Aquaman #1

More from the new DC Universe. Here's the debut of Aquaman.

Title: Aquaman
Issue: 1
Date: November 2011
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciler: Ivan Reis
Inker: Joe Prado
Colorist: Rod Reis
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz, Pat McCallum
Cover: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Ron Reis

A surprisingly meta take on the King of the Sea, this issue spends most of its time slyly answering the whole "aquaman gets no respect" meme. Helpfully, we get Aquaman's powers turned up a couple of notches, as he flips over a truck, leaps tall buildings (it actually takes him two bounds!), and the general effect of machine gun fire on him is to get him annoyed.

He puts up with constant pestering from the (Boston!) general public, especially when he sits down at a restaurant and order a fish and chips. Sadly he doesn't stick around long enough to see if he puts malt vinegar on it.

Throughout the story, Arthur's dialogue is great. He comes off as a guy with a lot of pride, a lot of intelligence, and just enough patience to tolerate the pestering morons who seem to constantly make their way into his presence. There's also a good scene with Mera that sets up the general direction for the series. We'll be spending our time in Boston, not Atlantis, it seems, and that works well. Maybe he could replace Crawford in the outfield.

Oh, and there are villains. They are possibly referred to collectively as "the Trench" (Really, DC? Really?). They're Deep Ones from the works of Lovecraft. They speak in gibberish (translated for our convenience into phrases like "There's food up here.") and they are about to give a whole new meaning to "Deadliest Catch". The design of the Trench is excellent, although nothing we haven't seen before in designs of sahuagin in D&D and all manner of other fish-creatures going back to The Creature from the Black Lagoon. So, they're not terribly original, but they do look good.

This whole book looks good, in fact. Reis and Prado do excellent work, especially in the introductory splash page for Arthur, the variety of bystanders at the restaurant, and the scene with Mera. They also make the ocean look awesome in several panels, and that's going to be important moving forward.

The in-jokes won't carry this much further, and I'm a bit dubious about the Trench (this sort of horror plot is often a bad fit with superheroes), but taken on its own this was an enjoyable debut.

Rating: 8/10