Thursday, May 7, 2009

Aquaman is THE Man!

I just learned that May 2 was Free Comic Book Day. It is always the first Saturday of May. On that day, participating comic book shops around the world give free comic books to people for just coming into the stores. I don't know if you get to pick out specific comic books, but I know which one I would pick.
Anyone who knows me, knows all too well that my favorite Superhero is Aquaman. I am not sure when my fandom began, but it has been this way as long as I can remember.
I often refer to him as the most maligned Superhero ever. In fact, Maxim magazine once listed Aquaman at #2 on the list of most useless Superheroes (behind Robin). This was an insult, but not really important enough to really incur my wrath.

In mid 2003, when I heard that the producers of Aquaman were changing Aquaman by giving him a harpoon in place of one hand, I wasn't happy. It's one thing for a silly magazine to insult Aquaman with so little respect for his abilities. It is entirely another for his own makers to have so little faith in the depths of Aquaman that they needed to 'spice up' the story by giving him a harpoon hand.
I might have mentioned this a couple times (or maybe a dozen) around the office and particularly to Laurie. Her response (to all of my rants) was for me to write a column.
Laurie had a keen sense for what her readers would like. Fortunately, I rewarded her faith by producing a column (with a lot of help from her) which resulted in a handful of calls/emails from readers.
I am really grateful that Laurie allowed (and encouraged) me to write. I am also pleased that she liked my writing, since I was a fan of her writing before I really even knew her.
My Aquaman guest column from the Lerner Times-October 9, 2003.

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