DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN #27

Retroverse Two

April 2005

Written by John Arcudi

Pencils by Patrick Gleason

Inks by Christian Alamy and Mick Gray

Cover by Patrick Gleason & Christian Alamy

Synopsis

In some manner, Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) and his half-brother Orm (aka Ocean Master) have switched places, with Ocean Master becoming the ruler of Sub Diego.  All of the citizens in Sub Diego believe that Orm is the one true Aquaman.  For whatever reason, Geist was not affected; he attempts to convince Arthur of the switch.  Arthur senses something is wrong and goes after Orm.  Arthur finds Orm in the middle of casting the spell and disrupts it.  He then finds the bones of a hand, which turns out to be the hand he lost years ago.  Arthur takes the bones, breaking the spell and returning Sub Diego to the way that it should be.

Review

There was rally only one way to end this story, by having Aquaman return Sub Diego to the way it should be, and Arcudi and Gleason manage to tell a solid story to reach the conclusion.  The problem I have with this issue (and I mentioned in the review of the previous issue) is that it seems like an odd time to attempt a “mirror universe” story.  Luckily it was short enough, but when DC is attempting to sell the public on the idea of Sub Diego, this doesn’t seem the right way to it (by seemingly putting Ocean Master in charge of the town, which goes against expectations).  What struck about this second part of the story is the origin story Geist tells Arthur in order to jog his memory.  This was not tossed in this issue at random; there would be quicker ways to jog Arthur’s memory.  The origin story was told for a reason, which was to remind the readers of the time when Aquaman lost his hand, so that we get the full emotional impact when he finds it again (or at least the bones.  Next week:  Aquaman finds the skin! -- I kid).  This portion of the story and the questions regarding where Arcudi is going to take this particular angle are the most intriguing aspect of this two-part story.  I liked how Aquaman’s hand played into Orm’s spell, not only i terms of the story, but also how it brought together the continuity of previous Aquaman titles.  I am eager to see where this all goes.  I am just not sure the bait and switch of Arthur and Orm was worth it just to get to this point. 

Aquaman sounded just like Batman when he screamed “my city” at the Ocean Master.  I wonder if this was intentional or not.

 -- MRB