About seventy percent of the last two issues herve leger max azria has been spent on ignorant surface dwellers maligning and belittling Aquaman, only to have him soldier on while we are shown that, "no, Aquaman's not a joke! If you think about it, he's actually kinda cool, amirite?" It's almost like a response to the legions of comic readers, and members of the general public who have been Seth MacFarlane'd into thinking Aquaman just talks to fish and feels sorry for himself. When I'm reading Aquaman, I'm being given a hard sell, and I'm not buying it. Which really stinks, because I'm OK with embracing the goofiness, I'm OK with poking fun at the orange and green costume, but I am not interested in having to be convinced that it's OK to like a character whose title I've already bought. Don't show me Aquaman is cool by showing that the haters just don't understand, show me he's cool by telling a good story, and having him do something awesome.
Aquaman himself counts as a barely-there sort of presence, merely a catalyst to call to mind all the various Super Friends jokes that have been herve leger sequin bandage dress made over the years. There's no depth in him, other than to show that he's I guess kind of selfless because he'll stop bank robberies and pay for fishsticks in gold doubloons even while be harassed by people who are either hipsters or fishermen. I don't know what part of the country this is in, so I'm not sure which it is. Further, he's overshadowed by his romantic interest Mera, who time and again sets alight the page with such gems as, "How it works, is I control the water." and "They should be bowing before you... They need to be educated, and I am happy to do it!" I think if Geoff Johns could've gotten away with just writing a comic about Mera going around and intimidating all the bullies who pick on poor Aquaman, that's all we'd get in this title. I mean, it's already the bulk of this issue.
When Aquaman and Mera aren't capturing our herve leger for cheap ignorant, land-lubbing hearts with vacant stares and misplaced rage, they are investigating the brutal murder of a whole fishing village by monsters whose only thought seems to be of eating fishing villages. And by investigating, I mean Aquaman tries to be cool while Mera explains that she's pretty badass, and she'll fight with brutal violence because that's what you do when you are faced with monsters. It's a lazy plot, but the villains have the potential to be interesting and exciting, if they weren't being dragged down by Geoff Johns's inability to express horror without gore and cheap violence.
