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Oct 04, 2011 DC Comics By Jeremy Nisen

Capsule recap: “Hey look! Aquaman is cool now! You know how we know? Because everyone keeps making fun of him, but he’s, like, bad ass and dismissive of bloggers.”

In Aquaman #1, the decision of having characters throughout the book making fun of Aquaman in the same manner he’s been mocked in real life on television and other media over the past few decades is funny at first, but gets old. It’s just too ham-fisted for a talented writer like Geoff Johns. Less is more sometimes. And the way the cops joined in, after he saved their butts, rang false.

What rang true? Well, the quieter scene with Mera, the generosity to a waitress, the action scene where Aquaman stops an armored car—all pretty cool. But he’s too broody. If they want to make a clean evolution from the past characterizations of Aquaman, I think they need to throw the gauntlet down and stop oscillating between stoic sad sack and rageful, savage sea lord (though I really enjoyed that version with Peter David wrote it way back when).

The art by Ivan Reis is beautiful; Aquaman’s big entrance/splash page is gorgeous. I thought the way the bullets bounced off of him were a little more Super- than Aqua- in their ricochets, but that’s faint complaint. Nice job, Reis. Although on the design front, while I love the classic orange-scaly shirt, I don’t understand why the hell does Aquaman needs gloves. They look dumb and serve no practical purpose.

The ghastly looking villains from the bottom of the sea are very cool. They look all alien-esque, with glossy eyes and gaping maws of razor teeth—kind of like the mysterious creatures really at the bottom of the sea. The fact that they are engaging in a little, um, reverse-fishing is gross and threatening. Bodes well. But there’s not enough here yet to get excited. Another “decent, wait and see” book from the New 52. (www.dccomics.com)

Author rating: 6/10