Aquaman (2016) #1-6

Aquaman #1-6

Originally released in 2016

Written by Dan Abnett

Art by Brad Walker

Out of DC's Big Seven (the original founding members of the Justice League - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Barry Allen as the Flash, Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman), I haven't really touched on Aquaman (a.k.a. Arthur Curry) yet, so I figured I should do that.  DC Rebirth served as a soft reboot for DC's comics after the New 52, serving as a course correction for several franchises, and in this case, Aquaman and Mera are engaged to be married after Flashpoint and the New 52 reboot seemingly undid their marriage.

Their relationship isn't perfect; Mera has issues with Arthur's "surface-dweller stubbornness" and his nobility and optimism combining to make him take actions that might not work out as well as he thinks, while Arthur has to keep Mera from killing.  However, I'm sure it was refreshing to see their romance getting focus at all when it seemingly wasn't for the past few years before this.

Arthur plans to open an Atlantean embassy in the United States, which is interrupted by Black Manta.  As this is happening, an American submarine is attacked by a group of undersea warriors who are claiming to be Atlanteans - while it's not said specifically in these issues, it seems like a reasonable guess that Aquaman's half-brother, Orm (a.k.a. the Ocean Master) is behind this.  The two of them are solid villains, with the cycle of revenge that Aquaman and Black Manta are stuck in helping to drive their characters forward, but it would be nice if we got to see more of Aquaman's rogues gallery beyond those two. (with over eighty years worth of material, I figure he'd have built up a rogues gallery beyond two villains)

As a result of the alleged Atlantean terrorist attack, Aquaman is arrested, though by his own admission, it's purely symbolic because he could easily break out at any time, and he's choosing to cooperate out of hope that the US government will see reason and work together with Atlantis to find who's responsible.  Atlantis itself doesn't get much focus, aside from Tula, who's serving as regent while Aquaman and Mera are on land. I'm not sure who Tula is, or how she's related to Aquaman or Mera.

One thing leads to another, Mera realizes that Arthur's plan is going nowhere, and she breaks him out of jail.  This forces them to fight off the US military and, eventually, Superman, who tries to get them to back down because he doesn't want Justice League members to view themselves above the law.

The writing doesn't quite go as far as "Superman is a government lapdog" like in Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns", but it veers uncomfortably close to that while engaging in a bit of meta-commentary about Aquaman's relative lack of popularity within the League. I wasn't really a fan of this part of the book - Aquaman has his reasons for not wanting to accept help, but it kind of felt like Aquaman was needlessly confrontational here and Superman takes the government's side over Aquaman's, seemingly not considering the idea that Aquaman could have been framed until Aquaman brings it up.

The art is clean throughout, though I have mixed feelings about the writing, particularly towards the end.  The romance between Mera and Arthur was well-written, but the wedge driven between Arthur and the rest of the Justice League seems a bit forced. (I get why it's happening, but you would think that the JL members would be making more of an effort to support Arthur's claims of innocence or working to prove that he's innocent) It feels like a good jumping-on point for Aquaman as a character, though.