Aqua Force - part 6

All characters used here are, for the most part, TM and copyrighted to DC Comics Inc.




It would be about time, around issue #75, to start a two-year long saga that would lead to the "senses-shattering climax of the greatest aquatic epic of all time"! A 24-issue lead-in into the "seven last days of the Aqua Force" (as you know it, anyway! Why? Because... all good things have to come to an end...! Also because this entire Aqua Force business spun out of an idea I had in mind to affect the entire DCU by focusing on my childhood favorite, Aquaman... This was not to be through an "underwater legion of super-heroes" but actually via another crisis... Yeah, I know - "another Crisis" you'll say... Not "another Crisis" nor an "umpteenth crisis"...! For this one was not going to be an Identity Crisis (...) nor was it going to be a so-called Infinite Crisis... (What's the next one on your agenda, DC? A Disappointing Crisis - in the eye of the Illuminati! A New Age American Crisis, for the sicko times that we all live in! A Sea Crisis - `nuff said, I do believe... And a"Mid-life Crisis" - for the Uber-Bat? *LOL* That one will sell, DC... yes! Do it!) - no, I had simply decided to merely call it "THE ULTIMATE CRISIS". (Yes, as Ric Flair once said - Lord, it is hard to be humble!)
Ultimate - for that, too, has to end! (That being the DCU!) Ultimate - way before Marvel came up with its own Ultimates too! But that is another story... Truth to tell, the word crisis has been over-used by DC (as "ultimate" is now, by their competitor)... And they ripped it off, of course, from classic literature! Thomas Paine's The American Crisis, Supernumerary Crisis and The Crisis Extraordinary had already made extensive commercial use of the appealing (for alarming and thus exciting) word. DC, one could say, never invented anything - not even the super-hero! Heroes that accomplish amazing feats go as far back as Gilgamesh... (What DC and Marvel might have invented is the bizarre urban-dwelling do-gooder who is half-menace to society's order (because of his vigilantism) and half-gay "icon" for his tights-wearing...! And THAT is NOTHING to be proud about, quite frankly! But that is, admittedly, another story entirely and I should not be caught digressing here at this time...)

The idea of an underwater Justice League grew on me though - quite obviously! And the mere prelude to the "Ultimate Crisis" became the bigger saga of the two... Amazing how the creative process gains a life of its own sometimes... hmm? Anyway... DC did a mockery of my concept with their one-shot Justice League of Atlantis... NOT EVEN CLOSE to my saga! How could it be - since it was but one chapter of a misguided tale that had each of the Big Seven "nearly mythological" members of the original JLA creating their own version of the League... THIS project of mine was clearly more than just that! It has scope - it has vision! It has an actual story to tell!

And at this point of the saga, the story is this: Tuatara starts experiencing disturbing visions of an apocalyptic end for Atlantis as it is now - he does have a third eye (an actual third eye -for those not familiar with the character!) that sees into the fourth dimension - time! He can actually see the future, usually not too far ahead of time though. That ability is what makes him so interesting to me! He can, theoretically, anticipate your every move! His costume is also that of a true mystery man - a concealing mask that makes him a true enigma within the group. An interesting character all-around - if you're a writer! Thus, he sees into the future but with limitations... Once he visits a certain island and a certain beach house though, all that changes! He begins seeing the doomsday future scenario play out before his eyes... And it could be for two weeks from now - as it could be for eventual "fruition" only years from now! He cannot tell! And that will nearly drive him mad...

I had planned to kill off the insufferable tadpole then too. (And even a few of my own creations - but that is another story - again!) Yes - the ingrate named Garth aka Aqualad aka the Temp-pest! I would have had him go through a name-change first... But no costume change for him! Nah! Why bother? It was going to be a question of mocking the cloning of Aquaman by Marvel - into the Squadron Supreme's Amphibion! Aqualad was going to side with Ocean Master (!) and choose to say that his "A" belt buckle would stand for "Amphibian" henceforth! And then, after the betrayal, would come repentance and some mild form of redemption as he would die in battle trying to turn the tide for the good side again...! Not such bad treatment for a character that I don't even like! Hmm?

I have better still - but it involves my own characters; the tragic fate of Ulla Paske as well; sacrifice and revolting developments (as Ben Grimm would say) AND... The Vril! Remember the Vril? *lol* No, I'd wager... Think of something akin to The Force... From Star Wars that is! It sort of created Neptune Perkins (great success there - a freak with a sodium deficiency that condemns him to stay in salt water! And I say that despite the fact that THIS character I LIKE! But I had a tough time making him up to snuff, so to speak! But I always loved a challenge...) and the Vril also created... well, quite a few others! The great Roy Thomas introduced this into the DCU - and it went immediately into limbo as he did! Not fair at all - and I wanted to change that! Oh well... maybe someday, eh?

All this to lead into... The Final Battle For Atlantis!
See you in thirty (as classic comic-book captions would read, on the bottom of the very last page - usually the letters page! Of course it meant thirty days, as most books were monthlies. Here it must mean thirty seconds - you may make it a LONGER break still before reading "part 7" - but read it you will! You've come so far... Right? Gotta know how it ends! Or will you? *lol*)