Aquaman: To Serve and Protect

Aquaman (2003) #23-31

by John Arcudi, Patrick Gleason (Illustrator), John Ostrander

The city of San Diego, California has sunken into the Pacific Ocean after a devastating earthquake. With the government mired in red tape and thousands of now-waterbreathing citizens struggling to survive, Aquaman has taken the city as his new kingdom, if not in title at least in duty.

But even as the remaining survivors struggle to adapt to their new lives, dangers swim in from all around. Weapons smugglers to drug dealers to Ocean Master himself ply the waters of Sub Diego, and it's up to Aquaman and the new Aquagirl to serve and protect Sub Diego!

Continuing the tragic story from AQUAMAN: SUB DIEGO, John Arcudi (ABE SAPIEN), Patrick Gleason (ROBIN: SON OF BATMAN), Christian Alamy (JUSTICE LEAGUE) and others continue Aquaman and Aquagirl's tale in a post-apocalyptic, sunken wasteland. Collects AQUAMAN #23-31.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2016

About the author

John Arcudi has made a name for himself by scripting comics that manage to combine long-running subplots with impeccable characterization and action sequences, making for some of the most exciting and consistently good comics out today.

Reviews

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD VOLUME!

It starts with the Arthur teaming up with Sea Devils to stop a new villain "MARAUDER" and his cohorts who want the weapons when Sub-diego crashed and well you have the military and all involved and its fun the way it happens and its a good story and involves Superman too.

Another story where Ocean Master comes in and like reverses his life with Arthur and its a retro-verse and you see Arthur deal with that and everything meanwhile the villains behind this whole thing "Progene Tech" are revealed and Arthur and Martian Manhunter have some interesting convos and maybe fights?

Plus the murder-mystery story in the end with a woman named Chandra and whose the serial killer killing the victims and the way Arthur figures it out is so awesome, its like my fav story in the whole Sub-diego era arc! Its an awesome story and a must read for sure! The art was awesome from Gleason the whole way around and flows really well (intentional pun lol) throughout.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed the previous book in this series, Sub Diego, with a lot of fondness for the contributions of Will Pfeifer, one of my favorite unsung DC writers. I had this idea that he wrote a much longer run than he did, but here, John Arcudi (with some fill-in work from John Ostrander) takes over, and it looks like he's on writing duties for both this volume and Kingdom Lost, the third and final volume in the 'Sub Diego' arc.

Color me Badd, I was wrong.

I would not say that I'm as big a fan of Arcudi, whose stories are little more loosely plotted both on the grand scale and issue by issue. Story threads are sort of picked up and dropped -- not egregiously, but enough to feel some cognitive dissonance in a collected volume like this one. Thankfully, not only is Patrick Gleason's artwork ON POINT, but there's even fill-in work from Andy Clarke, which is like the coolest substitute teacher in the district filling in for your favorite actual teacher.

TANGENT: Dude, Andy Clarke is SO GOOD....! I don't know that I'd ever wondered what an Aquaman comic would look like if some insane artist literally tried to do a realistic bubble trail for every single character movement in every single panel, but now I don't need to ask that question because Andy Clarke is THAT INSANE GUY.

Okay.

I still know very little about Aquaman outside of this run. Nonetheless, I feel like this run gives me everything I need. There's underwater robots, mutant fish people, a visit from Atlanteans, Aquaman punching Justice Leaguers with his water-hand, and a serial killer under the ocean. Even if all those different storylines don't hang together well (or at all), the pages are gorgeous and the individual moments are strong. I see other reviews of this series that suggest it's subpar, to which I say....

'sub'-par? SUB? Aquaman? WATER? LOOOOOOL

[Shadowdenizen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did exactly what it was supposed to: made me want to read more "Aquaman" comics!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first discovered that "Aquaman doesn't suck underwater" (thanks, "Big Bang Theory for that lie!) after watching the animated feature "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis." But it was the "Sub Diego" storyline that cemented, for me, exactly how cool Aquaman really is. I've finally had the chance to pick this series back up, and it definitely did not disappoint! The first arc: all action. The second: a mystical what-if scenario. The third: an old-fashioned mystery. All of that alongside trying to deal with all the societal and political problems that would come with a population suddenly being underwater. This story doesn't hold back, bringing the harsh realities of what humanity can become when hope seems lost (drugs, insanity, etc.), but it also holds true to the idea of perseverance. All in all, a well-layered, interesting read that even includes brief appearances by other Leaguers. If you have any doubts about Aquaman, then this is the series that will change your mind.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything special about the opening arc of the Sub Diego story is gone here. Maybe its the multitude of writers, none of whom were present last arc, or maybe this was the plan from the jump. Lorena is somehow titled Aquagirl which makes no sense. Other characters act so bizarre. The Ocean Master two-parter was worthless. I was so disappointed based on all the promise the first arc had. The art was good from a handful of artists. Overall, a downward spike in quality that would have been impossible for a new reader to try.

[Hillel Sztern · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has some good moments here and there and an overall OK plot but it's damn boring half the time... that's why it took me almost 2 weeks to finish...