Aquaman has been the butt of jokes for a long time.  Jeff Johns has decided he is going to make him cool again.  Or at least make us all think that he is cool.

So far he is off to a good start.  There are plenty of Aquaman jokes, so he has turned the joke around.  We can no longer make jokes about Aquaman, because the book acknowledges them already.

The story sets up Aquaman’s powers and origins through dialogue and flashback.  And in John’s hands, it doesn’t seem forced or trite.

We don’t really know why Aquaman wants to give up the ocean.  We get some story about being like his father, and never wanting to rule the ocean. but it doesn’t really fit with decades of previous stories.  Still, there isn’t a lot of crime in the ocean for him to fight, so I guess they have to give him a reason to stay on the surface.  But if they distance him from the ocean, the why read ‘Aqua’ man?

John’s is the master of the mega story.  He probably has issue 50 already plotted out, so I’m sure the ride will be nice.  The art is well above average.  He  draws actions and characters equally well, although I wish he would add more expression to Aquaman.  He looks determined and stoic most of the book, but once he breaks and looks annoyed.  I hope he learns some more faces.

B  —-  Don

“Aquaman sucks!” That’s the “secret phrase” an ex-girlfriend used to use when one of her friends and I talked comics a bit too much and she was feeling left out (why she didn’t just say so, I may never know — on the off chance you read this, Tristin, get back in touch!), and it’s indicative of how the average person probably thinks about the character. Sure, he’s a great swimmer and if you mess with him on his home turf (the majority of planet, actually) you’re in trouble, but anywhere else he’s a joke, right?

Those same people either forget about or just don’t know about his less obvious abilities, like super-strength and being close to bulletproof. He’s no Superman, but he’d kick the snot out of an unprepared Batman any day. Geoff Johns does a good job of reminding us of this while still playing up the public opinion aspect of it and having that be the general attitude of the civilians of the DC Universe, too. Ivan Reis also shines in making him look both tough and noble — he has just the right look of mild irritation after taking a bullet to the face from a gunman that tells us he’s tough enough to not be all that bothered by it, but not so inhumanly invulnerable that it doesn’t give him a little scratch.

Aquaman has always been the kind of character that can be great in a limited series when there is a creative team set on telling a specific story, but as an ongoing it always seemed to (no pun originally intended, but what the heck) flounder. Johns and Reis are a creative team I’d follow to any book, but they’re off to a great start here.

A-  —- Ed