Kelly Sue DeConnick and Aquaman: neither are usually good to read and it turns out they’re just as bad together!
Superhero comics are by and large soap operas with tights and masks and, like all soaps, DeConnick’s resorted to the hackneyed “amnesia” trope for her first Aquapants arc. Arthur Curry’s washed up on the shores of a distant fishing village with the unlikely name of Unspoken Water. He must rediscover his identity with the help of the resident water witches.
So Arthur’s real good in the water, he’s wearing an aqua belt and Aquaman’s colours, he does the sonar thing to talk to sea creatures, and he can breathe underwater - but none of this raises any red flags as to his identity?! He’s also surrounded by people who can do water magic who you’d think would know all about the King of the Seas and could suggest to him that he might be Aquaman! The whole setup just seems so dumb and contrived.
Meanwhile Mera’s stuck in Atlantis being asked to remarry and all the time pining for Arthur – real strong female protagonist there, Kelly Sue! The new character, Caille, is a bargain basement Maleficent and the story follows the unimaginative archetypical structure of “superhero punching monster” for a dull finale. The feeble mythology is of the dreary sort DeConnick bored readers with in Pretty Deadly.
Robson Rocha’s art is very skilful at least and I thought the book looked superb despite the dreary script. All the crashing waves though made me feel like I was reading an extended Old Spice commercial! That’s a trend I’ve noticed with this title – Aquaman consistently gets quality artists and utterly horrible writers! Dan Abnett’s Aquaman was unreadable but Stjepan Šejić’s art was incredible. And even though this is a “Volume 1”, it’s still the Rebirth numbering, collecting issues #43-47.
I hoped Aquaman, Volume 1: Unspoken Water would be a half decent read but, unfortunately, the title remains tedious and instantly forgettable flotsam.
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