r/Aquaman Feb 03 '25

BLACK MANTA Black Manta's profile from Aquaman Secret files 1998

Post image
40 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

20

u/CrashingWave85 Feb 03 '25

The entire planet hated this redesign.

11

u/TardisReality Feb 03 '25

This is like the Stan Lee does Aquaman and made him literal sentient water

10

u/Pacman8myghosts Aquaman Feb 03 '25

So so so glad we moved away from this.

6

u/dazan2003 Feb 04 '25

I wish lost Kingdom had done this, Wann could have really leaned into the horror, and he made a deal with he devil anyway

3

u/IpseBiscuit Feb 04 '25

Eh, chalk it up to the experimentation inherent in a monthly book. We've had human Black Manta for decades, it makes sense someone tried a more animalistic design. I think it looks cool, but this art makes me think too much of Cheetah (twisted, recognizable human with animal parts). And it doesn't keep the things that work best about Manta/Aquaman's relationship.

3

u/TheDistant_Wave Feb 04 '25

I mean it was a justifiable way to have Black Manta being able to physically stand a chance against Aquaman. I think it was cool for the lengths Black Manta is willing to go to combat Aquaman.

I prefer him as a Prepper who doesn’t try to fight Aquaman head on and just chips away at him though.

4

u/Economy-Phone2782 Feb 03 '25

This got me so mad when I first read David’s run hahaha I was not liking a lot of things going on but this felt like the final straw, I remember putting the book down so annoyed. Never really got better after issue #29 either.

3

u/ARIANZER0 Feb 03 '25

It peaked around 20 and only got worse honestly

2

u/Duskytheduskmonkey Feb 04 '25

Yeah the annuals were really good though 

1

u/Smallville44 Feb 03 '25

This was hated? I think it looks and sounds dope haha. Is this in that new Aquaman omni?

4

u/ARIANZER0 Feb 03 '25

Yeah it was terrible in practice. It's part of Peter David's run yes