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Saturday, June 21, 2008

Aquaman (Vol.4) #4 - March 1992

sgComics Weekend Last weekend's posts on the briefly-running fourth Aquaman series were well-received, so I thought we'd keep going!

This fourth issue sports another fine cover by Kevin Maguire, a classic superhero battle!

Picking up from last issue, we have Lord Iqula and his army of warriors marching---er, swimming--- towards the now-unprotected city of Poseidonis, which has had its protective dome shattered by an attack by surface dwellers.

And now a massive school of sharks are making their way towards the city, and for some reason Aquaman is not able to deter them from their mission.

Aquaman fights his way towards Iqula, who wants to take control of the city in the name of protecting it. When Aquaman tries to argue, Iqula dismisses him, saying he spends far too much time above the water, and not enough with his own people.

Iqula claims he is the rightful ruler of the seas, but Aquaman has a counter-argument
:
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...I like Arthur's line, "Now, about this 'at one with the seas' business." I love it when Aquaman gets to be funny!

Aquaman and Iqula engage in battle, after Iqula's men attack Poseidonis' army, again all in the name of protection. He manages to defeat Iqula, who calls his army back. But just as he does, a mysterious, ominous, manta-shaped ship appears...

Meanwhile, Aquaman heads back into the city to check on his old friend Vulko, who was injured in the earlier attack. At the moment Vulko is confused, and doesn't remember anything of the recent past:
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Also meanwhile, a raving zealot (who we briefly saw last issue) pilots a whaling ship, searching for "the false prophet of environmentalism: Aquaman." Oh boy.

Aquaman is asked to speak for Poseidonis at the U.N., to resolve the conflicy between it and the country of Oumland. He agrees, but when he surfaces he is attacked by our fanatic, who calls himself "Queequeg, Master of the Techno-Sonar Militarism!"

Aquaman's first response? "Oh, great...a fanatic." To be continued!


I like how Aquaman gets a few brief moments to be funny here. He's usually so serious, so dour, that when he makes a joke it makes a real impact.

Also, this Queequeg guy is goofy, so its neat to have writer Shaun McLaughlin have Aquaman admit that right up front.

F.O.A.M. member Shag Matthews owns a page of original art from this book, and he generously sent me a scan so we can compare the original page by Ken Hooper and Bob Dvorak:
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...to the final printed version:
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...sometimes, you can get a real idea just how much work goes into a single comic book page. No wonder I gave up on the whole idea while I was at the Kubert School!

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