Aquaman #22 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (story), Paul Pelletier (pencils), Sean Parsons (inks), Rod Reis (colors)

The Story: Behold the true king to the throne—all four of him.

The Review: While there is something noble about the person who has power or money and doesn’t want it, the rest of us are probably thinking that attitude is kind of a luxury in itself.  Aquaman’s reluctance to take the Atlantean throne seems humble, but he always had the freedom to choose when to reject kingship and when to take it back on again.  Would he be so cavalier about losing his power if it was forcefully taken from him?*

He’s spent a great deal of his return to royalty thus far insisting that he’d rather not have the position, that he has accepted it only out of a sense of duty obligated by his blue-bloodedness.  So what happens if the Dead King’s words turn out to be true and—spoiler alert—Arthur really doesn’t descend from royal lineage?  Well, we know that being King of the Seven Seas is just part and parcel of Aquaman’s character, so that role won’t be going away in any permanent sense.  But should he retain his kingship, it’ll be deserved, not by default.