DCU Comic Book Reviews

AQUAMAN:  SWORD OF ATLANTIS #46

Watery Grave

December 2006

Written by Kurt Busiek and Karl Kesel

Pencils by Phil Winslade and Butch Guice (prologue)

Inks by Phil Winslade and Butch Guice (prologue)

Cover by Butch Guice

Synopsis

Somewhere along the mid-Atlantic ridge, King Shark is give a sword-fighting less to the new Aquaman while the Dweller In The Depths watches nearby.  There is something familiar about the Dweller that makes the King Shark think about the original Aquaman.  Many years ago...Aquaman, King of Atlantis, along with his wife Mera and advisor Vulko, stop by Reef’s End for a quick visit, only to find the town had been victimized by a series of murders, all from King Shark.  Aquaman is able to capture King Shark.  Meanwhile Vulko examines the dead body and discovers they were part of the Thorny Crown, one of the great powers of the ocean who disappeared some time ago, but are rumored to return.  When news reaches them of King Shark’s escape, Aquaman goes after him while Mera and Vulko investigate the Thorny Crown further.  While Vulko is talking to a witness, King Shark interrupts, declaring Vulko’s head is coming off.

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

It is a little odd to me that the flashback that makes up this would go back as far as it did in the history of the original Aquaman.  To be honest, I really expected to see the flashback fill in the gaps during the One Year Later and explain how he changed from looking like a human to looking like a half-water, half-Octopus.  Mind you, I am not complaining we are missing this tale; I have faith that Busiek’s successor, novelist Tad Williams, will be able to slowly fill out that hole as the tale of the new Aquaman progresses.  No, really, the surprise for me is that the story really belongs (in terms of continuity, if you will) at the time when Aquaman first appeared as hero.  This is long before he lost his hand and replaced it a hook or even lost the hook and replaced it with water.  It seems odd to go that far back.

As for the issue, I enjoyed the story.  Even though I was aware that King Shark was the narrator (and reminded of this fact during the flashback), I was not at all bothered by the fact that there are numerous scenes that take place without King Shark.  Since King Shark was with the, uh, lady, it would be impossible for him to know what happened between Aquaman, Mera, and Vulko as they were riding into the city or even when they first encountered Jesset.  However, this is a nitpick since this type of mistake happens often and at last for this story it did not bother me that much.

The art by Winslade worked well and did not seem out of place compared to Guice’s work, which I still think has been the best depiction of life underwater.  The problem with Winslade is that the characters and the situations convey a sense of people walking on two-dimension land rather than swimming in the three-dimension water.  Other than that, however, Winslade did a good job with evoking the underwater imagery, although I think the bubbles in the speech balloons work well to convey that idea, as well. 

Personally, I think that Jesset is behind the attacks in some way, either as an agent for Thorny Crown or an actual member of the Thorny Crown.  It is a little odd that King Shark was able to get away when Jesset happened to be watching him.  Plus, Jesset never actually stated how King Shark got away.

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