Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #54

One-sentence summary: A new, and final, chapter of the new Aquaman is beginning, with what looks to be lots of revelations packed into the last 3 issues of the series.

Aquaman has never been one of my favorites; this has continued to be true since the One Year Later rehash that is the new Aquaman. In brief, I think they missed one of the key points of a rehash when they did this, and that's to help introduce new readers to the series. I hadn't followed Aquaman before OYL, and, due to entirely coincidental reasons, that's more or less when I started reading it. As a new reader coming into the book at a new beginning, I should have been able to feel like I was on the same page with everyone else, like someone reading The Mighty Avengers #1 who didn't read the other Avengers runs. Instead, I'm thrust into this story about Sub Diego, replete with loads of characters from the original series I was unfamiliar with but clearly should have known. All in all, I couldn't enjoy it, and so it came as no shock that it's being cancelled.

That being said, though, I was intrigued by the storyline going on and wish that could have gotten more fully told. Instead, I'm sure they'll just retcon the original Aquaman back into things and end the series with that. This issue, though, isn't too bad at all. The story moves in interesting directions, and the art fits it in parts, which is nice.

I will say this about the art: I really do like the style, I'm just not sure if it fits this book with this story. It's a good style, but it just feels a bit cartoonish at times for this story. I hope McManus finds a good project after this; it'd be a shame to see him just drop off the radar.

I'm interested to see how they end this series. I hope they manage to wrap up the storylines, but I somehow really doubt that occuring, at least to a satisfactory extent. We'll see, though. Hopefully.