serious question. what do comic book heads think of him as a hero?
The 1986 Aquaman miniseries (where he got his first new costume); Peter David's run on his earlier solo book; Will Pfeiffer's run on the same title; the Grant Morrison depiction of Aquaman in JLA; the current Geoff Johns run on his solo book; any episodes of the Justice League cartoon that featured Aquman all prove that Aquaman is a cool character with a shytty stigma attached to him.
I blame the Super Friends cartoon.