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

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