DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN #28

To Serve And Protect

May 2005

Written by John Arcudi

Pencils by Patrick Gleason

Inks by Christian Alamy and Mick Gray

Cover by Patrick Gleason & Christian Alamy

Synopsis

The governor of California has created boat tours of Sub Diego, allowing air breathers to venture out and visit with relatives and friends who have become water breathers.  As Aquaman watches over this tour, he notices a woman not that interested in what is going.  Turns out, she is a reporter who wants to interview Aquaman about the Sub Diego tragedy.  Before Aquaman can turn her down, he senses trouble.  Back in the water, sharks are attacking the water breathers.  However, the sharks are being held at bay by a Sub Diego police officer, one who has undergone significant genetic alterations, thanks to Geist.  When Aquaman questions Geist, the scientist simply states he is trying to help someone, but that the police officer is the least of Aquaman’s worries.  Geist shows him a press conference in which a local company claims to have patented the DNA that results in the water-breathing mutation.  This means the company owns Aquaman’s DNA!

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

After a solid, but baffling two-part mirror universe story, Arcudi gets back on track with a terrific story that focuses so much on what makes Sub Diego such a great locale for Aquaman.  We get to see how the tragedy affected relationships, what the government is doing about it, and (of course) what the public has learned or not learned about it.  The scenes with Hector and then with his family show how much the mutation has altered many lives.  This was underscored y the police officer and the feeling of helplessness he felt at no longer being needed and the drastic changes he will was willing to undergo just to make him feel useful (which also highlights the drug addicts feelings from a couple of issues ago). 

My only hope with the police officer is that Arcudi doesn’t take this character into familiar territory by making him a partner with Aquaman and then later fighting him because the officer is not all that he seems.  This seems likely given the fact that Lorena is supposed to be Aquaman’s partner, but the jabs are lack of abilities and powers suggest her role will be evaluated.  Thus, we get the story in which Aquaman turns to the officer (was he given a name?) for help and shuns Lorena, only to realize that the officer is evil and he needs Lorena’s help to defeat him. 

The issue with the DNA will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out since I can imagine Arcudi going in several different directions with it.  On the hand, it could devolve into a “corporations are greedy” story about how they are making money off of other people’s misfortune.  On the other hand, I could see the corporation blackmailing Aquaman to helping them or they will tell the world it was his fault; after all, they are all breathing water because of him.-- MRB 

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