Rapid Reviews - 13 Nov 2002 - Part II

JLA: Secret Origins: As stunning as the two-page origin spreads are, and as fantastic as the the fully painted artwork is, I found myself *ahem* drawn to the pencil sketches in the back, and I was far more interested in those than in the main focus of the book. Not that the origin pages were bad by any means! On the contrary, except for the Flash origin (which hurt my eyes after the nice clay-tones in the Wonder Woman origin) I found them all to be wonderful. Ok, I don't "get" the "Who Am I?" bit in the Aquaman origin (is this a reference to Artie Jr?) but otherwise it's all quite good. But the interview and sketches were a very nice touch and made what would've been a bit of an overpriced package into something really cool. 4 starfish.

Birds of Prey: Primal Scream: I really wanted to like this show when it started, but it abandoned every premise that made the comic book series interesting. The way the show is currently set up, even the name makes no sense! And this last episode was a shambles, not even saved by the valiant effort the actors made with the lousy parts they've been given. Perhaps the appearance of Black Canary in the last episode really drove it home: This show isn't Birds of Prey, and it hardly deserves to share the name with the comic. 1 starfish.

In other news, I didn't actually expect anyone to take a stab at my quiz-from-heck questions I posted, but David made a great effort. I figure he's not an Aquaman fanatic, so it's cool that he got one right. Here's the answers:

1) What surfacer island nation destroyed Poseidonis and Tritonis with the help of Ocean Master and coral creatures?

This was a "gimme" question at the time of the quiz, as this issue of the book had *just* come out in stores in the short-lived but well received Dan Jurgens run. The islander nation was Cerdia, and it will hopefully someday make a re-appearance in the Aquaman mythos, as at the end of the storyarc Atlantis annexed the territory.

2) Who was Aquaman's father in the Silver Age? What was his profession?

Good ol' Tom Curry, the lighthouse keeper, was Aquaman's actual father in the Silver Age. He also was apparently a Navy man, as he got a burial at sea in a flag-draped casket.

3) Who was Aquaman's first recurring villain?

I said this quiz went from the Golden Age to the modern age, and these three questions demonstrated that clearly. Aquaman's first ever recurring villain was Black Jack the Modern Pirate, who showed up in More Fun #74, and kept coming back for more all through the Golden Age.