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Just to mess with his head.

I planned to restore his flight power within a fairly short time, but I got punted off the book before I could do it.

Overall though I'm more of an Aquaman fan. I think anyone who is one the fence or dislikes the character should try to get their hands on anything done by Nick Cardy or Jim Aparo; I would think that might change your mind.

I also recommend the 60s animated series where Aquaman rotated with Superman and Batman. They also did chapters with Flash, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Superboy and the Teen Titans. Years back I found a DVD someone put together of Aquaman's stories from that. Good stuff - Aqualad, Mera and good ol' Tusky the walrus for comic relief.

If you read the mentioned books and watch the animated adventures and still dislike Aquaman, the king of the seven seas just isn't for you.

I've enjoyed Aquaman at various times over the years in his own series.  Namor, I've mostly found boring as a lead feature.  I prefer to see him used as a supporting character.  One major exception to this is JB's Namor run, which was among the absolute best (to me) of the books Marvel was putting out at the time.  It also included some of the best cliffhangers and surprises.

There seems to be something of an underwater renaissance going on right now as creators belatedly attempt to rehabilitate the subsea hero concept. Aquaman, Sea Guy, Marine Man, Sea Ghost... It's nice to see the pendulum swing the other way on this for awhile.

The joke of Aquaman, the useless Super-Friend, giving you tips on pool safety while his team-mates go fight Darkseid is overdone and obvious.

On his own, Aquaman can be formidable; a telepathic monarch of the seas with all of the creatures of the deep at his command. So long as he doesn't have to share the stage with Green Lantern, who can make whales five times the size of Aquaman's appear just by wishing, he's unbeatable. (That Hal. Always hogging the limelight...)

Unfortunately, for years and years, putting him next to GL is the thing everyone wanted to do with him. Or J'onn J'onzz. Or Wonder Woman. "Good thing you called us in on this, Aquaman! Amazo would've had you for lunch!" Superman observes.

"Hey, I could go for seafood myself!" Robin jokes. Much merriment ensues.

And the kid in the Peter Pan slippers and the spangly shorts laughs at the Atlantean king and strongman whose body can withstand the pressures of the Marianas Trench.

The answer to this in recent decades has been to differentiate Aquaman on the basis of temperment and savagery. Is he stronger than Superman? No, but he will impale you and your entire damned family with his harpoon if come near him... I kept waiting for that thing to sprout additional tines with a salty, undersea "Snikt!"

"You goonna laugh at Aquaman?? Aquaman goonna kill you, sucka!!"

Plus, he's King. When he kills you, it's not murder. It's a royal execution. You're welcome.

The problem with this is that while it differentiated him somewhat from his fellow Leaguers, (less and less so as time went by) it did not differentiate him from the hundred-fifty other brutal-killer-heroes out there. Well, he did look sillier (Barry Gibb in a leather fetish-bra, as someone once described him) but that wasn't helping...

So they went mystical. Replaced him with a newbie ('Cause that trick never fails) and turned him into a squid-faced thing... Yee-ahh... Best to just kick that era under the carpet with Teen Tony & Arm-Pincer Spidey and move along...

Here's the thing. The ocean is actually a fascinating place, replete with mystery, danger, and sunken sailing vessels going back millenia. There are still creatures down there we've never seen or imagined. There is tremendous potential for the future of the human species should we find methods of harvesting the oceans and tapping their vast resources.

The intrigue and storytelling potential of the ocean is sadly not served by treating its defenders like shirtless barbarian-kings and the rest of the inhabitants like easily-gulled (ha!) mobs of mideval peasantry. The subsea realms of Aquaman and Namor have to date been little more than fairy-tale kingdoms filled with uninteresting political intrigue (I do not care if Byrrah or Attuma takes over again. I really don't. Same goes for Maximus while I'm at it...) and shallow (ha, again!) romantic subplots. No one wants any of that.

I've enjoyed long runs of Aquaman stories with art by Cardy, Aparo, and Giordano. Everett's Sub-Mariner is an unparalleled favorite, but comics need to get over the image of Atlantis as a quaint ceramic castle placed in the bottom of a fishbowl.

*By the way, the Man From Atlantis series is finally available on DVD from Warner Archive. I strongly recommend the first TV movie. Very "Stranger in a Strange Land/ Man Who Fell to Earth." The second may be the worst thing I have ever seen on television... And I watch Krofft shows without flinching! Appallingly awful... Ptui!! The third and fourth improve on the second, but that says little. Overall, they're fine. Not any great shakes. Belinda Montgomery is lovely.

The production values once the series proper begins improve immensely. The stories, well, let's just say... That first TV Movie remains something extraordinary.