Aquaman is definitely a comic that’s written for the trade paperback format. The plot itself moves very slowly issue by issue with more focus being given to worldbuilding. It’s decompression at it’s best and worst. The content itself is very good and definitely worth a read, however it’s probably best left for reading when it comes into a trade format when you can get the whole issue all in one go. The writing by Dan Abnett is great as always and the art by Ricardo Federici has a very high fantasy feel to it. The artwork is really great, especially how the inks of the artwork are very fine, and the coloring by Sunny Gho really enhances the high fantasy feel of Federici’s art.
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
“THE KINGSLAYER” part two! Aquaman and the resistance hatch a new plan to assassinate King Rath and end the Atlantean Civil War! But even with a double agent strategically placed inside Rath’s inner circle, the resistance may not stand a chance, as Rath’s new magical abilities make him more lethal–and unstable–than ever before!
Murk should go to Hollywood to act.
Tell me about it!
Aquaman is the curious case of decompression. Everything since issue #25 has been incredibly decompressed, barely furthering the plot itself. While I know a few people who really like this due to how Abnett is using the decompression for worldbuilding, it just doesn’t work as well for me personally as the plot itself moves so slowly that it’s sometimes hard to remember if it’s moved much at all. This issue itself actually has some things happen and sets the stage going forward, however knowing the future solicits that the finale won’t be until the final issue of Mera comes out makes me nervous going forward due to there being another issue before that can even happen. What that likely means is a very decompressed issue going forward. People complained about how Metal had the heroes constantly losing until the end and Aquaman feels similar, as Arthur has achieved very few victories in the past ten issues while the story of King Rath drags out.
Overall I’d recommend this story arc but would probably advise you wait until the trade paperback is released in order to get the full story all at once.
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