Vulko
"...to be a ruler."
66 years ago - Nuidis Vulko is born in Atlantis to journeymen parents.
52 years ago - 14-year-old Vulko becomes a scribe serving the top Atlantean scientists of his day.
48 years ago - 18-year-old Vulko's revolutionary work in Atlantean science makes him one of the Atlantean science elite.
45 years ago - 21-year-old Vulko becomes the science advisor to the Atlantean Throne, arguing against Kalandro & former advisor Thorne.
42 years ago - 24-year-old Vulko survives the coup against the throne of Atlantis by followers of Orm Marius, accepting the appointment of Thorne as the new royal scientist to prevent any further violence, stepping down from the court.
39 years ago - 27-year-old Vulko learns of the surface attack, and that Queen Atlanna was killed, along with her child. He begins working to ingratiate himself with the court of Orm Marius, trying to protect the people of Atlantis from their ruler.
28 years ago - 38-year-old Vulko argues against Orm Marius's opening of the Idylis penal colony.
24 years ago - 42-year-old Vulko publicly speaks out against Orm Marius's decree to banish all Atlantean magical adepts to Idylis. He is branded a heretic and imprisoned.
14 years ago - 52-year-old Vulko meets Arthur Curry in Atlantean prison, and recognizes him as the lost son of Queen Atlanna. He helps Arthur to escape, and recants his past heresy to reclaim his place at Orm Marius's side, and serve Arthur’s coup from within the court.
11 years ago - 55-year-old Vulko assists Arthur Curry's coup of Atlantis, helping his followers enter the city without bloodshed. He is named as Arthur's valued advisor
10 years ago - 56-year-old Vulko assists in the reopening of the Atlantean sorcerers academy. He creates containment in his labs for the Fisherman parasite.
9 years ago - 57-year-old Vulko speaks out against allowing Orm Marius to leave his prison and join the Atlantean court to attend the wedding of Arthur Curry & Mera.
7 years ago - 59-year-old Vulko steps down as regent as Arthur Curry returns to the throne when Orm Marius escapes Atlantis. He delivers Arthur Curry Jr.
6 years ago - 60-year-old Vulko assists as Garth becomes regent while Arthur Curry quests across the ocean with Dolphin to save Arthur Curry Jr from Black Manta. When Arthur returns, Vulko creates and attaches his prosthetic Atlantean war-hook.
5 years ago - 61-year-old Vulko helps Mera go into isolation after her mindless attack on Atlantis, where she can focus on helping the people of the city rebuild.
4 years ago - 62-year-old Vulko delivers Mareena.
3 years ago - 63-year-old Vulko serves as regent for Mera as she returns to the throne as Arthur Curry joins the Watchtower.
now - 66-year-old Vulko discovers weakened barriers into Xebel. Arthur Curry & Mera cross the barrier, where they discover that the Xebelites are preparing to invade
We've talked about this before, but I'm not sure if its common knowledge that Aquaman comes from a very specific tradition of sci-fi heroic storytelling that sets him apart from many other silver age comic characters. He's a sci-fi adventure hero, something similar to the sci-fi adventure serials and strips like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon from the 30s. This influences the types of adventures he had in his earliest comics, but also his cast of supporting characters, the most relevant of which is Doctor Nuidis Vulko. He's absolutely been a regular part of ALL of Aquaman's adventures across the decades, but to really get him right we need to remember him as the scientist ally of an adventurer.
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Vulko's Comic HistoryVulko's first appearance is from 1967, in Brave and the Bold #73 by Bob Haney in a story featuring Aquaman & The Atom. In an adventure featuring undersea pirates with a miniaturizable vessel, Aquaman reaches out for help from Atlantis's chief scientist, Vulko.
I don't know if this is going to be as obvious to everyone else as it is to me, but Vulko as he appears here immediately reminds me of Flash Gordon's Doctor Zarkov. he's not quite as prominently featured, since Zarkov was one of Flash's few allies while Vulko was just one part of the resources Aquaman had at his disposal from Atlantis, but the fact that both characters had a similarly named and similarly goateed scientist on the payroll just seems very noteworthy. Vulko has been regularly featured in pretty much all of Aquaman's adventures ever since as a supporting or fatherly figure, although there have been times he's actually supported Atlantis in favor of Arthur himself. |
Our Vulko StoryThis was a surprisingly dense timeline to finish; Vulko just happens to have been around for all of the history of what had developed into one of the most complex facets of the DC Continuity Project's timeline. Atlantis has a really broad, far-reaching story, and Vulko, while he is never the main character in any part of it, is very involved in practically every piece of its history.
There are a lot of various visuals associated with Vulko, from bearded scientist sidekick of his debut to the much more Willem Dafoe-shaped character from the movie, but personally I'm a big fan of the 90s Peter David run, where Vulko was a barrel of a man with his trademark long mustache and the wisps of silver hair flowing from his temples... reminding you that he's always underwater. He deserves to have a really memorable look like this to make him stand out as such an important part of one of the most expansive parts of the DC story. |
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