It's not hard to make Aquaman cool. I can't really speak for Aquanewb, since I've only read one issue of his series; but Orin was all sorts of badass before the new guy's series began and Orin was an amnesiac squid guy.
It's just a matter of getting people to forget how lame and useless he was in Superfriends. I actually had a conversation with a guy in the comic store a few months ago when I picked up a couple Aquaman back issues. He saw the books and asked why I'd want to read about a guy who can only talk to fish, and I proceeded to list a number of his other powers.
Dude: "Yeah, but he can only do those things when he's under water."
Me: "...You've never actually
read any books with Aquaman in them, have you?"
Dude: "No. I don't like the character."
Me: "Well, I can see that you don't know anything about him. Why not read an issue of his 'waterhand' series from a couple years ago before deciding whether you like him or not?"
Despite my efforts, he laughed and I don't think that he ever gave the character a shot, remaining content to believe that Aquaman was the lamest of the lame.