Aquaman #11

The Decapitation of Black Manta!

Last issue, we learned are ABCs very well. Good job, kids! Good job!

Six years ago, Aquaman and The Others discovered The Dead King of Atlantis's tomb and his collection of Relics. Aquaman's relic is his trident. I thought it was his belt buckle up until now. But Arthur doesn't care about the astounding find. He just wants the items as bait to lure Black Manta to him.

I guess it finally worked years later! Good job! Except for the part where everyone is being killed by him.

So the Globe allows for teleportation. The Seal allows for translation. The Shackles create some kind of shield. The Trident shoots bolts, I think? That leaves the Operative's relic and Vostok-X's relic.

Black Manta has appeared in Dr. Shin's lab. I thought he wanted the belt buckle. But it looks like he wants Dr. Shin and his notes. Perhaps Black Manta just wants to find Atlantis for himself. Specifically, he wants to find The Dead King's Tomb because he thinks The Others missed a seventh artifact.

I think that story about Aquaman ditching The Others for the Justice League is exactly how I speculated it happened! Or, you know, very nearly. Minus the cell phones and text messages.

Aquaman abandons his needy, second-rate Justice League to confront Black Manta on his own. Since Aquaman won't play with them, The Others decide to go get Mera to take his place. While they're off gathering Mera, Aquaman watches Black Manta and Dr. Shin at the site of the Dead King's Tomb. Dr. Shin refuses to betray Aquaman again. But Manta manages to find the seventh relic anyway: The Scepter of the Dead King. This relic apparently caused Atlantis to sink.

You're losing me, Aquaman! And realize that if you lose my interest for just one or two issues, I'm immediately going back to making fun of you. You don't think I didn't prepare hundreds of stupid Aquaman jokes in preparation of reading your new series? Yeah! But your stupid series was so good, I didn't get to use any of them. But you're slipping! And I'm ready!

Aquaman #11 Rating: -1 Ranking. Black Manta did not get decapitated. The art was sub-par, especially for this comic book. The Others are a bunch of needy bitches rallying around a guy who doesn't seem to care, although he insists that he does. And the plot just felt lackluster. At least it took Aquaman eleven issues before I remembered how boring Aquaman can be when handled poorly.