WWD 2019

 World Water Day 

Over the next 10 days, we are transforming our shop into an experiential exhibition that will take you to a warm, bright and unfamiliar world. Join us for @LucasMurnaghan 's first solo show and book launch ‘Beneath the Surface’.https://t.co/pTu1EJnOnd pic.twitter.com/AuB6Z67ch5

— Surf the Greats (@surfthegreats) February 21, 2019

well, that was last month... 

today's THE DAY --- 

and what have you even done?!?

ONCE AGAIN WORLD WATER DAY 
IS A FLOOD OF GOOD INTENTIONS 
CASCADING DOWN UPON SOCIAL MEDIA 
AND WEBSITES IN GENERAL - 
JUST LOOK AT IT NOW: 

But how many will follow through 

with any of this... huh? 

How many will donate to organisms 

such as charitywater

I can tell you who will not: 

New Aqua Scribe Kelly Sue (not Peggy Sue; 

I know you have got the hugest crush on Kathleen Turner, 

Aqua Anna - ever since Romancing The Stone but, 

most specifically, ever since she started taking on 

lesbian roles repeatedly... so please contain yourself 

and your exxxcitement here - it is really not the place) 

and new artist Rocha (Luso...?) are taking a little 

and A LOT of inspiration from THE GOOD BOOK now 

in their latest adventures for ol' AQ... 

Alas, once again, the environmental topic 

-so taboo it appears to be, eh- 

is simply not broached at all. 

IN FACT...

AQUAMAN 

- whether the character published by DC Comics 

or the one portrayed by Jason Momoa on film - 

completely avoids the subject, each and every time; 

he'd rather continue to fight mythological figures, 

battle silly super-villains equally silly DC keeps throwing at him 

and fight for Atlantis' survival - apparently at the detriment 

of marine life, ecosystems and the greater, 

proverbial ''Bigger Picture'' overall...

A classic case of LOVED ONES AND THE LIKE coming 

before DUTY - as referred to early on in his GoT epic 

by writer George RR Martin - himself a scavenger 

of all things Biblical, Tolkien and Historical -  

merely repackaging it, rewording it (crudely) 

and representing it, mixed in with elements 

prickled from outrageous folk tales, fairy tale material 

and pure fantasy - for greater profit and the fun of it! 

It worked, too: Game of Thrones is a huge success - 

it spawned many new stars, side-effected spin-offy careers 

that have, in most cases, petered out actually... 

(The new Sarah Connor in Terminator: Genysis; 

the blasted wretch cast as Iron Fist; 

the "Half Man" destined to play in Hervé's biopic; 

the jury is still out on the new Jean Grey...!) 

Sean "The Real Mr" Bean and Jason Momoa himself 

have come from there; and the case can be made that 

if the latter is not killed off as Khal Drogo in GoT,  

he is not picked up by Zack Snyder as his Aquaman! 

But that's another story! 

AQUAMAN's MOVIE website itself 

completely omits any mention of World Water Day 

and its uncanny proximity to the actual date of release 

for the Blu-Ray and DVD of the film... 

On top of that - the website is NOT SECURE...!!! 

Zero mention of *WWD* on their social media presence 

- once again, as in previous years - 

only retweets of Oceana's nod to 

World Wildlife Day 

or Ocean Conservancy's "Turtle Tuesday" 

tongue-in-cheek "tradition" 

along with an occasional sea creature spotlight 

will ever surface on pages such as The Aquaverse - 

not officially sanctioned by DC at all. 

But even they... missed out of World Water Day!!! 

...this is all so very disappointing, 

DC...!!!  

Decades have passed, and nothing has really changed: 

I recall the time you started publishing your 

lamentable ''WHO'S WHO - the definitive directory 

of the DC universe'' in loose pages format - 

binder sold separately... DC! 

You announced who was going to be on the covers 

of all twelve (12) issues - and Aquaman wasn't there! 

I wrote to you then - I remember... as a fan! 

I wrote to complain about this; that here was one of your 

central characters - the one who represented 

the biggest chunk of the planet 

(not merely a fictional Chicago!)  

and he deserved to be on one of those covers. 

You did concede that - in large part due to 

the presence of a certain ''Doodles'' preditor 

(editor K. Dooley, prone to doodling at work) 

who happened to be an Aquaman fan, too... 

And he pulled whatever strings there were to pull  

in order to get it done - 

but then what was the result of that? 

THIS: 

...no, there is nothing intrinsically wrong 

with that Who's Who cover, per say... 

Except that this set back the character 

another decade or three! 

After years of being drawn by the likes of 

Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano and even 

Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and George Perez, 

this was a huge letdown - 

and it only reinforced the pre-conceit 

and misconceptions uninformed little minds 

had about the character and his tales... 

Doodles Dooley and his chosen scribe and artist 

were not to last long at the bar of this ship! 

On top of that, that headline 

(''Aquaman swims back into action'' - ha!) 

gave away the sad truth about it all: 

in-between the years 1980 and 1995, 

DC had all but given up on this character! 

He was swimming in limbo - for a while! 

Which is not as bad as being killed off, 

outright - which he finally was years later, 

after his successful runs under, successively, 

Peter David's pen, Erik Larsen's pencils (...) 

and Dan Jurgens' entire set of crayons... 

NOT TO MENTION the ''Waterhand'' saga, 

with Rick Veitch helming the entire fleet...! 

Imagine that: he got killed off - 

after all that - plus a ''Just Imagine'' story 

by Stan Lee himself, reworking Aquaman 

in his own hackneyed, marvelous formulaic ways...!  

Aye, that WHO'S WHO cover that I had clamored for 

is just one of the most flamboyant examples  

showing DC's and Warner Bros' INEPTITUDE 

WHEN IT COMES TO ALL THINGS 

...

- it is sad, but true...! 

So, the fact that in 2019, when they had this 

golden opportunity to release the first-ever 

BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL COMBO 

of the hugely successful and visually-stunning 

AQUAMAN MOVIE to coincide with 

WORLD WATER DAY... 

they totally and completely miss the boat on it 

- well, it is not surprising one iota. 

It is consistent with their misuse and poor handling 

of the property, over the course of some 

eighty (80) long years now... 

One could even excuse it - and explain it: 

they are reticent to get too involved 

with actual ecological and environmental concerns 

-even though they appear to be theirs to tackle- 

as it is not their primary business and objective here: 

newsflash (drum roll, please) --- AQUAMAN is NOT 

in the business of saving the seas, whales, coral reef, 

dolphins, sea life of any kind... He is not in the business 

of fetching drinkable water for anyone on the planet. 

Hell, he is not even in the business of preventing 

death by drowning for anyone out there! 

AQUAMAN is in the business of 

trying to make MONEY - 

selling entertainment 

for the masses! 

It is not at all surprising then - under that perspective -  

to see Aquaman's official pages on social media 

totally forget about all of these important dates 

- meant to raise awareness of these grave facts 

for the mindless, unconcerned, uncaring 

surface-dwellers who pollute the planet 

without a shred of repentance... 

World Oceans Day, World Water Day... 

Just a day like any other business day! 

AQUAMAN, as a fictional character whose 

sole function is to ENTERTAIN, can be held into 

account for any apparent flaw in his character - 

every little tiny bit of doubt over his effectiveness 

or even raison d'être -  such things have made 

lesser talents (lesser at entertaining) 

hugely famous: the wretched Seth of the Orville's 

pathetic toons come to mind here... 

And those two idiots behind the lamest 

attempt at animation ever seen in the history of television - 

whatsitcalled again - Southern... trailer Park trash, or something? 

and all the other nincompoops out there... 

BUT HE CANNOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE 

OF REAL-LIFE OCEAN POLLUTION - 

THE PROLIFERATION OF PLASTICS 

AND OTHER TRASH IN THE OCEANS - 

AND SO ON...! 

Audiences are inane - 

but they are not that inane! 

They know their characters 

are simply there for escapism - 

their escapism from the pressures 

of the real world - 

and how WE are destroying it! 

"Heroes" are not there to spread the awareness 

- and much less to actually save the day! 

THEY ARE JUST OUT 

TO MAKE A QUICK BUCK! 

And if they can make it by hashtagging along 

with a few trendy causes along the way 

(... say, like #BlackLivesMatterPanther 

or #CaptainWomensRightsMarvel  

or #HulkUpForAllBipolarDisorders 

or #XMenTransgenderedRightsForAll 

or #WonderEQUALITYWoman 

or, yes, #AquamanSaveTheWhalesToo...) 

they will - but not so overtly as that! 

The dichotomy remains clear 

between these two realms, verily - 

it is only audiences who support the fiction 

repeatedly -and I do mean repeatedly-  

that blur those separative borders 

and tack on greater meaning 

to works of pure fantasy 

that do not make things advance 

-in truth- one iota.  

Like... just look at this for a second: only a second, please! 

ALL THESE CHARACTERS - and nothing to fight for, 

really! Nothing to DO! No real motivation... 

Nothingness. 

Bonus note: check out what Aquaman is riding there... 

He's riding PLASTIC - PlasticMan's neck! 

This an attempt at an environmental joke, 

Kurt Busiek? George Perez? 

That is just SICK. 

The fanboys and average joes, alas, 

will rather invest in entertaining themselves 

-over and over again- 

than invest in changing things... 

They'd rather debate who is best 

between DC and Marvel 

rather than find the true culprits 

for social unbalance in the world. 

This is more along their ability to handle: 

 

And this form of fiction rarely tackles 

the real issues head on - 

Black Panther battled the token villain. 

Aquaman spent most of his film 

in-fighting amongst Atlanteans! 

No social or ecological issues 

were addressed, not for too long anyhow - 

only Orm Marius mentioned something, 

briefly... because it fit his character's 

motivation - that's all. 

A whole movie addressing real issues 

would cease to be "entertaining" - 

especially if one follows the Marvel model... 

(And DC appears to be adopting 

a similar approach, now...) 

AND THAT IS JUST TOO BAD. 

FOR IT IS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY - 

EACH TIME OUT... 

EACH "DAY" - 

SUCH AS WORLD WATER DAY.