Action Comics (1938 Series) #517

December 17, 2011

Title: The War For Peace

Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Curt Swan
Inks: Dave Hunt
Colorist: Gene D’Angelo
Letterer: Ben Oda             
Cover Artist: Ross Andru
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Publisher: DC Comics

The cover of Action Comics #517 bills the issue as “the strangest Christmas story ever told.” I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, but it is rather out of the ordinary. Superman is called away from the Daily Planet Christmas Party when he spots an out-of-control alien spacecraft about to plunge into Earth’s atmosphere. Saving the alien, it begs Superman’s help in recovering a strange artifact called the Grayl, an ancient religious totem stolen from his people by another alien race who seeks it for its monetary value. Superman gets caught up in a strange sort of holy war in space.

This is not, to be frank, a subtle comic book. Gerry Conway really lays on the story thick, without shying away from the real-world parallels to the middle east. In the end, it may go a little too far, with any specific Christmas message being lost in an overall plea for Peace on Ea… well, peace in the universe. It’s an okay story, but it strays from its claim of being a Christmas story early and never really comes back.

There’s also a back-up story here that has nothing to do with Christmas, but what the heck, let’s look at it anyway.

Title: Brother Rat

Writer: J.M. DeMatteis
Art: Don Heck
Colorist: Jerry Serpe
Letterer: Ben Oda
Editor: Len Wein

This second tale stars Aquaman, in a desperate battle against his old foe Black Manta… or so he thought. Turns out this Manta was merely a robot. Aquaman and Mera set off for New York to investigate the corporation that was supposedly behind Manta’s efforts, only to find an even more unexpected foe – Aquaman’s half-brother, the Ocean Master.

The story is perfectly serviceable, but it doesn’t really grab me. Aquaman is a character who gets too much crap from the mainstream, but he’s also one that doesn’t work except with certain writers. As well as he’s being handled right now, this book reminds us that it wasn’t always that way.

All in all, this comic really could have been better.

Rating: 6/10

Aquaman (2011 Series) #1

October 3, 2011

Title: The Trench Part One

Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Joe Prado
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Cover Artist: Ivan Reis
Editor: Patrick McCallum
Publisher: DC Comics

Aquaman makes his way on to land to take care of a pretty pedestrian crime – but the people of Boston are surprised at their savior. Aquaman? What’s he doing on land?

Geoff Johns has done something very interesting with this new series. Bringing in a hint of metafiction, we have an Aquaman here who is keenly aware that he doesn’t have the most impressive reputation. The line “talk to fish” does, in fact, make an appearance. But once we’ve acknowledged the fact that Aquaman isn’t exactly anybody’s favorite superhero, Johns and Ivan Reis then proceed to step right up and show how awesome he can be. And they’re not even changing the character to any significant degree – just showing off things like his strength and limited invulnerability that people often forget about when they’re cracking jokes about the character. We also get a simple explanation of his telepathic powers and a few solid jokes along the way, all leading up to a nice, tender, status quo-establishing scene with Mera. (Not sure if she and Arthur are married in the New 52, but they’re at least together, which puts them a step ahead of Lois and Clark or Barry and Iris.)

In the midst of all this character establishing and jokeifying, we also get a glimpse at a new threat from the depths – something ugly and nasty and that will easily give certain readers nightmares thanks to Ivan Reis’s expert rendition of them. In short, this book gives you everything you want and far more than you could expect from an Aquaman comic book. It’s just awesome. Who knew?

Rating: 9/10

Flashpoint: Emperor Aquaman #2

July 21, 2011

Title: Emperor Aquaman Part Two                           

Writer: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Vicente Cifuentes
Inks: Diana Egea & Vicente Cifuentes
Colorist: Kyle Ritter
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Cover: Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes
Editor: Eddie Berganza    
Publisher: DC Comics

With the isle of Britain thrust into the sky to be used as an Amazon fortress, Aquaman gathers Siren and Ocean Master to plan for an attack. This issue lays out much more of the Flashpoint universe, really helping to connect the dots. We see how Terra and Geo-Force became pawns in the Atlantis/Amazon war, how Mera’s death changed Arthur, and how Arthur’s own origin was twisted around in this universe. More and more, the theory that this world isn’t simply the result of Professor Zoom’s vendetta against Barry Allen is gaining ground, as each of the core Justice League members seems to have been targeted. This issue also helps to establish more of the timeline of this world, which seems to coincide with comments that the “New 52” will feature younger versions of the characters. We already know from Project: Superman that Kal-El crashed to Earth 28 years ago, and from the core miniseries we learn that Martha Wayne was pregnant with Bruce at the time (Superman and Batman are both just 28 in this world?), while this issue establishes Aquaman at about 25 years of age. It’s strange to think of these classic heroes as being younger than me, frankly, but at least in terms of the Flashpoint world, it’s working. Vicente Cifuentes is a great choice for the artwork, doing nice stuff underwater. Again, Kyle Ritter steps up, using his different color palettes not only to differentiate between the underwater and surface scenes, but other colors entirely for the flashbacks to Aquaman’s origin. It’s a nice package that entertains and pushes the world forward.

Rating: 7/10

Brightest Day #19

February 5, 2011

Title: Aquawar Part One

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Art: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert & Rob Hunter
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald
Letterer: Rob Clark, Jr.
Cover: David Finch
Editors: Adam Schlagman & Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

As Deadman interrogates the White Lantern, trying to figure out why it would destroy Hawkman and Hawkgirl, in the depths of the ocean a war is brewing. The army from Mera’s dimension is swarming the beaches on the surface world, Black Manta at their command, leaving Aquaman and Aqualad as the only line of defense.

The Deadman stuff goes quick this issue, although we get a nice chunk of information. We still don’t quite know what the White Lantern’s true game is, but I feel like we have more of the puzzle pieces we need to put it all together. The battle scenes are impressive – large in scope, sprawling and chaotic. We definitely get a sense that our heroes are at war in this issue. The final pages are pretty abrupt, with a final cliffhanger that echoes some of the more interesting things that have happened to Aquaman in the past. It’s been plain from the outset that the writers have plans for Arthur Curry, and this issue makes that clearer than ever. I still can’t quite figure out where they intend to take him, but the surety that there is a plan is important.

Good story, great artwork.

Rating: 8/10

Somebody’s First Comic Book: Aquaman (2003 Series) #36

Wondering what Somebody’s First Comic Book is all about? The explanation is on this page!

TITLE: The Failure of Success

CREDITS:
Writer: John Arcudi
Layout: Leonard Kirk
Finishes: Andy Clarke
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Travis Lanham
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: DC Comics

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE: Aquaman talks to fish.

IMPRESSIONS: Well, this should be good for a laugh. Aquaman, silliest superhero ever invented and… what’s this? On the first page, we see a chimpanzee swimming around in what appears to be a sunken city (American, not Atlantis) and bringing a corpse to the surface. Maybe this won’t be a chucklefest after all.

When we see Aquaman, he’s in a hospital bed, having been beat the hell up, and it appears he’s trying to explain to his girlfriend why he never mentioned his wife Mera to her… Wha? Aquaman is a player? But… talks to… fish…

Anyway, some terrorists break out another water-breathing terrorist from some sort of laboratory/prison, give him a silly helmet, and they start blowing stuff up. Meanwhile Aquaman swims around this sunken city with his adult son, Koryak, Aquagirl, the chimpanzee and some thing that looks like a gorilla and a shark had a baby, while some sorcerer called Tempest does something bad and a guy in a green cape (calls himself the Spectre) shows up and promises to cause an “Infinite Crisis.”

My head hurts. I’ve got no idea what’s going on here. Aquaman is acting like kind of a male slut, giving the women really lame explanations for what’s going on, and I’ve got no idea why this underwater city is flying American flags (is “flying” even really the right word when it’s underwater), who Tempest is, or why this Spectre is so pissed off. The only reason I can even tell Black Manta is supposed to be the bad guy is because he’s going around shooting at people, although if the rest of this issue is anything to go on, we’ll probably find out those people go around sticking firecrackers up toad’s butts in their spare time.

I liked it better when Aquaman was just the silly guy who talked to fish.

GRADE: D+

Brightest Day #6

July 30, 2010

Title: Dead Zone

Writers: Geoff Johns & Peter J. Tomasi
Penciler: Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Scott Clark & Joe Prado
Inker: Vicente Cifuentes, David Beaty, Mark Irwin, Christian Alamy
Colorist: Peter Steigerwald with John Starr
Letterer: Rob Clark Jr.
Cover: David Finch, Scott Williams & Peter Steigerwald
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Publisher: DC Comics

Realizing that Deadman’s White Lantern ring seems to have the power to resurrect the dead, Hawk tried to force a resurrection for his brother. Failing that (because he’s “at peace”), he turns to Dove’s sister, a soul most definitely not at peace… with highly unpredictable results.

I’m really intrigued by what Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi are doing with this series. The previous storyline, Blackest Night, was reportedly a way to explain how death works in the DC Universe. While we definitely got that explanation, this series has been making it very clear that we only got a partial explanation. There’s more to it, something that we haven’t really been made to understand yet, and something that I think we may be approaching very quickly. Deadman’s story has easily been the most engaging of the various tales in Brightest Day, and this issue is no different.

That said, just because Deadman’s story has been the best doesn’t mean the others aren’t good. Firestorm especially has grabbed my attention. This week we see Jason and Ronnie forced into action when a Firestorm-style stunt is pulled off without their involvement, endangering innocent lives. It seems they aren’t riding alone, and the implication about just who may be somewhere in the Firestorm Matrix with them is pretty chilling.  We also have a nice heart-to-heart between Aquaman and Mera, his wife, who kinda came to Earth to kill him originally, and we see that the Martian Manhunter may have changed up his power set along with his resurrection. He’s not the only one –Aquaman and Captain Boomerang have both showed off altered powers since their return from the dead, and the question of why and how is right up there with “Why did these twelve people – and no one else – come back?”

The only thing that hurts this book a little is the tag-team roundup of artists that provide the interior pages. While none of these specific artists are bad at what they do, nor are they particularly well-matched. It’s really easy to tell when one artist ends his section and another begins, and while the shifts are done to match changes in the characters and stories, it’s still just noticeable enough to be a problem. Not a big one, but it’s still there.

Good issue overall, and I can’t wait for the promised big reveal next week.

Rating: 7/10