Aquaman #18: Pretty good art by Egeland, story's a bit spotty in places but otherwise interesting. Mildly recommended. $1.75/$2.50Cn

"Hey, The Cover's Got Drool On It!" Award to Aquaman #18

Actually, I suspect the title I gave Aquaman might fit better later on, but oh well.

Aquaman "Biblical Sense": Drat. Strom's a badguy after all, and I was kinda hoping he was just a bit of a jerk. He's allied directly with Ocean Master, who I will not believe is on the side of the angels in any possible permutation (he's just way too scuzzy for any goodguys to accept as an ally).

Anyway, on to the plot. The Queen lays down the law to Arthur and generally acts pushy while showing him all the neat toys he's won. Meanwhile, Dolphin has a flashback to her Mysterious Origin, causing her to stumble against the conveniently-placed firing controls for the ship she's in. The Hy-Brasilians attack her and bring her for justice, and the Queen declares she is to be executed.

Meanwhile, Atlan gets threatened by the evil dudes from Thanatos's dimension (I guess he's not evil enough, just cryptic) and reveals for the first time in this book that Garth's in his care.

Back in Hy-Brasil, Arthur tries to defend Dolphin (who's staying silent), and the Queen decides to use a psi to extract the truth about her. She threatens that a mindprobe may have nasty side-effects (keeping her flashback in mind), and the seer absolves her of any responsibility for such effects.

Cue the Secret Origin of Dolphin, left sufficiently cryptic that it can be tied into the current plotline or be left as fodder for the next arc. She was a surface girl altered by aliens into what she is, then freed by some guy with pointy teeth who commands her through this vision to kill the seer. Kordax has an alibi for this part, and the guy has legs so it isn't one of the shark people Garth found.

Arthur uses the situation to wrest control away from the Queen, shaming them into not assaulting him en masse. Then, disgusted with the whole group, he leaves, only to hear a short scream...the queen is now dead, and the people will come when Arthur calls.