Comic Review: AQUAMAN #3
Dating back to his depiction in the old Superfriends cartoon, Aquaman has been a walking punch line in pop culture...
Written by: Geoff Johns Penciled by: Ivan Reis Inked by: Joe Prado Colored by: Rod Reis Lettering by: Nick J. Napolitano Published by: DC Availabe in comic stores now! Dating back to his depiction in the old Superfriends cartoon, Aquaman has been a walking punch line in pop culture. Next to such god like characters as Superman and Batman, each possessing superior powers and skills, some guy who can swim really well and talk to fish feels underwhelming. Misguided attempts were made throughout the nineties to make the character tougher: he abandoned the orange shirt, grew a beard and one of his hands was replaced by a razor sharp hook. Despite these attempts at making the character relevant, Aquamans popularity fell steadily. In the previous two issues, Geoff Johns has been hammering the point home that Aquaman is a character that is worthy of respect. Knowing how he reinvigorated the Green Lantern franchise inspires a lot of hope for Aquamans new direction. Johns gave Aquaman plenty of opportunities to defend himself from some of the standard attacks leveled against the concept, but he never gives the impression that hes writing professional fan fiction. It comes across more as everything you knew about Aquaman is wrong. He shows off the implications of Aquamans powers and just how powerful he can be: he can leap tall buildings in perhaps two bounds and his ability to survive at the bottom of the ocean means he can move inhumanly fast and remain relatively unharmed by gunfire. Now that Johns has gotten his point across about his love of the character, hes ready to introduce more story and this issue offers a lot to be excited about. Johns is famous for playing fast and loose with established continuity, but hardcore Aquafans are so rare that he essentially has carte blanche to make whatever changes he wants to. A new character is introduced, marine biologist Stephen Shin, who has a very strong connection to Aquamans childhood and will undoubtedly prove to be crucial to the plot later on. We also see more of Arthurs father and while it feels superfluous now, knowing Johns, all of this information will play an important role in the coming months. Even some light is shed on the mysterious creatures from the Trench, but Johns keeps most of the details close to the chest. Ivan Reis art shines, as always. His facial expressions emote very well and while you can see the same pair of lips on almost every male character, every face feels distinctive. During the action scenes, the savage nature of the Trench dwellers comes across strongly and the injuries Aquaman sustains look every bit as painful as they should. Reis was also involved in the re-establishment of Hal Jordans legacy and seeing him involved with Johns again on Aquaman is yet another reason to read this book. Johns writing is usually on the lengthy, decompressed side and perhaps the revelations of this issue should have occurred a month earlier, but if you have some patience, this series will almost certainly be worth your while. If he can lend Arthur Curry even half of the credibility he provided Green Lantern, we might be seeing an Aquaman movie in a few years. Whether thats good news or bad news remains to be seen, but Aquaman is definitely a character to keep an eye on. 