Written by: Dan Abnett
Art by: Andrew Hennessy, Bradley Walker
Publisher: DC Comics
As someone who read Geoff Johns run on New-52 Aquaman, Aquaman: Rebirth felt like an unnecessary recap and a retread of the ideas from the new-52 run. It left me disappointed and without hope that the series will be able to rejuvenate itself as Green Arrow and other titles have. Surprisingly, Aquaman #1 has actually ended up being a pretty solid book. It didn’t have a radical departure in tone like Green Arrow did, but it was still a very entertaining start to a intriguing arc.
In Aquaman #1, Aquaman starts to build better relations between the surface world and Atlantis. He invites reporters and military brass to the Spindrift station as a start to the process. As you can probably guess, things don’t go too well.
The new characters introduced in this book, Ray Delane, Joanna Stubbs, and Sark, were surprisingly well characterized considering their short appearance. Each offered a different viewpoint of how the world views Atlantis. Joanna Stubbs was a particularly interesting character, and I hope she sticks around for a while. Her views as someone genuinely impressed and interested in Atlantis culture is nice change of pace from all the Atlantis hate that usually goes around by humans in Aquaman books. Sark was also a great character, but for the opposite reason. He showed interest and kindness to humans, which is something that we don’t see a lot from Atlanteans in Aquaman books.
When things eventually start going downhill, the action is well drawn and a very fun read. It’s very reminiscent of the great action scenes we got from Geoff Johns run. Mera holding back a massive wave with fish and humans floating inside and Aquaman getting into a brawl with Black Manta in the water is all very intense.
While the book is definitely a good read, it all does end up feeling a bit too similar. How many times have we seen Black Manta and Aquaman fight? How many times have we seen Aquaman try to mend the relations between the two worlds he inhabits? The answer is many, many times. While other creative teams at DC are taking their characters in bold new directions and introducing some fresh conflict, Aquaman still seems stuck in the past. I think it’s about time Aquaman got a new shtick.
While Aquaman is not the overhaul I had hoped for, it’s still an entertaining book and well worth your time.
