The Good
Aquaman is king of Atlantis again and he takes on some whalers with the help of other Atlantians. Aquaman meets up with Amanda Waller to relations between the surface world and the world under the sea.
When I first started religiously reading AQUAMAN, back in 2004, what I loved about the book was that while Aquaman exists in the DCU, he had his own world and kingdom to handle. It's disconnected from the rest of the world, and that's exactly what we get here. While the events within this series affected the rest of the world, we get to see Aquaman on his own, with his people, without any other Justice League members.
This issue is lonely and extremely sad. Aquaman spends so much time on his own, reconnecting with the sea and sea life. There are a couple really touching moments here as Aquaman connects with a whale, whose brethren were killed off by whalers.
The coolest moment of the issue is the two page spread featuring Aquaman making a pledge to the sea life to protect them. Paul Pelletier's are here is awesome. The sea creatures look so cool, and I can't stop staring at how awesome the moray eel. Colorist Rod Reis does a wonderful job here by giving everything a realistic feel, while still keeping in style with the rest of the issue.
The final page of this issue isn't a huge reveal, but it's a great kick off to a new story arc. There's a lot you can do with this world, and writer Geoff Johns is hitting it out of the park with every issue.
The Sea Devils?! They're back? Why am I so pumped to see the return of the Sea Devils? Oh, that's right... Geoff Johns will make it awesome.
This issue has one of my favorite covers of the year.
One last, small thing. Aquaman has a five o'clock shadow here. As you may know, I love beards. I love Aquaman with a beard. I like where this is going.
The Bad
While this is the type of Aquaman book I know and love, fans may have a bit of a hard time with it because it's pretty separated from the rest of the DCU.
Although it comes in at 20 pages, this issue feels very short. It was a very quick read, and maybe I was just expecting a little bit more for the epilogue this is amazingly epic story. You'll plow through the issue in no time at all.
The Verdict
The Aquaman fanboy in me is super-happy with this issue. I feel like we're really getting back to Aquaman's roots... the ocean. I loved this issue front to back, and frankly, this is the direction I was hoping for after Throne of Atlantis. The writing and art are always top notch here.
This is a quick read though. You'll get through it pretty quickly. However, you will ignore that once you see that Aquaman forgot to shave... I did.
Overall, I highly recommend this issue.