But Thomas promises that, as he deals with those, the book will be about him not just fully becoming Aquaman, but fully becoming Jackson Hyde. Jackson tries to avoid those feelings that he doesn’t want to feel, or acknowledge. “So a lot of these feelings unfortunately are mine, too.” “Unfortunately, I have an… interesting relationship with my own father,” Thomas said. “This story is about this whole idea of, my dad was bad, and that is my defining trait - that is the thing that is constantly pushing me forward,” Thomas said. And this story will also see Hyde having to come to terms with his father, even embracing some of his methods. But Thomas sees Hyde as being that times ten, because of his race, his father, his sexuality, and more. The traditional Aquaman was already an outsider, half-human and half-Atlantean. Jackson Hyde’s dad is Aquaman arch nemesis Black Manta, with the character always feeling like he has to make up for what his father has done. So I really try to lean into the similarities that I have with Jackson.” “For me, him feeling like a slight outsider, feeling like maybe he doesn’t deserve some of the things he has in his life - that’s a very personal emotion for me. “The question of deserving - and what does Jackson deserve, what do any of us deserve - is a big thing in that book going forward,” Thomas said.
I always want the scripts to be well thought out, and developed, and for it to be like, ‘Can you give me six weeks of your time to make something amazing?’”įor most of the issue, everything’s turning up Jackson. Because I know that, just physically, it takes a lot longer to illustrate comic books than it does to write them - even though writing them is not easy,” Thomas said. “I always want it to feel like it’s worth time. The art in The Becoming is dynamic, filled with movement, bright colors, and a use of water giving spectacular views and letting the artists explore the characters' physicality in unique ways. The first issue is a day-in-the-life of the someday Aquaman from big action and training with the current Aquaman and his wife Mera, to his relationships with his town, his family, his superhero team, and Atlantis. “There are things about Jackson that I don’t personally have experience with, but I try to be always very mindful and very careful of the emotions, and whether or not it feels honest.” There’s something about Jackson that’s not happy, but there’s something joyous and appreciative - and I want that to come through in the artwork too,” Thomas told LAist. “There’s a way that I always feel that Black and brown characters should be depicted that they sometimes aren’t in comics, so that’s a big thing for me. Thomas is Black, and while he isn’t part of the LGBTQ+ community himself, he felt connected with Jackson Hyde emotionally. Now he gets to set up that potential future that he created with an opportunity he never imagined. Thomas had freedom in writing Jackson Hyde for Future State because no one had done much with him as an adult. Now he’s guiding the current version of the character toward that future in The Becoming with the art team of Diego Olortegui, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Adriano Lucas. But it wasn’t always in the works for the comics to start directly setting up those possibilities, or for Thomas to be the one getting to write that. That was meant as a look at potential futures for DC’s characters. While the Jackson Hyde character has been around for a while, including a version of him playing a major role in the popular Young Justice cartoon Southern California writer Brandon Thomas had the chance to play with him for the first time as part of DC’s Future State crossover. He’s part of DC Comics' efforts to diversify their publishing line, creating a new generation of diverse heroes, from a Black Batman to a queer Superman. Aquaman: The Becoming features Jackson Hyde, a young Black gay superhero currently known as Aqualad. But he’s been getting a new evaluation with blockbuster movies, animated appearances, and now a reintroduction of a younger version of the character. DC Comics superhero Aquaman has been subject to generations of easy jokes - he’s the superhero that (allegedly) talks to fish.