OCEANS OF HURT: THE PLIGHT OF
AQUAMAN: THE WORLD'S
MOST UNRELIABLE
SUPER-HERO.
[The
following was originally written in
2003, before every asshole and
his brother jumped on the Anti-Aquaman
bandwagon...].
You know who my heart goes out
to? Aquaman. Although, I've always been of the
school (HIYO) of thought that it should be written
as "AQUA-MAN", and not "AQUAMAN". I mean, the guy
isn't Jewish. Although, he may have natural a
disposition towards gefilte fish given the sheer
amount of time spent in the Ocean. But my point
stands. Whatever that is. "Oy! Hershel Shlomo
Aquaman, you better hurry your tookas up, or we'll
all be late for Synagogue!"
Anyway, my
point is, and yes, there is one, is that Aquaman
is not the world's most reliable Super-Hero. Have
a pesky "crime issue" leagues under the sea? He's
definitely your man. Everywhere else? He's just an
asshole is a one-piece orange fish unitard,
walking around like you and I, his reinforcements
completely negated. I mean, I *guess* there's
chance that he could somehow channel a goldfish to
rock his fucking bowl until it tipped over and
fell on a criminal's head, thus knocking them out;
but how many muggers, burglars, rapists and
thieves are standing directly under a fishbowl?
You see my point. He brings nothing to the table.
Other than a pretty delectable assortment of
Seafood. He has great access, after all.
But it's not really Aqua's fault, you'd
think that comic writers would have seen potential
issues coming...
Comic
Book Writer #1: "Ok, Ok, we HAVE Superman.
He can fly, pick up heavy objects and melt shit
with eyes. And we have Batman. He has neat little
weapons, cloaks himself is darkness, and is a
brilliant detective. But what would happen if
either of these two suddenly found themselves in
the Ocean!"
Comic Book
Writer #2: "Wait. why would they be the
Ocean? What's in the Ocean? Who'd EVER want to
start any sort of shit there?"
Comic Book Writer #1: "Good
point. But let's just say, just to be safe, we
create a super-hero who'll have that base covered;
we'll call him AQUAMAN. And he'll swim. My god
will he swim."
Comic
Book Artist #2: "But everyone can swim,
pretty much."
Comic
Artist #1: "But not as fast as this
guy!"
Comic Book Artist
#2: "What about Superman? He's pretty fast.
Plus, he can breathe in space, so water shouldn't
be an issue. Hell, if Flash can run that fast, he
could probably swim pretty fast,
too..."
Comic Book
Artist #1: "Jesus Christ. You're right.
Well, we'll just keep those assholes out of the
drink, and give Aquaman the ability to, umm, wait,
I got it! He'll be able to TALK TO FISH."
Comic Book Artist #2: "Wait.
What will that accomplish?"
Comic Book Artist #1: "I
don't know. Jesus. They'll squawk a lot and splash
around. It'll be irritating. I don't
know."
Comic Book
Artist #2: "You know what? Why not? Maybe
people will buy a few issues of this thing before
they figure out how fucking stupid it
is...."
....50 Years
later
Comic Booker
Artist #1: "Soooo, what if we gave him a
beard, and a big fucking Trident?"
Comic Booker Artist # 2:
"GOLD!"
So, ya, that's Aquaman in a
nutshell, or crab-shell as it were. I feel for his
ridiculous plight. Really, I do. In fact, given
the sheer uselessness of Aqua sans water, you've
got to wonder why he was ever even inducted into
the Justice League in the first place. I can just
picture the awkwardness:
Superman: "Lex Luthor and the
Legion Of Doom have unfurled a scheme that could
see life as we know it come to and
end!"
Batman:
"Ok, guys. You heard, Supes. SUIT
UP."
Aquaman:
"Umm, question. Does this "evil plot" by any
chance take place near any bodies of
water?"
Superman:
"Nope."
Aquaman:
*"sigh* well, I'll be in my room if anyone needs
me."
Flash: "Ya,
we'll call you if one of us falls into a fucking
lake or something."
Green Arrow: "Ya, and maybe
while we're gone, you can get some of your Dolphin
buddies to fetch us some take-out or something.
We'll probably be hungry when we get
back."
Justice
League: Hahahahaha. (in unison, whilst
pointing at Aqua-Man).
Aquaman: "I hate my
life."
Poor Aquaman. At least Namor has
super strength.
But on the other
hand, Aquaman does get to at least wear pants,
unlike Submariner, who's forever cursed to be
housed only in a pair of scaly underoos for
eternity, dressed like the gay pool boy of fucking
Neptune. And ya, Aqua will at least always have
someone to talk to. Even if all he ever hears is
"gargle, blump, blump." That's something... I
guess.
Sean Carless is
a man of many hats. And he wears those hats to
cover an ever-increasing bald spot. Sean's various
scribblings have been read at Live Audio
Wrestling, 411 Mania, Honky Tonk Man.com, The
Toronto Star.com, and Lethal Wrestling. He has
also cured AIDS.