Aquaman #12 - A Review

Having taken over control of the secretive group NEMO, Black Manta has launched a false-flag war, using stolen Atlantean technology on American targets. Now Aquaman must fight a war on two fronts, protecting both his home nations from each other while simultaneously searching for proof of NEMO's existence and intentions.


Dan Abnett has a long history writing military fiction. It's not a genre I've ever felt much affinity for but Abnett does a fantastic job of drawing on that experience with this story. This issue feels less like an Aquaman comic and more like The West Wing mixed with The Last Ship. Yet the story is still engaging and it's an interesting change of pace to see how a military conflict would work in the science-fiction setting of the DC Universe mixed with the usual superheroic action.

Abnett's script requires an artist of diverse talents and Philippe Briones proves worthy of the challenge. The battles in this issue depict traditional military aircraft, the sci-fi ships of Atlantis and a number of giant Godzilla-style monsters. Briones depicts them all expertly and Gabe Eltaeb's colors finish the artwork perfectly.