'I don't think he even thinks he's necessarily the best person for it, but he's the best person around,' Parker says. So even though the rule of Atlantis isn't technically his birthright, Aquaman takes the responsibility anyway. However, while he's loved among the sailors and others whom he has saved, most of the general population doesn't understand him.Īlso, the rest of the world feels under threat by the Atlanteans since they are this mysterious force underneath them, and in turn the Atlanteans also feel constantly on the defensive from those up above. But because his dad, a lighthouse keeper, was the one who raised him, 'what he takes away is you're supposed to watch out for people and protect them, and that's what he's really good at.'īeing a member of the Justice League has earned him some goodwill among those on land. His mother's role would have been teaching him all the royalty stuff, the writer adds. 'It's literally like if you were raised in a lighthouse in Maine and then later on someone told you you're the king of a country and you have no idea what to do.' 'He's caught up as fast as he can, he's a smart guy, but at the same time he always has a little trouble with people because it's not his culture. 'Ironically, he's a fish out of water with the Atlanteans because he wasn't raised there,' Parker says. Out Tuesday, Aquaman issue 26 begins Parker's creative reign with artists Paul Pelletier and Netho Diaz with some time passing since the last issue, when Aquaman and Mera took the thrones as rulers of Atlantis.Īrthur's trying to make some changes in the Atlantean government yet he also feels the calling for being a superhero on the surface while what he has learned about his underwater city is still weighing on him. Instead, 'there's shark punching, monster fighting and, the most deadly of all, the high school reunion.' Parker says he's not throwing him back into all that quite yet. With previous writer Geoff Johns driving the ship, Arthur Curry had to deal with a Dead King coming back to reclaim the throne of Atlantis, learned he wasn't of the royal lineage he long thought, and discovered the existence of the kingdoms of the Seven Seas. He's just in the beginning of his run on DC Comics' Aquaman comic book, and Jeff Parker's already in the deep end when it comes to using water metaphors.

Kings Watch Volume 1 by Jeff Parker