After decades as the butt of many jokes — blame it on Super Friends – Aquaman finally may be heading for a comeback, thanks to HBO’s Entourage and a comic-book retooling.

That’s what the Toledo, Ohio, Blade says, anyway.

Still, the King of the Seven Seas has a long road to redemption:

Though created by DC Comics editor Mort Weisinger to fight Nazis in the ’40s, the classic image of Aquaman, the picture ingrained in our heads, is his Saturday morning TV incarnation on Super Friends, a squeaky clean towheaded man in a scaly orange shirt (a blouse, to be truthful) and Robin Hood tights. It hasn’t gotten much better over the years. Sometimes he’s an austere bubbling Zeus in a flowing wig — a dead ringer for the Burger King — and sometimes a laid-back Venice Beach slacker.

His pets — not too cool. Sea horses and kindly walruses. The shark is an improvement, but how could it not be when your last sidekick was called (no joke) Aqualad. Aquaman lacks the imposing trident of Marvel’s sneering Sub-Mariner, his respected contemporary. He doesn’t possess mind-blowing powers (he swims fast and communicates with ocean life … big whoop). He lacks the psychological angst of a real superhero; and worse, he lacks the mythology of a Batman or a Spider-Man — the grand origin that lodges in our heads.

Sure, Aquaman has his good points, too — like longevity. And … longevity. Oh, just follow the link.

Related: Aquaman vs. Superman — how do the heroes stack up?

The Louisville Courier-Journal profiled John Lee this weekend, a Kentucky resident who created the web comic Suburban Tribe after being laid off in 2002:

“I saw online that there were several artists creating comic strips on the Web, and they were making a living, and I thought, ‘Well, this will be easy,’ ” says Lee, who lives in Jeffersontown with his wife, Eve.

He was encouraged by classic Internet strips that spread in the late ’90s and centered on geeks and tech, such as Scott Kurtz’s “PvP,” “Penny Arcade” by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik and J.D. Frazer’s “User Friendly.”

“About five or six of them were making a living and paying the bills. I wanted to jump in,” he says. “I was always interested in serial television, like ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ always wanting to see where the story was going to connect.”

The first paper comic of his strip is now available on its website.

I knew things were going to be tough of Spider-Man after the whole unmasking thing, but I didn’t think he’d have to resort to crime: A 17-year-old in the London borough of Croydon has been jailed for dressing as Spider-Man and robbing schoolchildren during a “three-month reign of terror.”

The Croydon web-slinger, helped by two friends — I’m going to say Iceman and Firestar — stole money, MP3 players, mobile phones and jewelry from seven high school students between March and May. He’s been sentenced two 10 months after admitting to five robberies and two attempted robberies.

In keeping with his comic-book theme, the mugger embraced variant covers — of sorts: He was also known to wear a Zorro mask while committing crimes.

Because of Marvel’s Civil War, we’ve seen plenty of stories about superhero comics as political allegories. And because of Superman Returns, we’ve seen plenty of stories about the character’s relevance.

Now, the Toledo, Ohio, Blade mashes the two together for an examination of the obstacles facing the 21st century superhero, particularly in light of works like Identity Crisis and Civil War.

(Warning: Readers still furious about Identity Crisis should steady themselves before reading this next quote.)

“Comic books, I think, had gotten a little simplistic,” writer Brad Meltzer tells the Blade. “The hero gets a building thrown at him. He reacts. The end. We’d stopped being scared of the bad guys. I wanted a story where the things that happened can never be taken back again. I couldn’t care less if anyone throws a punch in my stories. The personal battle carries the impact.”

The article refers to DC Comics’ Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis and 52 as “a maturing,” part of a “movement to reorient superheroes for the modern world.” DC President and Publisher Paul Levitz, though, sees it as evolution.

“I’m not sure what the judgement of history will be on these books,” Levitz says. “But it’s part of evolution. See, this is a medium where writers build on the stories of the previous generation of writers, and as generations change, so do styles. We change the medium with every story we tell — after all we do have this tremendous ability to mess with the laws of science and nature.”

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Lea Hernandez offers a unique opportunity to talented female artists and writers:

In order to foster women publishing independently, with economy, and as owners of what they create, I will award FOUR grants annually, of a year’s free hosting at WebComicsNation.com, to women making a regularly-updating new or existing webcomic of any genre or style.

The recipients will have unlimited data storage and bandwidth, the ability to choose to support their work with ads, and a storefront for selling merchandise.

The name of the grant is “Nan”, after the “digital person” Nan 11 from Rumble Girls: Silky Warrior Tansie. In RG, Nan agitates, comments on, and works behind the scenes to help the heroine, Raven, come to the understanding that being her own girl is the key to her strength.

I believe the Web already has what women wanting to make comics need, and that it has and continues to transform American comics from a work-for-hire Boy’s Club to a stage for everyone to perform on and be seen. The Web is living up to its promise, and comics can, too.

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We kicked off this week with an interview with the brains behind Citizen Press and the upcoming Johnny Repeat graphic novel, Jason and Elizabeth James. The James gang were kind enough to supply us with several copies of the book, which we’re giving away in our first contest. Deadline for entries is Wednesday, July 5, so go check it out!

Lisa Fortuner joined us this week with her new weekly feature, Amateur Art Appreciation, and several other posts, including a recent podcast interview with Gail Simone and the difference between comic book Storm and movie Storm.

Graeme highlighted the similarities in Marvel’s comic plots to what happens in their movies, a recent exchange between Comic Reporter Tom and Marvel’s Aubrey Sitterson, Tom Breevort’s thoughts on continuity, leaked info on a New Frontier animated DVD and Michael Netzer’s new website.

Tom took a look this week at the cover to JLA #2 and first issue of the new Flash series … “I suppose it could be worse: Bart could be the fake-out, and that idiot Griffin could be the new Flash…. ” Um, let’s not give anyone any ideas, Tom …

I had a lot more fun writing this week’s I ♥ Comics feature than what’s probably allowed.

And we ended the week with what has become one of the most popular posts in our short history, Kevin Melrose’s recap of how the Siegel/DC legal battle over Superboy is affecting the upcoming Legion of Super Heroes cartoon. Kevin also brought us news on the biggest comic book movie opening of the summer, comic numbers for May and the latest on the McFarlane/Tony Twist legal battle.

Makani Themba-Nixon on Storm’s role in the X-Men comics versus her role in the movie:

Storm’s character was a bright spot in the relentless denigration of Black women in media. Her character operated as a strong metaphor for what it means to be a Black woman in the United States. In Africa, she was revered as a goddess and a queen. In the United States she faces fear and bigotry but she remains tough, unapologetic, strong; a warrior in every sense of the word.

The movie series stripped Storm of her power and the storyline of all its potency. The comic’s artful portrayals of the complex relationships among mutants across the continuum of the political spectrum are reduced to two dimensional good versus evil. Magneto’s character in the comic series had a strong sense of love for “his people.” He would not harm other mutants and saw the struggle for self determination as key to liberation and dealing with humans on equal terms. The vilification of his character in the film served to mute these important themes in favor of advancing jingoism and assimilation.

Art Chili Con Carney
Adam West and several other artists will display their Batman-inspired artwork this weekend in Palm Springs. The art show is to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Batman TV series, which aired from 1966-68.

“It’s (the artwork) based on my dreams, my memories and feelings I’ve had about it (Batman),” West said.

His artwork includes about 50 pieces featuring the super hero, his sidekick Robin and many of Batman’s enemies like The Penguin, The Riddler, Kato, Mr. Freeze and Catwoman.

“Catwoman is of course my favorite,” West said.

The gallery is located at 2500 N. Palm Canyon at Racquet Club.

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It’s beginning to look as if those rumors last month about the possible return of Futurama weren’t just rumors.

The New York Post reports the animated series, which was canceled by FOX in 2003, will return by 2008 with 13 new episodes on Comedy Central. The rumors initially were confirmed Tuesday night by actress Katey (Leela) Segal during an appearance on The Late Late Show.

Further confirmation came last night at TV Squad, when actor John (Bender) DiMaggio posted this message: “WE’RE COMING BACK! Billy, Katey, Maurice, and myself (as well as the other cast members) are looking forward to (mid-to-late) July to start getting into the studio and record new episodes. Thanks for all the support and digging the show all these years! Bite my shiny metal ass!! And I’m out!!!!!!!!”

According to E! Online, this is part of a larger deal Comedy Central made last year when it bought syndication rights to Futurama’s 72 episodes.

Watch Venture Bros. premiere early

If you’re a fan of The Venture Bros. (like me) and can’t wait for Sunday’s Season 2 premiere (like me), you’re in luck: Adult Swim is offering a special online premiere beginning at 6 p.m. today.

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From John Byrne’s interview about the All New Atom series at The Pulse, in response to the question “You’ve worked with Gail Simone before on the Man of Steel, how is this assignment different?”:

“Well, I have a good inker this time. Fans will actually get to see what I drew without having to check the pencils scans on my website.”

Over at his CBR column, Erik Larsen considers deadlines:

“I try — I really do — but if the choice is to have it look awful or great, I’ll go with great, or at least okay. I don’t want to become that guy. You know the one — that guy who’s lucky to draw an issue a year and who sweats every line because he knows that it will be his only book that year and the expectations are high so he’d better not blow it… I’ve pencilled books in a week. Several times, in fact. At one point I was doing “Spider-Man” and “Thor” and “Savage Dragon” simultaneously (I was writing and inking “Savage Dragon,” as well) and it’s a mad rush to be producing that kind of volume. It’s actually fun… But I’m a human being and sometimes human beings fail.”

Submitted for your consideration: Black Canary, world-renowned martial artist, under attack by someone much bigger and clumsier than her.

I’m sure you all know what happens next.

However, there’s more to this panel than just the setup for a very foolish body hitting the ground in the next one (or, to be strictly accurate, the panel after the next one). I’m a big believer in the subtle (often unconscious) value of art as a communication form. With good art, nothing is truly random. Everything in the panel, every line, every color, adds to the overall message received by the reader. You can even step back and find layers of commentary on the story as a whole in a single panel. In this weekly feature I’ll try to at least touch on some of the tricks and intricacies found in a single, well-drawn panel of art. I can’t promise the whole thousand words, though.

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Hi, welcome to Conspiracy Corner, where I get to make random and probably non-existant connections between various things for no good reason. For today’s installment, I’d like to return to the idea that Marvel’s comics are planned around their movie franchises. We know that comic-Spider-Man gained organic web-shooters so that the comic would be closer to the movie version of the character because Tom Brevoort essentially confirmed that to Newsarama at the time. But cut to Joe Quesada’s blog today, and the following comment, left by a fan: “I’ve been hearing rumors that in the third Spider-man movie, Spidey is going to unmask as well. Do you know if this is true?” Quesada’s response: “I am sworn to secrecy, so you’ll just have to see what happens.”

Today’s conspiracy theory for you all to ponder: Did Spider-Man unmask in the comics because he’s set to do so during the third Spider-Man movie?

The decision… is yours.

I was content to let the curious “How gay is Superman?” angle fade away, because it’s lost a lot of steam in the mainstream press.

As we’ve crept closer to the premiere of Superman Returns, those watercooler-talk items largely have been replaced by reviews, profiles and exhausting accounts of the character’s 68-year history.

But this piece, in the Toledo, Ohio, Blade, drew me back in: It’s an honest-to-goodness editorial — not a wire story, not a personal-opinion piece — on the Man of Steel’s sexuality!

I don’t regularly follow the newspaper, so I have no idea where its editorial board falls in the political spectrum. But the editorial’s stance comes as a refreshing surprise, particularly considering some of the commentary we’ve seen on this topic and the “lesbian Batwoman”:

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USA Today goes all out in its coverage of Superman Returns, which opens next Wednesday (just in case you forgot). There’s a “Superman Through the Years” quiz, a graphic charting the evolution of the famous “S” emblem and a report from the movie’s Los Angeles premiere.

But wait, there’s more!

The article looks at the way depictions of Superman have changed over the past seven decades, with quotes from writers Brad Meltzer and Steven T. Seagle, artist Teddy Kristiansen, DC Comics Publisher Paul Levitz, and director Bryan Singer.

“Just as the Greek gods represented their society, Superman is like the avatar of the United States,” Meltzer tells the newspaper. “It’s how we want to see ourselves. That’s why he gets more powerful and that’s why he gets more handsome. It becomes our own wish fulfillment.”

The Boston Herald, meanwhile, takes an abbreviated look at the life of the Man of Steel on film and television and in comics since 1980’s Superman II.

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The New York Daily News profiles cartoonist Josh Neufeld, focusing on his self-published book, Katrina Came Calling: A Gulf Coast Deployment, composed largely of blog entries written while he was volunteering in Mississippi after the hurricane:

Like many of us who watched as Hurricane Katrina tried to wipe New Orleans and the Gulf Coast regions of three states off the planet last summer, Neufeld wanted to do something. He read how the Red Cross turned Haspiel’s mother down as a volunteer because she had no training, and decided, “I had no skills either, but if this 60-year-old woman could do it, I could do it too.”

Four weeks of training later, Neufeld was shipped out to Biloxi, Miss., living in warehouse barracks and working 12- to 16-hour days on a three-person truck delivering hundreds of meals to families around the region each day.

Thanks to a trusty laptop computer kept in a backpack he carried everywhere (”People probably thought of me as this weird, nerdy guy with the computer,” he grinned), a digital camera and a most-times iffy wireless Internet connection at the barracks, Neufeld was able to keep a running chronicle of the events of his day on his blog.

You can read an excerpt of the book on Neufeld’s Livejournal.

At The Volokh Conspiracy, UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh analyzes, and criticizes, Tuesday’s Missouri Court of Appeals decision to uphold the $15 million verdict in Tony Twist’s lawsuit against Todd McFarlane:

The Missouri Supreme Court, which upheld Twist’s general legal theory, faced a potential obstacle to its ruling: Fiction writers in fact often name characters after famous people, for a variety of reasons. Sometimes they include those people as characters, as in the movies Forrest Gump and Zelig, or in Steve Martin’s play Picasso at the Lapin Agile (which has as its lead characters Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein). Sometimes writers just refer to those people in passing, or name characters after them — consider Yogi Bear; the characters Bernard Marx, Lenina Crowne, and Benito Hoover in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World; characters nicknamed after Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, in Federico Fellini’s Fred & Ginger; and the reference to Joe DiMaggio in Paul Simon’s Mrs. Robinson. The list could go on.

The Missouri Supreme Court tried to deal with by creating a distinction between (a) speech that is said “with the intent to obtain a commercial advantage” — speech that is “predominantly a ploy to sell comic books” — and (b) “artistic or literary expression.” But this distinction just can’t work.

(Thanks, Shawn Levasseur, for the link.)

At The Legion Omnicom, Michael points out an interesting change in press-release language for the upcoming Legion of Super Heroes cartoon, presumably in response to the ongoing legal squabble over the rights to Superboy.

In the original press materials, announcing the Kids’ WB fall lineup, the character with the “S” and spit curl was referred to as “the young Superboy”: “… While their intentions were good, their time travel skills were not, and Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Timber Wolf end up going too far back into the past, accidentally retrieving the young Superboy instead” (emphasis added).

But in the current press release, quoted by The Legion Omnicom, the character is “the young Superman, before he moved to Metropolis”: “… While their intentions were good, their time travel skills were not, and Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Brainiac 5, Phantom Girl, Bouncing Boy and Timber Wolf end up going too far back into the past, accidentally retrieving the young Superman, before he moved to Metropolis” (emphasis added, again).

There had been a lot of discussion on message boards about how the lawsuit might affect the animated series. It looks as if “young Superman” may be Warner Bros.’ solution.