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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Aquaman (Vol.8) #5 - March 2012

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Comics Weekend "Lost" by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Rod Reis.
This month's issue of Aquaman starts off with a bang...or, more precisely, a THOOMM:
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"Uh-oh", indeed!

We then flash back to half a day earlier, with Aquaman unable to sleep. Mera wakes up, and asks him what's wrong. Before the conversation can go further, his phone goes off--turns out it's the U.S. Navy!

The Navy has been examining an artifact found embedded in the wall Aquaman brought with up with him in his battle with the Trench. Now it's emitting an ear-piercing screech, so the Navy calls Aquaman for help.

Back to the desert: Aquaman pulls a huge hunk of jagged shrapnel out of his leg, finds his trident, and keeps walking, finally collapsing in exhaustion. We then flash back again:

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Armored soldiers show up and attack, and Aquaman charges after them. They hop into their jet, but that doesn't stop the Sea King: he jumps straight into the air and grabs on.

Back in the desert, the delirious Aquaman starts having visions, disturbing visions:

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Arthur's Father starts berating his son, casting doubts about Mera and his son's decision to live on land. This starts to clue Aquaman in that this isn't real, and he finds the strength to get up and try and walk some more.
We then see Aquaman rip his way into the armored jet, and he gets a shock when he punches one of the soldiers: it appears these attackers' suits are filled with water! Aquaman immediately surmises they are Atlantean, but before anything else can be discovered, Aquaman is hit by some sort of force beam and knocked out of the jet, which ended up dumping him in the desert.

Now that we've come full circle, we see Aquaman discover the Atlantean glyph in the desert, as well as one of the solider's helmets. Placing the glyph into the water, an amazing vision appears before him:

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This mysterious being talks of a great enemy, seemingly relating a history of Atlantis. Aquaman watches the messenger get attacked by some force, and then silence.

Just then, a fleet of Navy helicopters hover over Aquaman, and soon news of the rescue is all over the news:
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...to be continued!


After some issues that seemed to go by very quickly, Aquaman #5 was a lot more dense, with a couple different story threads being dangled. I kinda wish Aquaman had figured a way out of the desert by himself, but even that feels purposeful; and in any case it's been done. So I guess it's just as well.

For some reason, the ending page feels ominous to me; maybe it's the worried look on Aquaman's face in response to a seemingly innocuous note. Maybe I'm reading into it. (By the way, I love the little "A" charm Salty The Aqua-Dog (as he will now be known as) is wearing on his collar. I really hope DC Direct makes those for real, I'd get one for our dog Johnny)

I continually get a thrill the way Aquaman's powers are displayed here; his ability of near-flight, his super-strength; and his enhanced hearing. This Aquaman is more of a take-charge bruiser when he's playing superhero, and the Shrine likes him that way!

Finally, I love the painterly look used on the Atlantean messenger; it's a nice effect that's pleasing to look at and helps make him/it stand out from the rest of the goings-on in the book. Month in, month out, the art team of Reis/Prado/Reis delivers the goods.

7 comments:

Russell said...

I also thoroughly enjoyed this issue; I thought this was the best issue of the run so far. However, I too noticed the "Aquaman had to be rescued by the Navy" bit and thought, "that $#!^ never happens to Batman!" Hopefully there'll be some repercussions to this...

I also loved the painted Tom Curry.

Great, great book.

r duncan said...

"I kinda wish Aquaman had figured a way out of the desert by himself, but even that feels purposeful; and in any case it's been done."

Me, too. And it was also "done" in 5-Star Super-Hero Spectacular, 1977.

http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2008/2008_Individual/2008_05/001714.php

Fer said...

what do you think about my Aquaman redesign? http://rofelogos.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3ar2z7

Joe Slab said...

Going against the grain here -- I thought it was a bold & unpredictable move of Johns not to have Aquaman get out of this jam in some kind of contrived comic booky way (like eating a bird then hey, here's the oasis!)-- totally unexpected and surprising the reader even more by NOT surprising the reader.

If the 1st five issues are any indication, this volume of Aquaman is not going to be what anyone expects, not even us FOAMers.

BTW- I'm totally floored that Russell likes this series ;)

Joe Slab

Ryan Daly said...

My dog's name is Anya and I would buy that "A" charm for her dog collar in a second if it was available!

I loved this issue, every part of it. I enjoyed Aquaman needing help to get out at the end, if only for the headline U.S. NAVY SAVE AQUAMAN FROM DESERT--continuing the trend of disrespect Arthur gets from the public.

David J. Cutler said...

Yeah I'm on board with liking his rescue--even Superman needs someone to kick the Kryptonite away every now and then. Gets better every month.

Michael Holloway said...

My copy of Aquaman #5 hasn't arrived yet, although I can't wait for it. I loved the new series so far, but then again, it is Aquaman so I naturally love it.

Unfortunately, my pup Keasha would never wear a charm, although she would look cute with one. Then again, I might wear it myself. ;)