Aquaman #24: Merely mediocre. Neutral. $1.75/$2.50Cn

Mark Beachum Memorial "Instant Bodysuit" Award to Tom McCraw's colors in Aquaman #24 (presuming it was him and not a faceless editorial drone)

Aquaman "United We Fall": Heck, why not have every DCU title be a disappointment this week? Actually, this one isn't as bad as the other two above, but it's not that great either. And just in case I wasn't irked enough by other things, we get the "colorist changes nudity to a body suit" trick again, despite the dialogue explicitly hinging on Deep Blue being in the blue flesh. Bad Tom. And Calafiore's pencils are not up to his usual level.

This issue, Aquaman gives the ship's side of the story and the aliens give their side, but thanks to Tiamat ripping Strom's head off we have no doubt the aliens are either lying to us or to their emissaries. I think this issue would have been better if it left more doubt as to whether the aliens were really as bad as they've been set up to be. Leave out the Tiamat scene, leave out Arthur's side of the story, and just spend the issue with alien spin control and a bunch of fights that the reader is no longer sure Aquaman's on the right side of.