Returning for more punishment?

There are a few comicbook characters that I'm irrational about. Kill off Batman? I'm fine with that. Captain America? I'm sure he'll be back. Hell, turn Spidey into a cannibal for all I care. Before long the ship will always right itself and the status quo (whatever that happens to mean to the current editorial staff) will return.

But there are three characters that can drive me into nerd rage faster than a flat tire in a thunderstorm. Those characters are Nightwing, Daredevil and Aquaman.

I'm willing to give change a chance. After all, if it wasn't for change we'd never have had Frank Miller's take on Daredevil (and Nightwing would still be running around as Robin.) But it seemed like DC Comics quit on Aquaman around the same time Peter David walked off the book. I stuck with it for a little while after that before I lost interest. When it was later relaunched as a quasi-Vertigo "magic" book I gave that a try, too. I stuck around for the short-lived "underwater crime fighter" angle of the series (which was fun) but all of that got flushed away for the Aquaman-in-name-only Sword of Atlantis.

For all intents and purposes, it appeared the character was dead. After being jerked around with the "reinvention of the month" strategy at DC I lost interest. I still picked up the occasional back-issue, DC Showcase book and action figures, but Aquaman's future seemed over. Part of me even hoped Blackest Night planted Aquaman firmly in the ground just so they'd stopped abusing the character.

But, true to form, I'm willing to give my abusive spouse just one more chance (because they love me!) with The Return of Aquaman, a storyline that appeared to be peppered across different titles. Rob over at the Aquaman Shrine is keeping tabs of what's happening, so check it out. His site's a worthy rival to Tegan's Aquaman fan page (which I've followed since the 1990s.)