Tempest #1 (of 4): Great art, exposition-laden story with little mystery for the reader. Mildly recommended. $1.75/$2.50Cn
"Gaos Tastes Like Mummy Meat" Award to Tempest #1
Tempest "Prophets and Kings Act 1: Dead Ringers": Well, it's drawn by Phil Jimenez, so the art is beautiful. It is also written by Phil, and as a result the story is a little less than inspiring. Evil Sorceror Bent On Immortality has captured Poseidon and Neptune and plans to use Garth in some way to transfer their immortality to him. Along the way we get huge steaming chunks of backstory, necessary since there's about five people not involved in the production of this book that know all of Garth's multiply-retconned backstory. }->
Much of the time we have a situation where the reader knows what's going on, but Garth doesn't. This is tough to pull off without making the main character seem stupid, and Jimenez more or less succeeds in that end, but it's still kinda dull in places. "Okay, Tula's a zombie creation who will betray Garth in an issue or two, yadda yadda yadda." That sort of thing.
Just in case the exposition density isn't high enough in the comic itself, there's also a text page to fill in even more.
The comic looks nice and moves along, but I can't really say it's "interesting," since it's so textbook-like. Very little to engage my interest.
Tempest #2 (of 4): The story goes somewhere finally, although the extended catfighting gets old. Mildly recommended. $1.75/$2.50Cn
"Love Hurts" Award to Tempest #2
Tempest "Blood and Ebony" starts with Garth having a bad dream about Tula that turns out to be a warning from Atlan. More "open mystery" stuff that tends to irk me when not pulled off well, and Jimenez only manages to do that about half the time. While the story actually moves some this time, it continues to get bogged down in foreshadowing the obvious and the Tula/Letifos catfighting. This is one book I think could have benefitted from Ruben Diaz's heavy editorial hand.
Tempest #3 (of 4): Lovely art, but the story just doesn't do anything for me. Mildly recommended. $1.75/$2.50Cn
"Gee, You Look Nothing Like Your Family Portrait" Award to Tempest #3 (of 4)
Tempest "Dead In The Water": Revelations and retcons are the order of the day, as Garth finds out his real background and the fact that Slizzath is his uncle. The art continues to be lovely, but for some reason the story continues to not really grab me. So little is surprising, and what there is that surprises seems to do so in the wrong way (gosh, robots and kewl cybergear, that's not what I expected). Exposition and fights bound together by a threadbare minimalist plot. Sigh.
Tempest #4 (of 4): Gorgeous art, somewhat lightweight story, effective ending. Recommended. $1.75/$2.50Cn
"In Memoriam" Award to Tempest #4 (of 4)
Tempest "Requiem": Letifos's people and the rest of the Idyllists join in the battle royale, but it all ends up coming down to Garth accepting that the thing which looks like Tula isn't really her (helped along by Leitfos and Atlan), then taking his power back and using it to whomp on Slizzath once and for all. A lot of art in the service of not a whole lot of story, but hey, at least the art is gorgeous (although some of the layouts were confusing). Sorta like action movie pacing...not a whole lot of plot advancement happens in the final quarter, but it takes a while to happen and is chock full of special effects. }->
In the end, two well-spent pages have Garth finally making his peace with Tula's death. It's a bit rambling, but quite real...after all, Garth isn't a poet or anything, mourners do tend to ramble.
Also, I think Garth's mourning is based on Jimenez's own mourning for Neal Pozner, to whom the series is dedicated. The final scene isn't just about Garth and Tula, it's about Phil and Neal. And while a lot of times I've seen that sort of genuine sentiment seem trite and fake (as someone who didn't share the original grief), it worked pretty well this time.
The letters page explains the origin of Tempest's costume as an homage to Aquaman's own outfit designed by Pozner for the pre-Crisis miniseries.