We chat with the writer about taking the King of Atlantis to depths never explored before.
Welcome to Creator Corner, our recurring interview series in which we chat with the industry's coolest and most thought-provoking creators. In this entry, we're conversing with Jeremy Adams about Aquaman. Listen to the unedited audio HERE.
It's a new year and a new opportunity for writer Jeremy Adams to revitalize a classic DC character. Along with artist John Timms, colorist Rex Lokus, and letterer Dave Sharpe, Adams has plunged into the new Aquaman series determined to show readers a new side to the Atlantean superhero. Step one? Ripping him away from the newly established Justice League Unlimited.
Like every current book within DC continuity, Aquaman is reeling from the shockwave that was the All-In Special. Arthur Curry has saved a lot of ships in his day and talked to a lot of fish, but Jeremy Adams imagines new waters for Arthur Curry to swim and new corners of his psyche to confront. Who was Aquaman yesterday? Who is he now? Who will be in the future?
In the wake of the first issue's release, we spoke with Jeremy Adams about Aquaman. We discuss why he began his story with subversion and how this storytelling device highlights what we love about the character. We discuss his empathetic approach to comics, Arthur's role within the Justice League, and breaking free from convention.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jeremy Adams, Aquaman, and Taking the Deep Plunge
Brad: Jeremy, welcome to Comic Book Couples Counseling. Hello!
Jeremy Adams: I am happy to be here. I feel like I need my wife here, just so you could get some couples counseling, actually.
Brad: You can go get her.
Jeremy Adams: Yeah, well, she's at work. She comes home and she's just exhausted. She'll tell me about her day, and I'm like, "Yeah, I'm tired too. I talked about Green Lantern for three hours today," and it's just like, "Oh, terrible, terrible."
Brad: Exhausting!
Lisa: I love Aquaman and where Aquaman fits and sits within the DC universe. Because it is so unsettled, that character has so much potential. And you open this first issue by saying what the story is not?
Jeremy Adams: Right.
Lisa: That it's not Arthur Curry as a boy, a hero, a lover. A lover is one of my faves, I have to say it. Or a king. He is a god killer. So, how important is this differentiation or subversion of expectation in this story - or all stories?
Jeremy Adams: I mean, I think it's the ballgame in a way. I think Aquaman in general, for me at least, I'm just talking from my point of view. Nobody get mad. I think it's a difficult character to tackle. For some reason I feel like it's a strangely high bar in a weird way. I think that there have been definitive runs, but they're not necessarily in continuity, like Peter David's run.
So I've seen a lot of Aquaman as the Lighthouse Boy and as the superhero and as the king, and I've seen a lot of that. And so I was kind of like, "Well, where do I want to go?" And just like when I was writing Green Lantern, it started in my head as "I wonder how much money he has in his bank account." And then with Arthur, it was like he spent much of his life above ground, above water. He probably wants a hamburger every once in a while.
Iit started me down this thing, well, what else is he? Who is he? Because I think sometimes, especially in the early versions of Aquaman, he's a bit of a cipher and a blank slate. Especially in the Silver Age, a lot of those characters were. So I just started thinking about it, and then it led me to the story I wanted to tell: that I'm not smart enough to write a political story.
I'm not smart enough to do certain things. I come at my editor, and we bump heads occasionally because he's like, "Well, why can't he save ships?" I'm like, "We've had 50 years of him saving ships!" I want to do something else. That's the only way I can figure out who the character is for me to write. And there's so much tension when you're starting to write a book and trying to figure out the voice of the character that you want to write. Who is this character? Why should I love him?
And so that opening salvo basically aims to temper expectations in a way. Because there are a lot of expectations. I didn't know when I came around Aquaman that people were like, "Oh, it's just going to be about him and Mira. It's going to be about him and Atlantis." I'm like, "Yeah, none of that. This is a different story." There have been incredible stories about that. At first, this isn't going to be about that. I have in my mind three different waves. That's the first of many that will be thrown out in the middle.
Brad: We're pun fans.
Jeremy Adams: Good, good. Me too. As a dad, you just evolve into puns. It just becomes a part of you.
Jeremy Adams, Aquaman, and the Justice League
Lisa: So you want to take him off in this new direction and tell your Aquaman story, but he also has to fit within the narrative that DC is telling right now. Part of that is the restoration of the Justice League.
Jeremy Adams: And?
Lisa: I'd like to discuss where Aquaman fits within the Justice League briefly. Because I am of the opinion - I'm just going to say it. I'm asking a leading question. I am of the opinion that Aquaman actually has the most riding on the collaboration with the Justice League.
Jeremy Adams: It's interesting because Mark Waid's doing Justice League Unlimited in a way that is much more of a rotating cast of characters. If you read the All In Special, everybody's part of the Justice League. So, as far as a definitive, he is part of the Justice League, much like many people are part of the Justice League, but for the first part of this arc, it will not be the big thrust of what he'll be doing.
But again, I think there's also this weird; maybe it's subconscious on my part, but I think there hasn't been an Arthur Curry Aquaman book for five years. Something like that. This is also why I think they were okay with my pitch because it's a bit of a reintroduction to Arthur and to people who are just getting into comics, which is an exciting time at DC Comics. I think many people are focusing their attention - like when I did for the Dawn of DC, when they asked me to do Green Lantern. There's a little bit of a reintroduction because there hasn't been Hal Jordan for a long time. I think Aquaman's a bigger lift because there's a lot of people that just don't invest any time in Aquaman, rightly or wrongly. I think Geoff Johns was probably the last time that people were really focused on Aquaman because it was Geoff Johns.
So this is just a great launching-off point. As far as the Justice League, he'll always be part of the Justice League. But this first issue is definitely like, "All right, here's the Justice League, now I got to go." And there's a little bit of that with everything. I mean, you talked about subversion of expectations. I'm adding these elements that you expect, and then I'm taking them away because we will do this for now. And I emphasize "this moment."
We'll see if sales reflect anybody wanting to continue. But I'm excited because I think it'll give us a new dimension of Arthur. And we'll give it a lot more thought and figure out who he is as a character so that if he returns to those roles I established in the first issue, we'll have more context for them. If, a big if.
Jeremy Adams, Aquaman, and a Character's Desire
Lisa: I found some interviews where you said that you are a person who likes to think about how the character would want to be portrayed. You carry a lot of empathy for the characters, which is important. But do you then take that information and run in the direction the character would like to be portrayed? Or is that a consideration as you go into some situations where the character might be less comfortable?
Jeremy Adams: Oh, that's a good question. I think it's both, and there comes a point where some of the characters take on a life of their own in a way. You write something that doesn't sound right because you know the character wouldn't say that. So there is a bit of like, "Oh wow, that's interesting."
I think that definitely happened with Wally, but Wally was much more like me. But it really happened with Linda and his kids. That took on a life when I was writing The Flash. With Hal, there was definitely a moment at the beginning when it was kind of like, "I'm writing this brash Hal, or whatever." And then the relationship with Carol, it changed. And then I didn't know if they would be together.
That was uncomfortable, but I was just pushing that story forward because I wanted to see what would happen. And the same thing happened with Arthur. I think a lot has been done, but there are many things I don't know about him as an individual. I don't know about him in the way he grew up, and I don't know about him as a character. So it's really fun to discover that.
But then you take those elements of that, whatever that emotional perspective is or whatever those weird quirks he might have is, and you put him in a situation and see what that character does in that situation. And it'll get tougher and tougher. I think there's a little more in this particular story, and there are many more stakes than maybe in previous stuff I've done. Especially by the end. In the middle of the book, you're like, "Oh my gosh, these are really big stakes." And I think it will help galvanize who he is to me.
But to your point, it is fun to stick people in uncomfortable situations. It's really fun as a writer because I don't know what they will do. It's slightly like, "Well, I have no idea." This is great. It's like taking your kid on a roller coaster for the first time. You're like, I hope this ends well. It may be just tears, or it may be like, "I need to do it again!" You don't know. You know who that kid is, but you're like, "Okay, this will stretch you a little bit. Let's go see what that's like." So, as a writer, it's really fun.
Aquaman #1 is no on sale wherever find books are sold. And don't forget, you can listen to this unedited conversation on the CBCC Patreon.
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