Black Manta

by Chuck Brown, Valentine De Landro (Illustrator), Matthew Dow Smith (Illustrator)

Black Manta is dying. After unearthing a rare and powerful metal at the bottom of the ocean, Manta finds himself plagued by excruciating pain. But the hunt for his salvation puts Manta in the crosshairs of Devil Ray, a dangerous new rival who aims to become the new Scourge of the Seven Seas!

Collects the Black Manta short from Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 and Black Manta #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2022

About the author

Chuck Brown has written The Punisher and Black Panther comics for Marvel. He is the writer and co-creator of Rotten Apple for Dark Horse Comics, and co-creator of Bitter Root at Image Comics.

Reviews

[Shaun Stanley]

Black Manta collects issues 1-6 of the DC Comics series written by Chuck Brown, art by Valentine De Lando and Matthew Dow Smith, and colored by Marissa Louise.

Something about a rock causing migraines and a new villain wanting to kill everyone.

This has to be one of the worst DC series I have ever read. This was painful. The story is bad. The dialogue is horrendous. The pacing is non-existent. The art looks like a kid drew it. And the coloring is unimaginative.

[Tony Laplume]

A fully-realized adventure for one of Aquaman’s most significant foes, transforming him into an antihero. Good, good. More than that, art chores are shared by Valentine De Landro, who instantly became a favorite of mine in his Future State Mister Miracle material.

[Mark]

Black Manta
Author: Chuck Brown, Valentine De Landro, Matthew Dow Smith, Marissa Louise
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2022
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
After decades plaguing Aquaman and the rest of the DC Universe, Black Manta stars in his own story for the first time!

Black Manta is chasing a rare metal with incredible powers, and he’s not the only one who wants to get his hands on it, friend and foe alike! Torrid is a former ally who has escaped hell (literally!) to answer the call of the metal, but can Manta trust her? Hopefully so because he might need her help to fend off Devil Ray, a new competitor for the role of the biggest villain underwater.

Discover Black Manta’s secret connection to Atlantis—and witness his surprising act of heroism! Will he stay on this path, or does ice water continue to run through his veins?
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Genre:
Comics
DC Comics
Supervillains


Why this book:
Villains. Aqua-villains. Aquaman. Black Manta. I’m in.
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Favorite Character:
Loved getting to see Dr Mist again.

Considering Manta’s murder of Aquababy, I always thought that his profile should have been higher among DC villains. Guess his star couldn't rise without Aquaman's also rising. Was a good turn that he was included in the first Momoa movie, and greatly portrayed.

Favorite Concept:
At first, I couldn't decide if I liked the idea of his having Deserter DNA. But when you think about it in the context of how many people today share DNA with Genghis Khan, why couldn't he be?

Love that this used the Manta Men as a launch point and not just faceless cannon fodder.

Cover and Interior Art:
Devil Ray's look was too Manta-esque. I get that that was intentional. But a greater deviation would have been appreciated.

Juxtaposition:
Took him right to the edge of a hero turn and then let him remain a villain. Considering this MFer killed Aquababy, I'm glad the anti-hero vibe was left well on the anti side.

Heroism? More self-preservation and making sure that Aquaman was alive for him to defeat and destroy. But not genocidal. His actions across the full scope of the canon suggest that no mountain is too far. It’s almost Dr Doom-ish. Hopefully, Manta will push al-Ghul, the Joker, and Luthor, not aside, but over to make room for a villain’s villain. Evil has its day.
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[Tyler Zamora]

I love Black Manta, so it hurts my heart to give this graphic novel 3 stars, but it just didn’t capture me like I thought it would. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this fell short. I do appreciate the writers trying to add layers and depth to Manta’s character, but it felt contradictory at times to who he is. He straddled the thin line between good and bad guy, which I understand they’re going for an anti-hero vibe, but I just don’t know about that angle for Manta. He will one day kill Arthur’s son. There’s no denying he is a straight up corrupted bad guy. I only saw glimmers of that character in this series. I would’ve liked to see the writers lean more on his bad guy qualities, although he does have some bad ass moments.

I think there are a few other reasons this standalone Manta series fell short for me. I personally didn’t get enough information about his side characters. I got enough to know they were important to the story, but not enough to know why they were important to Manta. For instance, his love interest Gallous, is a bad ass and I really liked her character, but Manta is so offstandish toward her the entire time. I didn’t feel the love until he was willing to risk his life for her. Maybe we could’ve had a few clues as readers or they could’ve had instances of vulnerability with each other at the beginning of the story (and maybe I missed something). I also loved the character of Torrid, but I feel like she was wasted and thrown away by the end. She had so much potential!

And don’t even get me started on the biggest and most flawed character (in my opinion), who was the villain of the story, Devil Ray. The name is awesome and I see where the writers were going, but the art made him way too much like Black Manta’s outfit design. It was weird trying to differentiate between them sometimes and it made things confusing when I would take breaks from reading and come back. I’d have to remind myself, am I reading Black Manta or Devil Ray? I understand the characters motives throughout the book, I just didn’t think they were super strong. I wish the outfit was different and I like that he had ties to Black Manta’s past, but his origin story did not sell me.

I also thought it was strange we got so little of Aquaman. And maybe that’s fair he doesn’t show up in this a lot. It isn’t named Aquaman after all, it is a Black Manta comic. But I almost would’ve liked to see a comic where Aquaman is the villain and Black Manta is the hero, even if it’s some weird warped version of reality.

Things I did love about this book was the potential that the side characters had, an almost all black cast of characters, the appearance of Nubia, we got more background info on Black Manta, and the artwork was pretty spectacular. The colors are especially worth noting. The black and blue tones go throughout the entire series and the color is right on brand for Manta. It makes the comic seem very moody and murky, like the dark parts of the water. I thought the art was very strong and the story wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t super creative or fresh. Maybe I need to revisit in a few years and see if I still feel the same way. I wouldn’t tell people to not read this graphic novel, but if you’re just starting or aren’t familiar with the Aquaman canon, swim away.

[Aaron]

Fanged snake monsters muscle their way into Black Manta's territory, shriek "Rock!" once or twice, and promptly have their heads smashed and hearts ripped out. Black Manta's afternoons at home, in the sun, aren't always so exciting. But when such escapades concern a chunk of prehistoric stone once possessed by everyone from the Babylonians to the Atlanteans, old man Manta takes notice.

BLACK MANTA is a perhaps a simpler and more effectively written story than one might acknowledge following a casual reading or two. As with many books featuring headlining characters, one meets ancillary protagonists (seeking their own spotlight), accidental antagonists (hungry for validation), and convenient allies (intriguing and helpful, if somewhat unnecessary). But at its core, BLACK MANTA gives sparing depth to a historic villain's self-inquiry into self-worth. Is a man who profits off of violence and plundering worthy, much less capable, of defining his own legacy?

A lot of folks seem inclined to opine on that. Not the least of which include a fire-eyed Amazon freshly awakened from the underworld as well as a disgruntled former protégé (well, goon, really). All in all, Black Manta's feeling some nasty (magical) side effects from a fancy rock in addition to dealing with some braggart upstart planning to blow up Atlantis. Good times.

BLACK MANTA is short and episodic. The book's emphasis on Black Manta the person, who has lived a life full of ambitious regrets and regretful ambitions, is a clever and low-key approach to familiarizing readers with an underserved villain. Black Manta teams up with Gallous the Goat, a young woman whose bullishness and precociousness are just as impressive and annoying as the main character's. Gallous is less understudy and more teammate, and she acts like it. Readers learn much from characters who aren't afraid to punch their friends in the face.

Manta's primary antagonist, the self-proclaimed Devil Ray, is predictably shallow. Devil Ray is more dangerous for his ignorance and inexperience than he is for the rage that boils inside him. Wanting to destroy all of human civilization and remake it in his own image is one thing, but to do it simply because he never believed anyone else worthy of such a savior-driven task? He's laughably petty.

In any case, the revolving narrative of a young black man in search of a father figure affects readers less, here, for its focus on the young man than on the older one. Black Manta never sought to be a model figure, but does that excuse his responsibility for the influence he has on others? This question intrigues, and at the same time, may never give way to a clear or precise answer.

[Patrick]

I respect that this was an experiment. I respect that this really throws everything at the wall. I respect it tries the very difficult task of merging the old lore for a character with the modern version. I respect it tries to play with lore in new interesting ways. But I’m sorry this just doesn’t work for me.

Like it has the bizarre problem of wanting you to remember a bunch of black mantas history whilst asking you to repeatedly ignore or forget the vast majority of it so that it can fit the new lore in and make him in any way sympathetic. And the new lore is just not that interesting or doesn’t make any sense or just feels like they had a completely different idea that they crammed into this book. Like there is iconic Greek monster in this, they are not story relevant, they are completely and utterly different from their original counterpart and they feel like part of a completely different narrative. Also the reason to bring a characters old lore back is when you can enhance it using a modern lens add some complexity and depth to the situation. This takes a regressive step backwards to this person fighting to end oppression is perfectly happy killing everyone and anyone, doing genocide and enslaving someone’s soul to be his weapon. And I get you would have to touch on that aspect but I just think there is a more interesting way to combine these aspects of manta. Like if you want a ruthless manta who has shown degrees of nobility and compassion. Young justice does a great job with that. Another thing that hurts this is the dialogue is just pretty bad. They make the mistake of giving Manta a quipy sidekick who is very uninteresting and it prevents the book from sitting for too long with anything.

Not to say this book isn’t without its redeeming qualities. Dr mist is fucking rad and I hope he got a spin-off or something out of this because I would love to read more about him. The arts great. Action is dynamic. As much as I don’t think they work in this context I like a lot of the ideas. And that’s the main problem here this feels like at least 3 stories welded together and they do not play well together. Individually they could be great but in the end they just diminish one another.

Maybe this works in a broader context of stories that I’m unfortunately unaware of. But as is this is not a great book 4/10

[Jamie Revell]

The positive about this is that the story is well-written. Brown manages to make Black Manta sympathetic without making him heroic. He's very much the anti-hero, not quite so driven by revenge as he has been in the past, but forced into events by circumstance rather than any desire to do right. The villain, a potential usurper trying to take his place, plays into that, and there's also a good addition to Atlantean lore that I can see being used to spin off more stories in the future. Some of the supporting cast jump in and out a bit too quickly, but Manta's main sidekick is portrayed effectively and given a strong personality.

On that basis alone, I might just give this four stars, but then we get to the negative. Despite only being a six-issue mini-series, this swaps between two artists... and one of them just isn't very good. De Landro's art isn't my preferred style, but its dark edges and gritty style suit the subject matter, so it works well enough. Smith, on the other hand, leaves everything looking like an unfinished sketch. Such things are subjective, of course, but for me, this was weak enough to be offputting in the issues that he pencilled and that's a problem in such a visual medium.

[Gregory]

I had thought of Black Manta as a joke because I grew up watching Superfriends as a child. In recent years thanks to writers like Peter David and Geoff Johns, Black Manta is finally receiving the treatment that he rightfully deserves. This adventure takes place when Black Manta is suffering from a case of migraine headaches that will affect him and discovers that there are others suffering from the same condition.

His adventures is where he encounters Dr. Mist and the Gentleman Ghost who normally don't get as much attention in the DCU. You may not understand and accept Manta's methods, you can understand his purpose for why he does it is because he comes from a community that has been historically excluded, ignored, and demeaned. His heart is in the right place, but his approach is wrong. This story also shows a side of Manta rarely seen.

Future writers should explore this duality with Black Manta in the future without making the character a caricature that has hurt him in the past.

This is a good story.

[Adam Fisher]

This miniseries glimpse into the life of Black Manta shows that there is more to this character than just an Aquaman villain. Having found the rare stone known as orichalcum, he tries to balance the wealth of having it with the immense headaches he gets from them. Teaming up with Gallous the Goat (this name probably means something, but I don't know what) and Torrid, a wild woman who escapes a hellish torment, they go against Devil Ray, a copycat villain who actually used to be on Manta's Mantamen.
The story is compelling, but the art didn't work well for me. Again, just not my style.
Recommend, but possibly skippable if you don't love the character.

[Dallas Johnson]

A quick and stellar story for Black Manta to finally have his own solo series!!
(Perfect for Aquaman veterans or people who have just seen Black Manta's amazing look and think he's cool!)

I'm sure anyone who has any interest in this badass villain, will love him getting his spotlight here!

While they do ground him more, this book does not lose sight of the percievingly heartless Manta man!
The balance achieved, all with a very fun and active art style, makes this a rapidly exciting page turner!

Brown knows exactly what to focus on for David Hyde and how to build him to be continued even more interestingly!

[Cameron Ferguson]

While I'm glad Black Manta finally has the name recognition to warrant a solo series and I didn't hate the art as much as I've seen with other reviews (I didn't love it, but it was fine), I just wasn't very interested with the story in this at all.

It felt derivative of Black Panther (2018). Almost like they were trying to make Black Manta into Killmonger-lite and I just didn't find that compelling. I've always liked him more for the advanced tech, swash buckling aspect of his character and while implementing more Afro-futuristic elements and giving Black Manta a revolutionary slant weren't unwelcome additions, they just weren't handled well and felt shoehorned in.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy]

I really enjoyed this story- it adds so much to the character of black manta and I am amazed he hasn’t been used as an antihero in any major mainstream runs or movies. He’s bad ass (and kind of right). I enjoyed the art throughout, it always felt very Mignola but mixed with a much brighter color scheme.

I have read black manta before in aquaman or JLA stories and never saw him as a major villain but this really made me reconsider him as a threat and a powerhouse who SHOULD spend less time in battles with the JLA and more time fighting the power.

[Christopher M.]

The main Aquaman Big Bad gets his own spin off, seemingly in an attempt to humanise the baby-killing terrorist ahead of his estranged son becoming the new Aquaman. That didn't quite work and neither does this. Several new characters pop up but aren't properly introduced, the story revolves around mysticism in ways that don't quite make sense, and the naif art means it's hard to see what's going on, especially when badder baddy Devil Ray turns up in an old Black Manta costume. Who's who??

[Tom Gray]

Decent script but awful art.

Trying to provide a slightly more balanced portrayal of Black Manta, this story is modestly successful. Interesting enough plot but it's let down badly by awful art. The art is just a mess with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. The writer and the story deserve much better. I'd avoid.

[Will White]

I will say, I love the character of Black Manta, so I will probably like anything he is in. It was cool to see his replacement in the Justice League Unlimited show, Devil Ray, make his comic debut. Unfortunately the writing was kind of trash and there were a bunch of unnecessary characters. Still great character designs though.

[Daniel Butcher]

3.5.

I liked the general concept and plot. And I loved the use of Manta history and unexpected characters. The biggest concern for me was the plot didn’t flow in the first half as much it could have.

[Sonic]

I really enjoyed this problematic prickly-pear anti-hero!
And I liked the art too, though it was unclear at times.

[Ben]

ehhhhh

[Will Cooper]

An anti-hero who struggles with being a villain or not. Didn't love the rest of the plot, though.

[Dean]

Average art and average story. Nice that DC took a chance on Black Manta though.

[Rachel]

2.5 . Terrible art, boring villain, but really enjoyed Gallous and "Torrid."

[Kris Ritchie]

Yikes! The art was awful, the story was not any better.

[Jim]

the best Aquaman story i've read since the 70s doesn't have the hero in the starring role, not what i expected.

[Robert]

For something that is supposed to be a self contained adventure there are an inordinate number of jumps and holes that feel like missing issues to make for a good read.

[Chad]

Black Manta is plagued by terrible headaches brought on by this new metal he found, but yet he is drawn to it. It has something to do with a lost tribe of Atlanteans. Meanwhile, there's a new threat out there gunning for both Black Manta and Atlantis.

This would be decent if it wasn't for the art. It is terrible. It's chiseled and unfinished. Some pages look like thumbnails. I guess de Landro and Smith thought it would be cleaned up by the coloring, but the coloring is even worse. It's completely flat and lifeless. The colors don't match reality at all. Which is a problem when you are writing about black people in the DC universe. You couldn't tell what race people were and it was supposed to mean something to the story. Everyone looked dark. Everything about the art is just bad. Bad enough to kill any interest in the story.