Aquaman #22 - A Review

The key to the monster dubbed Dead Water lies revealed, as two more of the special team assembled by the US Navy start to transform! With a nuclear fail-safe armed and a strange new life form at the center of it all, Aquaman will face a difficult decision with a harsh price no matter what he does.



I said last time that this story-line had come to resemble a good Doctor Who story in terms of the unique science-fiction ideas suggested. The ending of H2-0 reminds me of Doctor Who for an entirely different reason. Change Mera into the companion pleading for another way to end things without violence and Aquaman to The Doctor at his most angry and you could run this story pretty much intact as a Series 10 episode. While the plot is gripping, that characterization doesn't ring true given the characters of Mera and Arthur in Rebirth. Until now, Mera was always depicted as the more aggressive of the two with Arthur working for understanding at any cost.

The artwork is similar mixed. Philippe Briones is a talented artist but some of the poses he draws here are incredibly forced. The artwork is also too heavily detailed and over-inked at points, making it frequently difficult to process the perspective. The colors by Gabe Eltaeb are nicely rendered but a good paint job can't disguise a hole in the wall.

Final Analysis: 5 out of 10. Competently executed but