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Saturday, April 05, 2014

Aquaman and the Others #1 - May 2014

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Comics Weekend "Legacy of Gold" by Dan Jurgens, Lan Medina, Allen Martinez, and Matt Milla.

Aquaman comics history was made earlier this week, with the debut of Aquaman and the Others. While the Sea King has had ongoing features in multiple series simultaneously before, he has never headlined two titles at the same time. For us Aqua-Fans, this book's mere existence feels like a victory, a confirmation of the faith we've had in this character since we first discovered him.

After an opening scene with Atlan retrieving what he calls The Gold of Legacy--and murdering to get it--we flash forward to the present, where a team of jumpsuited assassins attack Prisoner of War:
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In the midst of the battle, the Prisoner's Manacles of Force seem to lose their power, leaving him to fight them off with just his fists. They retreat, but promise to be back. The same thing happens in Brazil, with Y'Wara. Another group also attacks new Other Sky, but she manages to drag them to the parallel dimension she can transport to and gets some answers: these assassins are after the artifacts that The Others use. Sky realizes she has to tell the rest of the team, since everyone is in danger!

On the Mediterranean Sea, the Other known as The Operative is similarly attacked, except this mission is more successful: they grab the magic Key and start to make their escape, until:
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On The Operative's flying fortress, Aquaman and The Others compare notes, and the Sea King explains their connection to Atlan. He also posits a theory that since the artifacts are kept apart, they might be growing weaker over time, which could explain why they're power. Y'Wara thinks they aren't worth it anyway (having, indirectly, cost the lives of Vostok and Kahina), but the argument is interrupted by an explosion: namely, a wing of The Operative's plane is blown off!

Meanwhile, in Iran, a young woman named Sayeh is in the hospital, suffering from violent delusions. Her brother-in-law tries to see her, but is told visiting hours are over. But an explosion coming from Sayeh's room, and when they enter, they see:
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...you better bet this is to be continued!

 
A solid start to the series, Aquaman and the Others sets up a good, mysterious reason for this disparate group to get together. If Elongated Man was around, his nose would be twitching for sure.

I am less thrilled over the story's strong connection to Atlan--I'm just done with stories about superhero fathers--but since the items that help give The Others their powers are ancient Atlantean artifacts, I guess that can't be helped. Still, once this mystery is solved (five parts, really?) I hope that this is the last we hear or see of people from Atlantis' past. But Dan Jurgens is a solid comic book writer (and has even written Aquaman before, and quite well) and I'm looking forward to more adventures of Aquaman leading this team.

As I mentioned above, it is truly amazing that Aquaman is headlining a second book. This might be the best the Sea King has ever had it, no qualifiers, and so the Shrine says let's all sit back and enjoy it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hurray that Aquaman is in a second book! I'm thankful for your overview and thoughts on this series, Rob, as I won't be picking it up, but I do have some curiosity about it.

Designer Daddy said...

Hmmm, machines coming to destroy us all... Could ULTRON be making a crossover appearance? :)

Liked the book (didn't love) but very grateful for it and curious to see where things go.

BlUsKrEEm said...

I really dug this issue. It was a great start to an arc, and I really liked the art. The others are a cool team, I'm glad they got a book. I'm a bit skeptical about the five issue arc, but I'm guessing that was an unavoidable mandate from on high. I still have high hopes for the series.

Anonymous said...

You're sick of people from the history of Atlantis? That's a huge reason I read Aquaman at all...

Max said...

I love that aquaman has a second book out there, but personally thought the 1st issue of this new series was pretty bad. It's the exact same premise that Johns introduced the others with back in aquaman. Someone is after the artifacts and the HAVE to get back together because of it. I was thrilled when i found out that Jurges woul write this, but he hasnt done a nice enough job on creating an interesting new story... Plus, connecting this first issue to future's end is a cheap trick. Made absolutely no sense for that to be the cliffhanger. Ill be reading this just cuz i love aquaman that much, but dont see too long a future for the book if it doesnt pick up pace immediately.

At least Aquaman has two books out there even though this one was really badly drawn and poorly written.