Aquaman 1

WET N’ WILD

For more than a decade, Aquaman has been the joke of DC Comics. Although mentions in TV shows such as Entourage and Big Bang Theory have helped keep him in the public consciousness, it’s been as a figure of ridicule, universally derided as the most useless hero in DC’s pantheon.

Geoff Johns, very much a curate’s egg of a scripter, performs much better here than he has on the overblown, under-written Justice League; he takes all the major Aquaman jokes – talking to fish, helplessness out of water, and his general lack of credibility – and slaps each one soundly round the face as he dismisses it, hopefully forever. This rehabilitation of the character commenced, I am informed, in Blackest Night and its interminable sequel, Brightest Day. Since my interest in either overblown ‘event’ waned after the first issue, I’m not in a position to comment, but Johns gives the reader everything he needs to know to enjoy the character from here on, without needing to look back.

And there’s a great deal to enjoy. This Aquaman is a formidable opponent onland, and an appealing aspect of his power is his lack of ostentation; a scene where he intercepts the felons’ getaway vehicle and flips it over is done with grace, simplicity and a genuine sense of awe, without the constipated grimacing beloved of other characters. The impression given is that Aquaman is a strategic thinker, who uses his muscle intelligently.

Dignity – majesty, in fact – is the keynote of this incarnation. He’s clearly irked by others’ stupid misunderstanding of his abilities, but he doesn’t rise to the bait, however temptingly it’s dangled (and the restaraunt subplot, while funny enough, is just a little overplayed.). Much of the credit for his personality must go to artist Ivan Reis, who conveys a great deal, with his skilled rendition of characters’ facial expressions, that is unsaid in the script.

We are also, thank the stars, presented with a Mera who – at least for now – is neither dead nor psychotic. Having retired from the role of rulers of Atlantis, the couple are now determined to make their lives in the surface world – and given that the glimpse we’re given of the murky depths is a far cry from Nick Cardy’s cosy, brightly-lit Atlantis of the 1960s, who can blame them? But the oceans, in the form of some genuinely spooky carnivorous monsters, seem set to draw the piscine pair back into the fray.

It’s a delight; a triumphant sucess in awarding Aquaman a potential A-list status that, to be honest, the character has never previously possessed.

To achieve that, I completely understand that Johns had to get the elephant out of the room, and specifically negate the criticisms that have been made against Aquaman over the last few years. But that’s enough now. Now, it’s time to build on this promising foundation in future issues, and finally get the Sea King some long-overdue respect.