Aquaman, Volume 1: The Drowning by Dan Abnett

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I found this Aquaman book to be disappointing, though it wasn’t without its good points. The relationship between Aquaman and Mera was fun. The art was decent and there were some epic battles. When they took on the whole Army in Issues four and five, there are some epic moments.

On the other hand, some characters just act really inexplicably and the story just didn’t engage me. More than that, it was the book’s whininess. Aquaman is the Rodney Dangerfield of Superheroes. He gets no respect and that’s not right because he has some really amazing powers. However, the book hammers the point home and worse than that and harps on it. It tells us about how Aquaman isn’t respected. This is a comic book, the show don’t tell rule is especially applicable. Don’t tell us how awesome and noble Aquaman is and how he gets no respect in return, show us. And then don’t tell us how to feel about it, trust us to get what you’re saying.

Public perception and public image isn’t only something the book obsesses with, it’s something the heroes seem to go on about. In some ways, this makes sense because part of the boo is about efforts at diplomacy and it’s easier to be at peace if the people of America like and respect Aquaman, but sometimes it comes off petty and self-obsessed and petty. When Mera complains to Superman about He, Batman, and Wonder Woman being viewed better than Aquaman, it’s about the limit.

Superman’s appearance in Issue 6 is my last big complaint. Superman was acting out of character, the battle was absurd, and the book doesn’t even seem to acknowledge the events around Rebirth. This Superman is the Post-Crisis Superman who returned from his Universe and replaced the New 52 Superman and doesn’t know this Aquaman at all which makes the events of that issue not make sense.

This isn’t the worst graphic novel I’ve read, but there were too many problems for me to enjoy it.




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