As great as Emperor Aquaman has been, the King of Atlantis has largely been kept to his own adventures in the current “All-In” phase of DC Comics. Despite the massive power up he’s gotten after DC K.O, Arthur Curry has been content to watch over his burgeoning Atlantic Empire and keep his fellow heroes in the dark about his plans and new powers. Hell, even his wife Mera doesn’t know the full extent of Arthur’s plans. But the events of Emperor Aquaman #18 brings one person into the know with Aquaman’s new powers, as Hal Jordan makes an appearance from Jeremy Adams’ Green Lantern series to help give a prison break assist, with Paolo Villanelli on art.
Arthur’s series of lighthouse beacons connecting the Blue to the Atlantis has been going well – almost too well, which means it should come as no surprise that his plan hits a snag when the Omni Omega Entertainment Corporation flags one of his latest portals as a violation of their protection claims. Seeking to get to the bottom of their claims, Arthur travels to Prataxia Prime, where he’s overwhelmed by OOEC’s forces and captured. At the same time, Hal Jordan has also been taken in by the OOEC, who are looking to offer him a job as one of their newest recruits. With a lackluster offer of just two days off a year and clear appropriation of the Green Lantern symbol, Hal naturally objects, and when he learns of another human captive he goes to investigate, finding his old Justice League teammate Aquaman waiting for him. But getting out will be easier said than done with Hal’s ring tapped out and Arthur away from bodies of water…
One of the things that really makes this issue of Emperor Aquaman stand out from the others is the fact that we finally have Arthur interacting with the DC universe at large. While we needed some time to have the Atlantis Empire built up, the fact that no one in the DC universe was stopping to see what Arthur was up to seemed a little strange to me. By using references to other established cosmic events and characters like the OOEC and Hal’s current adventures as co-lead in Adams’ Green Lantern, Emperor Aquaman feels more connected to the larger DC books as a whole, something that has felt a little off about the publisher currently. That being said, there’s some narrative strangeness to be had with the inclusion of OOEC, who first appeared in current Lobo series (which also had an appearance from Aquaman, no less), and the inclusion of Hal will definitely feel a little abrupt for anyone not reading Green Lantern, as he just appears on a page with a handy editor’s note to fill us in. Supporting characters like Mera are also pushed to the side here, which is a little annoying to have done so many issues in a row.
That all being said, Adams’ change of pace for the series works really well with this issue, giving us a fun team up and some new introspection for Arthur to consider with his power set. He’s been so focused on setting up the Empire to help people that he’s still not fully considering the vast reach of his connection to the Blue. Sure, it’s handy to be able to stop the water in someone’s heart in a fight, but is that TOO much power to have? It’s an interesting conundrum for Arther to ponder, and I loved how Adams used Hal’s prior time as Parallax to question Arthur’s new power set.
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On the art side of things, Paolo Villanelli is the full artist on this issue after sharing double duty with John Timms. Villanelli’s slightly looser style works really well for this cosmic adventure for Arthur and Hal, bringing an otherworldly nature to the issue that suits it. While Timms is my preferred artist for the series, Villanelli is definitely a solid replacement, and his sequence when Aquaman fully unleashes his new powers n the OOEC’s forces is both awe-inspiring and horrifying. It’s no wonder Hal seems concerned after seeing that amount of firepower from his friend.
Emperor Aquaman #18 is a bit of a detour from the Conan The Barbarian sci-fi fantasy that Adams has crafted for the series post-DC K.O., but it’s a necessary change of pace to give us a larger context for Aquaman’s plans for Atlantis and his new power set in the DC universe as whole. Yes, it’s great that Aquaman wants to turn his Kingdom into a beacon for those who need it, but what about those who don’t need it? Is the new power and responsibility of his empire going to his head? Can he have absolute power over the Blue and not be corrupted? These are the questions that Adams and his artists will hopefully carry over into future issues, and I can’t wait to see how they unfold.
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