Reviewer: Chris Delloiacono
Story Title: Twilight of the Rhine
Written by: Rick Veitch
Penciled by: Sal Velluto
Inked by: Bob Almond
Colored by: Nathan Eyring
Lettered by: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: DC Comics
AQUAMAN has by far exceeded my expectations since the book relaunched late last year. I always enjoyed reading about Arthur/Orin in the pages of the various Justice League books, or his guest appearances in other titles, but I never read any of his many solo books regularly. He‘s always been a limited character in my mind, and other than Black Manta most of his Rogues Gallery wasn’t very interesting. The other factor that was against this book from the start, was the wretched Obsidian Age story in JLA, which returned Aquaman to the DC Universe.
While I wasn’t all that excited to see Rick Veitch on this book originally, he’s taken the character of Aquaman to new heights. This hasn’t been a political thriller following a gruff king, a fish out of water tale, or any other rehashed story. Instead Veitch has covered new ground, following the exiled King of the Seven Seas adventures on the road to reclaiming his lost kingdom. The Lady of the Lake, from Arthurian legend, has made Aquaman her Waterbearer, granting him a magical hand made up of the mysterious secret sea.
The title, which is more of a fantasy comic than superhero story, is building to an eventual confrontation with Aquaman against Hagen, the evil sorcerer that has conquered his beloved Atlantis. Rather than cutting right to the epic war to come, Veitch has instead introduced an interesting new villain, the Thirst. In my mind, with the arrival of the new baddie the series went from good to outstanding. Unleashed because Aquaman used his newfound hand for battle, the Thirst leads zombie hoards against the Lady and her sisters in hopes of devouring each of the secret seas throughout the world.
The water of the Rhine is the target of the Thirst currently, and Aquaman and his ever-faithful friend Tempest battle alongside the sister of the Rhine and her Valkyrie like army. Some in this day of trade paperbacks, may not like Veitch’s dialogue, which is very old school. Aquaman and Tempest continually tell us what’s going on, and here’s a rarity in comics today, there are lots of thought balloons. I especially liked the confrontation with the Thirst aboard his pirate ship, it’s a wonderful scene that seems like it’s out of an Errol Flynn movie.
Sal Velluto and Bob Almond have been doing a lot of work for DC recently, including the first issue of JSA: All Stars. They have worked together many times in the past and are a good team. It seems Yvel Guichet, the regular artist of AQUAMAN, has been off the book more than on during the first seven issues, and I’m really not missing him. While Guichet does nice work, I think he has some shortcomings when it comes to rendering the human elements. There really aren’t any flaws with Velluto and Almond, they craft much more complete artwork and I wish their short time on the book could continue.
All this praise said it’s a shame that Rick Veitch will be leaving the book in just five short issues. His vision of the title has been outstanding, and the new powers and direction he’s made for a stagnant character have been quite refreshing. I’ll sit back and enjoy the issues Veitch has left, than hope that DC doesn’t screw a good book up when the new writer is announced.
