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Aquaman #9 Review

Comic Books

Aquaman #9 Review

What happens when Aquaman fights an unstoppable force? Well, judging by the cover he gets his ass beat. We delve into issue #9–is it good?

Aquaman #9 (DC Comics)

Aquaman #9 Review

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So what’s it about? The DC summary reads:

“UNSTOPPABLE” part two! In the shocking conclusion to this story, the unstoppable juggernaut carves a new path toward Aquaman’s hometown of Amnesty Bay. So far, Arthur’s attempts to halt the creature have been fruitless, but to save his friends and neighbors, the sea king must do the unthinkable.

Why does this book matter?

Writer Dan Abnett knows how to write good dialogue, pace a book well, and offer up plenty of character development. This has been one of my favorite Rebirth series and for good reason. It understands how to entertain on multiple levels!

Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?

Aquaman #9 Review
Expect mostly flash and bang.

This is a fight comic through and through, though it does offer a check-in with Mera and the Widowhood. Abnett has effectively set the stakes quite high for both Aquaman and Mera and this issue hits close to home for them both. Abnett does a good job weaving in the hatred between Atlanteans and humans via dialogue as well as focus in on Aquaman’s stubbornness to ask for help from the Justice League. If Abnett is on a mission to make Aquaman just as respected as the other members of the Justice League I think he’s clearly on the right track. The issue also ends with a clever bit of writing that ties Aquaman’s choice to his feelings towards the Justice League.

Scot Eaton draws this issue with plenty of action packed gusto. You’d think with all the punches Aquaman takes he’d have brain damage after this issue and the beast he’s fighting shouldn’t be much better off. I quite liked the bruising Aquaman acquired and the final panels do a good job showing us where the villain is off to.

It can’t be perfect can it?

Mera continues to have an awkward face here and there in this issue as she did in the last. Some panels simply look rushed or not perfected, like one later in the issue where Aquaman gets punched into the asphalt. A car is flung aside because of it and it looks like it was pasted in rather than part of the scene.

This being a fight book, there isn’t a lot of character work to chew on, nor new wrinkles added to the story. The actions in this book will assuredly add to the complexity of Atlantis/human relations, but you won’t see any of that where. Mera’s Widowhood scenes only seem to pound home the things we’ve already garnered in previous issues too.

Aquaman #9 Review
Maybe it would be better if the monster talked.

Is It Good?

This is one long fight sequence with bits of scenes or dialogue that express things we’ve seen a hundred times over in this series so far. If you want a fight book you’ll be happy, but you will not find any complexity or interesting story progression here.

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