DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN #38

Kingdom Lost

February 2006

Written by John Arcudi

Layouts by Leonard Kirk

Finishes by Andy Clarke

Cover by Don Kramer and Keith Champagne

Synopsis

As the survivors from the destruction stream into Sub Diego, Aquaman searches the ruins.  When he finds the bodies of Vulko and his Koryak and then the remains of Tempest uniform, Aquaman recalls better and happier times with those that he loved.  Meanwhile, in Sub Diego, Black Manta watches and waits for the right time to attack Aquaman...

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was a very sad and melancholy issue, but I also liked it.  The scenes of Aquaman finding the dead and then his remembrances of them when they were during happier times was very well constructed.  The scenes tugged at the heartstrings and made me care about Aquaman and those that he loved.  By the time we reached the end and we see Aquaman telling Lorena they were going home, I felt good.  I felt good in the sense that the ghost of Atlantis and what it meant to him had finally been put aside.  Like Vulko or his son, Atlantis was dead, with fond memories.  But now he was moving forward, befitting DCs change in the status quo with the upcoming One Year Later leap. 

The only part of this issue that I did not like was Lorena’s anguished “Nooo” when see came across Koryak’s dead body.  Not only was it a cliché, but it also did not feel genuine.  Granted, she liked him, but I doubt she even got to know him all that well. 

I wish I knew more about the history of Aquaman to determine if these were recreations of actual stories or Arcudi’s own recounting of events that never occurred. 

There is a huge discrepancy found in this issue:  Tempest’s child is refer to as a girl, but in Infinite Crisis #3, the child is referred to as a boy.  According to Wikipedia, Tempest has a son.  Why Aquaman, the one book that should get it right, got it wrong is beyond me.