Aquaman (3) #12
Title: Acts
Cover Title: Return Of The Queen
Cover Date: September 1995
Writer: Peter David
Pencils: Marty Egeland
Inks: Howard Shum
Colors: Tom McCraw
Lettering: Dan Nakrosis
Asst. Editor: Eddie Berganza
Editor: Kevin Dooley
Cover: Marty Egeland and Howard Shum
Cover Price: $1.75
Continuity: IN
OVERVIEW:
A man wearing the blue camouflage Aquaman suit is beating up on a kid, demanding to know where his mother is. The boy says she went out, then threatens the man and stops one of the man's punches, proving that he is strong. The man leaves him alone.
Dolphin, meanwhile, is attacking the intruder, Mera. The two fight until Arthur (who takes a few punches) manages to stop it.
The Poseidonians have stopped over at Tritonis, and the natives are getting tired of the doubled population. Iquila tells Vulko and Koryak that the Poseidonians will have to leave, as the situation is becoming intolerable.
Mera tells Arthur that she's only been gone for five minutes, Arthur tells her that she's been gone for months, that she ran out on him and even tried to kill him. Dolphin interrupts, wearing one of Aquaman's old shirts. The two argue, then Mera collapses.
The man from the first pages is calling to her, and is not happy. She wakes and sees Arthur, punches him, then leaves. Arthur follows. Dolphin is just confused.
Koryak and Vulko propose taking the Poseidonians into the tunnels underneath the city. The tunnels are sacred, and Iquila thinks that his people are likely to rebel if he lets them down there (the people already hardly tolerate his blonde wife).
Arthur follows Mera back into the pit, leaving Dolphin above.
In the other place, the boy stands up to the man. He tells the man that he told "the others" what the man did. The man attacks the boy.
Arthur snags Mera just before she enters the darker waters. A hand rises from the waters and grabs her, while Arthur struggles, Dolphin joins him, but all three are pulled into the void.
Arthur awakes in the middle of the French revolution, with his own neck in the guillotine. The man stands next to him...
COMMENTS:
This is the first time, as far as I know, that Aquaman didn't appear on the cover of a comic book called "Aquaman".
The catfight between Mera and Dolphin is fun to see, though I prefer not to watch such disgraceful displays of immaturity. Yeah right. Bring it on... I think Dooley and David both knew that this was one catfight the fans were dying to see.
The fighting between Poseidonians and Tritonians echoes the Atlantis Chronicles.
Dolphin gets a new outfit in this issue: one of Aquaman's old shirts. She puts it on entirely to spite poor Mera.
And Mera... we finally get an explanation for her out of character actions in the Giffen mini-series: she was being controlled. What is controlling her, we don't find out until next issue, but some people had already guessed...
CONCLUSION:
The catfight of the century! And a really good frame around it, too! Well worth picking up.