DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN #12

Bride Over Troubled Water

January 2004

Written by Rick Veitch

Pencils by Yvel Guichet

Inks by Mark Propst

Cover by Howard Porter

Synopsis

In the mid-Atlantic ocean, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman learn from Manitou Raven that mystical forces are mutating all sea creatures.  In the Mizen Head, McCaffrey steers his boat and get himself and Sweeney to safety, but dies in the attempt.  At the Fountainhead, Aquaman and the Thirst have merged to form the Waterbeaerer.  Together they leave to find the Lady Of the Lake.  In New Atlantis, Vulk and Tempest have captured Hagen, but it may be too late as Hagen’s sorcery has started to change all life under the water.  At the Heavenspan, the Thirst destroys the bridge as Aquaman keeps fighting the merge of the two of them.  Modg the troll tells Arthur the Thirst’s victory can be overturned by surrender.  Eventually they reach the Lady Of The Lake.  Aquaman finally realizes what must be done to defeat Thirst.  The waterbearer kisses the Lady and the battle is won. Later, on Traitor’s reef, the Lady of the Lake tells Aquaman tells him the healing power of his hand is still available.  Aquaman visits Mizen head, arriving just in time for the funeral.  Aquaman says goodbye to Sweeney and then dives into the ocean, where he once more feels like a king.

Review

So, that’s the end?  It left me a little underwhelmed.  A kiss is all it took?  Humph.  What it looked like to me is that Aquaman stopped fighting and in the process pulled the Thirst from the dark side of the waterbearer to the light side, which allowed the waterbearer to then heal the Lady via the kiss.  By not fighting the Thirst, Aquaman won the day.  And he did it without the help of the Justice League.  their entire presence in this issue was completely useless, except for the brief moment where Raven tells us what is going on.  Otherwise they don’t do anything or fight anything.  In fact, they are still standing around talking to Raven when Aquaman completes his task.  The addition of McCaffrey and Sweeney to the book also really meant nothing as one is dead and the other is left behind while Aquaman returns to the oceans.  Even the brief appearance by Hagen was nothing more than the stereotypical villain telling everyone their days are numbered only to find out later he was wrong.  Really, this entire issue was a lot of characters doing nothing while Aquaman and the Thirst share a water body.  Actually, this issue pretty much sums up the entire year of Veitch’s run:  not much occurred. 

I also want to add that having Aquaman essentially “give up” in order to defeat the villain is not the best way to wrap up this story arc.  Passive victory is not good for any superhero.  In this case it was made worse because all of his attempt to physically defeat the thirst always came up short.  And, yes, I understand what the writer was trying to convey, but in this case I just don’t buy it.  Aquaman is a super hero, he should do something heroic, like hitting or punching or swimming or something that shows action.  Falling backwards and giving up just does not cut it.  And this is compounded by the JLA sitting around telling the readers, “There is nothing we can do.”

The best part of the issue, for me at least was Black Manta trying to convince Aquaman that he didn’t really mean to hit in the back and that they were still buddies.  I am not sure if this was meant to be serious or if was meant to read tongue-in-cheek, but I read it as the latter.-- MRB

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