Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Aquaman may well have been the poor relation for many years in terms of superheroes from the big two mainstream makers of comic books and graphic novels but in terms of modern story-telling, the fight against injustice actually going hand in hand with environmental concerns, it really has opened many fans eyes to the possibilities that was afforded to Arthur Curry due to the huge re-boot by D.C. Comics in the New 52 series.
Coming straight after the events in the first volume, Aquaman is on the hunt for the man who he blames for the death of his father. Vengeance starts to come more into play as the troubled man of the soil with the blood of Atlantis creeping through his veins gets more agitated and stirred up about the fate of many of his friends and what will happen to the Earth if certain artefacts are found in the underwater tombs of the long lost continent.
In any graphic novel, the story and the artwork, (usually the fine drawing) is what drives the narrative, the colouring, although the one thing that first captures the imagination of a new genre reader, can be left as an open door, some older readers might not even notice it in the same way; especially if they have been a fan of a particular character for years. Instinctively they know for example that Batman is always going to figure in black for the vast majority of the novel or storyline, Captain America will always be supremely coloured in blue and Ben Grimm as The Thing, the same colour as overdone pumpkin pie.
What Joe Prado does with Aquaman and the other characters within The Others is to make him stand out so much that your visual gaze is heightened, your eyes drawn so much to the incredible depth that Mr. Prado employs in enhancing Ivan Reis’ pencil drawings and Geoff Johns well-weaved tale, that in just two books the reader can actually find themselves caring about a character that for many years was nothing more than a joke that D.C. Comics seemed to have unleashed upon the world.
What has also been a revelation in these graphic novels is the way that between them, the writer, the artist and the inker, have managed to bring into the comic arena a character and entourage that you can suddenly envisage actually having a successful film adaptation written around. For many there are so few D.C. heroes, especially it seems this side of the Atlantic that truly cared about Superman, especially with only one reasonable film made about the man from Krypton, that the likes of Wonder Woman, despite a very good television series in the 70s and Batman, five excellent film versions in thirty years, that the company constantly seems to lose out to Marvel in terms of public profile. Aquaman, if given the same treatment that Geoff Johns employs, as a brooding man of action rather than a comic addition would be a great turnaround for D.C. It also has the luxury of having a fantastic addition on the form of Mera, a female hero who actually gives Wonder Woman a run for her money.
If anybody is ever going to write the script to bring this complex King of Atlantis to the forefront then Geoff Johns should be the man to do it. An excellent read and intensely enjoyable!
Aquaman: The Others is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall