DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN #37

All Fall Down

January 2006

Written by John Arcudi

Layouts by Leonard Kirk

Finishes by Andy Clarke

Cover by Patrick Gleason & Christian Alamy

Synopsis

In Atlantis, Tempest and a cadre of sorcerers are attempting to counter the spell cast by Hagen to change Mera into a water-breather.  In Sub Diego, a sudden hurricane reaches the west coast.  As Aquaman swims to investigate, he is suddenly attacked by Ocean Master and other villains.  In Atlantis, Tempest’s spell is interrupted by the presence of the Spectre, who kills the other sorcerers and begins to destroy the city.  Tempest fights back, and gets help from Hagen.  Together the two fight the Spectre, but they are no match for the wrath of God.  Meanwhile, the Ocean Master pulls out of the fight against Aquaman.  He then tells Aquaman that once he learns what happened to Atlantis, they may never fight again.  

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a pretty good knock down drag out fight pitting Aquaman against his usual foes and Tempest and his magic against the wrath of the Spectre.  The issue neatly dovetails into two of the mini-series that led up the Infinite Crisis and of course the main mini-series itself.  As part of the larger DC universe event currently going on, it fills in blanks very nicely.  As part of the Aquaman book, however, it fills like filler; the fights were too long and (and especially the Aquaman) resolved nothing or even pushed current storylines further.  So, ultimately it was both satisfying and empty at the same time. 

I am slightly disappointed that someone like Tempest and Hagen could stand up to the Spectre when the entire team of Shadowpact failed in the Day Of Vengeance mini-series, but at least Tempest didn’t win and I guess you could argue that Hagen comes from a different time period and therefore could be more powerful that current-time magic users.  Besides the Eel and Orm, I did not recognize any of the other villains attacking Aquaman, which just goes to show how lame and/or poorly used these characters are.  I also did not realize that Black Manta was with them if he had not been named by Aquaman. 

Comic Connection

The destruction of Atlantis and the fight between Aquaman and society of ocean villains (eh) also occurs in Infinite Crisis, issue #3.

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