Exiled
Vulco, Rodunn and his team of soldiers hunt down Aquaman condemning him of regicide. They tie him with barnacles to a rock on Traitors Reef to carry out his punishment. Aquaman had sunk Atlantis to save the JLA, but in rescuing the ‘lungmen’ he destroyed the city of Atlantis. Every underwater life form has turned its back on him. He tries to telepathically release the barnacles from his hands but even they coldly laugh at him. He manages eventually to break loose but what follows afterwards gets a bit hazy. He escapes from the soldiers and finds an oasis like lake but he collapses from dehydration just steps away from the water. He lies there for a while in a delirious state and spends his last ounce of energy ripping off his prosthetic harpoon and casting it into the water. Some water maidens catch it and bring him into the water, their Queen reminds him who his is and the importance of his leadership as the Antlantian defender of the Oceans, which gives him the courage to go on. The JLA show up to help him only to find his harpoon stuck inside a stone reminiscent of the story of King Arthur. They tell him it was impossible that he found sanction in a lake but Aquaman knows its true because the Queen of the maidens replaced his harpoon with a cybernetic hand.
I really enjoyed this comic, you really follow Aquaman’s emotions as he goes through frustration and anger trying to break free from Traitors Reef. I also really liked the ink work, Aquaman looks fantastic. A great start to the newest volume of Aquaman.
