This issue picks up right where the last left off, with Aquaman showing his old pal the Martian Manhunter his new appendage:
...snap!
Down below, Vulko and Rodunn are having a disagreement over what it means that Arthur has freed himself from his death sentence. Vulko says that, by Atlantean Law, Arthur is free to go. Rodunn argues that since there is no real Atlantean law anymore, there are no rules, and he is determined to hunt down Aquaman and kill him.
Back on land, Aquaman follows one of the visions he saw via his newly acquired hand all the way to an old lighthouse, like the one where it all began. Living inside it is an old man, and after some brief talk he invites "Curry" to help him on his boat--an offer Arthur declines, afraid that the old man would be at risk from an attack by Rodunn.
Back at the lighthouse, Arthur meets someone else, a woman named Sweeney, who works for the Maritime Commission. She's horrified when she learns this stranger let the old man go out by himself, since there's a Force 4 storm coming.
But we see that the old man is just fine at navigating these waters. But he is not prepared for when Rodunn and his men come aboard, hoping to lure Aquaman to them, which of course works:
Aquaman runs into the "abomination"--a giant sea creature so big Arthur can only see part of it. Sure this is some sort of creature created by sorcery--"brought back from The Obsidian Age"--Aquaman uses his water hand to amplify his telepathic powers, which reduces the monster to nothing.
Aquaman makes his way to the surface and finds the old man on his boat. As he struggles to keep the boat from capsizing, Aquaman is helpless to keep the old man from going into cardiac arrest. Not knowing what else to do, he closes his eyes and asks for help.
The Lady of the Lake appears and helps Arthur direct his new powers to revive the old man. Before Aquaman can even react, she disappears, leaving the old man awake and wondering who Curry was talking to.
Later, back at the lighthouse, Sweeney and a doctor examine the old man, wondering how his fragile body could have survived such an experience:
...to be continued!
A surprising--and welcome--lighthearted ending to an Aquaman story, which have usually been so serious for so long. I liked the new supporting characters Veitch introduces here--the old man McCafferey and the outgoing Sweeney. I've always thought Aquaman needs to spend more time away from Atlantis, and it was nice to see some of that here.
Next Saturday we'll be talking about Brightest Day again, but the following Saturday we'll pick up where we left off here, with Aquaman #s 3 and 4!
Down below, Vulko and Rodunn are having a disagreement over what it means that Arthur has freed himself from his death sentence. Vulko says that, by Atlantean Law, Arthur is free to go. Rodunn argues that since there is no real Atlantean law anymore, there are no rules, and he is determined to hunt down Aquaman and kill him.
Back on land, Aquaman follows one of the visions he saw via his newly acquired hand all the way to an old lighthouse, like the one where it all began. Living inside it is an old man, and after some brief talk he invites "Curry" to help him on his boat--an offer Arthur declines, afraid that the old man would be at risk from an attack by Rodunn.
Back at the lighthouse, Arthur meets someone else, a woman named Sweeney, who works for the Maritime Commission. She's horrified when she learns this stranger let the old man go out by himself, since there's a Force 4 storm coming.
But we see that the old man is just fine at navigating these waters. But he is not prepared for when Rodunn and his men come aboard, hoping to lure Aquaman to them, which of course works:
Aquaman makes his way to the surface and finds the old man on his boat. As he struggles to keep the boat from capsizing, Aquaman is helpless to keep the old man from going into cardiac arrest. Not knowing what else to do, he closes his eyes and asks for help.
The Lady of the Lake appears and helps Arthur direct his new powers to revive the old man. Before Aquaman can even react, she disappears, leaving the old man awake and wondering who Curry was talking to.
Later, back at the lighthouse, Sweeney and a doctor examine the old man, wondering how his fragile body could have survived such an experience:
A surprising--and welcome--lighthearted ending to an Aquaman story, which have usually been so serious for so long. I liked the new supporting characters Veitch introduces here--the old man McCafferey and the outgoing Sweeney. I've always thought Aquaman needs to spend more time away from Atlantis, and it was nice to see some of that here.
Next Saturday we'll be talking about Brightest Day again, but the following Saturday we'll pick up where we left off here, with Aquaman #s 3 and 4!
3 comments:
I agree, was great to have Aquaman building a non-Atlantean supporting cast. Too bad it didn't last.
The water hand seemed so cool to me at first, but then it had all these arbitrary limitations about how he could use it--it confused me someone would think the way to make Aquaman cool is give him more limits. And why didn't it disappear when he was underwater?
Anyway, this series did a lot of things right early on (I even really loved Sub Diego) and the art is fantastic. Is it still cannon that Arthur's telepathy goes as deep as being able to read human (or martian) minds?
This is when Veitch's take on Aquaman absolutely peaked.
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