The Mind of Scott: Thoughts from an Aquafan
Part of my morning ritual every day is grabbing my phone and heading over to Twitter to see what’s been happening while I slept. On Thursday night, the answer for this life-long Aquaman fan was a great deal.
Director Zack Snyder tweeted out a photo of Jason Momoa, best known as Khal Drago from Game of Thrones, armored up as Aquaman. The King of the Seven Seas will hit the big screen as part of Batman vs Superman, and will star in his own film down the road.
My first reaction was “Wow, Rob Zombie really buffed up.” Following that, I wondered aloud where the orange and green was. Then I came to a conclusion: it looked pretty damn cool.
I love Aquaman, and have for decades. It saddened me how he was portrayed in pop culture and in the hands of bad comic writers. Did he always have to get a ride in the Superfriends cartoon? Why couldn’t he just swim to fight the villains? The constant derision for the whole “he talks to fish” thing was especially galling. Did people not realize he had dominion over about three-quarters of the planet?
Ugh.
Thankfully, Geoff Johns changed that. When DC’s New 52 launched, Johns took the writing reins of Aquaman and showed the world what I’ve known since the 70s: Aquaman was really awesome. I even got a message from a friend, who just started reading comics after years of me trying to get him interested, saying “AQUAMAN IS AWESOME!” Jeff Parker picked up the story after Johns left the series and the book is still absolutely awesome.
I’ve enjoyed the character through numerous incarnations, from the classic orange and green to the blue body suit with the waves to the hook and beyond. Despite the different appearances, one thing was constant: I loved the character. That’s certainly not going to change now that Momoa is wearing the crown, so to speak.
I will admit a bit of trepidation when his casting was announced, but after seeing that photo, all my fears have been allayed. He may not look like the character I’ve grown up with, but I survived a nippled Batsuit and came out fine on the other side. He reminds me of the Peter David era version of Aquaman, with the long hair, beard and aforementioned hook…and that’s not a bad thing at all, as that was one of my favourite runs.
If anything, the reveal has made me even more excited for Batman vs Superman. Is it 2016 yet?