LogFAQs > #965941023

52. A.J. Curry
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A.J. is not Aquaman. He is Arthur Joseph Curry. He appears to be the same person, with perhaps the same mannerisms, but missing most of the history that Aquaman experienced, as well as the moniker itself. We know not where A.J. is from. Removed from a split timeline? From another Earth? A proto-Arthur regenerated by the magics of the Parliament of Waves to take up Aquaman's mantle? Time will tell on this, but for now, we simply recruited him to Checkmate.

A.J. was paired up with King Shark when we found him, and this bode well for Nanaue, as A.J. was someone he respected that he would listen to. This allowed us to recruit King Shark as well, but A.J. is our focus here. As a "not Aquaman", there are a lot of oddities surrounding the guy and others' approach to him, but a few relationships I'd like to highlight are as thus:

Tom Curry - the real Aquaman's father. As far as we know, Aquaman got killed by the Spectre, leaving Tom alone without a child. A.J. told stories of losing his parents. So we have two men, who aren't actually connected, connected in perhaps the deepest of ways. We haven't had much opportunity to see this develop, but the idea that each represents/IS the opposite's lost family is a combination of intrigue, pathos, and perhaps a little ironic humor.

Minerva Gale - Minerva is Wicklebee's character, a blonde princess of Poseidonis who was tossed out of her home for being blonde. Minerva was saved by Aquaman and taken to be raised on land as a child. Minerva ADORES Aquaman. She is a fanatic. It is sometimes cute, sometimes worrisome. So when Minerva had to meet this "not Aquaman", we got to see how she would respond to the same man, but without all of the same accolades. She respects him, but instead of letting him make a play to find the lots of the Atlantean nation states, she took up the task herself, taking A.J.'s sword of Atlantis and thus far letting him support her. On the flip-side, A.J. has developed a crush on Minerva. This is both tragic and hilarious, as Minerva would never entertain such notions about Aquaman... but A.J. is just a young man from elsewhere.

Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) - Jaime is a young adult thrust into his role as the Blue Beetle with little preparation. He is not very connected to the community or anything. So he's the right age and right lack-of-connection to turn into A.J.'s best friend. The two have recently also adopted Stargirl into their group to play Annoyball, a game where they toss a football onto Tom Curry's lighthouse to attempt to annoy him.