The latest issue of Aquaman launches us into a new story arc, allowing for the reader to pause and regroup after the last four issues dealt with those nasty creatures from the Trench (that we’re sure we haven’t seen the last of). Without missing a beat, the very first panel of the book drops us right into the action as we find Aquaman plummeting from the sky and landing smack dab in the middle of his oldest and most villainous arch enemy…the desert climate.
Picking up on one of the most significant events that unfolded in the first story arc, Aquaman receives a call from the Navy who enlists the help of the hero to try and decipher a signal-of-sorts that’s being emitted from an object that closely resembles the ‘A’ on Aquaman’s belt. This foreign object was discovered inside one of the walls that the “pods”, used by the deep-sea creatures to transport their prey into the trench, were clinging to in the last issue. Having identified this wall structure as the piece of an ancient Atlantien ship, Aquaman raised the artifact to the surface and left it in the hands of the Navy to study.
However, just as Aquaman arrives on scene to assist, the laboratory is rushed by a group of futuristic-looking soldiers, appearing as through they’ve just jumped out of the latest Halo game, and quickly nab the small device that’s emitting the signal. Aquaman is quick to pursue them, following them aboard their futuristic craft as they make their escape. Once aboard, he soon realizes that the soldiers are from Atlantis, but his discovery is punctuated by the immediate destruction of the craft mid-flight. It’s at this point that where the book catches up to the initial scene of Aquaman falling from the sky and striking the desert floor. After struggling through the desert and stumbling upon the wreckage of the Atlantean craft, Aquaman successfully plays back the message that the mysterious ‘A’ was emitting. It turns out to be the recording of made by a soldier of Atlantis, sending out a warning as an enemy (most likely the Trench creatures) attempts to break into the room. Just before the room is breached and the transmission ends, the soldier warns that the King and Queen of Atlantis have kept a very important secret from its citizens. The message ends just as the military arrives in Blackhawks swoop in and rescue the dehydrated Aquaman.
Not only did this issue manage to keep me fully engaged in the Aquaman series, but it also managed to highlight the elements that make this series such a great one to follow. In contrast to my review of Justice League #5, the writing efforts of Geoff Johns pay off big time in this title. To me, it seems that perhaps Johns is better suited to writing for a relatively soft-spoken character such as Aquaman as opposed to the always competing loud-mouths that make up the Justice League. And it’s not just in this issue that we see that. There’s a consistency to the elements that Geoff Johns uses to make Aquaman such a solid book; from the subtle humor we see the prince of Atlantis deliver to the not-so-subtle mocking of Aquaman himself by the general public. There was a nice balance to the story in this particular issue as well, largely due to smart use of narrative as told through the flashbacks along with the overall pacing by Johns. Because of this, we’ve been given a story that delivers just the right amount of action, just the right amount of character development and plants just the right amount of seeds to keep us guessing as to what’s in store for Aquaman as he searches to uncover the truths buried with Atlantis.
Another knockout element to the series is the artwork by Ivan Reis, who makes sure that the writing of Geoff Johns is delivered with a nice, shiny coat to it. The art is drawn with such energy and yet manages to convey even the simplest of gestures with great success. There’s a page in particular where Aquaman stands up to find himself in the middle of the desert and there’s just the most priceless look on his face upon realizing where he is. Combined with inks and coloring by Joe Prado and Eber Ferreira and Rod Reis, this pages is just one of a dozen examples in which the art manages to carry the story just as much as Geoff Johns’ writing.
From Aquaman #5, I can’t wait to see where the rest of the story goes from here and love how Johns manages to take the smallest plot elements from previous books and uses them to build a stronger story for the next issue. Through both the pacing and plot developments, Aquaman #5 allows for the reader to take a deep breath after the battles waged in the first four issues and prepares to throw us back into the waters as we anxiously await the next chapter in the series.
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