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Sunday, November 14, 2010

Aquaman (Vol.6) #18 - March 1996

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"Biblical Sense" by Peter David,Marty Egeland, and Howard Shum.

Aquaman became the unwilling king (and husband!) after encountering the first lost city of Atlantis, and is being shown around the place by its queen:
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The city's--called Hy-Brasil--armory is huge, filled with piles of unused weaponry. Aquaman wonders if all this old stuff is still useful, but the queen assures him he will have time to check it all out, since he is the new defender of the city.

The queen also wants some of the more...personal attention a king must attend to, which Aquaman has no interest in. The queen reminds him that if he doesn't go along, she and the citizens of Hy-Brasil will tear him apart. So, no pressure.

Meanwhile, back inside their ship, Dolphin is bored to distraction waiting for Aquaman to return. Suddenly, she gets a terrible death's head vision, which tells her that she is theirs. It startles her so bad she accidentally fires one of the ship's lasers, blasting at the city.

As Dolphin concentrates and gets rid of the nightmarish vision, some of the citizens of Hy-Brasil have showed up, thinking they're under attack. Aquaman tries to intervene, and stops them long enough for the queen to show up.

Dolphin swears it was an accident, but the queen is having none of it. With nary a pause, she condemns Dolphin to prison for execution. Aquaman protests, but the queen says not only is her word law, but, as protector of the city, its Aquaman who must perform the execution!

A kangaroo court is put together, with the queen and Aquaman presiding. The queen demands Dolphin speak in her own defense, and when she doesn't, she lunges to strike:
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The entire court sees Dolphin's innermost thoughts, how she came to be. But when he digs too deep into Dolphin's mind, a malevolent force shows itself, commanding her to kill, which she does, but grabbing the creature's head and snapping his neck!

The citizens of Hy-Brasil are stunned, but Aquaman stands up for her saying the seer who peered into Dolphin's mind knew the risks he was taking. He condemns the queen, who "wields authority like a club."
He decides he doesn't want or need their help, grabs Dolphin, and leaves.

But as they depart, they hear a scream. Another member of Hy-Brasil approaches, and says they will join Aquaman in the fight. What about the queen, Aquaman asks. He is told "she has nothing more to say in the matter."

Meanwhile, in a snowy mountain, a man enters a secret chamber, bringing news to someone about Aquaman, about how he will soon be here. The man receiving that news is surprisingly happy to hear that:

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...of course, to be continued!


4 comments:

Wings1295 said...

Interesting issue, I suppose. At the time, I assumed Mera wasn't coming back and the Aquaman/Dolphin pair up was okay with me. Made sense. But I am extremely glad to have Aquaman back with Mera now.

Joe Slab said...

@ wings

Agreed. Love or hate PAD run, he gave Aquaman a great supporting cast, one that I hope is not forgotten in comics limbo for too long.

I would love to see Tempest, Dolphin, and Koryak back at the end of Brightest Day and future appearances by Atlan, Deep Blue, Tsunami, AJ, and Corona.

David J. Cutler said...

I'd be very happy if all but Tempest and Dolphin stayed in limbo actually haha... I think Aquaman needs more human land-bound supporting players so his stories aren't so steeped in Atlantis politics and literally everyone he knows is able to do that which is supposed to make him special--breath under water.

Anonymous said...

BEST. AQUAMAN. SERIES. EVER. (Harpoon hand and all!)