Ocean News

Time for a few stories that have little, or nothing, to do with the Aquaman character, but everything to do with his environment...

Check out this amazing jellyfish in the Mariana Trench.

Drifting in the trench...

Amazingly, starfish are recovering after a massive die-off caused by a wasting disease over the last two years. The decimation, which killed between 80 and 95 percent of the sea stars on the West Coast, put the entire ecosystem off balance. It will hopefully recover in the next few years, but it's impossible to see if the wasting disease will continue to be a problem.

Ever wanted to see octopus eggs hatching? Well, there's a video of it for you to look at. The action starts about a minute into the video. They're so cute! And a bit ... creepy. And fast. Dang, they are fast. Lots of little topos squirting around.

And to end this posts, here's some animated GIFs of the Mariana Trench jellyfish...

Ocean News

Time for a few stories that have little, or nothing, to do with the Aquaman character, but everything to do with his environment...

I'm not sure I get the science behind using seawater for heating, but I'm happy to see an effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels. More here.

A tuna accidentally ate a seagull... but it spit it out. Check out the video and the explanation at Southern Fried Science.

A woman paints an octopus using 95 million-year-old octopus ink (Google Translate version). Original article in Norwegian. Via MeFi

Aqualinks

More on the Entourage reaction to Jason Momoa as Aquaman. Momoa has a message for the director. And Momoa plays in waterfalls. You can also follow Momoa's Instagram if you haven't already...

Wan and Momoa... Aloha!

Southern Fried Science looks at The Ocean Cleanup project and the current problems with it. The short summary is: despite the goal of getting plastics out of the ocean, there is a lot of potential to cause massive environmental harm. Aquaman would definitely be investigating this one if it were happening in the DCU.

Giant Underwater Waves...

Researchers look at giant underwater waves and how they affect climate and gravity, including the orbit of the moon. I really want to see this mentioned/used in an Aquaman story some day.

Science - What about the sea floor?

Southern Fried Science is a great blog that often tackles ocean-related issues. There's a great post there about what happens when us crazy humans punch holes in the floor of the sea.

Manmade holes in the ocean totally change the local ecosystem... yikes.

In the example SFS uses, the seafloor used to have a bunch of happy clams... which were smothered in less than a year by the tailings from the drilling. Then the temperature changed because layers of rock that had been protecting the area from geothermal forces were drilled through.

What had once been a muddy seafloor dominated by cold seep communities was now a full-fledged hydrothermal vent ecosystem. The changes appear to be permanent. This new vent system has so far persisted for over two years.

I can imagine that Atlanteans would have some serious problems with surfacers permanently altering seabed ecosystems... Aquaman stories have tackled these sorts of issues for years, this is just another example of how it plays out in real life.

Critical Information

What drowning actually looks like.

Linkdump

Aquaman Artwork by Eshwin Dhir, click for full size.

Aquaman Artwork by Brian Denham, click for full size.

Aquaman Artwork by Kate Beaton.

Eminem vs Aquaman.

Brightest Day Aqualad Wallpaper.

Jacques Cousteau, 100 years.

Sharks smell in stereo.

Sea Turtle Finds Lost Camera, Films Itself Swimming.

Most oil-struck birds and marine life die uncounted.

Daily Dead Tally from the BP Oil Spill.

Wishing for Aquaman

This is footage of the oil spill at the source of the problem, released by BP.

Friday Links

Tempest returns in Titans #15. Well, it seems I got my wish with regards to Dolphin.

Blackest Night Aquaman:


If you aren't reading The Aquaman Shrine daily, you are missing a lot. Rob tends to scoop me on just about every story because I'm blogging very infrequently lately.

More Aquaman reflections from The Comic Treadmill.

The webcomic Sheldon mentions Aquaman then clarifies a little.

Kurt Busiek has a website.

More on Mermaids.

I don't really understand why Spain would have a claim to this recovered gold. And speaking of underwater treasure, look at this rock heist that stole $1 million from an underwater farm.

In another story right out of an Aquaman tale, Mexico is looking for a missing island. The reason is logical, they want the territory the island would give them. But you have to wonder where the island went, if it ever existed in the first place.

Links

Rob at the Aquaman Shrine continues to offer fantastic Aquaman coverage: Interview with Mike Grell. Interview with Dan Jurgens. Interview with Steve Epting.

If you find a neat Aquaman sighting, you can report it here on the Wiki, but be sure to send it to Rob's Aqua-mail so he can feature it.

Joe gives us a collection of Aqua-Icons.

Eli Kochalka is an Aquaman Fan. Yay! And his father drew Aquaman in his American Elf strip. Yay!

Pink Dolphin!

HMS Victory Discovered.

This isn't a fish poisoning you want to get. Yikes.

Links For You

Aquaman meets the Blackhawks.

Awesome Mera Paper Doll.

Non-Aquaman but interesting: Introducing Sea Freak, a comic about a freak who lives in the sea. Creepy, compelling, and he talks with crabs. Via Periscope.

Our oceans are turning to acid. More here.

Lotsa Links

Scipio's prediction.

Aquaman at Six Flags.

More Comic Treadmill Aquaman indexing.

Aquaman Shrine:

• Mattel 2008 Aquaman Action Figure.
• Aqua-Mail.
• Dick Giordano Sketch. Nice.
• Dick Giordano Interview.
• I'm Jealous.

Men of the DCU Contest.

Japanese Aquaman design. More info here.

Aged Superheroes.

More Seaguy.

Starfish: masters of the undersea mountains.

How David Blaine Held His Breath. Not recommended for beginners.

Don't like the land? How about Sea Steading?

Friday Aqua-Links

I wish I could get this! I probably wouldn't use it either, but it looks great.

Can you identify the fish? It's pretty scary looking.

I feel sorry for these fish. Strange how people get pets, then mistreat them. Why get pets if you can't take care of them?

Pirates of Somalia seize a yacht, capturing 30 crew members and apparently holding them hostage. Of interest: "The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy, said in its annual report earlier this year that global pirate attacks rose 10 percent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years."

The humbolt squid. More on the show about the squid. Watch it here.

Links and Notes

Dan DiDio is confused about Aquaman.

Here's a quick run-down: the original Aquaman, Arthur Orin Curry, is currently "dead" (in the same sense that DC heroes are often dead). Arthur Joseph Curry, who wants to be known as Joseph, is currently playing the part of Aquaman until he can find/restore the original Aquaman. IMHO, Joseph Curry isn't actually Aquaman, he's the Sword of Atlantis. So, whenever DC "brings back" Aquaman, they'll need to address both Joseph's quest and Orin's death. Any restoration that doesn't is crap.

Moving on, The Trouble With Aquaman.

Occasional Superheroine asks which version of Aquaman do YOU like best?

Aquaman Shrine Interview with Ben Holcomb, MEGO expert.

Along the same lines, MEGO mystery: the webbed-hand Aquaman.

Remind yourself you aren't a fish to cure the hiccups (hiccoughs?).

Aqua-Links

Comic Treadmill on DC Special #28.

Yes, the Aquaman Website supports Michael Netzer's efforts to save J'onn J'onzz.

Beluga Bubbles.

Menhaden, the most important fish you've never heard of.

Is it safe to eat fish?

Links

A nice little political commentary featuring Aquaman.

What he said.

Why you shouldn't dump seaweed bits down the drain.

Dolphins!

Saturday Aqua-Links

About twenty people e-mailed me the link to Sillof's Workshop: Gaslight Justice League Custom Figures, which includes a FANTASTIC Aquaman figure that I want to see in a comic book:

David Oakes was the first to notify me of this wonderful custom figure.

Thoughts on Teen Titans Year One from Sensor Sweep and Absorbascon.

Sensor Sweep on The JLU Aquaman Paperweight. I haven't seen any of these that weren't broken. Did anyone get an unbroken one? I also repaired mine.

Thanks to Chris, who reported that Paul Norris' passing was reported in Rolling Stone.

The New York Times on Weeki Wachee Springs.

Octopus loves his Mr Potato Head.

Historic Lighthouse threatened by shore erosion.

Links

Aquaman Art by three artists.

Aquaman for Christmas Dinner.

Replica of Atlantis: an undersea graveyard.

Aqualinks

Aquaman on The Big Bang Theory. That's a show, not his opinion on the universe (sadly).

The Comic Treadmill takes on Adventure Comics 460-463 and Adventure Comics 464-466 (not the high points of Aquaman's career).

Why doesn't DC make cool things like this ruler anymore?

Attack of the killer Jellyfish.

Rogue Waves and Saving Sailors.

Aqua-Links

Aquaman is mentioned in Evil Inc (thanks for the report, Joe):

Aquaman himself appeared in the strip last year bringing a glass of water to his child. Heh.

Listen to Aquaman's Lament at Mark Aaron James' website.

Top 50 DC Characters, Aquaman in at #30.

Justice League Movie gets a director. I still haven't heard confirmation that Aquaman will be in it.

If you want to get an MP3 of "Crank Dat Aquaman", there's at least one version available on SoundClick. Warning: NSFW lyrics. I've started searching the site for other Aquaman songs, but haven't found much worth listening to.

Ah, sunken cities, that's right up my alley! In some ways, this story reminds me of Adventure #223, in which a sunken city is found that isn't a city... just looks like it.

Discovering sea turtles lost years.