Aquaman #26 – Review

By: Jeff Parker (story), Paul Pelletier & Netho Diaz (pencils), Sean Parsons & Ruy Jose (inks), Wil Quintana & Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: It’s a bird.  It’s a plane.  It’s Aquaman!

The Review: Whenever a writer leaves a series I’ve particularly enjoyed, my first inclination is always to follow his lead.  Even if his successor has a sterling reputation, I simply don’t believe a person can truly emulate another person’s successes.  If it wasn’t for this gig, I’d probably follow through with those instincts.  But since I’m duty-bound to give most things a fair chance, I’ve instead come up with some criteria for evaluating the writer who steps into the old one’s shoes.

The biggest rule: don’t trample over your predecessor’s hard work.  If you want any hope of retaining fans of the last run, it’s best to respect and incorporate what has already been established.*  In the case of Aquaman, this task is crucial, but also easy because Parker can’t afford to abandon anything Geoff Johns created without carving out whole slices of the hero’s shining-new canon.  Even so, you get the distinct feeling that Parker doesn’t quite leverage the inventory left for him as well as he could have in this issue.