AJ / Arthur Joseph / Arthur Junior

Yes, the new Aquaman was not very popular. BUT, it was because he was stealing the spotlight from the original Aquaman.

Imagine if Arthur Joseph was reintroduced as the long lost sonof Aquaman, Arthur Junior (who was probably retconed out of existence in the New 52) - I think people would like him more.

If was de-aged just a little bit, he could work well as a sidekick / partner, using the classic Blue costume (he was seen wearing it on Batman The Brave and The Bold TV Show!) and a new codename, maybe even Aqualad ( But only if we can find some better name for Kaldur to call himself! )

Pros:

- Real family relationships could be develop since Aquaman and Mera are AJ's parents (but unfortunately DC doesn't like it very much...)

Cons:

- Lack of power diversity, he has basically the same powers as Aquaman (But that could be resolved if they give AJ a different power, like mimic the abilities of any sea animal - just as Animal Man does, but only with sea life)

- Now AJ would be stealing the spotlight from Aquaman's other sidekicks, like Garth and Kaldur.

What do you think?

Pass. Kaldur should be the definitive Aqualad. YJ did exceedingly well with him when he was barely known. I want to see him go further.

Arthur Joseph, I don't care to see again.

He could be cool, but Kaldur is somewhat more interesting, the fact that he's Black Manta's son makes for A TON of stories.

Still, I have a thing for Garth, and I think that he's been mentioned already in the DCnU, but I want him to be introduced properly, as Tempest or Aqualad, but I don't like that he's been so out of the spotlight for years now.

@StrangeMan said:

He could be cool, but Kaldur is somewhat more interesting, the fact that he's Black Manta's son makes for A TON of stories.

Still, I have a thing for Garth, and I think that he's been mentioned already in the DCnU, but I want him to be introduced properly, as Tempest or Aqualad, but I don't like that he's been so out of the spotlight for years now.

If YJ continued I'd bet money once Black Manta realises Kaldur is still loyal to Arthur, Manta will explode with so much hatred a Red Lantern Ring will be summoned and Manta will accuse Arthur of stealing the love of his son.

@BlackWind said:

If YJ continued I'd bet money once Black Manta realises Kaldur is still loyal to Arthur, Manta will explode with so much hatred a Red Lantern Ring will be summoned and Manta will accuse Arthur of stealing the love of his son.

Except by the Red Lantern Ring part, I really think this will happen!

(Well, If YJ crossover with GLTAS maybe even the Red Lantern Ring might show up! LOL )

@csguterres: I was kidding about the Red Lantern Ring part.

@BlackWind said:

@csguterres: I was kidding about the Red Lantern Ring part.

I know! I just played along!

@StrangeMan said:

He could be cool, but Kaldur is somewhat more interesting, the fact that he's Black Manta's son makes for A TON of stories.

Still, I have a thing for Garth, and I think that he's been mentioned already in the DCnU, but I want him to be introduced properly, as Tempest or Aqualad, but I don't like that he's been so out of the spotlight for years now.

no thanks.

Mera, Garth, and Kaldur'ahm already have hydrokinesis. No need to try and throw it around the entire Aquafamily.

If anything that's just a slightly different way to use a power three others always have. Any new member needs an ability not a rehash of someone else's. Besides, wven assuming we did see Garth and Kaldur rejoin the Aquafamily, we wouldn't be seeing AJ anytime soon in a fight.

Joseph can be rebooted as a barbarian character and should not be related to Aquaman. New code name for Joseph can be plain Joseph or maybe his code name can be Sword.

Joseph's origin was closer to the golden age origin wherein he was a human who underwent genetic engineering so his origin is quite contemporary. Joseph being a human would make him more relatable. So Joseph gains powers from genetic engineering by his father (similar to Iron Munro origin) and Joseph's powers can be useful on both land and water and Joseph becomes friends with Aquaman. Not sure why Joseph would choose to live on the polluted oceans.

For Joseph to be part of the Aquaman title, may have to reboot Joseph as an Atlantean meta with magic sword so Joseph can be the underwater version of Deathstroke.

Nope, let this dude float in limbo. I want Kaldur, frankly. With blond hair and all.

I heard rumors long ago that there are plans for the black aqualad in the Aquaman title which was why aqualad was not used in the Teen Titans comic yet.

AQ has been my favorite character since the early 90s.

In all the time I follow the character AJ was by far the most unnecessary and worst development to ever happen to the AQ mythos.

Basically Didio wanted some way to boost AQ sales and I believe (can't confirm that) ordered Busiek to introduce a new AQ during the One Year Later storyline that was running in the entire DC catalog. So Busiek came up with THE EXACTLY SAME ORIGIN from the Golden Age.

This "new" Aquaman was actually a FAR WEAKER VERSION of the original AQ, with a sword HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE (until some time later) and no connection to any of the AQ characters.

As far as stories goes, there was some potential but it all came down to this. This was not Aquaman.

Long story short, let AJ be forgotten. He more than served his purpose and really overstayed his welcome.

The only thing I suggest from that period is the two part storyline which tells the story of Aquaman and King Shark's first meeting, where you get to see the original Aquaman kick major ass, in a fantasy-epic setting, with some nice artwork.

@comicfan11: Basically this. Arthur Jospeph didn't go anywhere because people wanted Orin back. He didn't appeal to me at all. And considering Johns' fascination with the Silver Age, I doubt a lot of Aquaman villains from the 90s or 00s will be used. We'll either get old ones, or new ones, most likely.

@csguterres said:

AJ / Arthur Joseph / Arthur Junior

Yes, the new Aquaman was not very popular. BUT, it was because he was stealing the spotlight from the original Aquaman.

Imagine if Arthur Joseph was reintroduced as the long lost sonof Aquaman, Arthur Junior (who was probably retconed out of existence in the New 52) - I think people would like him more.

If was de-aged just a little bit, he could work well as a sidekick / partner, using the classic Blue costume (he was seen wearing it on Batman The Brave and The Bold TV Show!) and a new codename, maybe even Aqualad ( But only if we can find some better name for Kaldur to call himself! )

Pros:

- Real family relationships could be develop since Aquaman and Mera are AJ's parents (but unfortunately DC doesn't like it very much...)

Cons:

- Lack of power diversity, he has basically the same powers as Aquaman (But that could be resolved if they give AJ a different power, like mimic the abilities of any sea animal - just as Animal Man does, but only with sea life)

- Now AJ would be stealing the spotlight from Aquaman's other sidekicks, like Garth and Kaldur.

What do you think?

Pass. When the relaunched that book to introduce this version of the character, I was mystified. They gave up all the awesome Sub Diego storyline stuff for that? Ugh. Screw you "one year later".

I'm not sure that's a story I want to read.

I meant, "a hero's kid dying" is not a story I want to read.

I don't want any Aqualad.

@justthatkid: We are not heartless. In fact individually we have more then you humans. We just keep them in jars.

After years of pulling them out during anal probes we have quite the collection.