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Aquaman #54 (Third Series)


Cover of Aquaman #54

Aquaman (1994) #54

Title: Landlovers
Cover Title: The WAY Out-Of-Towners!
Cover Date: Apr 1999

Writer: Erik Larsen
Pencils: Eric Battle
Inks: Norm Rapmund
Colors: Richard and Tanya Horie
Lettering: Chris Eliopoulos
Editor: Kevin Dooley
Asst. Editor: Harvey Richards
Cover: Eric Battle and Norm Rapmund

Cover Price: $1.99



OVERVIEW:

Aquaman laments losing Mera, while a blobby creature plots to take over Poseidonis using the Gindola fish drug.

Blubber and friends reach New York and wander around unwittingly terrifying the populace.

Aquaman fights the prejudice problem by confronting angry citizens and ordering them to disperse. Tempest asks to help and Aquaman allows it, while Dolphin visits a doctor.

Blubber and friends take in a movie and try to get souvenirs.

Mera dresses up in a Vegas showgirl outfit at Noble's behest.

The New Yorkers finally get tired of the land-loving threesome and the police surround them. Aquaman is alerted to the landlover problem by the JLA, but doesn't arrive in time to prevent Blubber from being shot. He and Tempest take the three back to Atlantis.

Aquaman, in a bid to win Mera back, shaves off his beard and cuts his hair.


COMMENTS:

The preview cover DC put on its website looks better than the actual cover, due to a coloring change. The actual color has the buildings in a boring shade of grey that blends in and makes the whole picture look rather bland. I admit, it's the first time I've noticed just how much color matters in this context, as the image is pretty good and looked quite nice with the original coloring, but just looks boring with the new.

Overall thoughts on the art: bad as usual. There are some nice individual scenes, moreso than previous issues, but overall the art is still really horrible. The coloring is also very bland, making this book hard on the eyes. Does everything have to be green, grey, or blue?

Overall thoughts on the story: it didn't gel. There is a great story in this issue struggling to get out, but it failed to pull together. The pieces seem disjointed, though the underlying plot is both straightforward and appears sound. Perhaps Larsen is trying to expand on too many plots, or perhaps he simply hasn't got a grip on the characters yet, but the story reads like it's slightly out-of-sync.

Specifics on the art: what the heck happened to Garth's hair?!? It's supposed to be curly, not crew cut. His uniform still looks like rips instead of swirls... is Battle capable of drawing something fluidly instead of jagged-edged? Battle's storytelling is still crap, but thanks to the simplicity of the story that doesn't detract too much. At least there wasn't a multi-paged fight to show off Battle's inability, for once.

The Dolphin on page ten is the ugliest Dolphin I've yet seen drawn. Somebody show Battle how to make one side of the face match the other. And if that's a doctor, I wouldn't go to him/her/it. It looks like something Dr Fate would banish to the nether realm.

The scenes of the land lovers in New York were very busy, and not in a good way. Middle panel, page twelve, just what is that thing above the balloons and the blond kid? And why doesn't Blubber block the movie?

The coloring is again proving to be distracting. The colors are so limited that everything blends into one another and trying to distinguish gets annoying after a while. Walls come in more colors than a dark blue-grey, and water doesn't always have to be green. Lighten up and diversify, right now the color is noticably bland.

Specifics on the story: As I read the first three pages the characters sounded so little like the ones I know that I made no connection with them. The dialogue is still very weak. I'm glad Tempest finally explained why Mera isn't married to Arthur anymore (which should've been taken care of four issues ago... it's bad form when the writer has to fix an editorial mistake so much later).

Aquaman seems a little odd in that scene, moaning like a baby who lost a favorite toy. But the scene (despite weak scripting) worked and the characters were almost like themselves again.

The pacing worked better in this issue than last, but the story seemed disjointed and not fully developed. For instance, page 8 and 9, Aquaman confronts an angry mob, then apologizes to Tempest for his recent bad temper. It felt unfinished, as though both scenes weren't quite right. The plot movement is there, but it was so abrupt that it didn't quite fit.

Speaking of page 8, Aquaman's speech proves that Larsen has a grasp of Aquaman's relationship with the people of the city. After their rebellion under Koryak, he did not forgive them easily and rules them severely. It's interesting to see the dynamics of the people beginning to reassert themselves after the deadly mistake they made and the rule of unforgiving Aquaman. It is interesting that the boom town that Poseidonis has become has made the people bold again.

Rant time. Page 14: Why is Mera dressed as a Vegas showgirl??? That is not Mera, it's some clone from the dimension of dipsy women. No self-respecting woman would wear the snot-dress or that thing in public, and Mera HAD self-respect. Larsen, Battle, Dooley, and anyone else involved in the creation of this book completely dropped the ball on this one. This is MERA, not a Barbie Doll. Put some clothes on her. I don't see the male characters wandering around as naked as she is, heck, Noble is fully dressed. And next time, BEFORE you use a character, learn what the character is like so you don't look like sexist idiots when you get her completely, utterly wrong.

Last nits, and I'm through with this issue. Aquaman is a lot more ruthless than the hero he was, in some ways good, in other ways bad. His "tack a couple more years onto his sentence" line seemed both wrong and right. Wrong in that it wasn't how Aquaman was before, right in that he *is* a King and knows that he has to make the tough choices. When he helps the land lovers, he throws a soldier into the air (why does the soldier say "Aahh!! Cold!"???) which could easily have killed the guy. As Tempest said earlier, it seems a little harsh.

On page 19, bottom left, exactly what power is Tempest using? Does Larsen even have a clue about the character? At least the Jacques Cousteau comment fit.

And lastly, isn't it a little late for Aquaman to be trying to win back Mera by getting all clean-shaven?


CONCLUSION:

This issue is better than last, which isn't really saying anything. There seems to be a lack of cohesion, and the lousy art and coloring certainly don't help. Still, there's good set-up and better handling of some characters, so things are beginning to look up. Of course, there's not really anywhere else for this book to go.


Review Date: 18 Feb 1999, By Laura Gjovaag