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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Aquaman (Vol.4) #5 - Apr. 1992

sgComics Weekend Continuing our examination of the briefly-running fourth Aquaman solo series!

The fifth cover in a row by Kevin Maguire, and another winner. Aquaman is pissed, and headed at you at tremendous speed. Nicely done.

Picking up from last issue, we have the goofy (yet dangerous) pro-whaling fanatic Queequeg, who has managed to get a hold of a huge cache of missiles, and fires them at our hero!

Aquaman does the old "have the missile follow me into a cave, get stuck there, and blow up harmlessly" bit ("This hasn't worked since 1975", Arthur thinks), which goes off exactly like he had hoped.

He then heads for the surface, looking to rip Queequeg a new one. While Queequeg is celebrating an early victory
:
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...yep, that's it. Queequeg is defeated.

I know this joke has been done before, but I think it almost always works. Writer Shaun McLaughlin was building this subplot over three issues, and its all over in two panels.

Aquaman then makes it on land, but before he can even introduce himself, he collapses!

He wakes up at--where else?--S.T.A.R. Labs. His body simply gave out from all the physical damage it took in the last few days. Suddenly, an old friend shows up to see him: Troia, formerly Wonder Girl!

Turns out that Arthur's old sidekick, Garth (aka Aqualad) was grievously injured in a battle with the supervillain the Wildebeest (in New Titans #72), and is in some sort of stasis tube, barely alive. The Titans wonder if Aquaman can help.

He agrees to try, and takes Garth to his people, a separatist sect of Atlanteans called The Idylists. Even though Garth is an outcast, they agree to try and care for him.

Aquaman heads back to the U.N., where he is met by his old friend, The Martian Manhunter. They go to lunch with a U.N. ambassador, and Arthur and J'onn squabble over Arthur's seeming lack of control. While he was unconscious, a massive school of fish "went crazy" in the East River, and the U.N. wants to know why.

While Aquaman is addressing the U.N. and reporters, the proverbial bad penny shows up:
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Manhunter takes on the members of Lord Iqula's men who Manta has conned into helping him, and Aquaman chases after Manta himself. Manta waits for Aquaman to get close, before firing missiles at...To be continued!


This issue features the first letters page of the series, and the reaction is very positive. There's also this mention of a future member of F.O.A.M., Chuck "D.C." Dill:
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...wow, cool! Congrats, Chuck!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's slightly embarrassing. Forgot completely about that.

DCD