Probably around the same time we get the live action Doc Savage movie starring The Rock (Which I'm pretty sure is no longer a thing at this point, which is a shame, I think he could be good in the role)!
@@HandofOmega Not been a thing for quite a while. I read an interview with Max Landis a few years back now. Where he said he'd been writing it, but it was now a dead project.
I love the concept of Aquaman as somebody who is so socially awkward from talking to fish for 90 percent of the time that when he occasionally surfaces to save people, he makes terrible puns, babbles out his entire life story, then yells “NOW I MUST GO” and vanishes beneath the waves
I would love an Aquaman story where Arthur just comes across an old Adam Waterman, still in costume but with a big old beard, just sitting there talking to his fish. Arthur can be like who the heck are you!?
I remember when Golden Age Aquaman was a point of discussion for fans on blogs and podcasts because typically when they did JSA JLA crossovers they showed Aquaman as being one of those heroes who had no Earth 2 counterpart which went against history.
I need a comic cover of both Arthur & Adam recreating the Flash of Two Worlds’ cover. Have them both swimming after the same fish😂. It can be, “Aquaman of Two Seas”
Re: Golden Age Aquaman's reluctance to name his father, I once ran a Golden Age Superhero TTRPG campaign which featured Aquaman. It became a running joke that Aquaman wouldn't say who his dad was, but everyone knew it was Clark Savage Senior.
The fact that he lives in the sea and can apparently talk to all sea life and yet feels the need to go to a college to learn more about the sea is very goofy to me.
Even though it’s not the same Aquaman, I find it funny that both Aquaman and Aquababy took around 10 years to get a conventional name. Not just a conventional name for Aquababy, but the SAME NAME, Arthur Curry Junior!
If any universe insists on bringing back Adam with the same suit as Arthur best explanation is probably making it of significance like the films did and then saying Adam found it first or his dad found / made a replica of the legends
It's interesting that unlike Flash and Green Lantern, Golden and Silver Age Aquaman don't have different costumes. In fact, I didn't even know they were different people.
I've said it before: I'd fold the Golden Age origin into the Silver Age one, having Arthur's father use the mysterious, lost technology to transform his half-Atlantean son into a super-Atlantean who is faster, stronger, and has other abilities greater than normal Atlanteans. I didn't know about the new "Who's Who page" with the Ordway art. Thank you. Oh, I Iiked how your mind wandered this episode. It was a wild trip! 🤣
"He looks pretty old in these panels" In All-Star Comics #8, The Princess didn't even have a name. Aphrodite deciding to name Hippolyte's baby "Diana" was a retcon. She originally grew into adulthood just being called "daughter".
15:47 Ok, here's my pitch for bringing back Adam Waterman: the civilization that his dad was studying was a lost part of Atlantis. A new villain becomes obsessed with finding out how ancient Atlantians adapted to life under the sea (for conquest purposes, or maybe overeager defense of the surface world), but finds out even modern Atlantians don't actually know the full process, that knowledge was lost a long time ago. The villain (let's follow the Aqua tradition of obvious names and call him Badfish) learns about the legend of Waterman and tracks him down to try to force him to give up the secrets he learned from his father. The Aquamans team up to defeat Badfish, and at the end Waterman shows Curry his father's old lab. This leads to a new angle for Aquaman stories; now that the secret of turning surface humans into Atlantians is known, there are many surface dwellers who want the upgrades. Some are just power hungry, others might just want to immigrate to Atlantis, and some just for practical reasons. Waterman could stick around to be involved in this new, ongoing issue as Atlantis becomes more entangled with the surface than ever. And get some friends that are not fish.
Didn't they use part of his origin for the replacement Aquaman during the 52/One Year Later storyline? The one that was running around playing undersea Conan with King Shark. Wait whatever happened to that guy?
Sasha is going to totally write the Absolute Aquaman.. with the edgy water boy who lives all by himself and has decided to rule the sea because he has fish friends.
Actually, there was another similar character coming between Doc Savage and Aquaman. The pulp character called " the Skipper" debuted in December 1936. Captain Fury ( AKA the Skipper) was a seafaring version of Doc Savage. A scientist and explorer with lots of gadgets who traveled on his ship The Whirlwind, fighting pirates and smugglers. He was assisted by his shipmates Marlin Briggs and 'Hurricane' Belmont. His ally on shore was Inspector Doom.
There's also : Iron Man is a Canadian fictional character, created by cartoonist Vernon Miller for Maple Leaf Publishing. A superhero, the character's debut was in the first issue of Better Comics in March 1941, Iron Man was the last member of a mutated human subspecies that lived in the South Seas, having survived a devastating earthquake which eradicated his people. He lived alone in a sunken palace until roused from his mourning by World War II. After being summoned by two children and an adult named the Major, he threw in his lot with the Allies, viewing the Nazis as no better than pirates, whom he also hated.[
I was very much aware of GA Aquaman for decades, and always wondered about him; I was thrilled when he got reprised in the New Golden Age Special, which implied that Johns had plans for him.
Kurt Busieck actually did a Golden Age version of Aquaman, after Infinite Crisis and the weekly 52 series. It was called Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. It lasted 18 issues from 2006 to 2007. It had an Aquaman that was created by science. He talked to fish and could breath underwater. The son of marine biologist Philip Curry and his wife Elaine Curry, he was born prematurely on Avalon Cay during a storm; his mother died during childbirth. To save him, his father used an experimental procedure developed by Anton Geist that gave him gills. It’s a weird story
That version of Aquaman was a nod to the Golden and Silver Age versions of the character since the post-Crisis Peter David written version of Aquaman was neither Adam Waterman or Arthur Curry nor was he raised by humans. Post Crisis Aquaman was King Orin of Atlantis and his origins were basically Tarzan or Mowgli's but in the ocean bcuz henwas raises by dolphins. This version of Arthur Curry was younger and took over after King Orin supposedly died but actually became a water elemental call the Dweller of the Deep. Busiek combined the Golden Age origin with the Silver Age name since David kept everything revolving around Atlantis. Busiek's Arthur Curry was then killed off and David's King Orin reclaimed the mantle until the New52 when Geoff Johns took the Silver Age Arthur Curry and merged it with much of King Orin's history. Tbh, Aquaman's continuity is nearly as convoluted as Hawkman's but his pop culture infamy made it easier for readers to just accept or dismiss inconsistencies.
@@spiderhamilton1 I remember the Justice League calling Aquaman Arthur in the 2000's Morrison/Waid/Kelly run. Maybe the continuity discrepancies strated earlier.
I like the way so many Golden Age characters were so poorly fleshed out. It leaves so much room for retelling and revamping. I did know about the original version of Aquaman as well as the difference in gloves.
I'd take Waterman and add college friends like the "Teen-agers" movies: a brainy girl, a beautiful girl, a nerd, a crooner, etc. Stories would have a mix-up occur which would lead to a college pal getting in trouble, and Aquaman saving him or her.
I knew about Golden Age Aquaman, but didn't know anything about him. This WAS fascinating! I also love any acknowledgment for Doc Savage, who influenced dozens of pulp heroes and superheroes, especially everyone science based!
I totally didn’t even know there was another Aquaman completely different than Arthur Curry. Loved this whole video! Thanks for the new knowledge! Love the channel!
If you check you can find copies of the story from "More Fun" 73 where he had yellow gloves (and leg fins.) I believe that was the original printing. Some later reprints of that story gave him the "silver age" color scheme.
Nice to see the shoutout to Doc Savage. One of my favorite characters. I definitely want an Adam Waterman mini series, where he has the octopus in his dorm room and has adventures.
Another hero that seems to blur the line between Golden Age and Silver Age is Wildcat. In his origin story in Sensation Comics number 1 (1942), he gets the idea of having a costumed persona from a boy who read about Green Lantern’s secret identity in a comic book. Those comic books were available to readers like Barry Allen on Earth One, but surely an Earth Two comic book writer would have no idea that Green Lantern was Alan Scott.
I suppose the easiest way to connect the two would be to say that Tom Curry, the modern Aquaman's dad, was really the Golden Age Aquaman. He retired from crimefighting, started working at the lighthouse, eventually met a woman from Atlantis and they had a kid.
I knew Monsieur Waterman through those All-Star Squadron issues, and I assumed Thomas hadn't pulled him out of thin air, but I've sure never seen any of those issues you highlighted. Thanks!
When I think of Aquaman I think of how in the Super friends cartoons how it was Wonder woman's job to haul him around. If there wasn't any water what good was he just stinking up the invisible jet and eating Wendy's biscuits.
Regarding the color scheme, the orange may be intentional. The colors of the spectrum become invisible the deeper one dives underwater. Blue, I believe is the first to disappear. Orange being the last. Aquaman's orange top would remain the most visible color deeper underwater. Or maybe the colorist had extra orange ink that day. 🤷♂️
Adam Waterman being this social recluse who couldn't quite keep the claim on the name Aquaman due to that is super interesting. To go along with your edgy ideas, I really like the idea of him as a lonely god in an abandoned Atlantean city, not evil or anything to that effect, but just too detached to keep a normal life going. But also just do a remake of the college story except make it a National Lampoon buddy comedy with Arthur where they get mistaken for twins and have to finish a group project in time to get Adam his diploma.
It’s funny to think of both Aquamen being around at the same time. While Arthur was ruling the kingdom, Adam Waterman is off somewhere in the middle of the ocean talking to fish, calling himself the ruler of the 7 seas and telling random people his life story.
I think the proper plural term is "Aquamans" but that's neither here nor there. How did he even get a GED under water to be able to apply to colleges? In my head-canon, Waterman's still in college as some old guy still attending classes and freaking people out with how long he can sit at the bottom of the pool. He left his fish friends behind for campus life and never looked back!
Does the New Golden Age explain why Atlantis was empty when Adam was active, then suddenly fully populated when Arthur comes on the scene? To me that’s a bigger Q than the costume
the way they accounted for golden age Green Arrow was just using time travel to make it the same guy. I don't think Superman and Batman ever got this sort of treatment - at least not under the same name, they've had stand-ins in the JSA
Doc Savage(and Philip Wylie's Gladiator) influenced Superman, The Shadow(Dick Tracy and others) influenced Batman and Amazona The Mighty Woman influenced Wonder Woman. It's not talked about enough.
My first introduction of Aquaman was on the Superfriends ABC cartoon was watching him fly out of the water, sliding on top of a bunch of picnic tables to get his hands on Wendy’s biscuits!!!!
Love to see this! Im a huge fan of the silver age Aquaman comics and the character has a whole, glad people talk about him. Ive never had a chance to read the GA era but I want to even more now
Arthur: ~walks in seeing old man Adam hanging around the throne room~Adam Waterman what are you doing here? Adam: ~wearing his costume but in pajama form and sunglasses~ Waiting for them to play Gangam Style
Yes! I literally asked for this vid on the last Aquaman vid. Love it! The yellow gloves on the Earth-2 Aquaman in the justice society animated movie too was a nice nod even if that wasn't Mr. Waterman.
No, stay away from Golden Age Aquaman! That way lies madness! Don't you remember what happened when they tried to explain Hawkman's origins? Talk about something safer, like when he got that cool blue uniform post-Crisis.
I think that we should see a timel line where Jimmy Olsen and Adam Waterman become the best of friends, bur Golden Age Superman can't handle a shared bromance, so passive-aggressive shenanigans and dumb ocean puns ensue
you know when post-cirsis aquaman died he was replaced by a another aquaman witht the same origin then he jsut sort of faded into ther background when the original came back to life. to my knowlege there are currently 3 different aquamen just out there doing who knows what
Another great video I’m actually kinda looking forward to the Peter Davis Aquaman omnibus being released this week. Would love to hear your thoughts on that era of Aquaman
The much missed Aquaman Shrine website used to have 'Adventure Sundays' where they printed panels from the Golden Age and early Silver Age Aquaman stories in 'Adventure'. There was a real charm to those 1940s and 1950s tales - I'd love to see a video on such forgotten characters as Black Jack the modern pirate or Phineas Pike the 'Sea Sleuth'.
I seem to recall seeing in one of your favorite things, the letter column, an author saying that there was no Earth-2 Aquaman, lending credence to your “people working on the comics forgot about him” theory that you brought up. Can’t remember which issue, though.
I like having Adam Waterman be a second Aquaman concurrent to Arthur Curry, and him just being super awkward is pretty fun. My personal headcanon for how they have the same costume is they are both based on an Atlantean design, and the underwater city that Waterman found was previously inhabited by Atlanteans.
The golden age aquaman would make a great like Harvey birdman style show and I picture him as like a weird goofy Indiana jones doc savage character but a stoner
Whether Golden or Silver Age, I always prefer this Aquaman who looks like just a clean cut California surfer boy instead of King Neptune or the great God Poseidon with the long hair and beard, because to me, that average looking guy trait is a major part of his appeal. I'm thinking in particular of an early story where two bad guys with guns are shooting bullets at fish, and Aquaman shows up to tell them to stop that, and the bad guys are like; "Ha! It's just Aquaman. What can HE do to stop us? Keep firing!" And after they defy him they are totally surprised and caught off-guard by his incredible power! The clean cut California surfer look, is precicely what throws the unsuspecting bad guys off balance because he looks so NOT threatening, whereas if he emerges from the sea looking all-powerful God-like, that whole unexpected element of surprise is lost. I really like when the bad guys underestimate Aquaman, and even in that story you showed where the coach and students are astonished at how long "Adam Waterman" can remain underwater without coming up for air, I find that really cool. If it were up to me, Aquaman would always look like this Golden/Silver/Bronze age California surfer dude type, because that more imposing and intimidating long-haired, bearded, God-King look they gave him later ruined the character. It gives too much away, upon first sight.
Where can Golden Age AQUAMAN stories be read? They seem hard to find? The Golden Age and later Atlas stories for NAMOR are excellent, I highly recommend them! With my love of the sea and diving I have always been attracted to these underwater heroes and stories. A wonderful summation and incisive coverage, Super Sasha. Thank you!
So was the ruins Adam Waterman's father discovered and studied an Atlantian ruin or ruins of a surface people city that sank? Would Arthur Curry and other Atlantians see it as Adam living and "ruling" over a mass grave or something? Could any normal human in this setting train to breath under water like Adam if given enough time? Also there's more to the ocean than just fish, there are many more ocean related degrees Adam could get, you could turn Aquaman Goes To College into a series in and of itself.
Thank you for the history lesson. I knew there was a golden age Aquaman, just didn't know the history. As an aside, my favorite Aquaman was the one written by Peter David. That one put an end to 'being a joke'.
This was interesting and also a lot of fun. I think Sovereign of the Seven Seas is one of the best superhero titles, even if we don't know who appointed Aquaman, lol!
So, I read comics back in the 70's and 80's. The only DC comic I read at the time of the Crisis on Infinite Earths was Ifinity Inc., so I was really unaware of what was happening with Crisis at the time. So, I was firmly in the Bronze age. And I was a fan of the golden age, through All Star Squadron, and the JLA JSA cross overs. Yet this is the first I have heard of a Golden Age Aquaman.
I think the most interesting thing about the Golden Age Aquaman is simply that he isn't all that interesting--there's so little to him. I agree with you that, given his sparse origin, he's ripe for an "alternate" Aquaman story, revealing secrets that were never mentioned before, maybe even turning him into more of an anti-hero or even villain. Exactly what has he been doing in the depths of the oceans all this time if he didn't have the Atlanteans or Lemurians to interact with? Otherwise, the yellow gloves and the origin, and the lack of supporting characters are really all that distinguish him from Arthur Curry, the Silver Age Aquaman.
The first superhero comic that I remember seeing was the Death of a Prince. It cemented my interest in Aquaman. I'd love a dark series about the broken people brought up in the "Doc Savage" style.
Having both on a single earth makes no sense. We don’t have the Golden Age Batman, Robin, etc and if we have Adam Waterman we should have the Golden Age Ollie and Speedy - not a rabbit hole to go down, continuity wise!
Adam Waterman mini series when lol?
Probably around the same time we get the live action Doc Savage movie starring The Rock (Which I'm pretty sure is no longer a thing at this point, which is a shame, I think he could be good in the role)!
#ketchrospective (sorry if this is getting annoying love your channel!)
@@HandofOmega Not been a thing for quite a while. I read an interview with Max Landis a few years back now. Where he said he'd been writing it, but it was now a dead project.
Also do you ever check emails for video ideas? I sent one you might find interesting, although it's pretty whimmy
Al Ewing is taking notes on this video as we speak
No Atlantis, potentially abusive parent… isn’t this just Absolute Aquaman?
I love the concept of Aquaman as somebody who is so socially awkward from talking to fish for 90 percent of the time that when he occasionally surfaces to save people, he makes terrible puns, babbles out his entire life story, then yells “NOW I MUST GO” and vanishes beneath the waves
You can always tell if it’s the true Aquaman if he says “OUTRAGEOUS”
@@joeker5208 It’s ESSENTIAL.
@@joeker5208 ABSOLUTELY!
@@joeker5208 And names his adventures while still on them.
Ah yes, I remember him; part of the OG Justice League alongside Clark Strongman, Diana Lassowoman, and Bruce Traumatizedman
Why is Man not listed here? Is he stupid?
Don’t forget about Jay Fastman & Alan Notafraidofwoodsman
😂
@@joeker5208 Yes, very true. And Hal Signlease.
Barry Runningman
Silver Age Aquaman and Mera once stayed in a hotel under the name Mr and Mrs Waterman in Aquaman issue 26.
I would love an Aquaman story where Arthur just comes across an old Adam Waterman, still in costume but with a big old beard, just sitting there talking to his fish. Arthur can be like who the heck are you!?
I'm on board with that. it would be cool
Is DC comics won't do it there's always fanfiction
I'm with you, let's bring him back, and make him like Brave and Bold Aquaman, and make him say "OUTRAGEOUS!"
The real question is... does this Aquaman sing!?!? Brave and the Bold's Aquaman sure does and that'll always be my Aquaman.
He's such a standout in that show
I remember when Golden Age Aquaman was a point of discussion for fans on blogs and podcasts because typically when they did JSA JLA crossovers they showed Aquaman as being one of those heroes who had no Earth 2 counterpart which went against history.
I need a comic cover of both Arthur & Adam recreating the Flash of Two Worlds’ cover. Have them both swimming after the same fish😂. It can be, “Aquaman of Two Seas”
He’s like Mr. T.
“First name Mister, second name period,last name T.”
T stands for Tuna, because T likes Tuna.
Re: Golden Age Aquaman's reluctance to name his father, I once ran a Golden Age Superhero TTRPG campaign which featured Aquaman. It became a running joke that Aquaman wouldn't say who his dad was, but everyone knew it was Clark Savage Senior.
The fact that he lives in the sea and can apparently talk to all sea life and yet feels the need to go to a college to learn more about the sea is very goofy to me.
Even though it’s not the same Aquaman, I find it funny that both Aquaman and Aquababy took around 10 years to get a conventional name. Not just a conventional name for Aquababy, but the SAME NAME, Arthur Curry Junior!
If any universe insists on bringing back Adam with the same suit as Arthur best explanation is probably making it of significance like the films did and then saying Adam found it first or his dad found / made a replica of the legends
It's interesting that unlike Flash and Green Lantern, Golden and Silver Age Aquaman don't have different costumes. In fact, I didn't even know they were different people.
It's amazing how they got most of the costume from day 1 the colours at least lasted to this day!
Just gonna ignore Batman saying, "Yes, Starman, there really is an Aquaman." Aquaman, the Santa Claus of the seven seas.
It's funny how there have technically been three different Aquamen with blond hair and extremely similar names lol
Adam Waterman, the worlds loneliest super hero. Screw brooding old Batman, he spoke with people, all Adam Waterman had was fish.
I've said it before: I'd fold the Golden Age origin into the Silver Age one, having Arthur's father use the mysterious, lost technology to transform his half-Atlantean son into a super-Atlantean who is faster, stronger, and has other abilities greater than normal Atlanteans.
I didn't know about the new "Who's Who page" with the Ordway art. Thank you.
Oh, I Iiked how your mind wandered this episode. It was a wild trip! 🤣
"He looks pretty old in these panels" In All-Star Comics #8, The Princess didn't even have a name. Aphrodite deciding to name Hippolyte's baby "Diana" was a retcon. She originally grew into adulthood just being called "daughter".
15:47 Ok, here's my pitch for bringing back Adam Waterman: the civilization that his dad was studying was a lost part of Atlantis. A new villain becomes obsessed with finding out how ancient Atlantians adapted to life under the sea (for conquest purposes, or maybe overeager defense of the surface world), but finds out even modern Atlantians don't actually know the full process, that knowledge was lost a long time ago. The villain (let's follow the Aqua tradition of obvious names and call him Badfish) learns about the legend of Waterman and tracks him down to try to force him to give up the secrets he learned from his father. The Aquamans team up to defeat Badfish, and at the end Waterman shows Curry his father's old lab. This leads to a new angle for Aquaman stories; now that the secret of turning surface humans into Atlantians is known, there are many surface dwellers who want the upgrades. Some are just power hungry, others might just want to immigrate to Atlantis, and some just for practical reasons. Waterman could stick around to be involved in this new, ongoing issue as Atlantis becomes more entangled with the surface than ever. And get some friends that are not fish.
Didn't they use part of his origin for the replacement Aquaman during the 52/One Year Later storyline? The one that was running around playing undersea Conan with King Shark.
Wait whatever happened to that guy?
Sasha is going to totally write the Absolute Aquaman.. with the edgy water boy who lives all by himself and has decided to rule the sea because he has fish friends.
Actually, there was another similar character coming between Doc Savage and Aquaman. The pulp character called " the Skipper" debuted in December 1936. Captain Fury ( AKA the Skipper) was a seafaring version of Doc Savage. A scientist and explorer with lots of gadgets who traveled on his ship The Whirlwind, fighting pirates and smugglers. He was assisted by his shipmates Marlin Briggs and 'Hurricane' Belmont. His ally on shore was Inspector Doom.
Bah! Doom has no time for your foolishness.
I’m surprised Adam Waterman didn’t make a… Bigger SPLASH lol
"Gee Adam, you're such a good swimmer" "That's because I am Aquaman, Lord of the Ocean!" "OK..." backs away slowly.
There's also : Iron Man is a Canadian fictional character, created by cartoonist Vernon Miller for Maple Leaf Publishing. A superhero, the character's debut was in the first issue of Better Comics in March 1941, Iron Man was the last member of a mutated human subspecies that lived in the South Seas, having survived a devastating earthquake which eradicated his people. He lived alone in a sunken palace until roused from his mourning by World War II. After being summoned by two children and an adult named the Major, he threw in his lot with the Allies, viewing the Nazis as no better than pirates, whom he also hated.[
Doc Savage , The Man of Bronze,even had a movie in 1975.
My dad got the VHS in the 90's. I really like it but more for it's goofy campy fun.
Can we have a shout out to Ron Ely, who died recently. He was the perfect choice for Doc.
I was very much aware of GA Aquaman for decades, and always wondered about him; I was thrilled when he got reprised in the New Golden Age Special, which implied that Johns had plans for him.
"He keeps getting more power - he needs to be stopped!" 😄
It would be nice to see Jay Garrick, or Alan Scott, reminisce about Waterman.
Great Job!! Always love your Golden/Silver/Bronze Age content!
Oh god, Aquaman's father is Jacques Cousteau! Or perhaps Captain Nemo.
"He keeps getting more powers; he needs to be stopped!" 😆😆😆👍
"How did Aquaman become ruler of the sea?"
obviously some dried-out bint lobbed a scimitar at him in a farcical terrestrial ceremony ;)
Golden Age atlanteans were being part of an anarcho-syndicalist commune of mud collectors, that's why he never met them.
Sasha building up her Aquaman playlist
Kurt Busieck actually did a Golden Age version of Aquaman, after Infinite Crisis and the weekly 52 series.
It was called Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis. It lasted 18 issues from 2006 to 2007. It had an Aquaman that was created by science. He talked to fish and could breath underwater.
The son of marine biologist Philip Curry and his wife Elaine Curry, he was born prematurely on Avalon Cay during a storm; his mother died during childbirth. To save him, his father used an experimental procedure developed by Anton Geist that gave him gills.
It’s a weird story
That version of Aquaman was a nod to the Golden and Silver Age versions of the character since the post-Crisis Peter David written version of Aquaman was neither Adam Waterman or Arthur Curry nor was he raised by humans. Post Crisis Aquaman was King Orin of Atlantis and his origins were basically Tarzan or Mowgli's but in the ocean bcuz henwas raises by dolphins. This version of Arthur Curry was younger and took over after King Orin supposedly died but actually became a water elemental call the Dweller of the Deep. Busiek combined the Golden Age origin with the Silver Age name since David kept everything revolving around Atlantis. Busiek's Arthur Curry was then killed off and David's King Orin reclaimed the mantle until the New52 when Geoff Johns took the Silver Age Arthur Curry and merged it with much of King Orin's history.
Tbh, Aquaman's continuity is nearly as convoluted as Hawkman's but his pop culture infamy made it easier for readers to just accept or dismiss inconsistencies.
@@spiderhamilton1 I remember the Justice League calling Aquaman Arthur in the 2000's Morrison/Waid/Kelly run. Maybe the continuity discrepancies strated earlier.
Lorena Marquez aka Aquagirl, is also a human who got powers from Anton Geist, after the Flood of San Diego, now call Sub Diego.
I like the way so many Golden Age characters were so poorly fleshed out. It leaves so much room for retelling and revamping. I did know about the original version of Aquaman as well as the difference in gloves.
I'd take Waterman and add college friends like the "Teen-agers" movies: a brainy girl, a beautiful girl, a nerd, a crooner, etc. Stories would have a mix-up occur which would lead to a college pal getting in trouble, and Aquaman saving him or her.
Adam Waterman...the underwater Archie!
If only Carter Hall had been named Steve Nestington.
Steve Hawking, lol 😂.
I knew about Golden Age Aquaman, but didn't know anything about him. This WAS fascinating! I also love any acknowledgment for Doc Savage, who influenced dozens of pulp heroes and superheroes, especially everyone science based!
I totally didn’t even know there was another Aquaman completely different than Arthur Curry. Loved this whole video! Thanks for the new knowledge! Love the channel!
If you check you can find copies of the story from "More Fun" 73 where he had yellow gloves (and leg fins.) I believe that was the original printing. Some later reprints of that story gave him the "silver age" color scheme.
They've got to leave those gloves alone, lol
Nice to see the shoutout to Doc Savage.
One of my favorite characters.
I definitely want an Adam Waterman mini series, where he has the octopus in his dorm room and has adventures.
Another hero that seems to blur the line between Golden Age and Silver Age is Wildcat. In his origin story in Sensation Comics number 1 (1942), he gets the idea of having a costumed persona from a boy who read about Green Lantern’s secret identity in a comic book. Those comic books were available to readers like Barry Allen on Earth One, but surely an Earth Two comic book writer would have no idea that Green Lantern was Alan Scott.
I suppose the easiest way to connect the two would be to say that Tom Curry, the modern Aquaman's dad, was really the Golden Age Aquaman. He retired from crimefighting, started working at the lighthouse, eventually met a woman from Atlantis and they had a kid.
Honestly an edgy reimagining sounds like the way to go if he were to be brought back LOL. His dad sounds like a water-obsessed David Cain.
I knew Monsieur Waterman through those All-Star Squadron issues, and I assumed Thomas hadn't pulled him out of thin air, but I've sure never seen any of those issues you highlighted. Thanks!
When I think of Aquaman I think of how in the Super friends cartoons how it was Wonder woman's job to haul him around. If there wasn't any water what good was he just stinking up the invisible jet and eating Wendy's biscuits.
Regarding the color scheme, the orange may be intentional. The colors of the spectrum become invisible the deeper one dives underwater. Blue, I believe is the first to disappear. Orange being the last. Aquaman's orange top would remain the most visible color deeper underwater.
Or maybe the colorist had extra orange ink that day. 🤷♂️
I always interpreted his colors as supposed to be reminiscent of a goldfish. Orange, yellow, and green. 🐠
Adam Waterman being this social recluse who couldn't quite keep the claim on the name Aquaman due to that is super interesting. To go along with your edgy ideas, I really like the idea of him as a lonely god in an abandoned Atlantean city, not evil or anything to that effect, but just too detached to keep a normal life going.
But also just do a remake of the college story except make it a National Lampoon buddy comedy with Arthur where they get mistaken for twins and have to finish a group project in time to get Adam his diploma.
It’s funny to think of both Aquamen being around at the same time. While Arthur was ruling the kingdom, Adam Waterman is off somewhere in the middle of the ocean talking to fish, calling himself the ruler of the 7 seas and telling random people his life story.
I think the proper plural term is "Aquamans" but that's neither here nor there. How did he even get a GED under water to be able to apply to colleges? In my head-canon, Waterman's still in college as some old guy still attending classes and freaking people out with how long he can sit at the bottom of the pool. He left his fish friends behind for campus life and never looked back!
Id like to see an Adam Waterman vs Arthur Curry battle over who is the true king of Atlantis
Does the New Golden Age explain why Atlantis was empty when Adam was active, then suddenly fully populated when Arthur comes on the scene? To me that’s a bigger Q than the costume
the way they accounted for golden age Green Arrow was just using time travel to make it the same guy. I don't think Superman and Batman ever got this sort of treatment - at least not under the same name, they've had stand-ins in the JSA
I’m supposed to be finishing my paper on Indycar’s popularity boost post Pato O’Ward but this takes precedence
Pato is amazing, love Pato
Pato is amazing
Pato is amazing, Indycar should be thankful Pato is there
@@NoIanSiegel Pato is amazing
Doc Savage(and Philip Wylie's Gladiator) influenced Superman, The Shadow(Dick Tracy and others) influenced Batman and Amazona The Mighty Woman influenced Wonder Woman. It's not talked about enough.
My first introduction of Aquaman was on the Superfriends ABC cartoon was watching him fly out of the water, sliding on top of a bunch of picnic tables to get his hands on Wendy’s biscuits!!!!
Love to see this! Im a huge fan of the silver age Aquaman comics and the character has a whole, glad people talk about him. Ive never had a chance to read the GA era but I want to even more now
Arthur: ~walks in seeing old man Adam hanging around the throne room~Adam Waterman what are you doing here?
Adam: ~wearing his costume but in pajama form and sunglasses~ Waiting for them to play Gangam Style
Yes! I literally asked for this vid on the last Aquaman vid. Love it! The yellow gloves on the Earth-2 Aquaman in the justice society animated movie too was a nice nod even if that wasn't Mr. Waterman.
No, stay away from Golden Age Aquaman! That way lies madness! Don't you remember what happened when they tried to explain Hawkman's origins? Talk about something safer, like when he got that cool blue uniform post-Crisis.
I commented about this on a recent Aquaman video! Glad you're covering it
OMG my mind is absolutely BLOWN! As usual, you are serving up content that I never knew I needed!!
So the Gold Age Aquaman was Doc Savage meets The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Great video! Any chance you could do a video on Adam Strange ?
I think that we should see a timel line where Jimmy Olsen and Adam Waterman become the best of friends, bur Golden Age Superman can't handle a shared bromance, so passive-aggressive shenanigans and dumb ocean puns ensue
you know when post-cirsis aquaman died he was replaced by a another aquaman witht the same origin then he jsut sort of faded into ther background when the original came back to life. to my knowlege there are currently 3 different aquamen just out there doing who knows what
This is your 90s edgelord arc, and I’m here for it. Gimme that angsty Aquaman with daddy issues.
Another great video I’m actually kinda looking forward to the Peter Davis Aquaman omnibus being released this week. Would love to hear your thoughts on that era of Aquaman
The much missed Aquaman Shrine website used to have 'Adventure Sundays' where they printed panels from the Golden Age and early Silver Age Aquaman stories in 'Adventure'. There was a real charm to those 1940s and 1950s tales - I'd love to see a video on such forgotten characters as Black Jack the modern pirate or Phineas Pike the 'Sea Sleuth'.
I seem to recall seeing in one of your favorite things, the letter column, an author saying that there was no Earth-2 Aquaman, lending credence to your “people working on the comics forgot about him” theory that you brought up. Can’t remember which issue, though.
Excellent and interesting video. I wonder if Jeremy Adams will dive into Adam Waterman in his new Aquaman series. Really excited for that.
Aquaman is silly and I love it
I got it! The yellow gloves is what happens when Aquaman gets call into action just when he's about to do the dishes or scrub the royal toilets!
See the sea! DO THE DEW!
I like having Adam Waterman be a second Aquaman concurrent to Arthur Curry, and him just being super awkward is pretty fun. My personal headcanon for how they have the same costume is they are both based on an Atlantean design, and the underwater city that Waterman found was previously inhabited by Atlanteans.
The golden age aquaman would make a great like Harvey birdman style show and I picture him as like a weird goofy Indiana jones doc savage character but a stoner
Whether Golden or Silver Age, I always prefer this Aquaman who looks like just a clean cut California surfer boy instead of King Neptune or the great God Poseidon with the long hair and beard, because to me, that average looking guy trait is a major part of his appeal. I'm thinking in particular of an early story where two bad guys with guns are shooting bullets at fish, and Aquaman shows up to tell them to stop that, and the bad guys are like; "Ha! It's just Aquaman. What can HE do to stop us? Keep firing!" And after they defy him they are totally surprised and caught off-guard by his incredible power! The clean cut California surfer look, is precicely what throws the unsuspecting bad guys off balance because he looks so NOT threatening, whereas if he emerges from the sea looking all-powerful God-like, that whole unexpected element of surprise is lost. I really like when the bad guys underestimate Aquaman, and even in that story you showed where the coach and students are astonished at how long "Adam Waterman" can remain underwater without coming up for air, I find that really cool. If it were up to me, Aquaman would always look like this Golden/Silver/Bronze age California surfer dude type, because that more imposing and intimidating long-haired, bearded, God-King look they gave him later ruined the character. It gives too much away, upon first sight.
Where can Golden Age AQUAMAN stories be read? They seem hard to find? The Golden Age and later Atlas stories for NAMOR are excellent, I highly recommend them! With my love of the sea and diving I have always been attracted to these underwater heroes and stories. A wonderful summation and incisive coverage, Super Sasha. Thank you!
Why is Bob Landmass ?
Is he stupid?
So was the ruins Adam Waterman's father discovered and studied an Atlantian ruin or ruins of a surface people city that sank? Would Arthur Curry and other Atlantians see it as Adam living and "ruling" over a mass grave or something? Could any normal human in this setting train to breath under water like Adam if given enough time?
Also there's more to the ocean than just fish, there are many more ocean related degrees Adam could get, you could turn Aquaman Goes To College into a series in and of itself.
The Aquaman movie was off the hook 🪝
This just gives me more proof against people who say Aquaman doesn’t talk to fish. Yes he does. Just not Aquaman 2
....i thought they were the same person! why didn't he even take his fathers last name since he knew who he was?!
My take from this is I ought to get around to reading a little Doc Savage.
Thank you for the history lesson. I knew there was a golden age Aquaman, just didn't know the history. As an aside, my favorite Aquaman was the one written by Peter David. That one put an end to 'being a joke'.
This was interesting and also a lot of fun. I think Sovereign of the Seven Seas is one of the best superhero titles, even if we don't know who appointed Aquaman, lol!
7:51 I'd read that!! Hell, I'd draw that if you wrote it!! Although, you know all of the fancy pants industry guys so go with them instead.
Who would believe that Brent Chiropteraman was Secretly Batman?
So, I read comics back in the 70's and 80's. The only DC comic I read at the time of the Crisis on Infinite Earths was Ifinity Inc., so I was really unaware of what was happening with Crisis at the time. So, I was firmly in the Bronze age. And I was a fan of the golden age, through All Star Squadron, and the JLA JSA cross overs. Yet this is the first I have heard of a Golden Age Aquaman.
I think the most interesting thing about the Golden Age Aquaman is simply that he isn't all that interesting--there's so little to him. I agree with you that, given his sparse origin, he's ripe for an "alternate" Aquaman story, revealing secrets that were never mentioned before, maybe even turning him into more of an anti-hero or even villain. Exactly what has he been doing in the depths of the oceans all this time if he didn't have the Atlanteans or Lemurians to interact with? Otherwise, the yellow gloves and the origin, and the lack of supporting characters are really all that distinguish him from Arthur Curry, the Silver Age Aquaman.
Wow...all these years, i never knew about Adam Waterman, lol 🐠🐟
The first superhero comic that I remember seeing was the Death of a Prince. It cemented my interest in Aquaman.
I'd love a dark series about the broken people brought up in the "Doc Savage" style.
More Aquaman videos!! LFG!!!
THEY REPLACED ADAM WATERMAN!!!!!!!?????!!!!
Having both on a single earth makes no sense. We don’t have the Golden Age Batman, Robin, etc and if we have Adam Waterman we should have the Golden Age Ollie and Speedy - not a rabbit hole to go down, continuity wise!