DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN:  SWORD OF ATLANTIS #43

Conversations With Vulko

August 2006

Written by Kurt Busiek

Pencils by Butch Guice

Inks by Butch Guice & Tony DeZungia

Cover by Butch Guice

Synopsis

Arthur Curry is at the Winward Home where he has found the ghost of Nuidis Vulko, one time royal scholar of King Orin of Atlantis.  Vulko tells Arthur that his great-uncle who lives in Maine is the same man who helped to raise King Orin.  Vulko then recounts the tale of the destruction of Atlantis by the Spectre.  It was then Vulko died, only to be brought back by Elsa Magnusson of the Winward Home.  Later, Aquaman meets a daughter of one of the scientists, a college student doing an internship for the summer.  While talking to her, King Shark appears at the home, scaring everyone until Arthur can calm them down.  King Shark tells Arthur he will wait for him.  Later, Vulko tells Arthur that he can’t find anything in the texts about the dweller or the prophecies, but Vulko does suggest that perhaps Arthur should attempt to rebuild a new kingdom.  Elsa interrupts the conversation to tell Arthur that his father was found dead at the sight of the accident.  Distraught, Arthur swims in to the ocean.  While swimming, Arthur gets a distress call from Mera.  Along with the Sea Devils, they rush to the rescue....

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

“Is that it, then?  So long, old Aquaman, say hey to the new Aquaman, let’s get a move on.”

The news at the moment for any fan of the Sword of Atlantis is that the first story arc will be collected in a trade paperback to be released later in the year. This indicates that the DC muckity-mucks think Aquaman is a good enough to warrant a chance to put it on book store shelves.  For anyone who has been reading this in the pamphlet form will recognize that DC made an easy choice.  So far, this initial OYL story arc has been a great read and this issue does not disappoint.  There are some great revelations as well as some more mysteries.  The big key to this whole thing lies with the Curry family as it seems there is more than just a coincidence to the name.  Besides the revelation that Arthur’s great-uncle was the same man that raised King Orin, there is also the information that others are looking into the death of Arthur’s father.  My first reaction is that Arthur’s ability to breathe under water was not an accident.  We’ll have to see. 

The key to this entire story arc, to me at least, has been the characterization of Arthur Curry.  What I like most about him is that he is not the enthusiastic, eager young hero.  Instead, he is sullen, confused, angry, and mostly hurt by the loss of his father.  He comes across as a teenager who has suddenly been thrown out into the big bad world.  His description of the ocean (cold, big, beautiful, really cold) felt like the words from someone lost in a big city for the first time.  He listens to what others have to say, but he doesn’t always hear what is being said.  He is, in essence, still trying to find out who he is in the midst of all this weird crap being thrown at him.  The only negative to the character is that the art sometimes shows him to be older than a teenager.  However, when you have lived your life in an over-sized fish tank, I would think your normal development would be stunted in some way.  But that is a minor quibble; so far, this new direction has been great.

Comic Connection

Vulko's death occurred in Aquaman, issue #38.

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