Aquamen #1 Review: An Entertaining Start Plays Things a Bit Too Safe
The Aquaman family has expanded and evolved quite a bit over the past year, with Arthur and Mera becoming parents, Jackson assuming the mantle of Aquaman, and Black Manta stepping out of his arch-villain role into something unexpected and unique. Each of these characters has had time to come into their own and stretch beyond preconceived notions, and now they're coming together in Aquamen #1. Though with how things are starting out, perhaps "colliding" is a better way to phrase it. Writers Chuck Brown and Brandon Thomas team up with artist Sami Basri, colorist Adriano Lucas, and letterer Andworld Design to deliver an entertaining but relatively safe opening issue that succeeds in moving the chess pieces into position.
The Aquamen corner of the DC Universe has been pretty active over the past few months, and while the series does a solid job of getting you the information you need to move forward, you will enjoy it far more if you've been keeping up with Aquaman: The Becoming and Black Manta, otherwise you will be scratching your head at times trying to figure out what is being referenced.
Aquamen #1 hits the ground running and sets the stakes immediately and carries that all the way through to the end, which gets the pace up and the various pieces moving into position and paves the way for a gorgeous two-page spread of Arthur and Jackson leaping into action by the ever-talented Basri and Lucas. They also happen to be quite adept at creating giant Leviathan-esque creatures, which this issue is chock full of.
Now, I'm all for Kaiju-size superhero battles, but these fights work so well because they're pushing the level of violence just far enough. I mean, at one point you're seeing Pirnaaas pretty much eat people, and there's a Bourne-style method to the Black Manta fight there's a notable ferocity that isn't always present in every superhero tussle. The same goes for the massive monster battle, and what I love most about this particular fight is how it feeds directly into Jackson's own growth and struggles and his relationship with Arthur.
These things don't work if that familial core isn't present, and Brown and Thomas clearly knew the assignment. The genuine care that Arthur shows towards Jackson is threaded with genuine respect, so while Jackson might be struggling with his own internal conflicts (which are also having very external ripple effects), Arthur never loses faith in Jackson or his ability to rise above. It's refreshing to see in this sort of mentor-apprentice dynamic, especially since Jackon's father is very much part of the picture.
This aspect actually surprised me most. Don't get me wrong, the story and back and forth between Jackson and Black Manta has been one of the richest and most engrossing parts of the Aquaman mythos over the past two years, but it surprised me how rich and intriguing that dynamic still is with so much of it explored. This was especially true compared to Orm's appearance in the issue, which very much felt as if we'd seen this so many times before, especially coming off of his last major storyline.
In the same vein, it's kind of difficult to shake the overall "safe" feeling throughout. For as much as I enjoyed about the issue and what it set up, I wouldn't say anything really floored me, and we didn't move any of the various characters forward much in the scheme of things.
Those who have enjoyed related recent series will be right at home with Aquamen #1, but newcomers might not get hooked until a bit further in after all the dominoes start to fall. That said, as a fan of the characters and how they've progressed over the past two years, this was more of what I've loved, and now that most of the characters and pieces are seemingly on the board, it should only get better from here.
Written by Chuck Brown and Brandon Thomas
Art by Sami Basri
Colors by Adriano Lucas
Letters by Andworld Design
Cover by Travis Moore and Adriano Lucas