The New DC 52, Week 5 (Aquaman, Superman, All-Star Western, and more)
Keith Phipps: I’ve got a crazy theory: The whole New 52 initiative was really just an elaborate excuse to reintroduce Aquaman to the world. Yeah sure, day-and-date with digital. Continuity tweaks. Marketing push. Creative reshuffling. I’m sure DC wanted all that, too. But what if it were all a fig leaf in an elaborate plan to return Aquaman to a top-rank position on the superhero food chain? Because that would be quite an accomplishment, and almost require an elaborate undertaking, given what a punching bag Aquaman has become in pop culture. I blame Super Friends , which made a whole generation think of him only as the guy who talks to the fish. Then that generation grew up to make irreverent commercials for the Cartoon Network . And Entourage . And Family Guy . That means writer Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis have their work cut out for them with this first issue.They’re not the first to try. Peter David gave Aquaman