Aquaman #4

Issue #4 concludes the whole hungry fish from the deep storyline. Is it a happy ending?



Or is it a really happy ending?



It's more of an ambiguous ending. Aquaman saves the people who were kidnapped. Yay! But in so doing, he ends up destroying (or at least trapping under the sea) a whole race of creatures he hadn't known existed. A bunch of creatures that were just trying to survive except Aquaman had no way to negotiate with them. How does Aquaman feel about this?

He seems to indicate he's shouldered this kind of burden before. And Mera seems to indicate that this kind of thing always weighs heavily on him.

I guess that's why the whole ongoing series thing exists!

So at the end of the first story arc, I'm impressed. I liked the pacing of the first issue the most but I understand a Super Hero comic generally fills a lot more pages with kicking than with talking. But that's why I've always preferred things like Animal Man and Shade the Changing Man. Although something like John Ostrander's Suicide Squad really balances the drama with the violence pretty niftily.

I like the slow reveal of who Aquaman is as well. These were the best bits of the comic. The Villain of the Month this time around wasn't great. But it served its purpose. It showed that Aquaman is willing to act to protect innocents (and himself!) even at the expense of a whole race of beings. But he doesn't do it willingly nor without regret.

I just hope Geoff Johns can build Aquaman into a really first rate title.