Aquaman (3) #18
Title: Biblical Sense
Cover Title: Dolphin Uncovered!
Cover Date: March 1996
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:
The Queen of Hy-Brasil takes Aquaman to the armoury, where he is surprised to learn that Hy-Brasil is quite heavily armed.
Dolphin, outside, is mentally attacked and falls onto the control panel, triggering the guns of the ship, which fires at the city. The Hy-Brasilians attack and capture her.
Meanwhile, Admiral Strom takes out a VTOL for a joy ride.
Aquaman saves Dolphin, but the Queen condemns her to death.
Atlan is threatened by some creatures while he watches Aquaman, and so he turns to Garth and tells him to get ready.
Dolphin will not speak up in her own defense, so the Queen has the High Seer interrogate her. Dolphin warns that his actions may have unforseen consequences, and he absolves her of responsibility for those consequences.
Strom flies to a mountain, and is welcomed by someone who looks vaguely familiar.
The Seer says that Dolphin was abducted by aliens and experimented on, then freed and marked with a strange symbol. He tries to see who freed her, and sees a monster, who tells Dolphin to kill the seer. Which she does.
Arthur challenges the people of Hy-Brasil to fight him one-on-one. When they refuse, he and Dolphin take their leave. They hear the Queen scream behind them, and a Hy-Brasilian comes out and tells Aquaman that when the time comes for them to help, they will be there.
Storm tells the Ocean Master that Aquaman may be on the way.
COMMENTS:
To my surprise, I really like the cover of this one.
The first page has the queen hanging all over Arthur. Yuk.
Dolphin is being controlled quite completely and quite nastily. She doesn't know what is controlling her, either. She is very impressed by the strength of the Hy-Brasilians, right up until they are about to tear her apart...
The queen looks jealous when she sees Dolphin face-to-face. Arthur is obviously getting sick of the queen already.
Dolphin is used to not speaking, and is quite able to hold her tongue in front of the jealous queen. She only breaks her silence to protect Arthur, who is ready to walk out, and to warn the seer of the danger she hides.
The High Seer says that Dolphin has no name, and was only a few tides old when the aliens caught her. The shadow of the being that freed her looks familiar, and will become obvious shortly.
Dolphin looks genuinely stunned that she killed the seer.
Arthur defends Dolphin in a powerful speech in front of the citizens of Hy-Brasil, but once they are outside it is clear he is not terribly happy with her.
The letter col says that Dolphin is in the plans up to issue 25 at least. There's also a casting call for a hypothetical Aquaman Movie, with Keifer Sutherland as Aquaman. *Shudder* My favorite is Brian Blessed as Vulko. Having met Brian Blessed, I think he'd make a wonderful Vulko. And for folks curious about Garth, he appeared in Showcase '96 #1 with Atlan.
CONCLUSION:
A very good issue, with more hints into Dolphin's past.