Written by Kurt Busiek
Art by Butch Guice; Todd Klein; & Dan Brown
Cover Art by Butch Guice & Dan Brown
SUMMARY:
Published for July 2006 by DC Comics, this One Year Later issue is entitled “Deep Down.” A mysteriously amnesiac Aquaman lookalike calling himself ‘Arthur Curry’ declines Queen Mera’s offer to join her domain. Accompanied by his new pal, King Shark, a wandering Arthur reveals a hint of his mighty powers while brawling in the underwater Whale’s Gullet pub.
After a sexual interlude with a sultry mermaid named Tejaia (curiously resembling Mera), Arthur answers a beacon summoning Aquaman. Bringing King Shark as his ally, Arthur meets the Sea Devils team, who soon introduce him to a ghost from Aquaman’s past.
Note: In this continuity, the dead (or MIA) Aquaman is Orin of Atlantis.
REVIEW:
The stylishly murky visuals make sense, as they are this issue’s best creative element. Yet, by reinventing the DC’s aquatic icon as a gentleman stranger/barbarian of the Seven Seas, Kurt Busiek’s languid storytelling does far too little to make this ‘new’ Aquaman seem even close to a big-league DC character. Primarily, this soggy version of Aquaman (at least, in this issue’s scenes) is bogged down, as there’s no other character packing an ounce of charisma, short of Mera’s single sequence.
Despite working with appropriate imagery, Busiek’s effort at intelligently mining an Arthur Curry reboot in Aquaman # 43, unfortunately, makes for a blah read. In that sense, the tawdry cover image is merely a diversion — it doesn’t rescue the bland scripting.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT:
Dan DiDio’s “DC Nation” column includes thumbnail glimpses at covers for Detective Comics # 819; JSA # 85; Superman # 652; and Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis # 43.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 4 Stars
