Welcome to the First Issue Bin, where I — Ethan Kaye — randomly grab one of this week's comics that’s just starting up and give you the details on whether it should get added to your collection … or remain on the comic shop shelf.
Aquaman #1
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: John Timms
Colorist: Rex Locus
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Aquaman #1 Photo: DC Comics
This is a really good first issue.
Aquaman is like Thor, in that the character is just alien enough that we need a skilled writer and story to bring us into their world. We need a good entry point to get a handle on Aquaman's powers (which now include water manipulation) and the kingdom of Atlantis itself. And we need a balance of action and palace intrigue to make these kings and gods good comic book tales.
Dan Abnett and Kelly Sue DeConnick brought all of these into play with their 2016 Aquaman book, which lasted a respectable 66 issues. Now Jeremy Adams (Green Lantern, The Flash) gets his chance at the familiar tale of Atlantis politics and chooses to throw the whole gameboard away. And it works. He's not telling stories in the same lanes as Abnett and DeConnick, he's taking a powerful but underestimated character and pulling him out of his comfort zone.
The book opens with Aquaman and his wife Mera stepping in to halt a plane crash, using a double page splash from artist John Timms and color artist Rex Locus that's so perfect I want it blown up on my wall, behind my couch. The contrast between the smoothness of the plane and the chaos of the water that Aquaman is controlling is so perfect I could cry.
Aquaman #1 Photo: DC Comics
It's just one part of a stunningly beautiful issue, chock full of different environments, detailed close ups, and splash pages that convey the enormity of things like undersea kingdoms and giant monsters made of water. And when the frenzy reaches a peak, there are enough interstitial panels to let the reader catch their breath.
Aquaman #1 Photo: DC Comics
Plane rescue aside, Aquaman, aka Arthur Curry, is living his familiar life of a superhero who is also the king of Atlantis. He'd rather be out there saving the world, but the drudgery of political life is made evident in panels complaining of meetings, only broken up by a monster attack in Daytona Beach and Aqualad, aka Jackson Hyde, bringing him a mysterious golden pearl (for fans of the anime Dandadan, this one's for you).
The pearl kind of explodes, taking all of Atlantis (minus Aquaman, who's been fighting the monster) on an interstellar ride to ... somewhere. And that's where the first arc of the series begins, with Arthur on a quest to find his wife, his child, and his people.
Aquaman #1 Photo: DC Comics
Where's it going to go? Space? Different dimensions? Time? It's an intriguing first issue, with engaging action, great panels by Timms and Locus, and nice DC hero cameos. I'm always hesitant when a hero whose whole deal is being associated with a particular place leaves that place (which is why I bristle every time Batman quits Gotham City to fly in a spaceship), but the whole Atlantis-as-Shakespearean-political-thriller was done by previous writers, so I'm saying, cool, yeah, let's send Aquaman to space.
One thing I noticed throughout the issue, and this could be the only drawback to the whole thing, is that a distinctive pattern has been used for all of Aquaman's internal monologue boxes and sometimes the boxes with that pattern still have the letterer's guidelines on them. Compare the lettering on panel three with panels one and two below.
Aquaman #1 Photo: DC Comics
Once or twice I could call it out as just an editorial oversight, but I counted 18 monologue boxes that still had the guidelines on them. The lettering itself is completely solid, I think this was a production issue, a distracting error in an otherwise kickass book.
Big Action: 5/5
Distrust of Daytona Beach: 2/5, up from 1/5
Big Villain Reveal: Ω out of Ω
Eagerness for Issue #2: 5/5
Trust in Digital Production: 2/5
Verdict: Aquaman is still shaking off his Silver Age fish-talking baggage, but this issue combined amazing story and art into a super superhero book. I'd bring this one home with me.
