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Saturday, August 30, 2014

Aquaman (Vol.8) #34 - Oct. 2014

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Comics Weekend "Land and Sea" by Jeff Parker, Carlos Rodriguez, Bit, and Rain Beredo.

The conclusion to the Chimera story picks up where last issue left off, with Aquaman and the multi-tentacled, very icky monster locked in close battle:
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Aquaman has difficulty adapting to Chimera's ability to adapt, which unfortunately leads to the Sea King having to violently fend off attacks from some of his own finny friends. After punching two Hammerhead Sharks to death, Aquaman changes tactics and drags Chimera on land.

The battle rages there, too, with local newsmedia covering the event ("Obama's Fault"--Fox News). Getting Aquaman in a bear hug, Chimera peers into his opponent's mind, flashing them both back to an earlier era, where they assume the forms of their ancestors: a previous Atlantean king and the Karaqan. Chimera tries to play some mind games, but Aquaman breaks the connection, knocking Chimera into a nearby cracked tanker truck. When a flaming lantern touches the oil, Chimera go boom--excuse me, ZsshBaWhoooomm:
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Uh-oh! I think we're gonna see Chimera again! Aquaman needs to learn another lesson from Batman: always find the body.


My favorite element of this story was probably the newsmedia covering the battle; it helps continue the idea that Aquaman is no longer some weird, moody stranger to the Surface World. Rather, he's a superhero of the first order, someone that people think positively of, like they always did/do with Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. Aquaman has spent so much of his history being antagonistic (at best) with others, and it's a big, welcome change for the New 52 version of our hero.

I was sorry to see that Paul Pelletier didn't draw this issue, he's been doing such great work that it would have been great to have him around for the conclusion to this storyline. Carlos Rodriguez does a good job, I have to say his constantly-squinting Aquaman reminded me a bit of the Joe Shuster Superman!

2 comments:

wich2 said...

But the teeth - the TEETH!!!

BlUsKrEEm said...

I really wonder what villian will show up next? I suppose they'll have to deal with Vulco's doom prophecy with Mera before we get any new villians, though.