Review: Aquaman and the Others #1 by Dan Jurgens and Lan Medina

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Review:  Aquaman and the Others #1

“Legacy of Gold Part I of V”

Published by DC Comics

Written by Dan Jurgens

Art by Lan Medina and Allen Martinez

Coloured by Matt Milla

The Plot

Many years ago Atlan seeks the Gold of Legacy from the Alchemist in order to reclaim his place in Atlantis.  These are what will eventually form the artifacts that each member of the Others will possess.  He then resorts to some ethically questionable means in order to attain them.  Fast forward to the present and the Prisoner of War is pondering a bad situation concerning military vets in America.  However, he is approached by some masked assailants and found that the Manacles of Force are not functioning properly.  Over in Brazil, Ya’wara is dealing with some poachers and finds that the Globe of Transportation is not working either.  Nonetheless she is still able to deal with the poachers with the assistance of her cat.  Meanwhile, a woman named Sky Alchesay is in the Ghost Lands (which is not located on Earth per se) and she now possesses the Seal of Clarity, which once belonged to the deceased Kahina.  She is attacked by the same people who went after the Prisoner and she is able to use her own abilities to deal with them.  Somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, the Operative is in the middle of a mission and his artifact, the Key, is not working.  He is also attacked, but is assisted by Aquaman who shows up just in time.  In Trezygstan, we briefly see one of the people behind the attacks for the Atlantean artifacts.  Meanwhile, in the Living Room (the Operative’s plane), the Others are gathered and there are some tensions within the group.  Before they can come to any resolution, the plane is struck.  Over in Iran, Kahina’s husband is attempting to see her sister, Sayeh, who has been having troubling visions.  She is then abducted by the masked men and she reveals her startling vision.

The Breakdown

This was a good first issue.  The fallout from “the Others” arc was justified considering the losses that they faced.  Also, it appears that Aquaman failed to keep in contact with them after the conclusion of that arc as well.  His presence was felt in this issue, but I’m glad that the other characters got some decent screen time.  One part that surprised me was when the Operative was attacked because I assumed that he would be able to deal with assailants with ease.  However, he was the one that ended up needing Aquaman’s help whereas the Prisoner, Ya’wara, and Sky were able to deal with them effectively on their own.  Sky is a new character and so far I like her.  She is out of the loop with the Atlantean War, but yet she knows about the Others and the Artifacts.  She has a confident attitude, which keeps her from being out of her depth with the other characters.  Also, I liked how she utilized the Ghost Lands to deal with the masked men.  I also like how the Prisoner is able to effectively utilize his curse now (which we did see some of at the end of “the Others” arc).  This issue really benefits from having the relationships being previously established in the Aquaman title.  I also liked the appearance of the masked assailants.  I think it’s because their design had some sort of old school Bronze Age feel to them.  The backstory with Atlan also got my attention because up until this point, he seemed to be more heroic than what his character was in this issue.  I’m also looking forward to how this history is going to affect the Others in the present day.  I enjoyed how even though Kahina died very quickly in “the Others” arc, she is still having an impact on the current story.  There were some good lines in this book such as when Aquaman made a Batman quip while helping the Operative retrieve his artifact.  The one thing I really liked about the Others is that even though the Artifacts are very powerful, they just complement them and they don’t have to rely upon them as they have other skills and abilities.  The cliffhanger on the last page has me very intrigued as I didn’t expect this particular conflict to show up in this title.  When I saw the cover (for some reason) I thought that maybe Ivan Reis was doing the interior art and was briefly disappointed when I realized that he wasn’t.  However, that disappointment quickly went away when I saw the solid job that Medina did on the interiors.  There were some very strong panels and pages in this book and I’m very glad that Medina is handling the art duties in this book.  Overall I enjoyed it.

BUT…

If there is a replacement for Kahina, I was wondering why there wasn’t one for Vostok as well (he also died in “the Others” arc).  There were a couple of small odd visuals in this book.  One was how Aquaman was posing with his fist in the air while in the Living Room as he was standing over the map.  One thing that annoyed me, but isn’t due to the creative team at all is the New 52 thing on the cover.  It’s frickin’ 2014 now. 

Buy It, Borrow It, Shelf Read It, or Ignore It?

Buy It.  I honestly never thought I’d see Aquaman leading in two different titles.  As far as first issues go, I enjoyed this one and I’m looking forward to seeing what is going to happen.  I had to do a page recount because it seemed like more than 20 pages long.  I enjoy it when I feel like I get more of a bang for my buck.  I have a good feel for all of the characters and I think Jurgens will effectively build them up even more from the Aquaman title.  This title is accessible to new readers and doesn’t hinge upon reading “the Others” arc.  Between this and Detective Comics, I’ve actually added two DC titles to my reading list.  I also like how Sky is from a reservation in Arizona…yay for diversity! A solid read and I’m looking forward to the next issue.

I have been both an avid and casual comic reader over the years (depending on the quality of books). I have been reading Comics Nexus even prior to it becoming Comics Nexus and am glad to be a columnist. In addition, feel free to leave comments whether you agree or disagree because it always leads to discussions.