Aquaman #3 – Review

By: Geoff Johns (writer), Ivan Reis (penciller), Joe Prado (inker), Rod Reis (colorist)

The Story: These guys would make one heck of a ninth-grade biology dissection project.

The Review: Johns gets a lot of attention and devotion because he not only brings such genuine enthusiasm to the job, he also injects enormous heart into the work.  He has this knack of getting at the emotional core of characters, using it to springboard the stories he writes for them, a narrative technique David Uzumeri of Comics Alliance calls “Johnsian Literalism,” and one that’s proven consistently successful over the last few years.

For some heroes, figuring out what makes them tick is a cinch, but getting an understanding of Aquaman takes a little more digging.  While his romance with Mera offers warmth to the series and a strong character to bounce off of, the real emotional current which drives the story is the Arthur’s relationship with his late father.  It’s no coincidence each issue prominently features a flashback to the old man, whose love and values obviously still resonate deeply with our hero.

It’s this connection to his father, more than anything else, which keeps Aquaman fighting the good fight on land.  After he clears out the Trench from the harbor, the authorities on deck begrudge him some props: “…you gave it a really strong effort and I appreciate that…I’ll make sure to tell the reporters you helped us out, okay?”  But Arthur’s not in this for the press, good or bad, and he proves it by taking off with the Trench cadaver against the military guys’ wishes.  If anything, he’s out to prove his dad’s assertion that “…he’s a good kid…  He’s such a good kid.”