Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others TPB Review

Title:	Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others
Contributors:	Geoff Johns Ivan Reis Joe Prado
Publisher:	DC Comics
Issue #:	2
Year:	2013
Pages:	160 Pages
Age Rating:	13+ (Violence)
Story Grade:	B
Art Grade:	A

Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others takes Aquaman into a completely new character realm from Aquaman Vol. 1: The Trench. Before joining the Justice League, Aquaman belonged to another group of superheroes known as The Others and over the course of their adventures in trying to find redemption for themselves they crossed lines that superheroes aren't supposed to cross and now six years later, they are being called to the carpet for it.

Geoff Johns really does take Aquaman's character in a new direction in this volume and it is definitely entertaining, enlightening and a bit darker for superhero character.

John's is no longer focusing anything on the real world humor of Aquaman's character being a joke. Instead he dives deep into Aquaman's past and shows a darkness that many people wouldn't forgive; Aquaman killed a man's father out of revenge. And now that solitary act of vengeance is coming back to haunt him and the rest of The Others.

John's turns his writing of Aquaman and Black Manta into a darker more tragic characters that are flawed and damaged. He does this while maintaining that Aquaman is trying to be a changed man. He does this carefully as to not make the characters broody or overly emotionally or unstable, but rather they are prone to angry and vengeful outbursts that make them irrational at times, which works really well, because who can't relate to angry and overly emotional outbursts; ever hear of a morning commute?

He balances this character imbalance out with Mera and The Others, who are a mixture of voices of reason, visions of doom and gloom and one or two that are outright depressing. But it is this balance that allows the characters to play well together and keep the story from weighing too heavily on one end of spectrum or the other; dark and sad or light and funny.

John's does a nice job of using a series of flashback sequences to tell several stories; how Aquaman came to be an arch-nemesis to Black Manta and how The Others interacted years ago. It is during these flashbacks that you see Aquaman's determination for revenge, which comes across as very dark for a character that was being painted as such a regal character of high morals and ideologies in Vol.1. It is refreshing to knock a hero off his pedestal once in a while.

A lot of people have been raving about one of the The Others' characters called The Prisoner. The Prisoner is a man who carries around the ghosts of his fallen comrades as a sort of survivors guilt. This is his cross to bear sort of thing.

This character would be deserving of his own book. A story that could explore the depth of guilt and suffering that a survivor goes through, but shaped into a type of superhero, would be a lot like the current Magneto run happening over at Marvel, but with a supernatural twist to it. Add to that a dash of The Punisher because, afterall, The Prisoner is a trainer killer and add a pinch of Dissociative Personality Disorder and you have The Prisoner.

It would definitely be worth writing and definitely worth reading if Johns wrote it. I know I would be all over it. How about you? Would you read a story about a character like that?

The artwork, like in Vol 1 is stellar. Again Ivan Reis and
Joe Prado come together to make use of large panels filled with almost as much prose in them as Johns' writing.

Reis and Prado contribute almost as much to the storytelling through their art as Johns does in his writing. That's not an overstatement, that's just me being honest about their work.

Even the smaller panels are 1/3 of the page for the most part and each panel wastes not a single drop of ink on fluff. If it doesn't contribute to the story, it isn't there. The action sequences are fast-paced, packed with dynamic action that flows from one panel to the next with lush, exciting colors that jump off the pages at you.

All in all I have to grade this book a B+. It has completely cemented my love of Aquaman again and I look forward to getting caught up on the New 52 Aquaman as soon as possible and have it be a part of my monthly pull.

Until next time... Here's to swimming with the Fishes.