Throne Of Atlantis was a crossover I was happy to pick up, as I was already reading Justice League, and I was looking for a jumping on point for Aquaman, so this was a perfect opportunity. On top of that, Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis worked on both titles for the major part of the arc, which could only be a good thing, in my humble opinion. Before I get to my other thoughts, my usual spoilers are incoming...
BEGINNING OF SPOILERS!!! Black Manta has been stealing a bunch of old Atlantean artifacts. Arthur asks his brother Orm, King of Atlantis, if they are planning to attack the surface, but Orm is all like, "Nah". Elsewhere, Aquaman's pal Vulko dives into the water to investigate after an Atlantean corpse washes up on a beach. Then a mysterious figure uses the dead king's sceptre to unleash The Trench! The USS Mabus has a weapons test go wrong and the missiles detonate near Atlantis. Cyborg notes that the Mabus seems to have disappeared. BOOM! Giant tidal waves hit Boston, Metropolis, and Gotham. Aquaman recognizes the tidal waves as the fist *ahem* wave of the Atlantean War Plan he wrote with his brother. He wants to try to resolve things peacefully and bring Orm in, but the League are all like, "Nah". The Atlantean army come out of the water and pretty much kick ass. They manage to drag the League to the bottom of the sea. Cyborg calls in reinforcements on the ground, then opts to have his remaining lung removed so he can go and save his pals. When he gets there wth Mera, The Trench shows up! The Justice League kick its ass, but loads of the monsters make it to the surface, where it turns out Vulko is controlling them! The League make it back to the surface, Aquaman kicks Orm's ass, and takes back the throne. Vulko gives him the sceptre that controls The Trench so he can send them back to the depths. Turns out this whole thing was set up by Vulko so that Arthur would be King of Atlantis again. Orm goes to Belle Reve prison, while Vulko is sent to Atlantis to stand trial. In the epilogue, someone appears to be gathering Atlantean weaponry and selling it. Also, Aquaman says sorry to all the fish for not being there for them (WTF??). A dark and mysterious figure is seen being all broody...END OF SPOILERS!!!
I honestly really enjoyed this mini-crossover. It's a nice change from the massive arcs that DC is currently running in a lot of it's titles. Having Geoff Johns writing both books prevents the story from feeling disjointed, and each book more or less carries on right from where the last one left off, which helps. The action rarely slows down, and we even get Shazam! and a bunch of other potential Justice League members showing up to lend a hand.
As for the artwork, Ivan Reis' work here is honestly just sublime. The art is solid from start to finish, and his big, double-page spreads are real wow! moments. When John Pelletier took over for the epilogue in Aquaman #17, I wasn't disappointed, but I did miss Reis.
If you're looking for deep and meaningful, look elsewhere. Aside from one scene with Clark and Diana, This story doesn't really explore any of the characters too much. Cyborg shows very little emotion in his decision to have more organs replaced with machines and the impact on Arthur's relationship with Orm especially seems to be left at a serious a loose end, although I did feel genuinely sorry for Orm by the end of it all. Having said all that, this is a superhero story, and the pacing of the action still makes Throne of Atlantis a damn good read. All your favourite DC heroes in a great big fight against (sort of) bad guys. And Aquaman grabbing Batman by the throat. Sometimes that's all you need!
UPDATE! Suddenly just realising that I would have expected those giant tidal waves to have more impact in the characters' respective books, but it would seem that isn't the case. Weird...
UPDATE! Suddenly just realising that I would have expected those giant tidal waves to have more impact in the characters' respective books, but it would seem that isn't the case. Weird...
No comments:
Post a Comment