BOOM.
The Good: I like what Aqualad's significance is. It makes sense, it explains a lot, and it's pretty cool. And of course it sets up Aquawar well.
The scene with Deathstorm toying with Alvin is a very powerful scene. Deathstorm is a really twisted SOB and I absolutely hate him (in a good way) for being so deliciously evil.
Aqualad's costume is cool.
I'm glad the whole fact that Aquaman can only summon undead fish for now is still observed. Although I wonder why he's still not done his mission. I mean, he found Aqualad, that was the mission. Sure Aqualad has other stuff to do and sure Aquaman's going to go along, but that wasn't in his mission. Technically he should be done his White Lantern mission.
Aquaman's speech to Aqualad is really serious, and very well written.
The end. Oh FFFFF-.
The Bad: The cover is really meh. I hate covers that look like they should just be a panel. And it's not even David Finch (which is strange) so it doesn't even look the same. It looks very out of place next to the other issues and it throws me off.
I'm not sure whether or not I want them to reveal the one who called out to Deathstorm to deliver the White Lantern to. It's vaguely awkwardly done so that I can't tell if holding off the revelation is interesting or annoying.
This issue and the pacing on the Firestorm/Deathstorm story finally made me realize how short each story is going to end up being by the end.
The whole Aquman vs. Aqualad fight so proudly proclaimed by the cover is an absolute joke. Aqualad delivers one water punch, and Aquaman stops him with some zombie electric eels and delivers a speech. THE END. On one hand it makes the cover stupidly inadequate to represent the whole issue, and 2, it's just weak. It was almost like an excuse to make sure the cover wasn't a lie. Maybe if they didn't waste a whole page on a splash page and dedicated it to at least an adequate fight it'd be fine, or maybe if the cover didn't make such a big deal out of it. Overall it was just a bit of an annoyance.
In Conclusion: 3/5
I'll be honest, that score is mostly because Aquaman's story is one of my least favorite's in this title. There's nothing really wrong with it, aside from the fact that it feels a bit too rushed, I just prefer most of the others. The main thing this issue did was make me realize there's only 8 issues left to divide among 5 stories. It means there's a little less than 1.5 issues left per story, and that just doesn't feel like enough. The developments in Aquaman's story were good, and I especially liked how the issue ended, and the entire FIrestorm stuff blew me away. So if you're a fan of Aquaman's story, you will certainly like this issue a lot more than I did. I didn't hate it, I just was saddened about the realization I came to.
