75% of The Planet is Covered by Water.

If i live to be 1 million years old, i will never understand the public's fascination with dissing Aquaman.

in case you're unaware, here he is.

everyone has taken a dig at him: SNL, Family Guy, even the Big Bang Theory. Aquaman is the comic book world's whipping boy, and i for one can't stand it.

the main problem with Aquaman for most people's money seems to be his ties to the sea. how can he fight crime? he lives in the sea? this presupposes that all superheroes do is fight crime. this may be the case with more "street level" characters like Batman and Spider-Man, but it's not alway the case with many, indeed one could probably even say most superheroes. most heroes, even the aforementioned crime fighters take on villains that are in keeping with their thematic elements. Spider-Man often fights animal themed villains and the like. Batman (who i maintain is not crazy, as the current media would have us believe; i personally feel he is beyond driven, which may lead to what some would perceive of us as a kind of mania) fights foes who are primarily insane. the list goes on. it's no different for Aquaman. he fights sea related villains.
consider the subject header of this entry: 75% of the Earth's surface is ocean. that leaves vast amounts of unexplored territory for truly imaginative writers to utilize. to me, that's what it comes down to: sheer laziness. if you can't watch 5 minutes of a nature special about the undersea world and see how it could be used to great imaginative effect, you're just not very clever.
granted, i think a lot of people may see Aquaman tackling sea monsters and such and perceive a kind of goofiness. i understand that on some level. in the 1950s, Batman (a character who we see as very gritty today) was often fighting aliens on other planets. it seems out of place, hence the goofiness. but if you really break it down, all superheroes, even the "dark" or "grim" ones, are kind of goofy. as a notion it makes very little sense. a child's parents are killed before his eyes: he becomes a giant bat and fights crime. wait, what...?
we've become cynical, and i admit to being quit the cynic myself, friends. but the problem is that we aren't cynical about the right things. governmental abuse, the poor, unjust wars, global atrocity: no one bats an eye in the face of that shit. but Aquaman, i mean, he wears orange and green and rides around on whales and shit, AMIRITE? i feel no need to be cynical about Aquaman. he serves his purpose. no one complains about Green Lantern fighting in space. because he belongs in space, right? well, Aquaman belongs in the sea.
so i admit wholeheartedly: i like Aquaman. i'm not ashamed.