Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Aquaman #7 (April, 2012)



In Brazil, Kahina the Seer was pursued through the jungle by Black Manta, who was able to counter her precognitive abilities. After a brief battle, Manta unmasked the woman and himself, revealing three jagged scars across his face. "You're looking for that savage girl, aren't you? I find her, she dies like you. And after I kill you, I will go to Tehran and I will kill your family... Your husband. Your children. I will clean them like a fish. As I do everyone." Kahina died bloodily, and a golden object of power was taken from her body.



In the Atlantic, Aquaman and "Aquawoman" helped ships caught in a storm, then revisited Dr. Stephen Shin. Aquaman ripped his front door off the hinges, then demanded information on the Atlantean relic that he had found. As the device was examined, Ya'Wara and her jaguar emerged from some sort of teleportational portal with designs on killing Shin. Mera wrestled the jungle chica through a wall, then pitted a water-construct panther against the real thing. Aquaman stopped the catfight. "'Calm down'? Since when have you been calm, Arthur? ...The seer is dead... He left her butchered body in my jungle. And he took the Golden Seal from her." Ya'Wara believed Shin had a vendetta against "the others," and was in league with Black Manta. Those "others" were Aquaman's original team in New 52 continuity, including The Operative, Prisoner of War, and Vostok-X.



"The Others" was by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado. Not the worst designs ever, but you can still tell that most of these new heroes will be dead before the story is over just from looking at them. Off the unique heroine in a burka, but spotlight the generic jungle girl with power over the beasts? Well, she's the Aquaman of the jungle animals, complete with complimentary "VEE VEE VEE" mental projections. Watch her turn out to be the one working with Manta, so that she can be a continuing foil for Mera.

The art team (including Reis, Prado and a different Reis) are so pretty I want to tongue-kiss their work, but I'm officially over Geoff Johns' anemic scripts. Nine pages of a chick running through the jungle, seeing a vision of her demise, then getting a variation of it. 94 words are uttered, most monosyllabic, across 39 panels. The book in total has 34 silent panels, 21 panels with five-or-less words, and there are four splash pages (1/5th of the issue.) That offends me as a person who enjoys reading stories, as opposed to a collection of scenes. I'm not confident I'll continue reading this past September...

New 52's Day

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