Aquaman #40

After freeing Willy from captivity, Aquaman forced Willy to risk his life battling dangerous super villains.

This cover actually looks like Aquaman is pulling back the trident to spear the killer whale. I wouldn't put it past him. Aquaman is a dick.

Last issue ended with Aquaman and Mera being hunted by a volcano god named Karaku and by his mother named Atlanna. Karaku also doesn't mind if he kills Atlanna and her people as well so Aquaman and Mera just need to hide long enough for their enemies to wipe each other out. Although, I suppose if I think like a human being with a heart that actually likes their family members, Aquaman probably doesn't want Atlanna murdered.

I bet Aquaman especially wouldn't want Atlanna to die if he's thought through the probable ending of this adventure! If she's still alive then she is still the Queen of Atlantis which means that he isn't responsible for all of that ruling bullshit anymore! He can go back to living in the lighthouse in Amnesty Bay with Mera and Aquadog and the police woman that has been taking care of Aquadog because I bet she'd be into a three-way relationship. I would be into reading about their three-way relationship.

Atlanna's Advisor who has been hanging out with Aquaman and Mera has a painful purple memory about the Karaqan and how it was raised to battle Karaku. Aquaman is all, "What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Can someone shut this woman up so I can come up with a plan that probably involves Mera saving everybody's asses since she has the best super power here?"

Evans isn't just good with shapes. He knows his colors too! Also Mera's ass. Homina.

Aquaman leaves Mera's protective water bubble to help his mother. His mother's rhinoceros is vaporized by a blast of lava which is total bullshit. I'm sick of these Atlanteans enslaving other creatures to fight their battles for them. How is that civilized?! They should just keep them penned up to use for meat and dairy! Anything else is just cruel!

Doctor Evans comes wading out to inform Aquaman that Lenu the Advisor has figured out how to defeat the Fire Trolls using her purple vision. That's when he finds out that he's not the perfect shape to fit in the hands of a fire troll.

Not even close. P.S. Ha ha!

If Doctor Evans dies, how are they ever going to fit shapes into shape-shaped recesses?! Do they give away posthumous Nobel Prizes for shape-matching?

Now, you all saw that picture I scanned of Doctor Evans getting fucked up, right? Aquaman saw the same thing which makes me wonder why, after getting Evans free, Aquaman says to him, "They'll have first aid in the sub." What the fuck kind of first aid is it?! Does it contain some kind of miracle band-aids?! A regenerative salve?! A new, non-broken body in which to download Evans' mind?! Even Evans, as he lays there dying, is embarrassed by his naivete.

Evans tells Arthur how to defeat the Fire Trolls and then frees up some space for more useful characters to come along. And then Aquaman is smashed by Karaku's huge flaming fist. Mera, who doesn't realize that she's in a comic book with Aquaman's name on the cover (and if she did, wouldn't she be pissed? Why the fuck doesn't she get shared billing?), screams his name because she thinks he was just killed. Aquaman's mother simply shrugs her shoulders.

But then Atlanna has second thoughts on letting him die when she sees Mera hop into action. She recognizes a truly powerful person when she sees one and Mera might turn her wrath on Atlanna if Atlanna doesn't help save Arthur. So she pulls him away from the battle as Mera takes the shape of a battle mech and punches Karaku in the head with a huge fist of water. Which is the only way to defeat the fire trolls! Karaku falls down dead as Aquaman looks on impotently.

With Mera and Arthur nearly exhausted, Atlanna approaches to finish them off with her horde of dinosaurs. But Arthur sees her dinosaurs and raises her...well, whatever the hell all of these things are.

You know, Aquaman, these sea creatures have lives of their own. You think they want to be coerced into coming up on shore to risk their lives for your family problems? Asshole.

Atlanna finally acknowledges that Arthur is her son and he's all, "Cool. That's all I wanted. We'll be going now, mom!" And she's all, "Bye! Maybe call first next time?"

Atlanna leaves her royal signet with Aquaman so that Atlantis will stop trying to shake itself to death. So I guess Arthur is still saddled with leadership. How annoying! For the life of me, I can't understand why anybody wants power or leadership. It's a fucking prison, man!

Aquaman #40 Rating: No change. I feel like sometimes comic creators come up with ideas to base a story arc on but then really don't know how to make that arc matter in any significant way. This story was based on the supposition that Arthur's mother was actually still alive. And she was! And...well...that's it! Arthur learned he has a mommy out there that doesn't really want anything to do with him or Orm or Atlantis. At least not right now. But what really happened in that revelation? How have things changed? What did Aquaman learn? I certainly wasn't paying enough attention, or maybe I'm simply just not smart enough, to understand the importance of this story. My favorite part was when the talking monkey fell into the labyrinth of monsters! That was silly!