2018.033 Aquaman: The Legend Of Aquaman

Aquaman: The Legend of Aquaman
Written by: Keith Giffen, Robert Loren Fleming
Illustrated by: Curt Swan, Eric Shanower, Al Vey
DC Comics

2018.024 Aquaman Vol 4: Underworld

Aquaman is dead.  Mera is crushed.  Atlantis has a new King.  Things don't look good.  At all.  There's a new vigilante in Atlantis who is pretending to be "the Aquaman" and is helping the citizens one by one.  Is he pretending?  Or is he the genuine article?  Aquaman was left for dead in the last storyline, but he didn't die.  He's keeping a very low cover, doing what he can on a very small scale.  Eventually he's found out and he's forced to confront all the shit that's been going on under the terrible new King of Atlantis.  

With this story, I feel like Dan Abnett has FINALLY hit his stride.  He's been telling fine stories since taking over pre-Rebirth, but there's something about this that made it impossible for me to put down.  It's like he's been trying this and that, figuring out what's been working and what hasn't and now that he knows, he's crafting the best Aquaman stuff since Geoff Johns left the book.  I'm so excited to see where this book is going for this point out.  I'm so excited to see Stjepan Sejic draw more Aquaman.  This book is better looking that it has been in a while.  Not to saw that the last few art teams weren't any good, but Sejic brings something else to the book I can't quite figure out.

Aquaman Vol 4: Underworld

Written by: Dan Abnett

Illustrated by: Stjepan Sejic

DC Comics

2018.001 Aquaman: The Waterbearer

One of the great things about an Aquaman movie coming is that DC is putting all sorts of Aqua-related material back in print.

I read this monthly when it first was published, but to be honest, I really don't remember any of what was printed in this volume.  When I think back to Rick Veitch's run, I recall his Black Manta storyline, but barely any of this.  I remember the Lady of the Lake giving Arthur his water hand, but little else.  

I found this book to be a little slow in places, but I recognize that Rick is setting all his pieces in place to start telling the story he wants.  This is a welcome change from Peter David's Aquaman.  While I can't really stand Peter David, I did enjoy many aspects of his run.  But I like this more.  Rick Veitch is putting Aquaman back where he should be, stripping away all of the bullshit laid on him by Peter David.  

I look forward to the next volume of this book to refresh my memory of this run.

Aquaman: The Waterbearer

Written by: Rick Veitch, Steve Conley

Illustrated by: Yvel Guichet, Darryl Banks, Norm Breyfogle, Rob Haynes, Joshua Hood, Deitrich Smith, Sal Velluto, Mark Propst, Bob Almond, Dennis Janke, Rob Leigh, Sean Parsons, Bob Petrecca

DC Comics

163 Aquaman: The Atlantis Chronicles Deluxe Edition

I love this Deluxe Edition series DC has been doing.  I love that the books are just slightly oversized (because grandpa here doesn't always have to wear his glasses to read them!).  The artwork seems to pop better on the slightly bigger pages.

I haven't read this since it was first published.  I'll admit I remember none of it.  A lot of books I haven't read in years come back to me upon a re-read, but not this.  So, for all intents and purposes, it was brand new to me.  I was torn about how excited I was to read it.  I was excited to reacquaint myself with the back story of Atlantis, but I was dreading it because it was written by Peter David.  I don't care much for his writing style.  Quite frankly, he's obnoxious and he's his biggest fan and it comes out in his writing.

But not here.  Here he shows that he can actually write if he strips away his asshole veneer.  I really enjoyed what I read.  Sure, the book still has some issues, but they're issues I can deal with.  The part that I find the most glaring is how lop sided the book feels.  It's a seven part series.  He spent the first five parts telling the story of Orin and Shalako and their extended, multi generational family.  Then we fast forward for the last two issues into other eras.  It's almost like it was supposed to be a 12 issue series that got cut back after he already had most of the first arc written.

He does a great job explaining things that needed explaining.  We now know why some Atlanteans look like normal humans and why some look like mermen and mermaids.  We know how they survived the sinking of Atlantis.  We know how they learned how to breathe underwater.  And where the telepathy with sealife came from.

All in all, it's a great series.  I highly recommend this book

Aquaman: The Atlantis Chronicles Deluxe Edition

Writer: Peter David

Artist: Esteban Maroco

DC Comics

124 Aquaman Vol 3: Crown Of Atlantis

Dan Abnett is continuing his stellar run on Aquaman.  He's been slowly laying down the pieces to make this book his own.  He's not ignoring anything that came before, but instead building on it.  He's developing the vast supporting cast and laying down stuff that seems like it will take him quite a while to get to the pay off stage.  I like that.  It's how comics used to be.  It's nice that someone will take over a book, do a six or twelve issue run and then go on, but it fucks with continuity.

While I'm enjoying this book, there are parts that irk me.  The Aqua Marines.  They're stupid.  They feel like a rejected late 80s or early 90s concept.  I really hope this is the last we see of them.  Seriously.  I do not care for them at all.  

This book also features yet another "Aquaman isn't fit to be King" story.  We get them all the time.  But I don't really mind this time around.  I'm interested in seeing where this will lead.

Aquaman Vol 3: Crown Of Atlantis

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Philippe Briones, Brad Walker, Wayne Faucher, Andrew Hennessey, Scott Hanna

DC Comics

094 Aquaman: Kingdom Lost

Honestly, this run of Aquaman from back in the early 2000s was one of my favorite runs on the book ever.  It started with Rick Veitch bringing the character back to basics after the shit show Peter David performed on him.  Gone was the underwater Conan look, gone was the hook.  Although his hand itself wasn't back, a reasonable facsimile was and that was great.  After the Veitch run, John Acrudi came along and gave us a great run.  The Sub Diego years.  A big chunk of San Diego was sunk into the Pacific and with it, many of it's residents turned into water breathers.  It was a great storyline.  It was fun meeting new characters and watching Sub Diego begin to develop into a functioning community.

This volume concludes the Sub Diego storyline and wraps it up nicely.  And this is where I stopped reading Aquaman for a while because right after this, they introduced a brand new Aquaman who I had no interest in at the time.  I decided to go out on a high note.

Aquaman: Kingdom Lost

Writer: John Acrudi

Artist: Leonard Kirk, Andy Clarke, Patrick Gleason, Christian Alamy, Freddie Williams II

DC Comics

078 Aquaman Vol 2: Black Manta Rising

 

I have been kind of lax with my reading lately.  There's been too much tv to catch up on and that's left not a lot of extra time for comics.  But the season just ended on most of my shows, so I hope to get some of my backlog of comics read over the summer.

This is Dan Abnett's third Aquaman collection.  He started the book just before Rebirth and this is his latest.  I've enjoyed all three volumes he's written, but something seemed just a little off to me.  I don't know what it was, but after finishing this book, I don't think that way any longer.  Maybe he was just adjusting to writing the character?  I don't know.  

This picks up where the last book left off.  Black Manta took over N.E.M.O., a covert secret society hellbent on domination, and went after his arch nemesis by pitting the world against Atlantis, leaving Aquaman in the crosshairs.  Abnett has really built up and fleshed out Atlantis more and I really appreciate it.  I hope his version of Atlantis stays as is.  Seems every writer has a separate idea of what Atlantis should be, but this one I like.

There is some silliness (not in a good way) in this story, too.  The Aqua-Marines.  Bio-engineered soldiers who transform into different human/sealife hybrids.  Really fucking cheesy and cliched.  But I'm willing to give them a pass.

Aquaman Vol 2: Black Manta Rising

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Brad Walker, Philippe Briones, Wayne Faucher, Andrew Hennessy, Daniel Henriques

DC Comics

029 Aquaman Vol 1: The Drowning

New 52 Aquaman was one of the few bright points of DC's whole New 52 fiasco.  It brought Aquaman back to the A List.  What worked best about the book is it really didn't discard all of his past, it didn't drastically alter the character and it was well written.  And with the exception of Cullen Bunn's short run on the book, the whole run has been solid.  Dan Abnett took over for the last New 52 arc and continues on to the Rebirth run.

The trade starts off with the Rebirth Special.  I wasn't that impressed with it.  It honestly felt like a fill in issue rather than a new start.  Even the first couple of issues of this story felt off to me.  Really, it felt like a fill-in issue in between the regular creative team.  But as I read, I got pulled deeper in to the story.  I like the direction it's going in right now.  I do have an issue or two with the series, but they're minor.  First, I don't know if Dan Abnett has really captured who Mera is.  She seems a little off.  I'm willing to give him time, though.  The other gripe is the art.  I think it's the reason this partially read like a fill-in story to me.  While there's nothing bad about the art, it's just not that remarkable to me.  It's fine, but unmemorable.

Aquaman Vol 1: The Drowning

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Oscar Jimenez, Mark Morales, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Wayne Faucher, Philippe Briones

DC Comics