DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN #39

The End Has No End

March 2006

Written by John Arcudi

Layouts by Freddie Williams II

Finishes by Freddie Williams II

Cover by Brian Bolland

Synopsis

In Sub Diego, Captain Marley breaks up a fight between displaced Atlanteans and a sorcerer who lost his powers.  While Marley deals with the angry mob, the sorcerer swims away and runs smack into Black Manta.  Moments later, the sorcerer returns to mete out vengeance with the sudden use of powers, which is being controlled by Black Manta’s ship.  However, the plan backfires when Marley becomes critically injured.  Suddenly, Aquaman appears and gets the sorcerer to reveal what happened. Aquaman then goes after Black Manta, who attempts to flee.  Aquaman catches up to him and then swims him out to the middle of ocean, where Aquaman sends fish to surround Manta and kill him.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Well, that was pretty lame. Well, except for the ending.  I loved the comments about the seahorse, but then I am a sucker for meta-textual references and that certainly qualifies.  The rest of the issue is fairly standard.  I am willing to bet that the running away gambit from Manta was added into this issue because of the upcoming One Year Later leap.  I suspect if the title were to run naturally then we’d get some good old fashioned fight scenes before the middle of the ocean stunt.  Combine Manta’s running with the antics with his associate on board the ship, Black Manta comes across as comedy relief rather than a viable villain.  This is not good, especially for a character like Aquaman that needs good villains. 

Where did the AquaSpire come from and how long has it been there and why haven’t we seen it before then.  If it wasn’t for the fact that Arcudi has been the writer fro some time I would suggest it was created just for this issue.  I still think that is the case, but I am willing to give the benefit that Arcudi was planning to introduce this anyway. 

I miss Leonard Kirk and Andy Clarke.  Williams work is good, but I don’t think it matches the underwater feel of Aquaman and Sub Diego. 

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