Aquaman Is Completely Validated, But There's Little Actual Story
The Good: Definitely a great cover for the first issue. We've got Aquaman and he is looking badass. People who think he's nothing more than a joke will double take when they see this, and hopefully give it a chance.
And Ivan Reis artwork is definitely excellent. Not a lot to say about it other than excellent.
The Trench seem to have some interesting qualities to them, and are present as a damn creepy enemy.
Aquaman proves himself on several levels as a capable hero. He overcomes all the adversity that popular culture has thrust towards him with his head held high. And we get to see the full range of his abilities.
A lot of stuff in this issue is downright hilarious. Aquaman walks into a seafood restaurant and everyone there just freezes, no idea what to do or say.
Aquaman's almost as nice as Superman, there's some nice heartwarming stuff here that reminded me of Grounded.
The Bad: The threat is cool, and I'm glad they show that Aquaman's a capable hero, but this issue spends SO MUCH TIME validating Aquaman. Granted he does kind of need it due to the unfortunate reputation he's accrued as the blunt of so many jokes, but this issue just spends SO MUCH TIME ON IT. By the end I was feeling a little overwhelmed by it, just trying to wave it aside, wanting to tell Geoff, "OK. I GET IT. AQUAMAN'S COOL. MOVE ON WITH THE ACTUAL INTERESTING STORY NOW.
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
I REALLY wanted to give this issue a better score, but the validation went a little overboard, and once I went reviewing I realized how little story there was. Following issues will clearly be amazing now that the validation is out of the way. If you know someone who doesn't think Aquaman is cool, give them this. It will almost definitely change their minds. Long time Aquaman fans will DEFINITELY like this. Aquaman is AWESOME. The Trench is creepy as hell, and I just cannot wait until the next issue to see an actual story.
