I Don't Disrespect Aquaman But I'm Not That Excited About Aquawar
The Good: Reis art is very strong at the beginning of the issue, with a perfect set of layouts and faces of Deadman as he reacts to the shocking conclusion of the previous issue.
A lot of people have been complaining about what the White Lantern said, but unlike what it said in #7, I feel like the timing was great here. This is right after it has taken direct action in one of the missions (besides Deadman, but he's different) and it was the first one of the 5 missions that it has stated was unique. Plus Deadman has just started fueling it.
Jackson is really determined to make me like him. He practically voiced my big criticisms of Aquaman that I've had brewing ever since issue 10 where he raised my respect and dashed it quite expertly. It's too late for him to take it back, but it looks like he might be earning my respect back slowly.
Aquawar starts off with a band, and I can say it is awesome. The fight scenes are awesome, and the collateral damage adds tension.
The ending is thick with fantastic irony.
The Bad: The art on the cover is nice, but I think the cover itself is a bit dull.
I fell like Aquawar is turning into a publicity stunt. As much as readers are praising Aquaman finally getting the recognition he deserves, I don't think he was disrespected as much as people think. Sure, outside of comic fandom he's a joke, but DC fans generally know he's not a joke. In fact I think support for Aquaman was high even before Brightest Day began, and DC is capitalizing on that. They KNOW that you already love Aquaman and are making a huge deal out of Aquawar to take advantage of that. So it annoys me that they have to make a new logo for Aquawar and slap it on the cover, and take over the issue title for at least 2, maybe more, issues instead of the clever and more indirect and thought provoking issue titles before.
In Conclusion: 4/5
Sure, I think Aquawar is an overhyped media stunt, but it's actually still good. I don't feel like Geoff Johns/Peter J. Tomasi are to blame, I think editorial mandate is to blame. So if you're already excited about this plot, then my words won't mean much because this is pretty much exactly what you wanted. If you were skeptical like I was because you think it's an overhyped media stunt, it's actually a pretty good one thus far.
