] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Aquaman (Vol.6) #65 - March 2000

sg
Comics Weekend "The Forgotten"

The saga of Atlantis vs. Cerdia continues, with an older, grizzled Garth relating the history of events to his granddaughter Donna
:
sg
sg

sg
Tempest is tearing through the water, on his way to Cerdia, whose Queen he is sure was behind the kidnapping of his newborn son.

He is met by a pod of dolphins and Rodunn, who tell him to go no further. Rodunn tells Tempest that Aquaman wants him back in the city, something Tempest is inclined to ignore.

But when Rodunn reminds Garth that he himself has three children to worry about, Garth calms down and agrees to help with the move of survivors. Over the ridge Garth sees the massive move, led by Aquaman:
sg
The plan was to reconnoiter at Tritonis, where there should be enough troops left to launch a counter-attack.

But Aquaman takes a moment to look back at his leveled city, and chokes up. Arthur shares with his wife Mera that he feels he has irrevocably failed to protect his people, but she attempts to comfort him:
sg
Steve Epting has been showing his adeptness at exciting, action-packed storytelling during these last few issues, but he's just as good at the quiet moments, like the panels above. I love how close Mera gets to her husband, and the way her body is sort of scrunched up alongside him, betraying a level of intimacy that only two people who have been together for so long have.

While Tempest find his wife to comfort her, Aquaman hears the distress cries of a nearby hammerhead shark. He grabs Tempest and they take off for Tritonis, but find nothing but a giant crater where the city should be!

But Aquaman feels some of the citizens of Tritonis are nearby, and soon finds some of them--including Lori Lemaris--buried under some rubble:
sg
...that's a great iconic Aquaman shot. Aquaman is ready to start kicking some Cerdian tail!

Aquaman and Tempest head toward the surface, bursting out of the water and landing on a nearby Cerdian beach. They are met by an army of soldiers with helicopters and tanks, and Aquaman finally gets to flex some muscles:
sg
Meanwhile, Queen Charlanda is delighted to be "under attack", and she instructs her counselor to alert the media and the U.N. that Cerdia is bravely trying to fight off an attack from the mad tyrant Aquaman.

A jet flies near, firing a missile directly at Aquaman. But on the way, it gets hit by two beams of red light, sinking into the water. We all know what that means:
sg
...the Justice League!

To be continued!


Intentional or not, this coming fight between Aquaman and the JLA makes a nice flipside to the fight Batman had with the JLA back in Batman and the Outsiders #1, when Batman wanted to get involved in Markovia and the JLA promised not to get involved.

At the time, Aquaman was on the JLA's side. But things have changed...

No comments: