Aquaman: Death of a King (The New 52) Review

Aquaman Vol. 4: Death of a King (The New 52)

ANGRY!!!

Writer: Goeff Johns

Artists: Paul Pelletier, Sean Parsons and Rod Reis.

Collects: Aquaman #17-19 and #21-25

Background information:

If there’s a way to justify the New 52, it’s Aquaman. DC creative chief and resident god, Geoff Johns injected new life into the character the same way that he did to Green Lantern. This time, he took Aquaman out of the water; proving that the king of the seas can hold his own when out of water.

And after three volumes, Johns put him back in the water.

*sigh* here goes…

Review:

A good final volume in an author’s run should tie up all elements of the arc he/she has written. It should remind us of everything that we enjoyed about the previous volumes and hype the intensity up to the max. Death of a King does these things, but a rushed ending leaves Johns’ run feeling like it lost steam.

Now, where's the Jamaican crab?

So Aquaman, Arthur Curry is the official king of Atlantis. And it’s everything he thought it would be. The surface world doesn’t trust him, the Atlantians follow him only because they have to, and now Atlantian weapons are popping up all over the surface. In the meantime, the former king of Atlantis has risen and is looking to take back his throne.

The whole story absolutely smacks of Johns trying to write a cross between Game of Thrones and The Little Mermaid. To a certain point, it works. Characters have their own agendas. There’s dissention in the ranks. Love triangles are even a part of the story, and it all results in an underwater world that feels fleshed out. There’s a hint of fantasy/sci-fi to this weird world existing parallel to our own and I can only credit Johns for letting readers figure it out rather than having to have their hands held the whole way through. It’s nice when writers assume you’re smart, and that just what Johns has done with this world.

The book introduces a bunch of new characters. We have the Atlantian version of a US Marine; Murk, Tula; the sister of Orm and Swatt; an Atlantian who can’t breathe underwater and loves surface world stuff. Under a new writer, these guys would feel very hard to get used to and would be a bad choice for a last volume, but Johns writes them in a way that you’re surprised they haven’t been part of the series the whole time.

Nyawwww...

The art remains as strong as it always has been. I’ve complained before about the DC house style looking too much like Jim Lee’s work, but it does make a change in artist less daunting. And Aquaman is one of those books that kinda needs that Jim Lee, cinematic, ohmygoodnesslookatthatseasmonster kind of impact.

None of that, however, goes to rectify the biggest problem in Death of a King, and that’s that there’s way too much going on. Like John’s end of his Green Lantern run, the final issue in particular feels like a mad dash to the finish line, when a scenic stroll would have been more appropriate. We jump forward six months to when Atlantis is overrun by villains, but never get the full extent of why that’s so bad for the Atlantians, because Johns gives himself too much to do in only a few issues.

Still, it’s a fine end to a great series, so Death of a King gets a four out of five little mermaids.

****

+ Well-developed world.

+ Some genuinely intriguing characters.

+ Art has plenty of impact.

- Story is rushed toward the end.

Alternate Option: Aquaman: The Trench

Like DC keeps telling you to do, start at the beginning.

Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis (DC) Review

Justice League Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis (The New 52)

Aquaman in the center of a JL picture...
Hell''s frozen over.

Writers: Geoff Johns and Jeff Lemire

Artists: Ivan Reis, Paul Pelletier and Tony S. Daniel

Collects: Justice League 13-17 and Aquaman 13-17

Background Information:

The biggest success story of the New 52 has to be Geoff Johns’ Aquaman. The reboot was just what the King of Atlantis needed to kick that “useless hero” stigma he’d been suffering from for years. Thanks to the rebooted character (and, Aquaman’s character in Injustice didn’t hurt him either), Aquaman has been kicked back into the A-list. It’s the reason the guy now has two books devoted to him.

Justice League, though, hasn’t had the same positive reception. The first volume was fine, but not well received due to its popcorn-munching simplicity. The second volume wasn’t worse, but not necessarily better. That’s a concern for a book that’s meant to be the central title for the New 52.

Review:

Three characters nobody cares aboout in this volume...
 and Aquaman

Not all crossovers work. More often than not, it’s a desperate cry for help from a series that’s failing, and their cause isn’t always helped by connecting it to a more popular title. Thankfully, connecting a lukewarm-running title like Justice League to an out-of-nowhere success like Aquaman has paid off in spades for DC, finally giving us a Justice League story that feels like a title that’s been going on for a year, instead of being perpetually in its first two months.

So, after a tough battle with the Cheetah, a Justice League-sized crisis has hit earth. Atlantis has invaded the surface world, and the surface world is ill-prepared for it. But who’s the mastermind behind the attack, and what have Atlantis or the surface world to gain from the battle?

This volume does a lot of things that fixes the problems from the last volume. For starters, the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship finally comes across as something natural. In the last volume, the relationship just seemed to be a matter of Wonder Woman finding the alpha male (and no, sorry, it isn’t Batman). Now there’s some meat to those previously shallow bones. Superman’s a nice guy now, and he actually looks like he deserves the affections of the Amazon princess. Likewise, Wonder Woman clearly has something to learn from Superman; creating a very Pretty Woman-style vibe to the relationship.

Then there’s the focus of the volume, a Aquaman-centred story this early in the New 52 is a stroke of genius, and Aquaman is at his best here, loaded with that well-developed character that Johns has been establishing in previous Aquaman stories. He’s been driving the story and it’s been great to see someone other than the trinity or Green Lantern heading a League story.

But by far the best thing about this volume is the fact that Johns has somehow sneaked quite a lot of character development into the last two volumes without anyone really noticing it. Batman and Aquaman are quarreling over leadership. Wonder Woman and Superman are dating. Green Lantern has left the league through a show of responsibility. Cyborg wonders if he is human anymore, but has Flash to be the nice uncle to him. It’s a status quo that you really never see happening, and it’s a great surprise when you find out that these characters has actually come a fair ways.

My only real problem with Throne of Atlantis is the fact that in a Justice League collection, the best titles are the Aquaman ones. It’s weird when you consider that the central New 52 title is kinda the forgotten kid brother of the title that everyone probably thought would fizzle out when announced.

Y'know, I still have no idea what the trident does....

The art duties are taken over by Ivan Reis, whose work is so close to Jim Lee's, that there doesn’t feel like there’s a lack of consistency in the series. What makes it better for this volume is that Reis just knows how to capture Aquaman perfectly. Considering that Aquaman is the central character here, that’s a very good thing. And it’s an excellent thing that Tony S. Daniel is sticking to art here; putting it lightly, it’s definitely putting his best foot forward (because the best example of Daniel’s writing is still like calling someone the friendliest Nazi).

Throne of Atlantis finally gave the Justice League the story they deserve. It gets a four and a half out of five friendly Nazis.

**** ½

+ Superman’s/Wonder Woman’s relationship finally makes sense

+ Aquaman at the centre of the story.

+ Where did this character development come from?

- Justice League issues play second fiddle to Aquaman ones.

Alternate Option: Aquaman: Throne of Atlantis

It’s the same story, just has a couple more Aquaman issues.

Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others (The New 52)

Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others (The New 52)

Everyone on this cover is angry at you.
Deal with it.

Writer: Geoff Johns

Artists: Ivan Reis

Collects: Aquaman #7-13

Background Information:

Here’s number three for Geoff Johns week!

It’s a strange time to be a DC reader. At the end of last year, a Batman series was cancelled, and for the last two years, people were saying good things about Aquaman!

When Geoff Johns took the series over at the beginning of the New 52, Aquaman was the laughing stock of DC. Rather than try to pretend that everyone actually loved the king of the seas, though, Johns decided to roll with the jokes made about him to really let the reader see the human side of Aquaman and bring some much-needed humour to the New 52. The strategy worked, and Aquaman now enjoys enough popularity to warrant a second series beginning in April.

Review:

Johns’ last Aquaman volume was an excellent request to readers to give the much-ridiculed superhero a chance. That request resulted in one of the most enjoyable collections in the New 52. For the second aqua-outing, The Others loses some of that humour, but that’s okay. It’s a new message that Johns is sending readers, and it’s leading somewhere excellent.

Before coming to the Justice League, Aquaman had a team of his own known as The Others. Each member possessed their own powers but also carried ancient relics from Atlantis. Now, the villain known as Black Manta is killing them off and taking the relics for an unknown employer. Aquaman joins up with former team-member, the almost-not-naked Ya’Wara to defend The Others and take down Black Manta.

In the last volume, humour really stood out as a defining feature of the series, and that’s not something that’s so abundant in The Others. The humour is there, absolutely, but the reader needs to look for it more than in the previous volume. In its place is a new, Indiana Jones-like feel that sees Aquaman traversing the globe, visiting ancient buildings, and uncovering lost secrets and artefacts. It’s a great vibe that helps Aquaman feel truly different to other DC books that are out there

It’s equally significant that here Aquaman spend very little actually in the water. If he uses water for anything, it’s travel. He hasn’t spoken to fish in this volume, and he has spent absolutely no time in Atlantis. It’s a smart move by Geoff Johns who I’m sure is still trying to change the perception some have of Aquaman as the “water-locked hero”. Aquaman’s awesome on the land too, and that really gets driven home in these issues.

By far, though, the best thing about The Others is that it goes deeper into Aquaman’s history with Black Manta. John’s is doing an excellent job at giving both Aquaman and one of his deadliest enemies multiple dimensions. I thought Aquaman had enough character development in the first volume, but leave it to Johns to give you just that little bit more.

It’s not all smooth sailing for The Others, though. There were plenty of moments in the book where I just wanted to see somebody underestimate Aquaman. Part of the fun of the last volume was seeing Aquaman blow the public’s expectations out of the water. Here, everyone is convinced Aquaman’s awesome. It’s sad to see that element go, because it was one of the best parts of the rebooted Aquaman. The result is that The Others ultimately feels less revolutionary than its predecessor did.

The art here is well done. Again, there’s much of that New-52 sameness, but it’s still beautiful to look at. There are plenty of page and double-page spreads that capture just the right feel for what Johns has written. The character designs are bright and colourful, yet somehow still come off as dark and gritty. That’s a hard line to walk and the combined efforts of Ivan Reis and Joe Prado pull it off wonderfully.

The Others is not as funny as the previous Aquaman volume, but it’s still highly entertaining and well worth the purchase. It gets four out of five almost-not-naked people.

****

+ Art is great.

+ Aquaman somehow is more fleshed out

+ Indiana Jones vibe works well.

- Art is still New 52’s sameness

- The humour is severely lessened

Alternate Option: Justice League: Villain’s Journey

This volume actually does a better job at investigating Aquaman’s public perception. If you miss that, this one should slate that thirst