Aquaman (1994) #50
Title: Reflections
Cover Title: A New Reign Begins!
Cover Date: Dec 1998
Writer: Erik Larsen
Pencils: Eric Battle
Inks: Norm Rapmund
Colors: Richard and Tanya Horie
Lettering: Chris Eliopoulos
Asst. Editor: Chuck Kim
Editor: Kevin Dooley
Cover: Erik Larsen
Cover Price: $1.99
OVERVIEW:
As he did so long ago, Garth goes to Aquaman to bring him out into the world. Aquaman isn't too keen on the idea, though... as it is his birthday. Despite his anti-social feelings, he attends his party anyway. The party is a big hit, with virtually every hero who's been his friend in the last few years, including the JLA, attending. In addition, some sea life which had heard tales of Aquaman made the trek just to see the King of the Sea.
After most of the guests have gone home, Aquaman renames Poseidonis. No sooner does he do so than the dome around the city cracks and attackers fall upon the city.
Aquaman quickly rallies the defense of the city against the attacker, Noble. Noble tells Aquaman that the land the city now rests on belongs to his people, the Lurkers, and himself. He claims that the area is the centuries-old home of his people, and they don't appreciate the noise of the party above.
Aquaman and Noble battle. Noble rips Aquaman's hook from its line, but is shocked in return. Aquaman lures him into a thermal generator and basically zaps him. But Noble's Lurkers have been watching the battle, and don't intend to let Aquaman treat Noble that way...
COMMENTS:
The cover: I like Aquaman, and Garth and Vulko aren't too bad either. However, the three things in the lower right are ugly, and one reason you won't see the full cover from this issue on this site. An otherwise neat cover is marred by Larsen's unrealistic portrayal of women. Now, before I get tons of letters from Larsen defenders, let me explain something. I know that Larsen just "likes to draw women that way". I also happen to know that I really dislike looking at those sort of female figures. If Larsen's goal is to have fun drawing, he apparently succeeded. If his goal is to please the existing Aquaman fans, he failed miserably. At least one fan hates the cover. Enough said.
The inside artwork is marred by terribly dark coloring. I'm not sure who decided that our view of Poseidonis ought to be through muddy water, but two pages into the book I really started to miss Tom McCraw's crisp coloring. Halfway through the book I wondered if reading it was really worth the effort. To the colorists: LIGHTEN UP. This book was almost unreadable.
The art could have been worse. It was bad enough, though, to make me think back fondly on Marty Egeland's work, and I've never been a fan of Egeland. In particular, Tempest was done very poorly. His outfit appeared to have rips in it instead of the gentle swirls he has in every other appearance. Also look at the statue of "classic Aquaman" on the third page. That's the original Green Lantern, not Aquaman.
Even worse is Aquaman on that spread. He looks like Gurgi from "The Black Cauldron". I can just see him saying "Me want munchies and crunchies!" Throughout the book, Aquaman's beard and hair are drawn "fluffy" which, combined with his blue eyes, makes him a candidate for the next Disney movie. And for a lesson is how not to draw overweight people, check out the apparently over-endowed Vulko on page 10.
And don't get me started on the person on page 6 who the text indicates is Mera. That's NOT Mera. Mera has a nose, for one. She's also elegantly beautiful. This woman is... cute at best. And Mera wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit. Mera has a sense of style, this impostor does not. Indeed, I can't think of any woman who would wear that outfit unless she was being paid a lot of money and had a couple of bodyguards. Dolphin and Deep Blue also suffer from a simplification of facial features. All the women in this book appear to be traced from the same picture, and that cookie-cutter look is annoying, to say the least.
The story itself isn't bad, though there are a couple of flaws. First, and least, would be Garth referring to Aquaman as Orin. He met Aquaman when he was Arthur, and calls him by that name. Like anyone who changes their name, unless they are forceful about keeping people faithful to the new name, old friends will always use the old name.
The next plot flaw is in Mera. Last we saw of her, she was interrupting Aquaman's re-coronation ceremony to state that she was not Aquaman's wife. But no explanation has been given for this... and in Aquaman #50 she states that they are divorced. This is a serious plot point, the cliff-hanger from the previous (non-crossover) issue, and it is not resolved at all. Unless this is covered in the Aquaman Secret Files due out this month, this is a major editorial mistake.
The next flaw would be more of a nit. Why would Aquaman re-name Poseidonis? If he's doing it because the city has moved far away from the Atlantis region, then he's just creating confusion by setting up a second Atlantis. If he's doing it because it's still in Atlantis and he wants the capitol to have the same name as the region, then he's just standing thousands of years of history on their head, not to mention risking the anger of a certain god.
Noble and company were living in the area that the city landed after Triton blasted the cybernetic entity away from it. You would think that Triton's antics would have woken them sooner, but apparently they are heavy sleepers. Aquaman's comment that the Atlanteans have lived in the area for centuries is only true if the city didn't drift very far when it was floating. Perhaps that's the point that Noble is trying to make...?
I love the Aquaman's comment about what most people do when disturbed by a party...
Noble has got to be on the Superman level of strength to break Aquaman's line. Remember, that's a S.T.A.R. Labs special, not some hokey piping bought at the local Home Depot. Aquaman does use his brains to trick Noble to the thermal generator, but shows a distinct lack of forethought when he doesn't ask his finny friends to cover his back.
Another nit, why would Aquaman demand that Noble and the Lurkers swear allegiance to him? He hasn't been a particularly demanding ruler before. I suppose that with Noble attacking him, the threat of a repeat visit might be enough to insist on an oath before he lets them go. Do I get a no-prize?
CONCLUSION:
If the art were decent, the story would shine through better. As it is, the art, especially the coloring, drags the story down to the almost unreadable level.