Year of the Aquaman

... waitaminute, did you say Aquaman? Yeah, actually I did. Quit laughing.

What can I say? I am a longtime Aquaman fan. As a kid, nothing excited me more than getting up early on Saturday mornings for a bowl of Fruity Pebbles, a glass of juice and of course, Saturday morning cartoons. And at the time, no cartoon could equal the sheer coolness factor that was the Super Friends. Superman, Batman & Robin, Wonder Woman and Aquaman would come together every week to fight giant robots or space aliens or some other threat to truth, justice and the American way. Now granted, their adventures weren't exactly on the level of Justice League Unlimited, but they were still a lot of fun, especially for a kid who loved comics. And in my eyes, Aquaman was equal to any of the others ... when there was water around, anyway.

Three of the four “top tier” heroes on Super Friends (and by “top tier” I mean those that weren’t sidekicks, troublesome teenagers or animals) have always been media darlings, crossing over into other mediums besides comics or Saturday morning toons. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman have all had their own live-action TV shows. Batman struck gold again with Batman Begins this past June, while Bryan Singer’s Superman and Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman promise to breath new interest and life into these characters, almost certainly creating new franchises in the film world.

Then there’s Aquaman, he of little respect. But maybe that's changing. Witness:

• The king of the seven seas has been opted for a movie. Sure, it's a fictional movie, but you take what you can get when your claim to fame is talking to fish. That fictional movie, of course, is finding life, sort of, on HBO's clever Entourage. Of course, the costume leaves a lot to be desired.
  
• Last week’s Entertainment Weekly ran a feature story on our boy Arthur, and how he can't get any respect. They interviewed Paul Levitz, who himself is a former Aquaman writer: "Aquaman was created in '41. He's been a part of the culture ever since. There are a lot of people who'd aspire to that level of achievement." The article points out that Aquaman was one of the earliest heroes to get his own cartoon, 1967's Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure. There's also plenty of fish jokes.
  
• It doesn't sound like Aquaman will get much respect in the upcoming film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, either. Per EW, "the title dweeb treasures his Aquaman action figure." But hey, any press is good press, right?
  
• The next season of Smallville, though, could be his breakout moment. He’s scheduled to not only appear on the show, but also to date Lois Lane. This could be just the hook he's been looking for.

So laugh all you want, but Aquaman is all over the pop culture map. Or around it, anyway, in the blue parts. I guess time will tell if he sinks or swims.