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Friday, August 24, 2007

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #55 - Oct. 2007

sgI didn't get a chance to do a Comic Friday last week, so I thought I'd catch up on the newest issue of Sword of Atlantis.

When
last we left them, Aquaman was imprisoned by the villanous Krusivax and we just discovered the other bad guy behind the scenes, Vandal Savage!

Lorena discovers the real plan--to use some mysterious sea creatures to cause earthquakes that will sink Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shanghai, and other populated areas into the sea! The whole goal of this is to "thin the herd" as Vandall Savage calls it. A percentage of these newly-sumerged people will be bioengineered to breathe underwater, like the residents of Sub Diego. These people will become the pawns of Krusivax and he will have an empire.

Aquaman manages to talk the mastermind behind the mechanics of the plan, Gregory Jupiter, into freeing him, playing on Jupiter's guilt into being duped into helping create this mad plan. Aquaman rescues his now unconcious father, when they're discovered by Savage, who has a little experience pounding on superheroes. He almost succeeds, until the new Flying Fish sneaks up on him and knocks him out.

Just as Savage is about to kill him, Mal, Cyborg(!), and Lorena in a new, ass-kicking battlesuit break in and promise "Y'all are so busted."

Overall, a good issue, with the ultimate bad guy plot being the classic kind of supervillain tomfoolery, ratcheting the stakes up so that Aquaman is trying to save basically the whole world. I do wish Aquaman got a little more to do--he's trussed up for half this issue, then after only a page or two of fighting Savage he gets knocked out again--but I think it bothers me more because I know there's only two issues left and I want to get as much Aquaman action in before that.

McManus' art is, as always, excellent, with a nice combination of cartooniness and gritty realism. If the original Aquaman ever returns in his own series, I'd love to see McManus handle the art. The cover by Kevin Maguire is also very cool.

This new Aquaman is going to be making appearances all over the DCU in the next few months, so it certainly seems like DC is trying to establish him as the new, permanent Aquaman. But there's evidence to the contrary, too, so we'll just have to wait and see...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

An immortal villain trying to decrease the population of the Earth.

Sounds familiar...

Why am I thinking of Liam Neeson and David Warner right now? :-D

Chris

Anonymous said...

Chris-

That was one of the - few, to my mind - weaknesses of BATMAN BEGINS for me...

When the stakes always get raised to a ridiculous level - when every story involves The Fate Of The Earth Hanging In The Balance - it makes the whole genre look ridiculous.

Great weekend!
-Craig W.

Anonymous said...

I thought the last 2 issue were a bit weak. This issue was a turning point for me. I like the direction things are going and how things are playing out. Love the McManus art as always.

-D.