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The History of Atlantis

Atlantis Chronicles: Stuff of Legends (5 of 7)


Atlantis Chronicles #5: Stuff of Legends

The Atlantis Chronicles #5

Title: Stuff Of Legends
Cover Date: July 1990

Writer: Peter David
Artist: Esteban Maroto
Colors: Eric Kachelhofer
Lettering: Gaspar
Editor: Robert Greenberger
Cover: Esteban Maroto

Cover Price: $2.95



OVERVIEW:

This issue starts with an excellent recap of the series so far, then a scene of Regin as an old man, story-telling to a group of children who are much too young to have been around during the war in the last issue, and who are mixed, both Tritonians and Poseidians...

At their request, he "skips" to the fight...

Kordax has raised the sea creatures to fight against the Poseidians, and in just the first few minutes Bazil loses many of his childhood friends. But Kordax doesn't have complete control over the monsters he's assembled, and the brutal attack of the Poseidians with their powerful energy weapons, as well as the growing smell of blood, throws the monsters into disarray.

They start to eat anything in reach, including the amassed Tritonians. While Dardanus uses magic to retreat in fear, and Kordax seeks out someone to torment, the Tritonians and Poseidians start to work together to slaughter the monsters that Kordax brought in.

Many battles are fought, personal battles that have built up for far too long, and the historian tells of the final legendary battle between Orin and his brother...

Then the book skips a few generations, and the chronicler Helios tells the story of three brothers: Kraken, Haumond, and Atlan. Atlan has been to the world of the air-breathers, and though he is the second son of the great leader Honsu, he is not fully welcome in Poseidonis because of his blond hair, the color of Kordax's hair. But he brings back proof of his journey, and starts out another war...


COMMENTS:

Kraken has the most ridiculous moustache in comics.

Haumond is portrayed as a total wimp, whom Kraken taunts mercilessly. He is very much a fish out of water.

Kordax and Atlan have appeared in the Peter David series of Aquaman.


CONCLUSION:

Rating: 9

The skipping of several generations allows the tale of Kordax after the battle to go untold. We don't know what he gets up to in the intervening years. It also, at first, seems to break up the narrative. But the information we get is just as interesting.


Review Date: February 1996, by Laura Gjovaag