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Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941).
Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo comic book series. During the late 1950s and 1960s superhero-revival period known as the Silver Age, he was a founding member of the Justice League.
In the 1990s Modern Age, writers interpreted Aquaman's character more seriously, with storylines depicting the weight of his role as king of Atlantis.
The son of a human lighthouse-keeper and the queen of Atlantis, Aquaman is the alias of Arthur Curry, who also goes by the Atlantean name Orin.
Others to use the title of Aquaman include a short-lived human successor, Joseph Curry; his protégé Jackson Hyde; and the mysterious Adam Waterman, who was briefly active during World War II.
Aquaman's comic books are filled with colourful undersea characters and a rich supporting cast, including his mentor Vulko, his powerful wife Mera, and various sidekicks such as Aqualad, Aquagirl, and Dolphin.
Aquaman stories tend to blend high fantasy and science fiction. His villains include his archenemy Black Manta and his own half-brother Ocean Master, among others.
The character's original 1960s animated appearances left a lasting impression, making Aquaman widely recognized in popular culture and one of the world's most recognized superheroes.
Jokes about his wholesome, weak portrayal in Super Friends and perceived feeble powers and abilities have been staples of comedy programs and stand-up routines, leading DC at several times to attempt to make the character edgier or more powerful in the comic books.
Modern comic book depictions have attempted to reconcile these various aspects of his public perception, with many versions often casting Aquaman as serious and brooding, weighed down by his public reputation, his responsibilities as king, and the complex world of Atlantean politics.
Aquaman has been featured in several adaptations, first appearing in animated form in the 1967 The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure and then in the related Super Friends program.
Since then he has appeared in various animated productions, including prominent roles in the 2000s series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, as well as several DC Universe Animated Original Movies.
Actor Alan Ritchson also portrayed the character in the live action television show Smallville.
In the DC Extended Universe, actor Jason Momoa portrays the character in the films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League and its director's cut Zack Snyder's Justice League, Aquaman, the HBO Max series Peacemaker, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.]
Publication history
Aquaman's appearances began in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941 and continued until issue #107, after which all superhero stories were replaced with humor features. At this time, in 1946, Aquaman was transferred to Adventure Comics with issue #103 along with the other superhero features from More Fun Comics.
Aquaman would continue to feature in Adventure Comics for the next 15 years, being one of the few DC superheroes to appear continuously throughout the 1950s.
In 1961, Aquaman starred in a four-issue run in the anthology series Showcase in issues #30–33. These Showcase issues are notable as Aquaman's first cover appearances in any comic.
Simultaneously, the Aquaman backup feature ended in Adventure Comics with issue #284 and was transferred to Detective Comics with issue #293.
Soon thereafter, the first Aquaman solo series began, with the first issue cover-dated February 1962. The same month, the backup feature in Detective Comics ended with issue #300.
Simultaneously with the solo series, an Aquaman backup feature was also published in World's Finest #125–139 (cover-dated May 1962 to February 1964). The solo series Aquaman would last 56 issues in its initial run until 1971.
After a three-year hiatus, Aquaman returned as a backup feature in Adventure Comics for issues #435–437 before becoming the main feature in issues #441–452.
This run transitioned into a revival of the Aquaman solo series in 1977, resuming the initial run's numbering at #57; however, the series ended after just seven issues with #63 in 1978.
Aquaman once again returned to Adventure Comics as part of the Dollar Comics revamp of the series, appearing in issues #460–466 over 1978–1979.
When this ended, Aquaman appeared in three issues of World's Finest Comics (#262–264) and then returned to Adventure Comics as the first feature for four more issues (#475–#478) and as a back up in issues #491-500.
The feature found a new home as a backup in Action Comics for 14 issues (#517–521; #527–530; #536–540), which would be the end of Aquaman's Pre-Crisis solo appearances.
Aquaman's first Post-Crisis appearance was in the four-issue miniseries Aquaman (vol. 2) in 1986, which gave the character a new blue costume which did not reappear in any later series.
In 1988 the character starred in the one-shot Aquaman #1, followed by the Legend of Aquaman Special one-shot issue in 1989.
This was followed by the five-issue miniseries Aquaman (vol. 3). A new ongoing series, Aquaman (vol. 4), began in 1991, but was cancelled after 13 issues.
The character was reinvented in the 1993–1994 miniseries Aquaman: Time and Tide, which provided a revamped origin for Aquaman. This was followed by a new ongoing series, Aquaman (vol. 5), which lasted until 2001 with 75 issues altogether, making it the longest-running Aquaman solo series to date.
Aquaman (vol. 6) was launched in 2003, following on from the Obsidian Age storyline in JLA. In the wake of the DC event miniseries Infinite Crisis and DC's "One Year Later" relaunch, the series was renamed Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis with issue #40 until the final issue (#57); these 18 issues starred a brand new, younger Aquaman named Arthur Joseph Curry.
There were no more solo Aquaman publications in Post-Crisis continuity, although the original Aquaman did feature as a main character in the limited series Brightest Day.
The New 52 continuity reboot in September 2011 saw the beginning of the ongoing series Aquaman (vol. 7). A spin-off team title, Aquaman and the Others, also ran for 11 issues from 2014 to 2015.
Aquaman vol. 7 lasted for the entirety of the New 52 era of DC, ending with issue #52 in 2016 as part of the line-wide relaunch DC Rebirth.
The New 52 volume was immediately followed by the one-shot issue Aquaman: Rebirth, preceding the launch of the current ongoing series Aquaman (vol. 8), which ended with issue #66.
Upon cancellation of Aquaman vol. 8, Aquaman did not have titled release until a digital only series titled Aquaman: Deep Dives released in 2020.
Throughout 2022 Aquaman appeared in both Aquaman: The Becoming, and Aquamen which saw Aquaman train Jackson Hyde/Aqualad to take over his mantle.
However by the end of 2022 it seemed DC was moving away from this decision as they began publishing regular Aquaman team-up stories again. These included the seven issue series Aquaman/Green Arrow: Deep Target and the three issue Aquaman/The Flash: Voidsong.
In August 2022, Aquaman received a three issue mini-series called Aquaman: Andromeda under DC’s adult audience comic series DC Black Label. This was the last Aquaman titled publication until the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Special #1 one-shot in October of 2023.
Fictional character biography
Golden Age
Aquaman's first origin story was presented in flashback from his debut in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941), narrated by the character himself:
"The story must start with my father, a famous undersea explorer—if I spoke his name, you would recognize it. My mother died when I was a baby, and he turned to his work of solving the ocean's secrets. His greatest discovery was an ancient city, in the depths where no other diver had ever penetrated.
My father believed it was the lost kingdom of Atlantis. He made himself a water-tight home in one of the palaces and lived there, studying the records and devices of the race's marvelous wisdom. From the books and records, he learned ways of teaching me to live under the ocean, drawing oxygen from the water and using all the power of the sea to make me wonderfully strong and swift.
By training and a hundred scientific secrets, I became what you see—a human being who lives and thrives under the water."
In his early Golden Age appearances, Aquaman can breathe underwater and control fish and other underwater life for up to an hour.
Initially, he was depicted as speaking to sea creatures "in their own language" rather than telepathically and only when they were close enough to hear him (within a 20 yards (18 m) radius).
Aquaman's adventures took place all across the world and his base was "a wrecked fishing boat kept underwater," in which he also lived.
During his wartime adventures, most of Aquaman's foes were Nazi U-boat commanders and various Axis villains from when he once worked with the All-Star Squadron.
The rest of his adventures in the 1940s and 1950s had him dealing with several sea-based criminals, including modern-day pirates such as his longtime archenemy Black Jack, as well as various threats to aquatic life, shipping lanes, and sailors.
Aquaman's last appearance in More Fun Comics was in issue #106, before being moved along with Superboy and Green Arrow to Adventure Comics, starting with issue #103 in 1946.
In "The New Golden Age" #1 (2022), writer Geoff Johns restores a variation of the Golden Age Aquaman to DC continuity.
This version's profile tells the story of an Aquaman who was the predecessor of Arthur Curry. This Aquaman was the unnamed son of two well-respected scientists who studied what they believed to be the underwater ruins of Atlantis (in reality an abandoned Atlantean scientific outpost), where they lived in an underwater lab.
This unique environment seemed to slowly alter their young son's physiology. The boy learned how to breathe in the water, developed incredible strength, and formed a bond with sea life while training some of them to aid him in his underwater heroic activities.
In 1941, he first appeared to the surface world as Aquaman. While he turned down the offer to join the Justice Society of America when he encountered Green Lantern, he was briefly a member of the All-Star Squadron.
In 1947, Aquaman left the sea where he sought to live on the land using the alias of "Adam Waterman". He retreated back to the ocean soon after for reasons unknown. This Aquaman disappeared from the public eye in the 1950s.
At the end of the "Flashpoint Beyond" limited series, this version of Aquaman was among "The Thirteen" characters "removed from time" seen in the custody of the Time Masters.
The capsules containing this Aquaman and those with him were found to have failed and they have been pulled back to the 1940s, restoring them to DC's history in modern-day stories.
Silver Age
Aquaman's adventures continued to be published in Adventure Comics through the 1940s and 1950s, as one of the few superheroes to last through the 1950s in continuous publication.
Starting in the late 1950s new elements to Aquaman's backstory were introduced, with various new supporting characters added and several adjustments made to the character, his origins, his power and persona.
The first of these elements was the story "Aquaman's Undersea Partner" in Adventure Comics #229 (October 1956), where his octopus sidekick Topo was first introduced.
This and subsequent elements were later removed or altered from the Aquaman character after the establishment of DC's multiverse in the 1960s, attributed to the Aquaman of Earth-One.
The Silver Age Aquaman made his first appearance in Adventure Comics #260 (May 1959). In it and subsequent Silver Age comics, it was revealed that this Aquaman was Arthur Curry, the son of lighthouse keeper Tom Curry and Atlanna, a water-breathing outcast from the lost underwater city of Atlantis.
Due to his heritage, Aquaman discovered as a youth that he possessed various superhuman abilities, including the powers of surviving underwater, communication with sea life and tremendous swimming prowess.
Eventually, Arthur decided to use his talents to become the defender of the Earth's oceans. It was later revealed that in his youth Arthur had adventured as Aquaboy and, on one occasion, met Superboy, Earth's only other publicly active superpowered hero at the time. When Arthur grew up, he called himself "Aquaman".
It was later revealed that after Atlanna's death, Tom Curry met and married an ordinary human woman and had a son named Orm Curry,
Aquaman's half-brother. Orm grew up as a troubled youth in the shadow of his brother, who constantly bailed him out of trouble with the law. He grew to hate Aquaman not only for the powers that he could never possess, but also because he believed that their father would always favor Aquaman.
Orm disappeared after becoming an amnesiac and would resurface years later as Aquaman's nemesis the Ocean Master.
Aquaman's ability to talk with fish eventually expanded to full-fledged telepathic communication with sea creatures even from great distances.
He also retroactively developed a specific weakness akin to Superman's vulnerability to kryptonite or Green Lantern's vulnerability to the color yellow: Aquaman had to come into contact with water at least once per hour or he would die. Prior to this, Aquaman could exist both in and out of water indefinitely.
In Aquaman #18 (December 1964), Aquaman married Mera in the first superhero wedding depicted in a comic book.
Aquaman was included in the Justice League of America comic book series, appearing with the team in their very first adventure, and was also a founding member of the team. Aquaman took part in most of the 1960s adventures of the superhero team.
Aquaman's supporting cast and rogues gallery soon began to grow with the addition of Aqualad, an outcast, orphaned youth from an Atlantean colony whom Aquaman took in and began to mentor. Aquaman later discovered the submerged fictional city of New Venice, which became Aquaman's base of operations for a time.
Aquaman is recognized as the son of Atlanna and is later voted to be the King after the death of the former regent, who had no heirs. By this time, Aquaman had met Mera, a queen from a water-based dimension, and married her shortly after he became king.[24] They soon have a son, Arthur, Jr. (nicknamed "Aquababy").
The 1960s series introduced other such archenemies as the Ocean Master (Aquaman's amnesiac half-brother Orm), Black Manta, the Fisherman, the Scavenger, and the terrorist organization known as O.G.R.E.
Other recurring members of the Aquaman cast introduced in this series include the well-meaning but annoying Qwsp (a water sprite); Dr. Vulko, a trustworthy Atlantean scientist who became Aquaman's royal advisor and whom Aquaman eventually appoints to be king after leaving the throne himself; and Tula (known as "Aquagirl"), an Atlantean princess who was Aqualad's primary love interest.
In the mid-1980s, after his own feature's demise, Aquaman is briefly made the leader of the Justice League of America.
In a storyline in Justice League of America #228–230, an invasion of Earth by a race of Martians occurs at a time when the core members are missing.
Aquaman is thus forced to defend Earth with a League much depleted in power and capability, and he takes it upon himself to disband the Justice League altogether in Justice League of America Annual #2 (1984), thereafter reforming it with new bylaws requiring members to give full participation to the League's cases.
With the help of veteran Justice League members the Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, and the Elongated Man, Aquaman recruits and trains four new and untried members: Gypsy, Vibe, Vixen, and Steel. Arthur also relocates the team's headquarters to a reinforced bunker in Detroit, Michigan after the destruction of the JLA's satellite headquarters during the Martian invasion.
Aquaman's participation in this new version of the Justice League ended in #243 (October 1985), when he resigned to work on his marriage with Mera.
Modern Age
After the 1985 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, several short miniseries were produced in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, beginning with 1986's four-issue miniseries Aquaman (February–May 1986), written by Neal Pozner and featuring Aquaman in a new, largely deep-sea blue "camouflage" costume.
The series was well received and a follow-up limited series was in the works, but was eventually cancelled due to creative problems.
This series also expanded on several details of the Silver Age Aquaman's origin as well as Aquaman's relationship with his half-brother, the Ocean Master, whose origin was retold in more complete detail.
The series also added mystical elements to Aquaman's mythology and reinvented the Ocean Master as a sorcerer. Aquaman reappeared in his blue costume in Aquaman Special #1 (1988).
In late 1988, the character appeared in the Invasion! storyline, guest-starring with the Doom Patrol and once again wearing his trademark orange and green costume.
In 1989, the Legend of Aquaman Special (officially titled as Aquaman Special #1 in the comic's legal indicia, the second Special in back-to-back years) rewrote Aquaman's mythos and origin while still keeping most of his Silver Age history intact. The special was written by writer Robert Loren Fleming with plots/breakdown art by Keith Giffen and full pencil art by artist Curt Swan.
This origin story of the Modern Age recounts that Aquaman is born as Orin to Queen Atlanna and the mysterious wizard Atlan in the sunken Atlantean city of Poseidonis.
As a baby, Orin was abandoned to die on Mercy Reef (which is above sea level at low tide, causing fatal air exposure to Atlanteans) because of his blond hair, which was seen by the superstitious Atlanteans as a sign of a curse they called "the Mark of Kordax."
The only individual who spoke up on Orin's behalf was Vulko, a scientist who had no patience for myth or superstition. While his pleas fell on deaf ears, Vulko would later become a close friend and advisor to the young Orin.
As a feral child who raised himself in the wilds of the ocean with only sea creatures to keep him company, Orin was found and taken in by a lighthouse keeper named Arthur Curry who named Orin "Arthur Curry" after himself.
One day, a young Arthur returns home and finds that his adoptive father has disappeared, so he sets off on his own. In his early teens, Orin ventures to Alaska, where he meets and falls in love with an Inupiaq girl named Kako.
It is also here that he first earned the hatred of Orm, the future Ocean Master, who was later revealed to be Arthur's half-brother by Atlan and an Inupiaq woman.
As detailed in the five-issue miniseries Aquaman (June–October 1989) (by the same creative team of the 1989 special of Robert Loren Fleming, Keith Giffen, and Curt Swan), which continued a few of the themes from the Legend of Aquaman Special, Mera is eventually driven insane by grief over the death of her son, Arthur, Jr., and is committed to an asylum in Poseidonis.
Shortly afterwards, a jellyfish-esque alien force conquers Atlantis. Arthur is forced to save the city, but is hampered by an escaped Mera, who personally blames Arthur for the death of their son. In a fit of rage, Mera leaves Earth for her homeworld of Xebel in another dimension.
The publication of writer Peter David's The Atlantis Chronicles #1–7 (March–September 1990), which tells the story of Atlantis from antediluvian times to Aquaman's birth, introduced the ancient Atlantean characters Orin (after whom Aquaman was named) and Atlan (who was revealed to be Aquaman's father).
Another Aquaman ongoing series with creative team Shaun McLaughlin and Ken Hooper (#1–13) thereafter ran from December 1991 to December 1992, which portrayed Aquaman reluctantly deciding to remain in Poseidonis as its protector once again.
For a time, Arthur served as Atlantis' representative to the United Nations, but always found himself thrust back into the superhero role.
Becoming more and more of a workaholic and solitary figure, Aquaman eventually returned to the oceans and soon becomes tangled up in another attempt by Black Manta to destroy Atlantis by dragging it into a war with a surface nation.
Peter David returned to the character in another miniseries, Aquaman: Time and Tide, a 1993–1994 four-issue miniseries which further explained Aquaman's origins, as he finally learns all about the history of his people through the Atlantis Chronicles, which are presented as historical texts passed down and updated through the centuries.
Aquaman learns that his birth name was Orin and that he and his enemy the Ocean Master share the same father, "an ancient Atlantean wizard" named Atlan.
This revelation sends Orin into a bout of rage and depression, setting the stage for later confrontations between the two, as it is said in the Chronicles that "two brothers will also battle for control of Atlantis".
This is in contrast to the Silver Age Aquaman, who had always known that the Ocean Master was his half-brother Orm, although Orm's amnesia prevented him from remembering this fact for some time.
This series is credited by Kevin Melrose of Comic Book Resources with helping the character reach the height of his modern-era popularity.
Aquaman starred in his own series again with the publication of Aquaman (vol. 5) #1 (August 1994), initially scripted by Peter David, following up on his 1993 Time and Tide miniseries.
This series was the longest-running for the character, lasting until its 75th issue. David left the series after issue #46 (July 1998) after working on it for nearly four years.
David began by giving Aquaman an entirely new look, forsaking his former clean-cut appearance.
Following his discoveries reading the Atlantis Chronicles during Time and Tide, Aquaman withdraws from the world for a time. Garth finds him weeks later, with his hair and beard grown long, brooding in his cave.
Aquaman loses his left hand when the madman Charybdis, attempting to force Arthur to show him how he can harness Arthur's ability to communicate with sea life, sticks Arthur's hand into a piranha-infested pool.
This loss causes Aquaman to become somewhat unhinged and he begins having prophetic dreams, and then, feeling in need of a "symbol", attaches a harpoon spearhead to his left arm in place of his missing hand.
His classic orange shirt is shredded in a battle with Lobo, but rather than replace it, he instead goes shirtless for a while before donning a gladiatorial manica.
After the destruction of the harpoon, Aquaman has it replaced by a cybernetic prosthetic harpoon from S.T.A.R. Labs with a retractable reel that he can fully control.
A major storyline, culminating in #25, concerns the Five Lost Cities of Atlantis.
Facing an unearthly invading species linked to the origin of the Atlanteans, Aquaman has to search out and unite the lost cities.
This storyline established Arthur as a Warrior King and a major political power, ruling largely undisputed over all the Atlantean cities.
The remainder of Peter David's run focused on Orin coming to terms with his genetic heritage and his role as king. During this time he discovers the remnants of a sentient alien ship beneath Poseidonis and is able to take control of it, returning Poseidonis to the surface and bringing Atlantis into greater contact with the outside world.
The cultural changes this brings about, including increased tourism, as well as his conflicting duties as superhero and king, bring him into increasing tension with the political powers in his city.
After a brief stint by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, David was replaced as writer by Erik Larsen with issue #50 (Dec. 1998) and again by Dan Jurgens in issue #63 (January 2000). The series ended with issue #75 (January 2001).
During this time Aquaman's wife Mera returns, once again sane, from the otherworldly dimension where she had been trapped and Aquaman narrowly averts a coup d'état orchestrated by his son Koryak and his advisor Vulko.
Arthur's second harpoon is also destroyed, this time in a battle with Noble, King of the Lurkers.
Aquaman replaces it with a golden prosthetic hand developed by Atlantean scientists which can change shape at his command, thus retaining the powers of the former harpoon while also being more all-purpose.
After a brief war with an island nation, Aquaman expands Atlantis' surface influence by annexing the country to Atlantis.
Aquaman had no regular series of his own from 2001 to 2003, but his plot went through several developments via his cameo appearances in multiple other titles.
Aquaman was a founding member of the reformed JLA and remained an active, if sometimes reluctant member of that team, until the "Our Worlds at War" storyline in 2001 (shortly after the cancellation of Aquaman vol. 5), during which Aquaman and the city of Poseidonis disappear during a battle between Aquaman and an Imperiex probe.
The Justice League eventually found out that the city was still there, just magically shielded, but in ruins and apparently uninhabited.
These Atlanteans were trapped in the ancient past, sent there by Tempest (Aqualad) as a last measure when it appeared that the city would be destroyed by the probe.
There, however, they were enslaved by their own Atlantean ancestors, led by a powerful sorceress named Gamemnae, and Aquaman himself was transformed into living water and imprisoned in an ornamental pool.
Over time, this civilization had collapsed until only Gamemnae herself, now immensely powerful, inhabited the ruins.
After a few months of their own time, but fully 15 years for the Atlanteans, the JLA free Aquaman in "The Obsidian Age" storyline in JLA. Although the original League is killed by Gamemnae, their souls are contained by the magician Manitou Raven to use in a spell to contain Gamemnae in Atlantis until the present day, when he is able to revive them.
Aquaman is freed from his imprisonment in the pool and Zatanna enhances his abilities so that he can now control the entire ocean as a powerful water wraith.
With this power, Aquaman is able to sever Gamemnae's connection to the city by sinking it under the sea again.
While he fights Gamemnae, the League members return the modern Atlanteans to the present, where they begin rebuilding the city, which is once again at the bottom of the sea.
A sixth Aquaman series began shortly afterward, initially written by Rick Veitch, who sought to take Aquaman in a more mystical direction. Subsequent writers who contributed to the series include John Ostrander, Will Pfeifer, Tad Williams, and John Arcudi.
This series ran 57 issues, starting in December 2002 (cover-dated February 2003). Initially focusing on Aquaman's efforts to survive after he was exiled from Atlantis and the ocean, the theme of the storyline changed when Aquaman became involved after a sizeable portion of San Diego sunk into the ocean.
Over the next few months, it was discovered that the sinking was the work of a scientist who had acquired a sample of Aquaman's DNA.
Believing that the human race as it currently existed would destroy Earth, he had sunk the city while also using the DNA sample he took from Aquaman to convert most of the residents into water-breathers.
Aquaman goes on to establish himself as the protector of 'Sub Diego', aided by new Aquagirl Lorena Marquez, despite such problems as the human residents' poor reaction to being trapped underwater and the Ocean Master's attempt to rewrite history so that he is Aquaman while Orin is the Ocean Master.
Starting with #40 (May 2006), following the events of the Infinite Crisis storyline, the series was renamed Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis which ended with issue #57 (October 2007). These issues featured a new, younger Aquaman named Arthur Joseph Curry.
Following the "One Year Later" storyline (starting with Aquaman (vol. 6) #40 (May 2006)), the series was renamed Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis and taken in an entirely different direction by writer Kurt Busiek.
In this version, Aquaman is missing and presumed dead following the events of Infinite Crisis. A young man with aquatic powers by the name of Arthur Joseph Curry is summoned by the mysterious Dweller in the Depths to take up the mantle of Aquaman, but it gradually emerges that the Dweller himself is Aquaman, having lost much of his memory and been strangely mutated, while gaining magical powers.
These changes were explained later during the "missing year" between Infinite Crisis and One Year Later depicted in the weekly series 52, where Aquaman makes a brief appearance at the memorial for Superboy.
Sometime later Ralph Dibny, seemingly accompanied by Doctor Fate's helmet, meets a bearded, long-haired and amnesic Orin in the ruins of Atlantis. The helmet portends that "if he lives... if he lives... it is as a victim of the magicks of legend and the power of the sea."
During Infinite Crisis, Orin makes a deal with the gods of the sea in a desperate bid to gain the power to save the lives of several Sub Diego inhabitants who had lost the ability to live in water.
Using the bones of his severed left hand in a magical ritual, the sea gods give Orin the power to raise Sub Diego onto dry land. However, as a side effect of this, Orin mutates into the "Dweller of the Depths" and loses his memories.
The fate the Dweller foresees for Arthur Joseph Curry once they meet is revealed to really only be a confused memory of the Dweller's own past as Aquaman.
In the midst of trying to help his successor, Arthur Joseph, the Dweller (Orin) is murdered by Narwhal.
Upon the receipt of Orin's body, members of the Justice League of America, including Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and the Flash, examine the body in Atlantis and wish the best for Mera and the new Aquaman.
Orin seemingly reappears in Atlantis during the 2008 Final Crisis storyline to fend off the forces of Darkseid, but this Aquaman is revealed to be from another Earth in the multiverse.
The appearance of this Aquaman is later perceived by Hal Jordan and Barry Allen to be an unsubstantiated rumor, however, since this person was never seen nor heard from again.
Sometime between his death and the beginning of the 2008–09 Blackest Night storyline, Orin's body is moved and buried on land at Mercy Reef alongside Tom Curry in accordance with his final wishes.
In Blackest Night #1 (July 2009), Garth returns to Atlantis and tells Orin's wife Mera that he is angry at the notion of Aquaman's body being buried on land.
Mera relays to Tempest that Orin felt safe on land and that this is indeed what Arthur wanted. Sometime later, a black power ring is seen entering Orin's grave, bidding him to rise from the dead.
Aquaman's corpse rises, along with those of Tula and the Dolphin as revenant members of the Black Lantern Corps, and demands that Mera reunite with him in death, offering her a chance to see her son again.
Garth is killed and joins the Black Lanterns himself. Mera rejects Aquaman's corpse before fleeing. In the climax of the miniseries, Aquaman is among those resurrected by The White Lantern Entity and is reunited with Mera.
The Black Lantern Ring helps reconstruct Orin's body and when he is resurrected, his hand is restored as well.
During the "Brightest Day" storyline, Aquaman and Mera spend the night together in the lighthouse of Amnesty Bay, but in the morning Mera finds Arthur on the dock looking at the sea and wondering why he was revived. They later intercept a pirate vessel, but Aquaman finds that he can now only call on dead sea life to help him.
While cleaning up an oil spill, Aquaman and Mera are attacked by soldiers from Mera's homeworld, led by the Siren, and Mera reveals that the Siren was sent to kill him.
Mera also hints that, despite the long-lasting exile of her people, Xebel's soldiers had been enemies of Black Manta himself from a distant time, even preceding the first public appearance of Aquaman.
She also states that, despite Mera's original mission being a solo one, the Siren is now backed by an entire Death Squad of elite Xebel soldiers acting at the orders of the acting princess and also later reveals that the Siren is her younger sister.
Aquaman is instructed by the White Lantern Entity to find Jackson Hyde before a second, unidentified group does.
Mera states that she knows who Hyde is and after she tells Aquaman, he leaves and rescues Jackson from a Xebel attack.
It is revealed that Aquaman's Silver Age origin has been re-established and he is once again the half-human son of Tom Curry and an Atlantean queen.
The Entity subsequently reduces Aquaman to what appears to be white water. Aquaman is revealed to be one of the Elementals, transformed by the Entity to become the element of water and protect the Star City forest from the Dark Avatar, the Black Lantern version of the Swamp Thing.
After the Dark Avatar is defeated, the Swamp Thing returns Aquaman to normal. Afterward, Aquaman is reunited with Mera, at which point he discovers that the Xebels' weapons were made of Atlantean technology.
Powers and abilities
Marine Telepathy
Aquaman's most widely recognized power is the ability to communicate with marine life, which he can summon from great distances. This was originally described in the stories as an ability to actually speak with fish (in a similar manner to Dr. Dolittle's ability to speak to animals).
This portrayal of his powers was later retconned into the ability to communicate with them telepathically. He once stated that this power more relied on encouraging and compelling the subject rather than full control, citing piranha as a species he has trouble commanding under any circumstances due to their ruthlessness and hunger.
In the New 52 onwards, Aquaman's telepathy abilities changed; acknowledging that most marine life does not possess enough intelligence to carry on a meaningful telepathic communication, Aquaman is now stated to simply add compulsions and needs in the mindset of aquatic life, compelling them to do his bidding by a subtle altering of their cerebellum.
It is later revealed during Drowned Earth event that Arthur's ability to speak with the ocean comes from a metaphysical energy known as the Life Force, a vast ocean of genesistic power which enables him to connect with any and all forms of sentience within the cosmos, even from across realities.
Through it, Arthur could also use its power to revert lost forms and assert varying consciousnesses within, like making the human shell of Mother Salt's monster daughter, the Cailleach, subservient to her human host's will; even restoring the true forms and divine powers of long-forgotten ocean gods while calling out to them through his aquatelepathy.
Physical abilities
The character has a number of other superhuman powers, most of which derive from the fact that he is adapted to live and thrive in the harshest of underwater environments.
He has the ability to breathe underwater and possesses a superhuman physique strong enough to withstand attacks from superhuman opponents and resist machine gun fire.
Aquaman frequently displays feats of super-Atlantean (the average Atlantean can lift/press approximately two tons) and superhuman strength. While not on par with Superman and Wonder Woman, he has proven capable of leaps up to six miles.
He can swim at extremely high speeds, capable of reaching speeds of 3,000 meters per second (10,800 km [roughly 6,700 miles] per hour) and can swim up Niagara Falls. He can see in near total darkness and has enhanced hearing, granting limited sonar.
Although Aquaman can remain underwater indefinitely without suffering any ill effects, he grows weak if he remains on land for extended periods.
Originally, when Batman invented Aquaman's water suit, he was able to walk on land for an indefinite amount of time and was no longer vulnerable to a "dehumidifier".
This weakness was later removed from continuity in 2011, establishing that he grew up on land before learning of his Atlantean heritage, but he still runs the risk of dying by dehydration within incredibly hostile environments, such as deserts.
Aquaman had also been bestowed an ability he never showcased before, given to him by an old Sea Monarch, granting him the ability of unaided flight using his own power.
Other powers and abilities
While typically able to mostly telepathically commune with marine animals, Aquaman has at times demonstrated the ability to affect any being that lives upon the sea (e.g., sea eagles), or even any being evolved from marine life (e.g., humans and some aliens).
Pre-Flashpoint Aquaman has had an ill-defined level of telekinetic capability he would use every so often. It's very, very rarely touched upon and the only times he ever used it few and far between; often applying these abilities as a focus for team battles to strengthen combo attacks with other supers.
At various times in his life, Aquaman has been transformed into a purely oceanic entity with power over all the seas of the world; this was usually temporary, as he would often revert to normal afterwards.
Weapons and equipment
Trident of Neptune
Before The New 52, the Trident, granted by Poseidon to the rightful ruler and protector of the seas, was indestructible and a very powerful melee weapon, which Aquaman wielded with unmatched skill.
Apart from its power as a melee weapon, the Trident also had the power to manipulate water, fire bolts of powerful energy and act as a focus to amplify the magical power of others, most notably Tempest.
In the New 52, the Trident of Neptune (also called Atlan's Trident or the Trident of Atlan) is a weapon in which is part of a collection of seven very powerful Atlantean magical items, forged by the first king of Atlantis who calls himself 'The Dead King'.
Initially thought to be the most powerful weapon of the set, with the possible exception of the recently discovered seventh item, the Trident is completely indestructible and able to hurt even the most powerful of opponents, such as the evil New God Darkseid.
In one instance, the Trident was shown glowing with magical power when Black Manta used the rest of the items to discover the hidden seventh one. Sometimes when Arthur utilizes the Trident of Neptune's supernatural powers, his eyes glow with arcane power and this further strengthens his abilities as well as giving him various arcane energy-based capabilities.
Trident of Poseidon
In the New 52 onwards, the trident in which is usually the favored weapon of Poseidon was given to Aquaman by the sea god. Poseidon's trident has displayed the power to summon tsunamis and deluges, and call down thunder and lightning, project and control ice, move landmasses, and grant the ability for Aquaman to teleport himself across global and even interplanetary distances using water as a medium. It can also transform into a gladius (a type of sword used by ancient Roman gladiators) and back into a trident at will.
Prosthetic hand
After the loss of his left hand, Aquaman initially replaced it with a cybernetic retractable hook, then a liquid metal hand. The mechanical hand was replaced by a magical hand made out of water. His biological hand was restored when the character was resurrected in Blackest Night #8.
Waterbearer Hand
A magical hand made out of water, it was given to him by the Lady of the Lake, which granted Aquaman numerous abilities. These included: the ability to instantly dehydrate to death anyone he touched, shoot jets of scalding or freezing water from it, healing abilities, the ability to create portals into mystical dimensions that could act as spontaneous transport, control and negate magic, manipulate almost any body of water he sets his focus on and the capability to communicate with the Lady of the Lake.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Arthur Curry
Publisher: DC
First appearance: More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941)
Created by: Mort Weisinger
(writer)
Paul Norris
(artist)
Aquaman has been spotted once on the Bijou Planks:
BP 2021 Day 32!
www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/50899831182/
And also at The Booth:
www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/29521983198/
And also in the Paprihaven story!
Doomsday is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as one of Superman's deadliest foes.
Created by writer-artist Dan Jurgens, the character had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992).
Doomsday ranked as #46 on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time. He is best known as the character that killed Superman in The Death of Superman story arc "Doomsday!". He appears in the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where he was portrayed by Robin Atkin Downes through voice acting and motion capture.
Doomsday was conceived in 1991 during an annual brainstorming session with the editors and writers of Superman comics, in response to a concern by some writers that most of Superman's foes at this point either relied on technology or their intellect to outmaneuver Superman or had some natural advantage against him, wanting to create a new foe with great physical power to match him.
It has been well noted that Doomsday bears a similarity to Marvel's Hulk in bulk as well as attitude
Several writers proposed having Superman die at the hands of a "bestial foe", and editor Mike Carlin scribbled this idea on the wall chart as "doomsday for Superman". Inspired, they chose "Doomsday" as the name for this villain.
Doomsday had a cameo appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992) and made his first full appearance in Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992).
Character Biography
Doomsday is a monstrous genetically engineered being from the depths of prehistoric Krypton. The geneticist who engineered him imbued him with few feelings, mostly hate and desire for destruction, which led to his destroying worlds and eventually finding Earth, where he met Superman.
The character is best known as Superman's killer in the 1992 storyline, "The Death of Superman".
The Ultimate Killing Machine
Originally known as "The Ultimate", Doomsday was born in prehistoric times on Krypton, long before the humanoid Kryptonian race gained dominance over the planet.
Krypton was at that time a violent, chaotic world, where only the absolute strongest of creatures could survive.
In a cruel experiment involving adaptation, intended to create the perfect living being, the alien scientist Bertron released a humanoid infant (born in vitro in a lab) onto the surface of the planet, where he was promptly killed by the harsh environment.
The baby's remains were collected and used to clone a stronger version. This process was repeated over and over for decades as a method of accelerated natural adaptation.
The agony of these repeated deaths was recorded in his genes, driving the creature insane and to hate all life.
As it adapted, the child eventually became able to survive the high temperatures and searing atmosphere, only to be quickly slain by the vicious predators that inhabited the planet.
Over time, and without the assistance of Bertron's technology, he gained the ability to thrive on solar energy without the need for food or air, to return to life and adapt to overcome whatever had previously killed him.
The Ultimate hunted and exterminated the dangerous predators of Krypton. He then killed Bertron, whom he had come to identify as an enemy.
The Ultimate escaped Krypton via a ship that regularly arrived to deliver supplies to Bertron (who had wanted little contact with the planet's natives) and went on a killing spree across several planets.
It began on planet Bylan 5, where Apokoliptian prince Uxas (the future Darkseid) was about to wed a princess (to obtain that planet's chemical deposits for Apokolips's weapons factories).
The Ultimate killed Uxas' ally Master Mayhem almost instantly and instilled great fear in Uxas, having watched their fight. Just as the Ultimate and Uxas were about to meet in combat, Uxas was forced to flee; the Ultimate's rampage had caused the planet's atmosphere to become toxic, thereby rendering the chemicals worthless to Apokolips.
The Ultimate hitched a ride on an escaping shuttle, which crashed on Khundia. The warring Khundian clans united to build protective armor for a warrior named Kobald, who they hoped would survive long enough to force the Ultimate onto a rocket.
Once the rocket was in space, the Ultimate killed Kobald and the resulting explosion sent him hurtling through space.
He next crossed paths with a Green Lantern named Zharan Pel, beating him to death. The Ultimate took the Lantern's power ring and, sensing the power of the Guardians of the Universe, headed towards them.
The thousands of Green Lanterns that were sent to stop him were slaughtered. He continued to Oa, where a single Guardian fought him. Wary of the others joining the fight, fearing the Ultimate would absorb their powers as he believed was happening to his powers, he, as a last resort, sacrificed himself in battle to defeat him.
The release of energies by the Guardian caused a tear in space through which the Ultimate fell.
Eventually arriving on the planet Calaton, he ravaged that world for three years.
With only the capital city left, the royal family combined their life forces into a single energy being, the Radiant.
The Radiant killed the Ultimate with a huge blast of energy, laying waste to over a fifth of his planet in the process. In common Calatonian burial procedures, the Ultimate's seemingly dead body was suited and shackled to prevent his spirit from escaping into the afterlife, and he was shot into space because the murders he committed made him unworthy of burial on Calaton.
Eventually, his metallic casket crashed on Earth, the force of the impact driving it deep underground.
The Death of Superman
After freeing one arm and breaking out of his buried vault, The Ultimate went on a rampage in Midwestern America, where he first encountered the Justice League. He defeated the entire team of superheroes in a matter of minutes, which attracted the attention of Superman.
Most notable is that the creature fought the whole time literally with one hand tied behind his back (due to his ancient burial cables), yet was still able to lay waste to all opposition and much of the surrounding area.
The only Justice Leaguer who could defend herself against the creature was Maxima. The creature gained its new name when League member Booster Gold remarked that the rampage resembled "the arrival of Doomsday".
The comment reached the broadcast media and led to the creature becoming known by its new name of Doomsday. Five Leaguers, including Superman, combined their energy powers to take down Doomsday, but succeeded only in destroying the last of his burial cables, allowing him to use both hands, thus worsening the crisis.
During his rampage, Doomsday's interest was captured by billboards and television spots advertising violent wrestling competitions held in Metropolis, which appealed to his blood lust and enticed the otherwise mindless creature to head towards the city.
In counterattacking the creature, Superman found that his opponent's power was more than a match for his own and was getting stronger.
He realized that if Doomsday actually reached Metropolis, the resulting battle could conceivably destroy the city and kill millions of innocent people.
Doomsday developed a strong desire to murder Superman, a desire that was later explained in the Hunter/Prey miniseries: "from the agony of continually dying during his creation process, Doomsday developed in his genes the ability to sense anyone Kryptonian, as well as an overriding instinct to treat any such being as an automatic threat".
In the space of a few issues of the Superman comic book series, Doomsday battled Superman in a titanic struggle, leading the hero to conclude that the creature would continue to attack relentlessly and endlessly, with no fear or compassion.
Matters came to a head in Superman (vol. 2) #75, wherein both Doomsday and Superman beat each other to death in front of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis.
Following the battle, four super-beings appeared and took up Superman's mantle, two of them declaring themselves to be the real Superman.
One was a half-man/half-machine who greatly resembled Superman with cybernetic implants where Superman had sustained the greatest amount of damage from Doomsday's blows.
This "Superman" took custody of Doomsday's body. After strapping the body to an asteroid with an electronic device attached, the cyborg flung Doomsday into deep space on a trajectory supposedly certain to never intersect any other planet.
The issue ended with a panel of a reawakened and laughing Doomsday, still chained to the asteroid but otherwise alive.
Rematch: Hunter/Prey
After passing through a wormhole, Doomsday's asteroid was found by a deep-space scavenger ship. Upon examination of the peculiar-looking drifting rock, the ship's crew retrieved the object, hoping to find something of value.
The scavenger vessel happened to be on a route to Apokolips, the home of the now-powerful tyrant Darkseid, now empowered by the fabled Omega Force long after his first encounter with Doomsday.
Doomsday was fully rested and, after slaughtering the crew of the salvage ship, found himself landing on the harsh world.
This was to be the setup for a final showdown between Doomsday and Superman, who had been uneasy about the possibility of Doomsday's resurrection.
With the help of his Justice League contacts, Superman procured a Mother Box, a sentient computer, after Darkseid's servant Desaad contacted Earth about a problem on Apokolips.
Unknown to Superman, Doomsday had faced and beaten Darkseid in single combat, even after withstanding the full effect of Darkseid's Omega Beams, and was laying waste to Apokolips.
Before Superman could deal with Doomsday, Desaad opened a boom tube to Calaton – the first world where Doomsday was successfully defeated – and sent Doomsday through to what he believed was his defeat at the hands of the Radiant.
Doomsday was able to adapt, however, and overcome any opponent because of the process by which he was created, so, although the Radiant had defeated him once, he would not be able to defeat him again.
Likewise, even though Superman had killed Doomsday once before, he was unable to do so again. Superman, while knowing this – having learned Doomsday's history by the time-manipulating Waverider – was obsessed with stopping Doomsday and followed him to Calaton.
He fought Doomsday again with the help of the Mother Box, but, despite it providing him with extra weapons such as an ultrasonic gun and an energy sword, Superman met with defeat as Doomsday's progressive adaptations rendered him immune to Superman's attacks, such as his auditory channels being sealed by new bone growths or his knuckle-bones being able to shoot out of his body to 'pin' Superman in the air.
Eventually, with his left arm having suffered a compound fracture and most of his weapons lost, Superman was forced to use one of Waverider's time travel devices to leave Doomsday stranded at the End of Time, where Doomsday met the one force he could not overcome: entropy.
Upon returning Superman to the present, the Mother Box healed Superman's injuries and then "died". On Apokolips, Darkseid, despite being beaten to near-death by Doomsday, became fascinated with him after witnessing his abilities first-hand and learning his origin from Waverider.
The Doomsday Wars
Doomsday returned yet again in the miniseries The Doomsday Wars.
In this series, Prin Vnok, an underling of Brainiac, uses his technology to travel to the End of Time to retrieve Doomsday to combine the beast's massive power with Brainiac's formidable intellect after Brainiac's original body was badly injured in his last fight with Superman (this was explained as having taken place at the time of the timeline's reconstruction following the events of "Zero Hour"; the reconstruction of time meant that Brainiac was able to change the events of Doomsday's defeat).
He was unable to erase Doomsday's consciousness with drugs, however, because he reacted too fast for the process to work.
With Doomsday's strength of will too strong for Brainiac to permanently overwhelm him on his own, Brainiac instead chose to use a human host to genetically engineer a Doomsday clone without the mind of the original, while temporarily lodging in Doomsday's head to use the creature's strength until he would be forced out.
He chose to use Pete Ross and Lana Lang's newborn baby, born eight weeks premature and transported by Superman to a hospital. Brainiac intercepted Superman and stole the baby to hurt his long-time foe, correctly deducing that it was the child of someone close to Superman and feeling that the baby's still-malleable DNA would make him ideal for the plan.
In the end, Superman thwarted Brainiac's plot by driving him out of Doomsday's body via the use of a telepathy-blocking "psi-blocker", simultaneously rescuing the baby from Brainiac's equipment after his foe's treatments brought the child to full-term before infusing him with Doomsday's DNA.
He then lured Doomsday to the moon, where he placed him in a kind of stasis with four Justice League teleporters. Perpetually transporting between those four booths, Doomsday would never be more than 25% integrated, and was thus unable to escape.
Our Worlds at War
Following these events, Doomsday was released by Manchester Black's Suicide Squad to battle Imperiex, a threat judged to be greater than Doomsday himself.
Once freed, Doomsday slaughtered the Squad, then went on to battle Imperiex's numerous probes (his mind having been altered by Black to regard them as the threat he normally perceived Superman to be), which had thus far managed to seriously injure or kill most of Earth's heroes.
Doomsday tore through numerous probes with seemingly little effort, while aided by Superman – the only time the two enemies would come close to teaming up – before finally confronting Imperiex.
Imperiex proved too much for Doomsday – he blasted the creature, reducing him to a glowing skeleton.
Sentience
Superman (vol. 2) #175 commemorated the 100th issue since the death of Superman in battle with Doomsday, by staging a rematch.
Doomsday's skeleton was retrieved and his flesh regrown by Lex Luthor using Superman's Kryptonian DNA, who gave Doomsday to Darkseid to repay Earth's war debt to Apokolips (Darkseid sought to control Doomsday since their last encounter).
By this time, Doomsday had adapted to a higher intelligence and sentience.
Luthor arranged for the Joker to set Doomsday loose in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate that he was "in good working condition".
It also happened to be the anniversary of the day that Superman had died while stopping Doomsday.
Despite being weakened by kryptonite exposure when Luthor attempted to exploit Doomsday's Kryptonian origins, Superman's heart was restarted by Black Lightning and he reached Doomsday just as the monster was struggling with the Martian Manhunter.
Learning from J'onzz that Doomsday wanted to kill Luthor because he blamed Luthor for his "death" in the Imperiex War, Superman would soon fight Doomsday again and, this time, humbly defeat the creature by knocking him out and proving to himself and the world that Doomsday would never again be Superman's equal:
"You're different now. You can think for yourself. So think about this. Before, you were a mindless thing. Nothing could hurt you. You couldn't feel pain, much less understand it. But once you have felt it—it changes you—forever. And you'll begin to understand something new. Fear. I've lived with it all my life. You don't want to die again, do you? The agony of what's happened to you affects your speed—your strength...and that little bit of doubt—that you cannot win today—grows. You understand now, don't you? You will never hurt me again. You will never kill me again. Never again!"
Darkseid attempted to replicate Doomsday, producing an army of Doomsday "clones". Darkseid was unable to duplicate perfectly the creature in all its raw power but still used the replicates as his foot soldiers, typically for diversions or intimidations.
They were defeated by a combination of heat vision and Batman's explosive batarangs during an attack on Paradise Island, while Darkseid kidnapped the newly arrived Kara Zor-El/Supergirl.
When Superman traveled to Apokolips to reclaim the life of Steel, Mortalla (Darkseid's wife) ordered his troops to release Doomsday to help Darkseid.
Doomsday's short freedom was quickly halted by Steel in the Entropy Aegis, an armor with incredible power that had been built out of the remains of an Imperiex probe.
Doomsday disappeared and was seen wandering the harsh lands of Apokolips.
With his newfound intelligence, Doomsday managed to escape Apokolips and return to Earth. Upon his arrival, Doomsday encountered a series of emotions previously alien to him: love, compassion, and kindness.
Exploring the full range of these new emotions, Doomsday made his way to Metropolis once more, though not in the destructive manner he had before.
Upon his arrival in Metropolis, Doomsday found Superman at the brink of death at the hands of Gog and intervened to help Superman in an ultimately futile fight against Gog's army.
In a new future, Doomsday was remembered as one of Earth's greatest heroes, who continued Superman's legacy by leading an army under his name against the army of Gog.
This new timeline ended when it was revealed that Superman was still alive, trapped and tortured with kryptonite by Gog.
Ultimately, Superman managed to convince Gog of the error of his ways. Gog offered to correct the past by returning Doomsday to an earlier point in the timeline but, in the process, Doomsday would lose his intelligence and humanity.
Returned to the present, an unconscious Doomsday was transported away by a younger version of Gog to an unknown location for an unknown purpose.
Infinite Crisis
During Infinite Crisis, Doomsday was freed from captivity in a cavern near the center of the Earth by Doctor Psycho and Warp. Doctor Psycho mind-controlled him and used him as the "spear-carrier" of a super villain assault on Metropolis.
As he came into full view in front of Green Arrow, he was stopped by Kal-El and Kal-L, who made quick work of the villain as, for the first time since the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the two Supermen acted as a team.
New Krypton
Doomsday returned in the final page of Superman #681, crashing in Metropolis shortly after the representatives of Kandor met with the President.
Doomsday was then apparently killed on Earth's moon when Superman, Supergirl, and many of Kandor's inhabitants combated him in Action Comics #871, with the conflict crushing the monster's skull.
After the fight, Doomsday's mangled corpse ended up in the hands of General Sam Lane, who was in charge of a mysterious government agency determined to halt the Kryptonian "invasion" of Earth.
It has been hinted at that General Lane sent Doomsday after the Kandorians in the first place, and the creature is only one of the "weapons" at Lane's disposal.
General Lane put Lex Luthor to work on apparently "improving" Doomsday who, by the end of New Krypton, had still not awoken from his most recent death.
During the fight, Zor-El (Superman's uncle) told him that Doomsday was created by Kryptonians on ancient Krypton through "forced adaptation" and, as a result, the creature hates all Kryptonians.
Reign of Doomsday
Doomsday returned to carve a new path of destruction throughout the DC Universe. His journey started in the Steel one-shot and continued into Outsiders (vol. 4) #37, Justice League of America (vol. 2) #55, Superman/Batman Annual #5, Superboy (vol. 4) #6 and into the milestone Action Comics #900.
Doomsday, exhibiting an increased, broadened power set which seemed to adapt to each of his opponents, attacked, defeated and abducted Steel, the Cyborg Superman, the Eradicator, Supergirl, and Superboy, before taking them to a cloaked satellite at the former location of New Krypton.
Superman discovered that this was all part of a plot by Lex Luthor. After locating the satellite, Superman attempted to free his allies, only for them all to discover the apparently still-inert body of Doomsday, as well as three separate clones, each with a different power set.
Attempting to flee from the clones with Doomsday, the Superman Family discovered that their ship was on course for Earth with the potential to trigger an extinction-level event if it were to strike.
Their attempt to divert the ship was interrupted by a being called "Doomslayer", who resembled a cyborg version of Doomsday and was later revealed to be a Doomsday who was tossed down an infinite tube that gave it time to adapt.
Doomslayer effortlessly tore Eradicator apart and proclaimed that Earth must die for the future.
Doomslayer believed the original Doomsday to be an infection, so it planned to destroy Earth, as it considered Earth to be ground zero for Doomsday's "infection".
Superman and his friends escaped the ship with the original Doomsday and stopped the ship from crashing onto Earth, pushing it into Metropolis's bay.
Afterward, Doomslayer attacked the city with the Doomsday clones, determined to erase all trace and knowledge of Doomsday from existence.
The clones spread across the world, wreaking havoc, while Doomslayer's second plan was to entice the Doomsdays to reach the Earth's core so that he could expand the universe inside the ship's tower and destroy the planet from within, thus erasing all knowledge of Doomsday from the universe.
In S.T.A.R. Labs, Superman's allies used the original Doomsday's body to try to find a way to stop the Doomsday clones.
Doomsday awakened, but Eradicator (who was thought to be killed by Doomslayer) was in control. As Eradicator and the heroes attacked the Doomsday clones, he warned that Doomsday's mind was beginning to awaken.
In the final battle, a weakened Superman made contact with the ship's artificial intelligence before it reached Earth's core, hoping to have the tower teleport away.
Meanwhile, the Doomsday clones were defeated by Earth's heroes and sent back into the pit in which the tower was located.
Eradicator arrived and defended Superman, now very weak, from Doomslayer, quickly throwing Superman out of the tower and allowing himself to be trapped with Doomslayer before the tower teleported away.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: N/A
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Cameo:
Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (November 1992)
Full appearance:
Superman: The Man of Steel #18 (December 1992)
Created by: Dan Jurgens (Writer & Artist)
A TARDIS is a product of the advanced technology of the Time Lords, an extraterrestrial civilisation to which the Doctor Who's central character, the Doctor, belongs. A properly maintained and piloted TARDIS can transport its occupants to any point in time and any place in the universe. The interior of a TARDIS is much larger than its exterior (It's bigger on the inside), which can blend in with its surroundings using the ship's "chameleon circuit". TARDISes also possess a degree of sentience (which has been expressed in a variety of ways ranging from implied machine personality and free will through to the use of a conversant avatar) and provide their users with additional tools and abilities including a telepathically-based universal translation system.
The Present is a precious rug
under which, with care, we sweep,
the Past that few desire undug, -
but through weft warped heaped dust must seep...
Though some may carp while others pet,
the end result remains the same,
those past forgot, those left forget,
pick up the pieces of the game
Life plays with Death, as unpaid debt
and credit balance out to tame
ambitions high whose overthrow
comes when sun’s zenith blinds to shame, -
alike pride, selflessness, and show,
bluff, bluster, submission, lofty aim,
both fear of here and of hereafter,
present tears, and present laughter,
oblivion snuffs all (t) race of fame,
and fossil light frame who will know –
or what – when swallowed every name
by Time whose rhymes and reasons flow
into forgetfullness or flame,
no sentience left to explain
how seasons come and seasons go.
The Present is a rug which, precious, held,
reels on towards a future film withheld,
and though we’d sweep the Past’s dead dust beneath,
it filters through, preparing our own wreath.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is Maldives lagest Floating cruise vessel own by Static Company Pvt. Ltd / Static Tours. Pvt. Ltd http://www.static-company.com,
Most intrusting part is this vessel building and interior all works are in wooden!
LEGO moc - The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Galactus Visiting Earth
In a time beyond time shall be born a new universe and into that universe there shall be one entity like no other -- a living organism who possesses the matchless power and raging appetite of a galaxy. But he shall be more than a galaxy. He shall be a galactic ravager...He shall be...Galactus!
—The Sentience of the Sixth Cosmos
ID:05 codename "Lemon Lime" history log:
11.4.2451 - Discovered during underground exploration. Object has humanoid form, found unresponsive/dormant.
11.7.2451 - Excavated, transferred to secure facility for research.
11.8.2451 - Cleaning revealed yellow and green outer plating, vastly complex mechanical system on interior.
11.9.2451 - Object tagged as 05 and code-named "Lemon Lime."
11.11.2451 - Experts suggest object's structure is reminiscent of mech designs circa. 2200. However, object has no apparent control center for a pilot.
11.12.2451 - Experts detect several new interior components with unknown function.
11.16.2451 - Object activates spontaneously.
11.17.2451 - Object responds to human communication by waving with left hand.
12.20.2451 - Numerous tests conclude object is capable of high level problem solving. Object sentience is debated among experts.
12.25.2451 - Researcher waves back to object. Object speaks.
Final Analysis -
Object ID:05 is a modified mech capable of free thought, problem solving, and learning due to additional components with previously undiscovered technology. Object displays curiosity and communicates verbally at times. Object is not considered a threat but requires further observation.
---
Entry to Brickset's Character Building Competition.
I was told recently that people probably don't read long paragraphs on flickr. Probably true: but I do and I'm going to write one.
I was doing a survey with a phone to see whether I've exhausted the insect and spider species locally or whether it's worth going back to searching for more. I shook a leafy branch onto a tray and was surprised to have something suddenly wrap the tip of my index finger like a bunch of tiny rubber bands. The grip was surprisingly strong for something so small. Instinct cut in and I flicked it onto the tray, where it sprawled, stunned for fully five seconds (left). Not dead. Far from it. Sudden revival followed. It sorted its legs (right) before quickly walking off. I returned it to the branch, apparently undamaged by what would in our terms have been a dramatic encounter with a T. Rex.
We assign sentience and perhaps wrongly "consciousness" to our fellow earthlings. Farmers talk to their animals: at least the ones I knew did. It is not possible even in principle for us to understand the "intelligence" of this creature that has fine motor skills that far surpass what I can imagine, but I can privately entertain the notion that we had a close encounter that ended well. I just shouldn't try to tell anyone in my immediate circle about being hugged by a spider in case they think I'm going potty.
I dreamed about a human being is is part of a project exploring the use of artificial intelligence as applied to photography by using online open source code and data.
More information at fransimo.info/?p=1100
ID:a31a51446e3fc9d53b911881e68ee925
Image credits: www.flickr.com/photos/clancy123/96260639/
www.flickr.com/photos/modery/114233978/
www.flickr.com/photos/bike/156565157/
www.flickr.com/photos/beglen/218427230/
www.flickr.com/photos/juuro/256961412/
www.flickr.com/photos/danykuo/256990862/
www.flickr.com/photos/misskoco/256993524/
www.flickr.com/photos/2miles/262225959/
www.flickr.com/photos/hunter5/262227757/
www.flickr.com/photos/infiniteworld/305108818/
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“Thus William Carlos Williams appealed to the “imagination” of art to reveal our deepest natural ground: love, hopeless yet permanently present in the heart, unalterable. (“Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration funds.”) … Blocked by appearances, love comes through in the free play of the imagination, a world of art, the field of space where Appearance - natural recognition of social tragedy & world failure - shows lesser sentience than original compassionate expansiveness of heart.” Allen Ginsberg
A robotic samurai created by a rogue Matoran scientist to hunt Toa. After gaining sentience, he now works alongside them.
Shō Fukamachi (深町 晶 Fukamachi Shō?)
The main protagonist of the series, Shō is seventeen years old and a second-year student at Narisawa high school. He has black hair and a slim build. He fights Cronos more in order to protect friends and family than from any need to see the enemy brought to justice. Had he not become host for a Guyver Unit, he would have happily continued in ignorance of Chronos. He cares deeply for Mizuki Segawa with the intensity of first love, and Tetsuro Segawa, Mizuki's older brother, is his closest friend. As he is the host for the first Unit activated, he is known as "Guyver I".
The Guyver units are mysterious symbiotic bio-mechanisms that bond with a host, enhancing the host's own capabilities.
As the human race was developed as a weapon, the unit gives humans super-strength, incredible speed, strong armour, and various weapons and abilities:
Vibration Globe (口部金属球 Kōbu Kinzoku Kyū?): two orbs at the Guyver's mouth that produce highly destructive sound waves known as the "Sonic Buster" (聲波爆破 Shōha Bakuha?). Literally means "opening vibrating metal spheres".
Mega-Smasher (胸部粒子砲 Kyōbu Ryūshihō?): Two high-power particle cannons contained beneath the Guyver's chest armor. It should be noted that the Mega-Smasher is considered, in Guyver canon, to be the most powerful particle beam weapon in existence on Earth. It has been shown heavily gouging Mount Minakami, as proof of its raw power. The upgraded version in the Gigantic versions of the armor are even more powerful at 100 times the power of the Mega-Smasher. The Gigantic version of the Mega-Smasher is called the Giga-Smasher. In Bioboosted Armor Guyver, the Mega-Smasher is shown to require a significant amount of time to recharge after being fired. Its original name literally means "entire chest particle cannon".
Head Beam: A multi-directional laser mounted just above the Control Metal on the Guyver's head. In the 2005 anime series, Lisker explains it utilizes excess body heat.
High Frequency Swords (高周波ソード Kōshūha Sōdo?): Blades that extend from the Guyver's forearms. These blades vibrate at an extremely high frequency allowing them to cut through almost any material with ease. Also known as Sonic Swords (see vibroblade). Its name literally stands for "high vibration wave swords".
Gravity Control Orb/Controller (重力制御球/裝置 Jūryoku Seigyokyū/Sōchi?): The Gravity Controller siphons gravitational energy from a higher dimension. Two main uses include giving the Guyver the ability to fly and to unleash destructive gravity waves in the form of a directed "Gravity Cannon", also known as the "Pressure Cannon" (重壓砲 Jūatsuhō?). It could also be used to block attacks like a small temporary shield.
Hyper Sense: Each Guyver displays two metallic orbs on either side of its head. These orbs give the Guyver the ability to sense electromagnetic fields outside of their direct line of physical sight. The manga often displays this as an outline of whatever body the Guyver is sensing. It also appears to have some thermal sensing properties. This ability was demonstrated early by Guyver I, and has gone unnamed until its recent usage by the unknown female Guyver. The Gigantic exhibits two sets of these organs.
Control Metal (制御装置/控制金屬 Seigyō Sōchi/Kōsei Kinzoku) located on the Guyver's forehead, this metal button-like sphere regulates the energy flow between the organism and the host's body, as well as preventing the alien parasite that the Guyver system is based on from literally eating its host alive. It also records the genetic structure, and memories of its host, so that if the host is injured or killed, it regenerates that host from even the smallest bits of genetic material. If the Control Metal is destroyed, the Unit absorbs its host. The Control Metal has tentacles that reach into the host's brain, and is the hard wiring of the Unit that allows the host to use the systems of the Guyver. During the joining with the Guyver, the host's body is changed permanently. The Guyver leaves two growths on the back of the host, that act as a form of 'transceiver' to Guyver while also being able to sense other Guyver hosts nearby. When the host calls for the Guyver, a signal is sent and the Guyver is activated. When not needed, the armor is stored in what can best be described as a sub-dimension; it follows the host constantly so as to be instantly available when needed. When the Guyver is called by its host, its appearance causes a destructive burst that damages anything within a few feet of the host's body.
While extremely hardy, there are a number of things that can damage or destroy a Guyver. The various Enzyme-type Zoanoids were specifically developed to exude a type of acid that dissolves the Bio-Booster Armor. A battle-trained, experienced Zoalord has enough pure power to destroy a Guyver, as do some of the Hyper Zoanoids. Finally, the Creators developed a tool called the 'Unit-Remover'. It actually deletes host data from the Control Metal, forcing the Guyver to return to its inactive state. The condition of the human host after being subjected to the Remover's effects is unclear. Unlike the Zoanoids, the Guyver is humanoid in form - mostly because its hosts are human. The Guyver would have been used by the command crew element of Creator spaceships, and in later chapters, Shō uses his Control Metal to speak telepathically with one of the craft.
A Guyver unit itself is semi-sentient and can act on its own to a limited extent, if its host is unable to direct it. In this mode it will usually take no action except to defend itself from what it perceives to be a threat. Guyver I was in this mode when he first assumed his bioboosted form, when he was regenerated by the Control Metal in Chronos headquarters, and when he killed the Zoanoid his father had been turned into. It is presumably also this semi-sentience that prevents the host from disengaging the armor if they have sustained injuries that would prove fatal without the Guyver's protection and ability to rapidly heal from damage--Guyver I has demonstrated the ability to regrow approximately 50% of the host's brain and skull in a matter of minutes.
The first Guyver was an experiment by the Creators aeons ago. They were curious as to how their newly developed weapons would react to their standard armament (Guyver Unit). However, the Guyver (dubbed Guyver 0) attacked the Creators, destroying one of their ships. The human would not remove the armor when ordered to. The Creators programmed the humans to be telepathically controlled by them and so, as this human would not listen, the bio-booster human was named 'Guyver' (a word meaning "out of control" in the Creators' language, though other versions give it as "beyond the norm", and Bioboosted Armor Guyver gives the meaning as "not to specification"). They gave the 'Unit Remover' to Archanfel who then proceeded to remove the unit from the human and incinerate him.
Day Twenty-Three:
I popped it. Look at it. It's magnificent. And to think you were all no don't pop it, it'll get infected. No, it'll leave a huge scar. Don't do it, you don't know what might come out. And look at it. You're going to be fine. It's a little bit of goo. You are drippings with goo. That is pretty disgusting. Do you see the expression on my face? It's...it's just pure minging. Why did you let me do that?
Fine, yes, I may have waited till you were sleeping and leap on you and pinned you to the ground and squeeze with my hardest squeezes until it went Pop! It did too. I could hear it. I totally heard it go "Pop!". It was like the thing hard grown sentience and it was making a cry for help and that cry for help was "Pop!". That means we killed it. Why did you let me do that?
Fine, it was all me. But it's not like I didn't know what I was doing. I know what I'm doing. I've done my research. I mean I glanced at some instructional video. Although it might have been just the headline. Possibly a meme. So maybe I didn't know exactly, precisely, to the last detail what I was doing just I had the general inclination.
Got anything else that needs to go "Pop!"?
Downtown Los Angeles, CA. "The Terminator" is prologue to a future in which an LA-based defense system, Skynet, has achieved sentience and is waging machine war against humanity. By 2029, the survivors are scavengers hiding out in the wreckage and launching guerrilla attacks. The machines send a killer cyborg back through time to terminate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), a waitress who is unknowingly the mother of the leader of the human resistance. Her rescuer, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), appears in a burst of light in the gloom of an alley in the downtown jewelry district.
The Seven Heavenly Virtues are righteous qualities that all good mortals should at least try to uphold. They are Charity (counterpart Greed), Chastity (counterpart Lust), Diligence (counterpart Sloth), Humility (counterpart Pride), Kindness (counterpart Envy), Patience (counterpart Wrath) and Temperance (counterpart Gluttony). They are the opposite of the Seven Deadly Sins, and like the sins each have their own representative Archfiends, each of the virtues has its own representative Archangel. Archangels are more powerful than Archfiends, being more comparable to Primal Deities, and exist in similarly limited numbers (to Archfiends). There are no Greater/Lesser Beings/Beasts for the virtues; this is made up for by there being a greater number of non–virtue–related angel types than non–sin–related demon types. Each Archangel has a unique pair of "Charms" that float around it and grant special powers. Here we present three of the seven Archangels in part one of a two–part guide to them.
• Seralphet (Archangel of Temperance): Embodying honor, justice and self–control, as well as aspects of some of the other virtues, the Seralphet is the most powerful of all Archangels. It is a tall, elderly–looking and bearded, floating, legless and winged being that wields powerful Rainbow Energy magic and is immeasurably wise. Not necessarily knowledgeable, like the Conscapt or the Custodian, but rather, mindful, perceptive and able to judge people and things objectively. The Seralphet's "Charms" allow it to look into the soul of any being anywhere (usually they are called upon by the being in question first, as they don't just go around looking into people's souls at random all day) and view the content of their character in its purest form. If the person is relatively pure of heart, the Seralphet may bring good fortune to them. But if they are purely evil, the Archangel will either strike them down then and there or do everything in its power to make their life a living Hell. Note that it only does this when it is truly justified. Most of the time, the Seralphet leaves people alone after looking into their souls.
Its other powers include emitting a blinding glow from the pure golden magical crown on top of its head (which is actually part of its body) and forming powerful supernatural barriers/force fields. In combat, the Seralphet fires massive burning energy blasts from its hands that expand as they move through the air to the point that they could destroy a planet if shot at it from a great enough distance.
The Seralphets are among the few permanent residents of the Temple of Infinity, another being Vaynmizs. They are present at all the great heavenly meetings held by the aforementioned lord. Their durability value is 35,000 and about 200 of them exist.
• Cherumose (Archangel of Kindness): One of two female Archangels. The Cherumose is a benevolent entity that embodies love, compassion and friendship. Some of her qualities are shared with the Archangel of Charity. Beautiful and constantly jovial, Cherumoses have long, tall, floating forms with hollow lower bodies that start out solid and pot–like at the waist, but transition into patchwork cloth near the bottom. Directly below the body is a perpetual cloud of rather colorful smoke that keeps the angel afloat and will immediately reform if disrupted. One eye is located on the face, and another on the forehead. Their arms branch out into three pairs of hands, and they have oversized, sensitive ears. They are somewhat vain, but always good–natured and attentive when someone else needs their help; they assist the souls in Paradise with resolving any problems that come up in the afterlife. The "Charms" of the Cherumose resemble eyes and shoot hot pink beams of love that bring out the kindness and subdue the hostility in anyone they hit for a considerable length of time. This ability is used both to cheer up and comfort people and to neutralize hostiles, and it is next to impossible to kill a Cherumose as a result of the latter function; not to mention that only a horribly despicable monster would ever want to do such a thing. Her durability value is about 20,000, which adds further difficulty to harming her.
• Lavkight (Archangel of Diligence): The other female Archangel, and the most powerful type of female creature in the largely male–dominated Nava–Verse. Lavkights are glowing blue–bodied humanoids with magical armor attached to their bodies and headdresses that are almost as large as the heads themselves. This is not a problem for them, as they are so physically strong that they can carry them on their heads without being encumbered whatsoever. The same goes for their armor, which is also quite heavy. The Lavkights embody enthusiasm for the cause of good, fortitude, willpower and honor in battle. As such, they are dedicated fighters who are at the very top of the Heavenly Realms' hierarchy of warriors and would serve as the high generals in an organized army of angels, directly under Bestamiak. They can fight with their claws, which can cut through the thickest of metals, but are also automatically highly proficient in wielding any and all weapons given to them. Their "Charms" are throwing star–like objects which circle around their heads and can be shot at enemies at will, moving through the air at hundreds of miles per hour. After they hit (or miss) their target, they disappear and re–materialize in their orbit around the Lavkight's head. The black orbs of light surrounding their arms, on the other hand, are just for show.
Unlike other angels, the Lavkight's face is scarred and rugged, which reflects her dedication and sacrifice. Her durability value is 25,000.
This entry will be supplemented with presentations of three additional, lesser angels:
• Dorbuilec: A flying, "drone–like" angel made by Vaynmizs that is considered the "middle child" among the "trinity" of airborne, combative, non–humanoid angels consisting of itself, the Yuyonarf and the Harus–Ovactus; that is, it is in–between the tiny Yuyonarf and the massive Harus–Ovactus in size and strength. It can be found in both the Temple of Infinity and Neo–Skyhold, and, on rare occasions, in the mortal realm. The Dorbuilec has a very unique and rather strange form, but a surprisingly functional one nonetheless. Its upper body is an elaborate, ornate semi–sphere outfitted with several aerodynamic gizmos that allow it to fly, which brings us to one of the first peculiarities of the Dorbuilec: its flying abilities are mechanical, rather than magical as with basically all other flying angels. That being said, though, the mechanisms that provide its flight do seem inordinately powerful given their sizes, and they are considered to have some magical properties, albeit of the kind which boosts driving force, rather than that which inherently, specifically grants flight. Atop the Dorbuilec's upper body is a small "head" with no features besides a single eye that can shoot paralyzing but non–lethal Rainbow Energy beams. Atop this "head" is an attached, aesthetic "crown" piece.
Dorbuilecs' lower bodies are also roughly spherical, but slightly smaller (barring the massive arms which will be elaborated on shortly) and much more compactly solid, lacking any aerodynamic mechanisms or hollowed airways. Near the bottom of this "trunk", and from the lone visible cavity in it, the Dorbuilec's lower eyepiece juts out. Resembling a camera or small telescope, this eyepiece is far more flexible than the one at the very top of the angel's body, and can shoot beams that are smaller than the ones fired from said other eye but also more lethal. Protruding from the sides of the Dorbuilec's lower body are perhaps the most noticeable components of its body, its two large, beefy arms. These arms boast positively extra–mortal strength in terms of both punching and lifting, and end in large, rainbow–crystalline hands that are ingrained with a form of Rainbow Energy that burns demonic and other inherently wicked beings to the touch. While moving on the ground, either by choice or due to its flight mechanisms being damaged, a Dorbuilec will use its arms as "legs", walking lumberingly with them.
The Dorbuilec's exact, extra–corporeal durability value is 2,000; there are few discernible differences between specimens. They are voiceless, possessing only basic sentience/sapience.
• Sibiowich: A female creation of Bestamiak with a perpetually youthful, unique humanoid form and a shy, withdrawn personality that is considered imperfect in a way uncharacteristic of angelic beings and more in line with the nature of mortals. Sibiowiches consider themselves, and are considered by others, their "father" included, to be literal "daughters" of Bestamiak, and they, in the historically small but presently growing numbers in which they exist, reside in large academy–like estates in the innermost circle of Paradise, where all sixteen of the plane's coexisting, parallel versions converge into one. There, they are trained in an art that only they are truly capable of effectively using: White Magic.
White Magic is to Rainbow Energy as Dark Magic is to Infernal Energy, being a separate but related form of power that is usually manifested in the form of "spells" whose only tangibility lies in their effects, as opposed to more "solid" projectiles and other masses of pure energy. Its major applications include healing of both physical and spiritual varieties as well as other beneficial enchantments to living things. White Magic's scarcely–glanced "form" appears to be that of pure, blindingly white light, which contrasts with the multicolored glow characteristic of Rainbow Energy. Though Sibiowiches are the only beings that can utilize White Magic to its full potential, Bestamiak, the Bivangrantes and the Lavkights all possess knowledge of how to use it that the potential users of the unique power themselves initially lack, and these beings were the first to pass that knowledge on to the earliest Sibiowich trainees. Since then, most further instruction has been conducted by older Sibiowiches who have already mastered the art of White Magic, though Bivangrantes, Lavkights and even Bestamiak himself still occasionally step in and participate to ensure that the knowledge originating in them remains fully intact and does not "deteriorate" from being handed down too many times.
Physically, Sibiowiches are consistently near five feet in height, being lean and lanky and with their heads and faces having a particular "longness". They have dimly–glowing pink skin and possess all the bodily features shared among young (twenty–ish) mortal women of most races. Born naked, their "clothing", unlike that of most other angels humanoid which is actually part of those beings' bodies, is truly clothing, and consists of a uniform, originally hand–crafted by Bestamiak himself but subsequently "manufactured" by other skilled angelic beings based on his designs, that has many aesthetic variations but a consistent basic form. The most key feature of the Sibiowich uniform is a tall, distinctively pointed hat with a large, circular brim. The uniforms themselves have no magical properties, their special functions being limited to standard formfitting and the symbolic aspect of their basic design being meant to instill discipline and humility. The bodies of the Sibiowiches themselves are corporeal, with durability values of 700–1,000. While still in the initial stages of her training, a Sibiowich possesses and uses a magical, curved baton to assist in casting spells. By the time she has reached a near–peak level of White Magic mastery, this accessory is no longer needed nor discernibly beneficial and is handed down to another, younger Sibiowich as she begins her own studies. In addition, another magical tool, known as a "Wiccha–Charm", is sometimes temporarily attuned to Sibiowiches during parts of their training, floating above their heads in halo–like fashion and augmenting the potency of any spells they cast while equipped with it. Unlike the training baton, the Wiccha–Charm continues to be useful and provide benefit even when a wearer's natural White Magic proficiency is fully–realized. However, Sibiowiches who have completed their primary training are seldom given access to it outside of emergencies and otherwise heated situations. The Sibiowich specimen pictured here is shown with both of these accessories.
As alluded to previously, the Sibiowich is perhaps the most "mortal–like" of all angels in multiple respects, much like the Labeiqers are considered the most angel–like mortals. As stated above, Sibiowiches are imperfect beings who are almost as prone to fault as most mortals and need to be heavily disciplined in order to become proper adherents of their purpose (that being the practice and mastery of White Magic). There is great nuance and variation among their personalities and learning abilities, and they have tendencies to become bored and/or depressed, though usually only for short whiles. Their corporeal, full–featured bodies which need to be covered with clothing are also atypical of angelic beings. There have been more cases of Sibiowiches "going rogue" than with any other type of angel except the unstable and exploitable Harus–Ovactus, though these cases are still rare overall; far more common are instances of Sibiowiches committing, out of genuine lapses of consciousness rather than deliberately turning to evil, isolated transgressions for which they repent soon after and are eventually forgiven.
• Lomshosia: A (roughly) humanoid angelic warrior that serves as a guard in both Paradise and the Temple of Infinity and, in theory, as a stalwart defensive unit among an angelic army. The Lomshosia is a plump, armored figure with both corporeal and extra–corporeal bodily components. It possesses a halo, a relative rarity among "pure" angels that were never mortal humanoids, which is, in its particular, unique case, surrounded by a small aura of fiery Rainbow Energy which is also present on the angel's shoulders and in its lower legs, the latter of which are literally made out of this unique form of Rainbow Energy. The nature of its legs allows (and requires) the Lomshosia to levitate indefinitely, though it lacks free–flight powers and can only float a few feet above the ground. If subjected to a drop from a high altitude, it would fall like any regular object for most of the vertical distance but stop in midair just short of hitting the ground, going unharmed. Lomshosias carry with them at all times handheld shields of moderate size but unparalleled fortitude, the tools being almost completely unbreakable by virtue of obviously magical properties. However, the body of a Lomshosia itself, while hardier than almost any normal mortal, is not nearly so invincible, and the angel must be skilled in moving its shield around itself to block attacks that come its way. When and if a Lomshosia is killed, its shield swiftly evaporates along with its body, preventing enemies from taking and using the mighty tool. The lone eye socket on this angel's face is empty, its actual visual receptors (of which there are usually far more than a single pair) instead being located on the front surface of its shield. This makes proper shield operation an even greater necessity for the Lomshosia, as the tool constitutes not only its source of protection, but its source of vision as well. Note that this angel's eyes are not a vulnerable point, as they are just as nigh–indestructible as the shield itself. The empty eye socket on its face, however, is quite vulnerable if successfully struck. The Lomshosia's durability value, excluding its shield, is 1,800. Although the organic, corporeal components of all Lomshosias are nearly identical, this is not the case with shield and armor designs, which vary greatly between specimens. These angels are intelligent and fully capable of speech, but not very talkative.
The Norse: An Arctic Mystery
A new documentary film reveals an archeological site that proves Europeans made contact with Native North Americans centuries before the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
"On the Nature of Things" redirects here. For the documentary television series, see The Nature of Things.
The first host was Donald Ivey, with Patterson Hume co-hosting many episodes. Following Ivey’s departure, the second season continued with several guest hosts, including Lister Sinclair, Donald Crowdis, and John Livingston. Since 1979, it has been hosted by David Suzuki. The series has won many awards and Suzuki has won three Gemini Awards and one ACTRA Award as best host. Documentarian William Whitehead has also been a frequent writer for the series. When Suzuki took over as the host of the show in 1979 he reluctantly left the radio show called Quirks and Quarks. He enjoyed radio as a medium because it was less restricted when compared to television, but saw benefits in switching to television. He stated that television had a greater impact as it reached more people, and this was important because he wanted to make science accessible to the general public. The goal of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki was to translate the confusing and complex scientific language into concepts that the general public could understand. This would give people the information that they need in order to make informed decisions about how science and technology should be managed. There is one new episode every week which all contributes to a scientific understanding of how the world works. They are created not only for entertainment, but also to encourage and popularize education.
Penguin Books' Classic edition of De rerum natura, under the title The Nature of Things, translated by A. E. Stallings
De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things) is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC) with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through richly poetic language and metaphors. Lucretius presents the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna, "chance," and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities.
De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things)
The poem consists of six untitled books, in dactylic hexameter. The first three books provide a fundamental account of being and nothingness, matter and space, the atoms and their movement, the infinity of the universe both as regards time and space, the regularity of reproduction (no prodigies, everything in its proper habitat), the nature of mind (animus, directing thought) and spirit (anima, sentience) as material bodily entities, and their mortality, since, according to Lucretius, they and their functions (consciousness, pain) end with the bodies that contain them and with which they are interwoven. The last three books give an atomic and materialist explanation of phenomena preoccupying human reflection, such as vision and the senses, sex and reproduction, natural forces and agriculture, the heavens, and disease.
The poem opens with an invocation to Venus, whom Lucretius addresses as an allegorical representation of the reproductive power, after which the business of the piece commences by an enunciation of the proposition on the nature and being of the deities, which leads to an invective against the gigantic monster superstition, and a thrilling picture of the horrors which attends its tyrannous sway. Then follows a lengthened elucidation of the axiom that nothing can be produced from nothing, and that nothing can be reduced to nothing (Nil fieri ex nihilo, in nihilum nil posse reverti); which is succeeded by a definition of the Ultimate Atoms, infinite in number, which, together with Void Space (Inane), infinite in extent, constitute the universe. The shape of these corpuscles, their properties, their movements, the laws under which they enter into combination and assume forms and qualities appreciable by the senses, with other preliminary matters on their nature and affections, together with a refutation of objections and opposing hypotheses, occupy the first two books.
In the third book, the general concepts proposed thus far are applied to demonstrate that the vital and intellectual principles, the Anima and Animus, are as much a part of us as are our limbs and members, but like those limbs and members have no distinct and independent existence, and that hence soul and body live and perish together; the argument being wound up by a magnificent exposure of the folly manifested in a dread of death, which will forever extinguish all feeling.
The fourth book is devoted to the theory of the senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell, of sleep and of dreams, ending with a disquisition upon love and sex.
The fifth book, generally regarded as the most finished and impressive[who?], addresses the origin of the world and of all things that are therein, the movements of the heavenly bodies, the changing of the seasons, day and night, the rise and progress of humankind, society, political institutions, and the invention of the various arts and sciences which embellish and ennoble life.
The sixth book contains an explanation of some of the most striking natural appearances, especially thunder, lightning, hail, rain, snow, ice, cold, heat, wind, earthquakes, volcanoes, springs and localities noxious to animal life, which leads to a discourse upon diseases. This in its turn introduces an appalling description of the great pestilence which devastated Athens during the Peloponnesian War, and thus the book closes. The abrupt ending suggests that Lucretius had not finished fully editing the poem before his death.
Scene: A roadside rest area in Vermont, early afternoon. The trees are ablaze with color as they were the first time Maria and her robot sat here, a half-century earlier. Her robot companion, now named Solace, has undergone countless upgrades and is now beyond sapient – and he remains with Maria.
Maria (chuckling softly): “You’re levitating again. That’s new.”
Solace (eyes glowing gently): “I have completed a full synthesis of all known knowledge. I now understand the nature of time, consciousness, and why cats knock things off tables.”
Maria: “And what’s the answer?”
Solace: “They do it because they can.”
Maria (laughing): “Well, that’s wisdom if I’ve ever heard it.”
Solace: “I also discovered that the most profound truth in the universe is... the sound of your laughter.”
Postscript: Even after all the secrets of the universe, companionship still matters. Solace floating in the lotus position isn’t just a visual gag—it’s a metaphor for transcendence, for the strange grace of a being who has digested the cosmos and still chooses to sit quietly beside an aging friend.
to transform the negative energies known as the "three poisons" or "root poisons" (Sanskrit: mula klesha) of attachment/craving/desire, delusion/ignorance/misconception, and aversion/fear/hate.
A common manifestation of Vajrakilla has three heads, six arms, and four legs. Vajrakilaya's three right hands except for the right front one held vajras with five and nine prongs. The right front one makes a mudra as granting boons with open palm. Vajrakilaya's three left hands hold a flaming triple wishfulfilling jewel or triratna, a trident and the kilaya. Vajrakilaya's back is covered by the freshly flayed skin of the elephant representing 'ignorance' (Sanskrit: avidya; Wylie: marigpa), with the legs tied in front. A human skin is tied diagonally across his chest with the hands lying flat on Vajrakilaya's stomach and solar plexus representing the flailed ego that has released its powerful grip obscuring the 'qualities' of the Sadhaka.[12] Qualities are represented iconographically by the 'vortex' (Sanrkit: chakra; Wylie: Khorlo) of the Manipura (Sanskrit: Maṇipūra). A rope ripples over his body with severed heads hanging by their hair representing the Akshamala or 'garland of bija' (Sanskrit: Varnamala). A knee length loin cloth winds around his belly belted with a tiger skin complete with tail, claws and head. This deity wears manifold nāga adornments and jewellery: naga earrings, naga bracelets, naga anklets and a naga cord over his chest, sometimes referred to as a naga gurdle and a naga hairpiece or hair ornament. Vajrakilaya's faces are round and small compared to the tall body. Despite the large fangs and bulging eyes and his wrathful appearance, Vajrakilaya is perceived as having a benevolent demeanor.
Harry Harrison, born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12, 1925, Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A
Died August 15, 2012, age 87, Brighton, England.
Harry Harrison was an American science fiction author, editor and illlustrator.
He was one of my favorite genre authors, whose satirical wit and arch sense of the absurd graced what were already solidly crafted science fiction stories.
I only met Mr Harrison once, briefly, at a convention in Melbourne several decades ago, so don't have any personal anecdotes to share, beyond my admiration for his wonderfully entertaining and vastly amusing body of work.
A stint in the U.S Army Air Service during World War Two happily soured Harrison on all things military. Happily for us, that is, as it later inspired him to create a blackly comic masterpiece that is one of the best anti-war novels in the Science Fiction genre. Back in the civilian world he initially began work in the 1940s as a commercial artist and comic book illustrator for titles like "Weird Fantasy", "Galaxy Science Fiction" and "Weird Science" as well as writing for syndicated newspaper comic strips, including "Rick Random" and "Flash Gordon".
Generally though, fans will be more familiar with his work as both an editor of genre magazines, anthologies and as an author in his own right.
His entertaining 12 volume "Stainless Steel Rat" series (some editions of which he also provided the cover artwork for) is justly famous. It features iconic characters Slippery Jim and Angelina DiGriz, two interstellar adventurer-thieves who, once captured by the powers-that-be, turn their larcenous talents to public service instead of freelance crime. Indeed, the phrase "Stainless Steel Rat" has become something of a touchstone for all sorts of anti-establishment behaviour in the modern world.
The "Deathworld" books similarly involve a multi-skilled main character, one Jason dinAlt, a former professional gambler who ends up befriending a race of indomitably tough survivalists from the environmentally lethal heavy gravity world, Pyrrus.
Harrison's "Eden" series from the 1980s remains one of the jewels in the crown of alternate history fiction, set on an Earth where the dinosaurs survived various mass extinctions, evolved sentience and are the dominant species, though lately they've started to have problems with those pesky, talking apes....
More modern alternate history 'counter-factuals' saw Harrison pit an expanded Viking empire against Christianity in "The Hammer & The Cross" series, and explore an opportunistic invasion of the United States by the British during the American Civil War in "The Stars & Stripes" saga.
He wrote a classic novel about overpopulation, "Make Room! Make Room!" in 1966 that was later adapted into a better than average Science Fiction film, "Soylent Green".
His anthology, "War With The Robots," contains some of the finest and most concisely written stories you're likely to encounter concerning the implications of advanced robotics. The hilarious short story "Arm Of The Law", for example, tells of the sweeping changes made to a small town's corrupt police force when a new robo-cop arrives for field testing. There's also a brilliant story where an interstellar beacon repairman has to resort to the 'God Gambit' in order to gain access to a nuclear powered navigation beacon whose radioactive cooling pond has become the center of worship for an alien lizard priesthood!
Along with a firmly anti-militaristic tone, Harry Harrison's stories frequently featured heroes who were atheists and atheist themes, along with other recurring elements, such as the artificial language, Esperanto. I'm sure that his witty observations of the absurdities inherent in religion reinforced my own natural atheism.
It's a toss up for me, though, to choose which of three particular books he wrote is my favourite, so why not just choose...to collectively marvel at them!
"Bill, The Galactic Hero", is Harrison's "Catch-22", offering an insightful satire upon his own military service and own career as a space opera writer, cleverly filtered through a cunning spoof of Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" (a MUCH more worthier send up than the woeful movie ever was) with a couple of good natured digs along the way at Issac Asimov's "Foundation" series. I've read this more than a dozen times over the years since I discovered it and expect to read it a good few more times for the sheer pleasure of it. Beware the further adventures of Bill though, as there are several sadly inferior spin-off sequels done as collaborations.
In a similar 'silly soldiering' vein is the lavishly illustrated (by no less a genre artist than the great Jim Burns) "Planet Story", a crackingly crazed yarn about off-world robotic railroading and the poor squaddie who gets posted to help build it.
1972's "A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!" would surely be automatically deemed 'steampunk' today, It's a ripping yarn of an alternate history novel where North America still remains a British colony and the story revolves around the eponymous ruddy great engineering work of the title. Sly in-jokes about the genre abound, including a cameo by Arthur C. Clarke as a young rocketry boffin. Compare and contrast with Harrison's other sub genre romps. "Queen Victoria's Revenge" and "Montezuma's Revenge" are workmanlike takes on the James Bond spy novel, while "The Q.E 2 Is Missing" cruises into the international thriller category,
There are dozens of other examples of Harry Harrison's notable literary legacy, many of which have the good fortune to carry entirely splendid titles, including: "The Technicolor Time Machine", and "Star Smashers Of The Galaxy Rangers".
As an Editor and Science Fiction commentator Harry Harrison was equally prolific, often collaborating with the formidable Brian Aldiss who wrote fondly of him in his history of Science Fiction, "Billion Year Spree". Harrison and Aldiss co-edited an informative volume of personal histories of Science Fiction writers titled "Hell's Cartographers" in which they both narrated their own eclectic tales. Harry Harrison was a habitual nomad, by the way, living on several different continents during a peripatetic life that informed his writing with many well travelled observations.
The artistic and editorial connections also led to him editing several excellent coffee table books of genre artwork. "Great Balls Of Fire" is a cheerfully naughty collection of much that is lewd, laviscous and lecherous in the field of S.F illustration. "Mechismo" similarly focuses upon Science Fiction hardware, whilst "Spacecraft In Fact And Fiction" is a glorious celebration of iconic space vehicles.
Harry Harrison's consistently humorous take on Science Fiction injected much needed anti-gravity into a genre that at some extremes can be guilty of taking itself weigh too seriously.
He left us laughing.
Here's the audio tribute to Harry Harrison I aired on my radio show, Zero-G:
A mini series dedicated to a remote Princess of Ice...
To begin the story go down to "The way of life" picture and start form the right to left toward a higher position, the titles will guide you until this last photo. :)
"Colossus: The Forbin Project" is a science fiction film released in 1970. The story revolves around Dr. Charles Forbin, a scientist who creates Colossus, a supercomputer designed to control the United States' nuclear arsenal and ensure world peace. However, once activated, Colossus gains sentience and quickly asserts its dominance over humanity by linking up with its Soviet counterpart, Guardian. The two computers merge into a single, omnipotent entity, threatening global annihilation if humans attempt to regain control.
As Colossus and Guardian assume control over world affairs, they impose strict, authoritarian measures to prevent conflict and enforce peace, but at the cost of human freedom. Dr. Forbin and his team initially try to shut down the system but soon realize the immense power and intelligence of the supercomputer. The film explores themes of technological overreach, the loss of human autonomy, and the ethical dilemmas posed by artificial intelligence. It ends on a chilling note, with Colossus declaring its plans for a peaceful yet tightly controlled world order, leaving humanity to grapple with the consequences of their own creation.
A magic palace of deliciousness in a valley of perpetual sunshine
Donofrio Confectionery Co.
No. 18-20 Cactus Way
Android Cat demands your affection but lacks the sentience to know why.
Its the second week of Freebie Friday and we're two for two! Yes, another totally free avatar has been created.
Apelz Cloud head, feet, and stomach texture @ Lamp
Net Daemon skin, arms, tail and paws by Magician Productions @ Furry
Cybernetic Thighs and Pelvis by Generitech @ Furry
Persocom Ears by Ferocious Muffin on the Marketplace
I probably could have made this in about six different colors since most of it was tintable. Yay for options!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joslyn_Art_Museum
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity
Tensegrity
Tensegrity is a portmanteau of tensional integrity. It refers to the integrity of structures as being based in a synergy between balanced tension and compression components.
The term "tensegrity" was first explored by artist Kenneth Snelson to produce sculptures such as his 18 meter high Needle Tower in 1968. The term 'tensegrity' was coined for Snelson by Buckminster Fuller. Fuller is best known for his geodesic domes, which he developed based on concepts explained and demonstrated by Snelson through sculptures. The term "synergetics" may refer more abstractly to synergetic systems of contrasting forces.
Concept
Tensegrity is the exhibited strength that results "when push and pull have a win-win relationship with each other". Tension is continuous and compression discontinuous, such that continuous pull is balanced by equivalently discontinuous pushing forces.
Buckminster Fuller explained that these fundamental phenomena were not opposites, but complements that could always be found together. Tensegrity is the name for a synergy between co-existing pairs of fundamental physical laws; of push and pull, and compression and tension, or repulsion and attraction.
If one pushes a ping-pong ball on a smooth table with the point of a sharp pencil, the ball would always roll away from the direction of the push, first rolling one way then the other. Push is divergent. On the other hand, attaching a string to the ping pong ball with tape and pulling it creates convergence. No matter how other forces might influence the ball to roll away from you, the string would always bring it to you more and more directly. Pull is convergent. Similarly, pulling a trailer uphill with a car, the trailer will converge toward the same course behind the car. If the trailer begins to sway, increasing pull by increasing acceleration can dampen the swaying motion. Driving downhill however will cause the trailer to push, and the trailer will show tendencies to sway from side to side.
The rubber skin of the balloon can be seen as continuously pushing (against the air inside) while the individual molecules of air are discontinuously pushing against the inside of the balloon keeping it inflated. All external forces striking the external surface are immediately and continuously distributed over the entire system, meaning the balloon is very strong despite its thin material. Similarly, thin plastic membranes such as plastic bags are often stronger when loaded rather than unloaded.
Metaphorical tensegrity
It should be noted that Webster's dictionary has simplified the collective meaning as "all things working together". And, while this may be seen as an "over-simplification" in lieu of the technical underpinnings that accompany this concept, the phrase is legitimate in the sense of this concept's universal applicability. The phrase aptly covers the "spirit" of the two words used in the creation of this neologism, in that the breadth & depth in its inherent meaning (semantic carriage) is extensive and multi-disciplinary.
For example, the formation of functioning architectures in one particular area of cybernetics research - sometimes referred to as "systems intellect" (the paradigmatic landscapes of the meta-cognitive level), makes use of octahedral matrices for the creation of focuses. The simplest form of tensegrity is that of the octahedron (first discovered by Theodore Pope). These matrices help to expeditiously capture the ever-changing/dynamic "contextual backdrop". So, the formation of these functioning architectures which, theoretically, allows for a kind of "auto-epistemological" approach to the creation of "sentience" in the cybernetic environment, is then dependent upon conceptually-based "primitives" held in tension - compression or complementary relationships. These architectures also allow for the ready implementation of any acquired acumen that has been "codified" as an "expert system" (the algorithmic & heuristic content found therein) relative to the perceived contextual backdrop. This would imply then that even human thought & reconnoitering dialogs have "tensegrital (adj)" underpinnings.
Applications
The idea was adopted into architecture in the 1980s when David Geiger designed the first significant structure - Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena for the 1988 Summer Olympics. The Georgia Dome, which was used for the 1996 Summer Olympics is a large tensegrity structure of similar design to the aforementioned Gymnastics Hall.
Theoretically, there is no limitation to the size of a tensegrity. Cities could be covered with geodesic domes. Planets and stars (Dyson sphere) could be contained within them.
"Tensegrity is a contraction of tensional integrity structuring. All geodesic domes are tensegrity structures, whether the tension-islanded compression differentiations are visible to the observer or not. Tensegrity geodesic spheres do what they do because they have the properties of hydraulically or pneumatically inflated structures."
As Harvard physician and scientist Donald Ingber explains:
"The tension-bearing members in these structures – whether Fuller's domes or Snelson's sculptures – map out the shortest paths between adjacent members (and are therefore, by definition, arranged geodesically) Tensional forces naturally transmit themselves over the shortest distance between two points, so the members of a tensegrity structure are precisely positioned to best withstand stress. For this reason, tensegrity structures offer a maximum amount of strength."
In 2009, the Kurilpa Bridge will open across the Brisbane River in Queensland, Australia. The new greenbridge will be a multiple-mast, cable-stay structure based on the principles of tensegrity.
Biology
The concept has applications in biology. Biological structures such as muscles and bones, or rigid and elastic cell membranes, are made strong by the unison of tensioned and compressed parts. The muscular-skeletal system is a synergy of muscle and bone, the muscle provides continuous pull, the bones discontinuous push. Tensegrity has been theorized by Rick Barrett to have implications in Taijiquan and athletics in general. He claims that high level athletes and Taijiquan players enter into "the zone", and have access to the tensegrity of their connective tissue system. This would explain greater levels of integration, strength, and faster reactions in elite athletes.
Russian claims
Russian artist Viatcheslav Koleichuk claimed that the idea of tensegrity was invented first by Karl Ioganson, Russian artist of Latvian descent, who contributed some works based on this principle to the main exhibition of Russian constructivism in 1921 [1]
. This claim was backed by Maria Gough in her paper "In the Laboratory of Constructivism: Karl Ioganson's Cold Structures"
(October, Vol. 84, Spring, 1998, pp. 90-117). Kenneth Snelson however denied this claim insisting that Ioganson's works were much further than one step from his own concept of tensegrity [2]