Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Aquaman #4 (February, 2012)



With the help of phosphorescent fish, Aquaman and Mera made their way deep into the trench. On the way down, they found a large underwater craft embedded into a wall with ancient Atlantean writing on it "...from... before it sank. This craft's been here for centuries. A hull breach indicated the passengers had been eaten by what Mera deemed their "primitive... unintelligent" prey. For the first time in this continuity, the guiding fish managed to override Arthur's telepathic commands to observe their basic survival instincts.

Although their vision was limited by the dark, the Sea King felt they could handle it, but he was still wrestling with the ethics of a final solution against what he saw as a humanoid race. Mera had notably few compunctions. After all, they were soon greeted by a "sick... mutated... inbred" child/spawn of the Trench, which promptly died. It was one of hundreds born unwell by a giant queen being served by her drones. Aquaman broke off a wall of cocoons containing the kidnapped humans, then ran interference against an angry horde of creatures while Mera took the captives toward the surface. The Trench needed food for the queen and her children, and the queen herself tried to swallow the Sea King whole. Aquaman opened a volcanic vent with the hurl of a trident, apparently killing the queen. Her king and drones sought Aquaman, but between the eruption and Arthur wedging a hunk of rock into their exit route, the Trench was sealed off.

The captive humans were freed. The mother and son from a previous issue were reunited, the latter telling Aquaman "You're my favorite super-hero." The local authorities continued to be dicks, though. "I still don't like him."

Deputy Wilson showed up at Amnesty Bay with the recovered dog, whose owner was less fortunate. "You seemed to taking a liking to him and I thought, well... How about Aqua-Dog?" Mera seemed to like the pooch, if not the name, though it would have to be taught how to swim...

"The Trench: Conclusion" was by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. I liked this better when it was called Aliens. Well, except without all the stuff with Bishop and Carter Burke and Newt and Vasquez and Hudson. Pretty much just the colonists and the colonial marines that died in the first encounter. Aquaman is Hicks and Mera is Ripley and the jerky cops are all Gorman and I guess the dog is Jonesy. Oh, and it's only about five minutes long, and ends when the ship picks Ripley up from the platform. Coming in 2012: The Power Loader! Okay, actually it's "Who Sank Atlantis?" Whatevs.

New 52's Day

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