artist who spent seven to eight years drawing underwater sea life, right? That’s not all: the issue also feature a character called Mermaid Man, who should look surprisingly familiar! A co-worker asked me once if I was going to go to Emerald City Comic Con. Not being a convention goer (I think I may be claustrophobic), I told him, “Only if Ramona Fradon shows up.”

I was not even kidding.

After Ms. Fradon left, she was replaced by the also incredibly capable Nick Cardy. He brought something different to the table. When Mr. Cardy took over, Aquaman took a turn toward being more action-packed and epic. The undersea creatures took on a more menacing look. Waves just seemed to swell and crash. And Aquaman was a full on action hero. Around this time, Aquaman and Aqualad returned to Atlantis, Mera arrived from another dimension and soon became the Queen, and Aquaman picked up a couple of recurring villains in the forms of Black Manta and Ocean Master. This was the time when Aquaman was more of a king than just some water-based superhero.

Seriously, look at that whale! They’ve gone from being cute cuddly animals accused of a crime they didn’t commit to being the Muggle-flippin’ Leviathan of the Deep!

Anyway, Aquaman was basically the Superman of the Seven Seas … only instead of trying to prank Lois Lane every other issue, he was actually off doing superhero stuff. Stuff which was phenomenally goofy.

During NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writer’s Month), there was a prompt to write poems from the perspective of a superhero. I decided to do one on Aquaman, highlighting how fun his Silver Age adventures could be. If you’ll let me, I’d like to spin you some rhymes:

Like comets streaking through the sky
An airplane plunges to the sea.
Resigned, they fear the end is nigh
Their grave: ten leagues from Mauna Kea.

But, lo, a strange sight churns the waves!
A pod of whales swim close and swift.
These noble creatures, bold and brave,
Join up to form a landing strip.

I summoned them by mental call
For I’m the mortal they call King.
I’m there when troubled luck befalls
The safety of all living things.

Son of a man who lit the beam
Protecting ships from jagged shore
And an exiled mermaid queen
Whose heritage I once ignored.

Yet oceans held tight on my soul;
Its undertow too swift and strong.
I ventured forth like knights of old —
A hero’s call, my siren’s song.

Uneasy on my brow’s the crown
Not bred was I of royalty.
A lighthouse keeper’s son, deep down,
With pride in humble ancestry.

I thus send forth my finny friends
To stop foul pirates and their kind.
To darkest depths, my crown defends
The oceans from vile sorts of crime:

Bad men who in mad science play —
From island labs, their monsters breed —
To tycoons wrecking coral bays
Through eco-damage born from greed.

I don a suit of bright scale mail
While perched on a seahorse’s back.
The barracudas, sharks, and whales
At beckon call press the attack.

With Neptune’s trident in my hand
The waves roll through some mythic source
I drive back evils from dry land,
The seas’ sanctity enforced.

So thus is Arthur Curry’s reign
The Seven Seas sworn to protect.
I leave, with might of hurricanes,
My villains stranded and shipwrecked.

That should be all you need to know why I’m never really a creators trying to make Aquaman cooler by turning him into yet another dark, brooding superhero. C’mon, we have enough of those guys! What’s wrong with the Aquaman who just likes to help people out because they’re having problems in his domain? I think it’s pretty telling that the most successful recent version of Aquaman is the one from Batman: Brave & The Bold. He was a big, blustery family man that was incredibly capable, but who totally embraced his cheesiness. Going grimdark is solving nothing.

C’mon, DC writers… he’s not Namor.

(For more Aquaman, including reprinted comics, check out the best blog on the internet dedicated to talking about one superhero: The Aquaman Shrine. Also, check out Tom vs. Aquaman, a podcast that looks at old DC issues and comments on them snarkily. It was this podcast, by the way, that introduced me long ago to the glorious adventures of Silver Age Aquaman.)

I think the main source of vitriol comes from the fact that despite the idea of feminism being about breaking down gender barriers so that men and women can truly be seen as equals, most people are likely more familiar with straw feminism, in which the movement is portrayed as women trying to dominate the world by enslaving men. This is because it’s the version that gets portrayed more often in the media as it is an easy story telling trope with more opportunities for drama rather than the reality of women just wanting respect and to feel safe.

This is why I have issues with the Sisterhood in Sinfest, they are much closer to the straw version than the real one. However Tat has made it clear that he is trying to support women’s rights, not mock them. But he still uses inaccurate methods to do so. An actual feminist strip would be something like Xanthe and Crimnee talking about the hardships women face as equals. It could be a Sunday strip where they have an in depth conversation, make intelligent observations, point out some misconceptions, and then God pulls out a hand puppet to mock the inevitable shipping.

Instead, we get what Tatsuya has always produced, propaganda. And while he does hit on some good points, it can be hard to take someone seriously when they make everything literally the devil’s fault.

There is also the problem of willful ignorance rather than admit to fans that his views are seen as narrow minded by other people. One of the things is how Tatsuya portrays Third Wave feminism, which is about the inclusion of all women, no matter their race or social standing. He did bring it up, but only to dismiss it as ‘regular misogyny’ by having a straw man character, a literal pig, misinterpret it, only focussing on the ‘pro-sex’ side of it, despite that part of the idea being about how a woman should be free to express herself sexually or dress how she wishes without being thought of less.

This is why, and please allow me to explain before judging, I don’t think Tatsuya has ever truly believed in any of the political issues he mentions in his strip. His comics on real world issues have always been very black and white, with clearly defined heroes and villains while remaining vague on specific topics. Despite presenting Barack Obama as a hero, Tatsuya never once mentioned anything about the man’s campaign platform beyond the generic ‘Change’ slogan. Sarah Palin is presented as a cross dressing pig, but why did that make the republicans a lesser choice? And besides that, Tat has always loved his conspiracy theories, making comics about how the government is spying on us.

These strips are, as I mentioned above, closer to propaganda. They are incredibly over the top with the opposition almost always being a tool of the devil while our hero is either the trodden down under dog who refuses to give up, or the invincible bad ass whose noble cause prevents them from coming to harm.

I’m not saying that by having Xanthe be nearly unbeatable she is automatically a bad character. Far from it, I actually kind of like her. Sure, she could learn to be more polite, and maybe gain a little more positive depth (Which could be achieved by something as simple as the Sisterhood having a friendly game of basketball) but she really isn’t that bad a character. And the reality of how hard it is to change the system seems to be seeping in, in a way, making Xanthe more sympathetic. It’s just that she seems more like Tat’s power fantasy rather than someone created to be a strong female character. The cynical side of me actually wonders if Tat has only gone on with this arc so long because he’s finally found a conspiracy that actually exists.

Because when you examine these strips, what do you get? You get feminists who brow beat their opinions and refuse to hear otherwise while the men are morons. This is not forward thinking, this is patriarchal humour from the guy who tells us not to think that way.

When you get right down to it, Tat drank the Kool-Aid and is trying to convince everyone he threw it out the window. Including himself.

(David Herbert is the writer behind Domain Tnemrot and Living With Insanity.)