Aquaman Thoughts

Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis/Joe Prado

So, I'm a little late with the first issue thing. My bad. No excuses. But to make up for it I'll be doing thoughts on the first three issues for what I'm behind on. I've got seven titles left to do, including this one.

The opening issue of this is pretty good. It teases us with a new villain(s) for our hero, one that's a fair deal more terrifying than even Ocean Master and Black Manta, Aquaman's most notable bad guys. Geoff takes advantage of Aquaman's long history of being in the public eye (even if as a joke character) to skip over wasting the first issue retelling Aquaman's origin or giving us long expositional backstory for him, instead showing us what his take on the character will be. Gone is the arrogant king of Atlantis, more concerned with his people beneath the surface than above it. This version, while confident and self-assured, is a superhero through and through. Despite the jokes (more on that later), when he sees someone in need of help, he dives right in. (Pun, once realized, TOTALLY intended.)

Fortunately, this Aquaman doesn't live in a world that pretends he ISN'T usually the butt of every superhero-related joke. A lot of fans reason that this is a bad thing, but DC was not just aiming for old fans when they relaunched this title--they were aiming for at least SOME new ones, and one of the first things people ask when they pick up an Aquaman book is usually: "Does he even have any powers outside of the ocean?" (For the curious, yes he does. The opening adventure of the comic displays Aquaman's super-strength and super-tough, "I-laugh-at-bullets" skin.)

What's most interesting about this title to me is that Geoff considers this to actually be a comic about two characters, rather than one. Indeed, over the first three issues, Aquaman's wife Mera plays just as much of a part of the series as Arthur/Aquaman. Mera walks the line between a wife who's deeply in love with her husband and a bad-ass warrior who can make tornados and spears out of water. (Think Aqualad from Young Justice.) My only complaint is that in making her so amazing Aquaman suddenly becomes a little less cool, when Johns' entire goal with this opening arc is to make people realize why Aquaman is awesome. Still, even if you don't think Aquaman is awesome by the end of these three issues, you do want to root for him. With everyone from cops to bloggers questioning his abilities (or downright mocking him), you realize he's just a guy with superpowers that wants to help people, and it's kinda stupid that anyone without powers would actually thumb their nose at potential help from a guy who can flip armored cars over with little trouble. You WANT him to prove everyone wrong, just so they'll shut up.

Finishing up the last issue, I was left with quite a few questions. Who ARE the Trench? What's up with the guy that taught Arthur how to use his powers? Why does no one believe in Atlantis even though Aquaman's pretty obviously FROM Atlantis? I look forward to getting the answers over the next few months (hopefully--Geoff's got a bad habit of leaving comics not called "Green Lantern"). One question I do have that I don't think I was intended to have is who Mera is. As stated earlier, I assume Mera is still his wife, but with the entire universe being reset I cannot be certain of this. After all, no one ELSE in the new DC Universe is married. It's easy to take for granted the knowledge you have of the characters and assume they were given a proper introduction, but the truth is, if I hadn't read Brightest Day/Blackest Night I wouldn't have the slightest clue who Mera was by the end of the first issue, other than some really attractive woman who had the hots for Aquaman. The second and third issue do a slightly better job of introducing her, but overall we're still not certain who she is or how they met by issue 3's end. I can only assume we'll get that sometime later, as it's not the brightest idea to tell people, "Oh, Mera? You should read Brightest Day, this 26 part story that's kinda about her but not really about her because it's an epilogue to something else entirely and it may not all be in continuity anymore because we undid bits and pieces of it.", in order to learn about a character. But don't let that shy you away from this title. Geoff has pared Aquaman's giant universe down to Arthur, Mera, and these villains that are brand-new. Everything else from the Aqua-sidekicks to Atlantis are being pushed aside for now, keeping things simple. Still, this was the man who turned Green Lantern from a story about space cops to a book about warring armies wielding weapons forged from rage and fear, hope and love. I'm certain he's got more to come for us.

The last thing I want to mention is the art. Ivan Reis is probably one of my favorite artists working in comic books right now, alongside his bud Joe Prado. Green Lantern never looked better under their pen, and neither has Aquaman. If for no other reason than to see the gorgeous art on the cover also be the same on the interior (for once), you should at least give the opening arc of this issue a try.