Aquaman #0

Hey guys and gals, after reading and absolutely hating Deadpool, and being able to sum up the entire issue of Invincible in one sentence, I figured I'd review something with more substance, instead of throwing up a review that was a paragraph long, including my thoughts. So, I've decided to sub out Deadpool and Invincible for Aquaman and Batman: The Dark Knight. Hopefully these can save a crappy month of Zero Issues (GL and Shazam excluded).

Aquaman #0

Summary: Our story starts six years ago, because continuity in DC is supposedly important although it isn't... We see that Arthur Curry's dad was attacked by Black Manta, which was payback for Arthur inadvertently killing Manta's dad, as we saw a few issues ago. As Arthur's dad dies, he asks his son to go to Atlantis and tell Arthur's mom that he loves her, as his dying wish. After Arthur's dad dies, we see Arthur at home as a bunch of reporters stand outside, yelling for him to come out and answer questions, not even caring that his father's funeral is today. An upset Arthur runs out of the door stating that he knows he's not one of them now, I guess because of the lack of compassion they showed, as he dives into the sea. We see Arthur swimming for what i would guess is days, looking for Atlantis, when a boat with a young woman and her father are about to crash into a bunch of rocks. Arthur stops the boat using his superhuman strength and stays with the family until morning. The daughter, Jayne, asks how Arthur was able to do that, and after a bit of prodding he says that he's an Atlantean, and he's looking for his mother, the Queen of Atlantis. Jayne's dad says he knows a man who used to claim he was from Atlantis but everyone thought he was crazy, he tells Arthur about the man's last known location and Arthur goes to see him. When Arthur meets the man known as Vulko, Vulko recognizes him immediately as the son of the Queen of Atlantis. He explains how When Arthur's parents met and his mom got pregnant, she wanted to live on land but was imprisoned by her own people. She escaped long enough to give birth and left Arthur with his dad and returned to Atlantis, where she was forced to marry a suitor. While married she gave birth to a second son, Arthur's brother, Orm, On Orm's twelfth birthday, his father was killed, so Arthur's mom planned to escape the next night but she was murdered before she could escape but an unknown person. Vulko believes it was Orm that murdered her, as he became King of Atlantis, but if Arthur returns he'd become King because he's the oldest born.Vulko gives Arthur a map to the armory, where the first King of Atlantis' powerful trident is kept. He tells Arthur that Orm is as charismatic as they're mother but as ruthless as Orm's father, and he's a tyrant of Atlantis. Arthur is undecided but chooses to accompany Vulko for a return to Atlantis as this issue comes to a close.


Thoughts: Well, this was a average story. Which is something good in Zero Month with all the other stories I've read and haven't enjoyed. Nothing amazing happened, and we didn't really learn much, besides learning of Orm. The stuff with Orm can be interesting, we've been to that well before but I can't say I mind seeing Orm pop up here. Besides that, this was a slow issue, nothing bad but nothing amazing either. Just average and used for the purpose of setting up future storylines, which I have no problem with at all.

Score: 6.5/10 

Jayne's Dad: He claimed to be from Atlantis, though everyone thought he'd been underwater too long.

JT's Take: Aquaman #10

Hola Todd Squad, today we're gonna check out the most recent issue of Geoff John's "Aquaman", a book that is, in my opinion, one of the three best books since the DC Reboot, along with John's "Green Lantern" and Snyder's "Batman" series. So let's hope this issue lives up to the hype.

Aquaman #10

Summary: This issue kicks off with a secret operative by the name of... The Operative. He's a former teammate of Aquaman's, and has found one of Black Manta's secret bases. He's using the information to find out how Manta has been able to find and hunt down his former teammates. When Manta's men eventually arrive, he makes quick work of them but suffers a gunshot wound before escaping. After his escape, we see that The Operative is actually an old man, who uses a suit that helps enhance his abilities. He eventually tells his pilot/Grandson that they need to find Aquaman. From there we see Mera, arguing with a former ally turned enemy of Aquaman's by the name of Shin, since in the last issue he revealed that Aquaman killed Black Manta's father. Shin assures Mera that what he said about Aquaman is true, and Aquaman has deep secrets that he's hidden away. From there we see Aquaman and Black Manta, beating the hell out of one another in the middle of the city. From there we see a Flashback of when Aquaman's father died, and he asked Arthur to do something we don't get to hear, from there Arthur goes after Manta and attacks him on a boat during a thunderstorm, after a fight he snaps his neck, and lightning crashes, showing that the man he killed wasn't Manta. Manta then came aboard, as he'd been diving, and saw that Aquaman had just murdered his father. In the present, Manta and Aquaman continue to fight when Aquaman's former teammates, Prisoner and Ya'Wara show up, and tell Aquaman not to kill Manta until they can find out why he's been stealing the relics of Aquaman's former teammates. Aquaman says Manta is his and he'll decide when to kill him, which causes enough of a distraction for Manta to steal Ya'Wara's amulet. Manta uses the amulet to transport away as Aquaman runs after him, and the issue comes to a close as Black Manta appears face to face with Shin and Mera.


Thoughts: Well, This issue kinda let me down. The last issue was a bit more interesting and the reveal of Aquaman killing Manta's father was surprising. In this issue we saw how that happened, which was cool, but the stuff with The Operative didn't intrigue me, and that was like... the first six pages of the issue. I know it's building to more, but it seemed excessive here. Also, Johns, can we get some better names than The Prisoner and The Operative please? Besides seeing how Manta's father died, this was a pretty slow issue, even the fight with Aquaman and Manta seemed like it never got into second gear, which didn't excite me. Maybe I picked a bad issue to start reviewing with, but for what I did, this was kind of average.

Score:  6.5/10

Black Manta: My revenge is only the beginning, Aquaman.

500 for 2010!

Yep, this is indeed my 500th post of 2010. And since I've never been one to ignore a milestone, no matter how insignificant, I figured I'd do something to commemorate the occasion. After some thought(okay, after not much thought at all...)I decided I'd put a few scans up. Why not, right?

First up is something JT requested... I'm not really sure why he requested this page, but hey, who am I to say no to The Man himself?


Next up is some fun with Batman and Etrigan. Don't ask me why, but I found this kind of funny... Plus it's my own personal crusade to post any page where Etrigan is kissing somebody. Once again, don't ask me why...


And finally a scene from Aquaman... To get the full impact from these pages, let me give a brief explanation. All of the royal ghosts of Atlantis had returned to haunt the city thanks to some villain. This leads to Aquaman being occasionally confronted by the ghost of his infant son, Arthur Jr, who would ask Aquaman, “Why?” Needless to say, Aquaman didn't know what his son wanted until the end of the story, right before the ghosts all returned to the afterlife. Yep, I'm man enough to admit that that last scan left me a bit misty-eyed...


Alright, that'll do it for me guys. I'll have a few new reviews up and posted tomorrow, as we begin to make our way closer to 2011 and the year end awards! Until next time, X out.

Adventure Comics #452(Aug. 1977)

Well, it seems that my package of new comic books didn't arrive today as I had been anticipating... That sucks because it leaves me with nothing new to review. I could crack open a recent issue of Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: Legacy or Moon Knight, but I'm REALLY down on the x-books right now, so a review of either one of those x-books would basically consist of me bitching for a few paragraphs, so I figure I'll spare everybody that. Unless you guys want to read a post full of complaints and lame jokes... Yeah, I didn't think so! As for Moon Knight... I'm just not really in a Moon Knight sort of mood, whatever that means. I have Captain America #602 and the Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield one-shot laying around as well, but I refuse to read either of those books until I've read Cap: Reborn #6. Besides those comics, I have nothing new to read, and as such, I have nothing new to review, so I'm going to go RETRO and review an issue of Adventure Comics from the 70's! That's right everybody, it's the return of the dreaded RETRO Review!!! Since this is a RETRO Review, expect plenty of sarcasm! So without further ado, here's a look back into the past, back when Aquaman was alive, Tempest was still called Aqualad and Batman and Robin used to fight crime with the aid of Hostess Cup Cakes! Don't ask...

Adventure Comics #452: Writer: David Michelinie. Artist: Jim Aparo.

This issue opens with Aquaman fighting off some damnable surface-dwellers who were hassling him, which was preventing him from finding his missing son, Aquababy. Sadly, Aquaman is unable to defeat the three goons in wetsuits so he summons a few sea critters to do the job for him... That was pretty lame of Aquaman actually... With the menace of the guys in the wetsuits dealt with(Huzzah!), Aquaman meets up with a few members of a pacifist sect of Atlantians who inform him that a)their city was taken over by a surface-dweller, b)that same surface-dweller had managed to kidnap Aqualad as well. Damn surface-dwellers... Aquaman and the pacifists head to the city and he is met by more guys wearing wet suits. Aquaman decides to simply call a shark to deal with those bozos, but much to Aquaman's surprise, the shark attacks him and knocks him out instead! Holy double-cross, Aquaman! Aquaman wakes up tied to a wall in a room with Aqualad and a fellow Atlantian named Mcaan. Since the three men are trapped there, Mcaan decides to regale Aquaman with his origin story... Why not I guess... Basically Mcaan and his son lived in Atlantis and the kid heard the pacifists preaching one day. The kid decided that was the life for him, so he ran away to join up with them. Mcaan came across a photo of Aqualad in some Atlantian newspaper(which I would assume isn't actually made of paper...) and since both his son and Aqualad had purple eyes, Mcaan figured his son had become Aqualad... Yeah, OK... Eventually Mcaan finds Aqualad and discovers that Aqualad isn't his son, and the two decide to hunt down the pacifist's city so Mcaan could reunite with his son. Upon arriving at the city, the duo were promptly captured by those rotten surface-dwellers. After Mcaan finishes his story, as if on cue, the leader of the evil surface-dwellers, Black Manta, arrives in the room to gloat. Manta knocks Aquaman around for a while, because Aquaman's hands are loosely tied by a simple rope, and that is apparently Aquaman's kryptonite. Eventually Aquaman tricks Manta into thinking he was dead and proceeds to escape from the room, leaving Aqualad and Mcaan to fend for themselves... Gee, thanks a lot Aquaman! Upon getting outside, Aquaman tries to summon some fish to help him, but once again, the fish try to attack Aquaman. Aquaman makes a run for it and is chased down by Black Manta riding a dolphin... Yes, a dolphin. Aquaman heads into a laboratory where the pacifists were being forced to put gills on Black Manta's men so they'd be able to breath underwater. Aquaman decides to use the medical laser on Manta, but Manta reveals that he has Aquaman's son prisoner, and that if Aquaman did any thing rash, his son would pay the price. Aquaman surrenders himself to Manta, and Manta proceeds to toss Aquaman and Aqualad into an arena where they were to fight to the death for Manta's amusement... You know, if I were Black Manta, I'd probably just kill the both of them and be done with it. I guess I just don't have Manta's flare for the dramatic... Manta shows Aquaman a remote control and explains to him that the remote was allowing him to erect a large force field around the arena which would prevent Aquaman and Aqualad from escaping... Now why would Manta tell them that? In order to raise the stakes higher, Manta places Aquababy in a plastic globe that was slowly filling with air, meaning Aquababy would suffocate unless Aquaman found a way to save his son within 5 minutes. Manta then tosses two tridents into the arena and demands the two heroes do battle. Aquaman, fearing for his son, immediately attacks Aqualad, drawing first blood and hurting Aqualad's feelings... Really! Anyway, the two battle for a while and Aquaman realizes that the reason he was unable to control the various sea creatures surrounding Manta was because they were all robots. Aquaman makes contact with Topo, Aquababy's pet octopus, and Topo attacks Manta, destroying his force field device, which allows Aquaman to shatter the globe Aquababy was being held in. Realizing the jig was up, Manta makes a run for it, but not before attempting to collapse a wall on a few of the pacifist Atlantians. Aquaman saves the pacifists, but that slight distraction allows Manta to make good his escape. After saving the pacifists, Aquaman heads back to the arena where he discovers that Aquababy wound up suffocating in the plastic globe while he and Aqualad battled... Wow, that's a pretty horrible way to die... Aquaman gives his son's dead body to Topo and tells the octopus to return home... Umm, shouldn't Aquaman be the one to deliver the awful news to his wife and Aquababy's mother, Mera, not some freaking octopus!?! Instead of returning home, Aquaman wants to chase after Manta and asks Aqualad to assist him. Aqualad flatly turns Aquaman down, stating that he was hurt that Aquaman had tried to kill him in the arena earlier, even though refusing to fight probably would have led to Manta killing Aquababy sooner. Aquaman gets pissed(and rightfully so!)and tells Aqualad that he'll hunt down Manta on his own, ending this issue.

Well, that sure wasn't a cheery comic book! Having a limited knowledge of Aqua-history, I knew Black Manta was responsible for the death of Aquaman's son, but I didn't know how it actually occurred until I read this issue. Jeez, how can you suffocate a little kid... What a piece of work Black Manta is... I actually wouldn't mind buying and reading whatever issue it is where Aquaman finally meets up with Black Manta again, because I can't figure out why Aquaman didn't rip Manta limb from limb upon finding him. I know I would have. Besides the Black Manta stuff, the way this issue ended with Aquaman and Aqualad really bothered me. Aquaman discovers that his only son is dead, and he decides to go after the party responsible for the heinous crime. He asks his longtime sidekick to help him out, and Aqualad say no?!? Really!?! What the HELL was that! Manta told the two to fight to the death, while Aquababy was his pawn. What the hell did Aqualad expect Aquaman to do, play patty-cake with him?! How Aqualad could turn his back on Aquaman after he lost his son is absolutely perplexing to me. And I thought Roy Harper was a lousy sidekick! At least Roy could blame the heroin for his actions, what the hell was Aqualad's excuse? Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading this this blast from the past as much as I enjoyed writing it. Since this is a RETRO Review, I feel I should close this post with a retro saying... Ah I know, Up, Up, and Away!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah, I know this has absolutely NOTHING to do with the story I just reviewed, but come on, how couldn't I post this masterpiece!?!