A sequel to the popular Aquaman mini-series was planned in Fall of 1986. The sequel planned to focus on Aqualad and even give him a new love interest. From the Amazing Heroes Preview Special of Summer 1986: "Aqualad will still be mourning Aquagirl's death, and he will retreat from the surface world to Atlantis. He eventually meets a young girl named Tawna. whom he will fall in love with. "The focus of the series is primarily on Aquaman, Aqualad, and Atlantis, but there will be all these subplots running along in the background. "
For more information, read on...
AQUAMAN II
Written by NEAL POZNER; illustrated by CRAIG HAMILTON
4 or 5-issue mini-series; 32 four-color pages on Mando newsprint; 75 cents; newsstand distribution; published
monthly by DC COMICS INC.
After the phenomonal response to DC's first Aquaman series, a sequel seemed a foregone conclusion. Well, here it is.
The second mini-series will lake place minutes after the first one ends, and will deal with the rest of the "Aquaman Family," as well as the star of the book. "Mera, Aqualad, and the rest of Atlantis did not show up much in the first series," notes writer Neal Pozner, 'but they're very important to this series. In the first series, we were trying to change and restructure Aquaman alone. Now we'll see how he's going to react to everybody else. The whole theme of the series is change, and how different people react to it. There have been radical changes in the lives of all the players, and we'll be looking at how those changes manifest themselves, and how each character deals with them. The three main characters will be Aquaman, Mera, and Aqualad, but we'll also be focusing on Makaira, Vulko, anew character named Tawna, Ronal, and (from Swamp Thing) the Sunderland Corporation."
As the series begins, we will find that Makaira (Vulko's wife), is ruling Atlantis in his stead, as he was injured in the fight with Ocean Master. Atlantis is going through a culture shock, as they have been isolated for two thousand years, and now they are interacting with the surface world. The surface world is finding that Atlantis is a great place to get rid of all the stuff it doesn't need and to get all the technology that they do need. Some Atlanteans are so taken with these new ideas, that they'll accept anything. "So they've got hula-hoops and Pac-Man and disco clothes that they're using underwater. There is even a fast-food restaurant that has been opened by the Sunderland Corporation, and the religious zealots use that as a focus for their protests against the surface worlds' imports. Makaira is caught between the religious zealots and the other Atlanteans, in her attempt to rule Atlantis."
Aquaman, meanwhile, is trying to deal with the fact that he loves his wife, and, he also seems to love another woman. Also, every rule he's ever lived by, he doesn't believe in anymore, and he will catch himself reverting back to his old actions. "This is not going to be the pat super-hero-gets-a-cosmic-revelation. When he gets mad, he'll lose his temper, except he'll catch himself midway through. Mera is going to have a really hard time also, because the man she married is not the man that returns to her. She's going to have a hard time trying to help. because she was raised having everything she wanted!' When Aquaman returns to New Venice, he finds that Mera has basically saved the whole town by herself. "Mera will be portrayed more heroically. In her own way, she is more powerful than Aquaman."
Aqualad will still be mourning Aquagirl's death, and he will retreat from the surface world to Atlantis. He eventually meets a young girl named Tawna. whom he will fall in love with. "The focus of the series is primarily on Aquaman, Aqualad, and Atlantis, but there will be all these subplots running along in the background.
All the sub-plots are relevant, and intertwined, to some degree." In issue #2, Aquaman will return to the surface world to visit the Sunderland Corp., at which time he will get his old uniform back. After a slight wimper from this previewer, Pozner pointed out that: "He realizes that he's going to be on the surface world for a while, and he needs his old suit because it's irrigated. Otherwise, he would pass out after an hour. We have a wonderful scene at the beach, where he comes walking Ooof the surf, and all these people are wondering who he is.
When he arrives at Sunderland, they have set up a series of tests for him, to find out just how formidable a foe he will be. These tests show the readers exactly what the limits of Aquaman's powers are out of water. How he gets out of these traps is one of the cliffhangers of #2. The second will be that it appears as if the religious zealots have raised Poseidon to deal justice to the non-believers."
Craig Hamilton is still the artist on the series, which will premiere this fall.
from Amazing Heroes Preview Special, Summer 1986.
