August 27th, 2009
It’s amazing the bizarre stuff that you can come across when researching any number of topics. While I was doing research on Aquatic comic book heroes, I discovered the book, “The Science of Superheroes
” by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg. This book primarily deals with the scientific plausibility of superheroes/superpowers (seriously I’m not making this up). Since I was only looking at this work for the sake of the League of Aquatic Heroes, I only read the chapter on Aquatic Heroes, but I’m sure the rest of the book is equally intreaging!
So how possible is Aquaman or Namor, the Sub-Mariner? Gresh and Weinberg, bring up the theory that mankind could’ve possibly spent a period of its evolutionary track as a semi-aquatic species. I’ve stumbled across this theory before in my schooling (as a History and Archeaology major), and it’s surprisingly plausible. Many of the traits that separate human beings from other primates can be explained by mankind evolving in a heavily flooded area for a period of time. I suppose it’s not much of a stretch for the human imagination to wonder if people could’ve continued evolving from a semi-aquatic to a fully aquatic species. I guess the idea of fishmen is not as crazy as it sounds.
The chapter also deals with a number of topics related to our Oceanic heroes including: Atlantis, breathing water, ocean pressure, and how to communicate with or command fish. Unfortunately, the chapter contained no logical explanation as to why Aquaman wears an orange shirt with green pants.
Chapter Preview on Google Books:
“The Science of Superheroes”, Chapter Four, Under the Sea: Aquaman and Sub-Mariner, by Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg
Buy Book at Amazon.com:
The Science of Superheroes
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