The Good
More of Aquaman's secret history is revealed! The issue starts off 6 years prior to current continuity as we find out Aquaman's father is killed and the press wants answers from Arthur. Arthur has enough and heads to the sea, only to return a year later as a member of the Others, whose job it was to collect Atlantian artifacts so they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.
This is our first look at the actual Others team in action, and while Aquaman says earlier in the issue "they were never formally a team," they work well together as one. They're all really cool looking, minus Vostok, whose character design I find unappealing. Prisoner and The Seer stand out as the coolest designs. The Seer has what looks like traditional women's Middle-Eastern garb on, but in white and a bit stylized. She also has a cool, stylized sword as well. The Prisoner is a bit more basic, but I love the look. He has a t-shirt and pants on, with a black hood over his head and gold gauntlets and chains on his forearms. It's a pretty basic design, but it looks incredibly cool. The Operative, Ya'Wara and Others Aquaman are cool designs as well, but Seer and Prisoner really stand out for me.
I'm really enjoying the story Geoff Johns is putting together here. It's a new look at Aquaman, and I think The Others would work incredibly well as its own on-going series, as long as he was writing it. He's created a great series within a great series, it's like Inception with awesome comic book characters. The change from past to present in this book is wonderful, as well as the transitions between the two.
The Bad
This was a really quick read. I felt like it took only a few minutes to get through the issue, and with all the new information about characters and history the reader is getting, it felt like was a bit too quick. Plus, not much Black Manta in this issue.
It's a really great issue, but not my favorite of the series.
The Verdict
Aquaman does exactly what it's been doing for 8 issues, blowing minds away with how cool Aquaman can truly be given the right creative team. I love how this issue delves more into Aquaman's past and I loved the Others working together as a team. There are some great characters on this team, including Seer and Prisoner, and hoepfully we'll see a lot more of them... In the past, since Seer is pretty dead right now. Geoff Johns has been great on this book, and I'd love to see The Others as an on-going series.
On the downside, this book felt like a really quick read, and I was a bit bummed Black Manta wasn't in this issue a lot.
Overall, I love this series and I highly recommend it. Seriously, it's awesome.