Who Will Be King?
I have been thoroughly enjoying this series, and with the new Justice League of America starting this week hopefully we'll have double the fun. This storyline has been brilliant, and I'm really looking forward to seeing exactly how it affects the future issues of this series, Aquaman, and even the new Justice League of America series.
Plot
The final battle begins, as the Justice League make a final fight against the Atlanteans, and Aquaman faces of against his brother the Ocean Master in a fight for the crown of Atlantis.
Review
This was a brilliant way to end the Throne of Atlantis storyline, and Geoff Johns has done a fabulous job. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this issue as the storyline so far although good has been slightly unpredictable. What I liked most about the writing however was that although it showed a brilliant climax to the story, it also showed teasers for things to come, and showed that Johns was thinking ahead. Although Johns centered most of this final issue around the final confrontation between Aquaman, and Ocean Master it was still nice to see that he gave time for the other characters to have there moment, and I especially liked that he showed non League members like Hawkman, and Firestorm, especially Hawkman considering he'll be apart of the Justice League of America.
Once again Ivan Reis produces some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen. As I've said before I will miss him on Aquaman, but he is much more suited on this series. Reis' artwork is very detailed, and looks nothing shy of epic. Some of the pages are that vastly character/item contented (especially the double page landscapes) and there isn't any lack of detail, whereas a lot of artists wouldn't focus much, or sometimes any effort on the detail for background characters, but Reis does. The emotion throughout was also very nice, especially during the Aquaman/Ocean Master fight, as it's obvious that Aquaman doesn't want to fight his brother, but it's came to the stage that Aquaman is that frustrated that he can't hold anything back. It was also nice to see some art from the new Aquaman artist Paul Pelletier in a couple of pages at the back. I usually complain when more than one artist work on the same comic, but it was nice this time round, as it was only a few pages, and it mainly centered around the future of Aquaman. Rod Reis, and Nathan Eyring also produced some amazing colours throughout this issue, making Ivan Reis, and Pelletier's artwork look even more beautiful than it already is.
How can I do this review without talking about the Aquaman/Ocean Master battle. It was nothing short of epic, and I'm glad that it ruled the majority of the issue. It was really interesting as it got to the point that although Aquaman didn't want the throne of Atlantis there was no other way to stop the fight than to go for it. Although some people may have worked out the ending of the fight I won't say it, as I don't want to deliberately spoil it, and apologies to anyone that's worked it out. The thing I loved most about this fight was the emotion, as it was obvious that Aquaman was in two minds during the fight, whilst it mainly showed his frustration, and anger. The Ocean Masters actions during the fight were also interesting as he appeared to show little concern for Aquaman, whilst stating that he loved him, and always wanted a brother, which I didn't quite buy. In saying that it was very difficult to understand what was true and not from Ocean Master, as when he was fighting Aquaman he showed no remorse, and had evil intentions in his expressions, but at certain points he looked slightly sorry, which made it slightly confusing.
The only disappointing thing in the story was the involvement of Vulko. After revealing that he caused this I was expecting a lot more to be shown between Aquaman and Vulko during this issue, but nothing much happened. Although Vulko produced an explanation for his actions it appeared that the main reason for this to be in the story was to have a cliffhanger conclusion to the last issue of Aquaman.
I'll finally talk about how this leads into the future of the Justice League. It has been shown back in Justice League #12 that this there was going to be a second Justice League team, in another title, and the series has been gradually leading up to this ever since. What I liked about this story line is that it gave the perfect reason for this secondary team to come into existence, and it also leaves questions about what this means for the already established Justice League. It's obvious that the League alone isn't enough to stop ever threat, and even the now know this themselves, but with someone like Amanda Waller leading this new team will the current League be seen as friends or foes.
The only thing that I was slightly upset at was that the Shazam! (Billy Batson) back-up story was missing. It's been the thing I most look forward to in this series, but overall I'm actually happy that it's missing, as the issue really needed all of the 30 pages to tell the remainder of the story in.
Final Verdict
This was a fantastic climax to a fabulous story. Between Johns writing, and Reis' artwork it is an phenomenally epic issue, and it leaves so many possibilities for the future of the series. I would highly recommend this issue, the series, and this entire story, as they are all brilliant. I'd also recommend getting the new Justice League of America series, as with this finale is a huge teaser for that series.
