On Post: Only Wanna Be With You

Date: January 7, 2013

I love me some domestic Aquaman.

That’s what I’ve nicknamed this character, in case you didn’t realize.

Anyway, this dialogue began in the shower, where most of my best ideas do. (Best ideas include: “I should shave today,” “Don’t get soap in my eyes,” and “I should wear a tux more often.”) I had already “drawn” the Hootie and the Blowfish tune for that entry and was going over my memory of the lyrics in my mind and kept getting stuck on the “And you wonder why/I’m such a baby/ yeah, the Dolphins make me cry” line. So I knew that was my way in.

Again, I didn’t want to just use the football team Dolphins as that’s what the song is directly about, so I lowered the case and went to the animal instead. Who would cry over dolphins? Why the King of the Seven Seas, of course. I didn’t go Namor for three reasons, 1.) He’s Marvel and I try not to mess with my freelance work, 2.) he has a distinct personality and thus it’s harder to “play” around with that persona in different places, and 3.) he doesn’t strike me as a crier. Aquaman, on the other hand, is a more flexible character who already has a reputation for humor so he was easier to shift and mold to meet my own ends. This Aquaman doesn’t really resemble any Aquaman interpretation I am aware of—Mark Waid’s JLA: Year One version would be the closest but that’s still far, far away—but I think there could be an aspect of him in those established characterizations.

So, my lead, Aquaman, was in place. Then I imagined him having to defend crying over dolphins. Although that bit ultimately got jettisoned as I just couldn’t get it to fit in the flow of the banter between he and Anna, it was all I needed to get the tone I wanted. From there, the beats just sort of rolled out with ease.

Two things I did just for me that I hope don’t stick out too badly—first, I do clear fan service with Aquaman with the reference to him not being able to figure out how old his son is these days (which Anna understandably misinterprets); second, is the manatee thing. I just love me some manatees.