Geoff Johns is making me into an Aquaman fan, and that is a statement I can safely say I never expected to write.

In volume three, Johns brings in a number of different threads that have been building in the previous volumes and sets in motion a war between Atlantis and the “surface dwellers.” The Dead King’s scepter, capable of sinking entire islands into the ocean, has fallen into the hands of some mysterious Atlantean benefactor and when missiles are suddenly retargeted to fall on Atlantis, it becomes clear that this person has war in mind. Arthur, along with the rest of the Justice League, must somehow get the Atlanteans not to destroy entire cities in their quest for vengeance and find out who is behind it all.



One of the greatest strengths of this volume is the focus it puts on relationships between Arthur and the other characters. I was particularly impressed by the ties built between him and his brother Orm, the current king of Atlantis. The idea that Orm would have been raised, in common with the other Atlanteans, to both hate and fear the surface dwellers who have repeatedly murdered them and poisoned their home makes perfect sense. It made it easy to understand why Orm would turn to war when the missiles fell on Atlantis. The dichotomy between Orm, the full Atlantean, and Arthur, who has a foot in both worlds, was really well done. And I loved the relationship between Aquaman and Batman. Batman is one of the few who trusts Aquaman and understands that he has to deal with his brother without outside interference. Throughout, the relationships between characters were very well written and compelling. It made the volume an extremely fast read for me.


What makes it a bit of a tough read is the end. Orm is consistently shown to be a good king who takes care of his people and is only trying to protect them from what he sees as further proof of the betrayal of the surface dwellers. To have things end up with him trapped on the surface which disturbs and is painful to him, just for protecting his people, feels wrong. I hope it's something that gets dealt with later on in the story because I'd like to think that someone cares about all the Atlanteans who got murdered but the book ends with things exactly the way Vulko wanted them. I guess time will tell if that gets rectified. Either way, it makes for a powerful end to the volume.

This Aquaman series is doing exactly what the Wonder Woman one never did for me. It’s epic, compelling and really making me love a superhero I never gave a shit about before. Definitely one of the must-read New 52 series!