It's Comic Friday again, and this time we have part 2 of the excellent Aquaman mini-series by Neal Pozner and Craig Hamilton!First off--the cover: great cover. Neat use of color, and a real promise of adventure--Aquaman fights a giant monster! What more do you want for seventy-five cents?
Anyway, the story picks up with Aquaman held captive in by the beings who reside in Thierna Na Oge (great magical spooky place name), and it features a typical Aquaman trait--he's told he can't break the chains that hold him, because they're magical, but he tries anyway, almost ripping his own arms off in the attempt. It was this bull-headedness, a less-than-endearing personality trait of Aquaman, that writer Pozner took on with this story, in an attempt to explain it and make it more palatable (it was always sort of charming and/or cool with Batman; with Aquaman it more frequently just came off like he was a big jerk).
While Aquaman is being interrogated, we cut back to Ocean Master, who, flush with new powers, is systematically destroying Aquaman's life around him. Hamilton actually managed to make Orm look sorta creepy, which is hard considering he has one of the goofiest costumes in comics.
For reasons too long to get into here (read the thing! they're very affordable to find on ebay), Aquman does indeed fight the giant scary sea-monster pictured on the cover, and it's a pretty good fight--Aquaman sheds some actual blood, something you rarely see in superhero battles. He escapes with the help of Nuada, a statuesque denizen of Thierna Na Oge, only to get apprehended by the now more-powerful Ocean Master!
Finally, there's a two-page bio of all the creators, written by Pozner (who also served as editor on the series), which is charming in its humbleness--it has a tone of we hope you like this series--and it reminds me of how much I miss the letters page of current DC books.
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