Review: Young Romance - The New 52 Valentine's Day Special #1

(w) Ann Nocenti, Cecil Castellucci, Ray Fawkes, Peter Milligan, Kyle Higgins, Andy Diggle
(a) Emanuela Lupacchino & Jaime Mendoza, Inaka Miranda, Julius Gopez, Simon Bisley, Sanford Greene, Robson Rocha & Julio Ferreira

Since last October, DC has been celebrating the holidays with it's Li'l Gotham digital series written and drawn by fan-favorite 'chibi' artist Dustin Nguyen. For Valentine's Day, DC decided to go a different direction with an anthology issue of stories about young heroes in love. Interestingly enough, none of the characters from the Young Justice family of 'New 52' titles are featured in this issue, with Batgirl being the youngest featured character. But more on that later. Young Romance: The New 52 Valentine's Day Special #1 is an attempt to take advantage of a relationship-based holiday by highlighting some of the various romantic relationships littered throughout the DC universe. Unfortunately, this collection of six stories never manages to rise above mediocre because more that half of these stories just feel completely contrived and unnecessary.

To begin, there are a lot of logistical issues with Young Romance. As I mentioned earlier, Batgirl is the youngest hero included in this anthology. I wouldn't normally call this a problem, but the other meaning of the title is that the relationships featured are new ones, which is also a flawed claim. Aquaman and Mera have been together for years, and there's no indication that their story takes place early in their relationship. Superman and Wonder Woman have been together for a while now, for all intensive purposes. And what about all the other relationships in the 'New 52'? Instead of featuring, say, Kid Flash and Solstice, Superboy and Wonder Girl, or even Jason Todd/Roy Harper and Kori'andr, DC decided to create some new relationships out of thin air. I enjoyed seeing Nightwing find someone who can keep up with him, but the fact that Dick's story simply "END"s -- instead of possibly leading into something else like the other stories -- stops the momentum cold and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Why create something new only to give it the "bottle episode" treatment and throw it away at the end?

Narratively, Young Romance suffers at the hands of writers who don't normally handle these characters. Or in Ann Nocenti's case, mangles them. In "Think It Through", Batman and Catwoman's first meeting is basically just a flashback. Unfortunately, Nocenti only looks into the past to reveal how shallow Selina Kyle truly is before bringing readers back to the present day so Selina can remember all the things Batman said to her the first time they met. Yep: instead of actually showing Batman and Catwoman conversing, Nocenti decides to leave that all to ethereal dialogue boxes. It's an inane decision that makes absolutely no sense considering she had the ability to show the intimacy instead of telling it. Also, Batman's advice makes him sound like a misogynistic ass. Peter Milligan's "Seoul Brothers" is probably the best of the bunch because Milligan has been writing those characters and their relationship for quite a while. Aquaman and Mera in "The Dreamer" are also entertaining, but the Victorian-era love story that just so happens to mirror the current day almost exactly is grating from Cecil Castellucci's 'wink wink' attempts at cleverness.

As a first major attempt at a holiday themed anthology issue for the 'New 52', Young Romance feels like Maid in Manhattan when it should have felt like Sleepless in Seattle...or the other way around. I don't know which romantic comedies are considered good or bad. The point is that though entertaining, Young Romance feels underdeveloped, or perhaps overanalyzed. There's a lot of potential in these kind of issues, but this one misses the mark.

GRADE

6.5/10

FEATURED REVIEW: AQUAMAN #13

(w) Geoff Johns
(p) Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

"The Others" concludes this issue after a six-month adventure featuring the rag-tag team of misfits that Arthur Curry once allied. Geoff Johns has done a stellar job going beyond a simple character reboot, and has made Aquaman one of the preeminent characters in the 'New 52'. While the first arc, "The Trench", did well to give readers a general structure for Arthur and the series in general, "The Others" has been all about character development and growth - Arthur's history with Black Manta isn't as black and white (eh? eh? Get it??) as it was pre-'New 52', and that's led Johns to make both characters more interesting and fun to read than they have in years. 

Don't get me wrong, "The Others" has it's fair share of faults -- Aquaman's constant violent bitterness, Mera's ineptitude when it comes to Arthur's feelings, a whole new cast of characters that only somewhat make an impression -- but these nitpick-y criticisms are part of a larger picture that Johns is drawing concerning the King of Atlantis. Obviously, this isn't the last time we'll be hearing from Arthur's old teammates, so it makes sense that Johns didn't want to reveal everything about these characters in their introductory arc. After learning that Arthur had a whole life before meeting her, Mera doesn't really know how to approach her husband, and that's exactly what the character needs at this point in her narrative.

The biggest problem I had with "The Others" was Arthur's irrational anger and 'Lone Ranger' attitude that continued to get him into trouble. It's becoming more and more clear that Johns is using 'mystery' as a story element that applies to Arthur on a variety of different levels -- his ancestry, this friends, his motivations, etc. Arthur is an introvert, and one that seemingly gets explosively angry when others impede on his isolation. I understand wanting to make Aquaman a little rougher around the edges, but making him a huge jerk to his longtime friends is not the way to do it, per se.

That being said, Aquaman #13 turns the entire story around for me in a positive light. Arthur is finally starting to understand that by pushing away those who love him the most, he was putting them in more danger than if he had just accepted their help. At the end of Aquaman #12, Others member Vostok was murdered by Black Manta. Vostok was the most secluded of the group, spending decades waiting for the team to come back together so he could have a purpose once more. Arthur doesn't handle Vostok's death well, but in a good way. Obviously, Arthur is heartbroken that one of his oldest allies is dead, but the half-Atlantean hero uses this horrific event to motivate himself to be better than he's been.

The message Johns tries to convey with Aquaman #13 and "The Others" as a complete arc, is that Arthur Curry used to be a different man, one that used violence and anger to solve all his problems until those same qualities became the source of all his problems. Black Manta's presence was the trigger that brought the old Arthur bubbling to the surface. It's a truly genius way to write a story, letting the tale almost tell itself as Arthur's past starts to make more and more sense in context with the rest of his team. Arthur even admits, "I didn't tell you...because I'm ashamed, Mera." Arthur understands that his past is just that -- the past. He wants to separate himself from the chaotic man he used to be, but the ghosts of former mistakes keep rearing their heads.

In the end, Johns reveals that Black Manta's entire mission was simply building up to the upcoming "Throne of Atlantis" crossover with Justice League. Manta answers to someone, but we don't yet know who. It's most likely Arthur's half-brother, Orm (more popularly known as Ocean Master), but knowing Geoff Johns and his penchant for throwing curve balls, it may be someone even more sinister. Aquaman #13 is as perfect a conclusion issue as one can get. It neatly (but not too easily) wraps up "The Others", shows how the protagonist has learned and grown because of the events that transpired, and it deftly makes readers excited for the next story.

GRADE

9.5/10

(COMIC) AQUAMAN #10

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Andy Lanning

Last month, the big reveal was that Aquaman killed Black Manta's father when Arthur's father had a heart attack shortly after Manta attacked them. It was a major twist in the Aquaman/Black Manta history, and one that changes their core relationship. Pride is something neither man is in short supply of, which means their feud is everlasting and intensely personal.

Aquaman #10 begins with The Operative trying to figure out how Black Manta knew where to find the other members of The Others. After infiltrating Manta's headquarters, the Operative is revealed to be a fairly old man who works out of a giant military plane with his son who thinks his father needs to get out of the game before he gets himself killed. Geoff Johns has included a lot of diversity in Aquaman thus far (Shin, Manta, Ya'wara, etc.) and takes it one step further by including an old person. I hesitate to say 'elderly' because that sounds a bit more fraile, which the Operative definitely is not.

The rest of the issue features Shin's recounting of the events surrounding Arthur and Manta's feud to Mera, which also acts as the narration to the confrontation between the Others and Black Manta. Johns expertly weaves Shin's tale into the scenes of Aquaman against Black Manta, moving between flashbacks and the present with a flow not unlike that seen in Green Lantern: Rebirth. Arthur's rage is real, yet Ivan Reis' artwork vividly conveys the obvious doubt Arthur has about the situation, however minute that feeling may be. When Aquaman rages out at Ya'wara about killing Black Manta, you can see the anger in Arthur's eyes. The thing is, Arthur didn't even mean to kill Manta's father. Arthur goes after Black Manta, whom he believes to be alone on a fishing boat, and accidentally kills Manta's father while Manta is diving.


Instead of a conflict of pure vengeance and rage, the relationship between Aquaman and Black Manta in the 'New 52' is based on deep-seeded emotional issues and the transfer of blame tied to the death of their respective fathers. Family stands as a core element of Aquaman, and Johns' reimagining of the Aquaman/Black Manta feud is astonishingly good, especially when coupled with Arthur's past secrets being unearthed one person at a time.

GRADE

A

(COMIC) AQUAMAN #9

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, and Andy Lanning

"The Others" has been a fantastic narrative, thus far, that has opened up a whole new chapter in Arthur Curry's life that readers have never seen before. Of course, Geoff Johns is making Aquaman's team before the Justice League a new incarnation, but that's just the funniest thing; the 'Others' seem so familiar and normal that it feels like they've been around for years and we're just now getting to know them. I'm sure that's the sentiment Johns was going for, but he pulls it off spectacularly well. Paying a writer to pen an origin story?: $2,000 (I'm thinking, I don't know). Feeling close to characters you just met?: Priceless.

In Aquaman #9, the search for the rest of the Others continues with the Prisoner, a man who can construct things out of water? It's not entirely clear at this point what the Prisoner's powers are as opposed to what power he gains from the golden gauntlets when Black Manta attacks him in his hospital bed. Ya'wara and Arthur discuss the rest of the gang: Vostok is coming to meet them from his self-imposed isolation on the Moon, the 'Operative' "will find us. He always does," explains Arthur, with only the Prisoner's fate left up to chance. Aquaman is so good because it builds and shows rather than tells readers what is happening. Basically, Aquaman is the exact opposite of Scott Lobdell's Superboy.

The latter six or seven pages are dedicated to Dr. Shin's recount of Arthur's history with Black Manta. An understandably impatient Mera demands the tale out of the cowardly doctor who reveals that, indirectly, it was Shin himself who was responsible for most of Arthur's misfortune. After studying and helping Arthur for years during his childhood, Shin expressed interest in taking Arthur's abilities public. Arrhur's father, Thomas, hated the idea and immediately took Arthur and cut off all ties and communication with Shin. Shin went on to publish his findings, but without proof, he became a laughing stock in the scientific community. Desperate to reclaim his reputation, Shin hired Black Manta to retrieve a sample of Arthur's DNA. Manta and Thomas Curry fight and Manta manages to escape, albeit without the DNA. See, this was the point in the old Aquaman story where Manta killed Thomas Curry and sent Arthur on his path toward righteous redemption. This time around, Thomas lives. Unfortunately, he dies of a heart attack a week later and - in a fit of rage - Arthur murders Black Manta's father.

...

See what they did there? THEY JUST BLEW OUR MINDS! It's interesting and awesome how writers are using the 'New 52' relaunch to make DC's heroes more human. No one is perfect, and the original origin stories that have followed my favorite characters around for decades made them all look like saints and martyrs in every way. Reality is less polished and writers like Geoff Johns and Scott Snyder know this, which is why their books are consistently the best ones.

Johns has fundamentally changed the game between Aquaman and Black Manta. While their histories still intertwine significantly, Arthur's former golden-boy status is gone and Manta's evil ways are no longer as arbitrary. Everything is better than the pre-'New 52' Aquaman and it shows no signs of slowing down soon.

GRADE:

A+

(COMIC) AQUAMAN #8

STORY: Geoff Johns
ART: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

It feels like, at this point, there's not much to be said about Aquaman that I haven't already expressed in spades over the course of the last four months. Geoff Johns is a stellar writer and he obviously has a soft spot in his heart for characters who've lost their true essence. In 2004, Johns took Green Lantern and revitalized that franchise to a point where DC was basically framed around the workings of the GL universe for nearly three years. And while the imprint is no longer as GL-centric as it once was, Johns brings the same passion and bravado to Arthur Curry in the pages of Aquaman. This month's second part of "The Others" give us a little more insight into Aquaman's life before the events of the series thus far, which seems to take place before Arthur joins the Justice League but not much before.

Starting six years in the past, Johns shows us paparazzi are hassling a young Arthur before he throws a temper tantrum and jumps into the sea. Flash-forward to the present and Arthur decides to take off with Miss No-name-from-last-issue because of something having to do with a group of superhumans that worked together, but were never (technically) a team. In true Geoff Johns style, the storyline at this point is still cryptic and hidden under layers of intricate backstory that Johns has masterfully crafted, so I'm not super worried about the eventual conclusion.

My only gripes with Aquaman #8 would be the a general lack of real movement in plot. While we get a lot of backstory, the present-day panels and flashbacks didn't flow as well as they could have, and Ivan Reis' art this issue seemed a bit sloppy, a bit rushed. But like I've said many a-time, Aquaman is still one of my favorite series of the 'New 52' and issue eight still impresses beyond most of the other top-tier books in DC's lineup.

GRADE:

B+

(COMIC) AQUAMAN #7

Written by Geoff Johns
Artwork by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Aquaman has been getting some amazing treatment from Geoff Johns in the 'New 52'. With an amazing four-issue opening arc and subsequent focus on Arthur's wife, Mera, Aquaman has been heavily praised as one of the best titles currently featured by DC Comics.

This month's prelude to "The Others" introduces Black Manta into the 'New 52' with a murder - fitting for one of Aquaman's oldest and deadliest enemies. Manta kills a woman named Kahina the Seer and vows to kill her family before taking out Arthur and "everything he loves", which I'm sure includes Atlantis. Meanwhile, Aquaman and Mera round up some ships stuck out at sea during an oddly violent storm before paying Dr. Stephen Shin a visit concerning the Atlantean relic Arthur found last issue. In the middle of their discussion, a mysterious woman attacks them, claiming Shin fed Black Manta information about Kahina and "the others".

Geoff Johns is a master storyteller who can give readers just enough information to make them think without giving too much away. Where writers like Brian Michael Bendis have a knack for creating stories more suited for graphic novels, Johns' talent lies in month-to-month, episode-style writing. Shin's photograph on the last page shows Arthur working with a group of warriors (at least that's what it looks like) teases readers by revealing a new chapter in Arthur's life without telling us anything about it! Anticipation counts for a lot when it comes to monthly series', and Johns does it so, so well.

GRADE:

A

(REVIEW) Aquaman #6

Written by Geoff Johns
Artwork by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado

Most characters throughout DC history have some sort of world built around them. While each publisher's universe mostly exists as a coherent setting for a majority of their books, individual characters bring their own villains, their own back stories, supporting cast and their own, unique set of problems to solve. Aquaman's "character world" is one of the most interesting. Atlantis, as a comic book idea, exists as a world removed from our own - much like aliens, only living under our oceans.

Aquaman #5 is all about the disconnection between the sea and the surface. Instead of focusing on Arthur, Geoff Johns chose to highlight Mera, Arthur's wife. In the 'New 52', Mera has never ventured into human civilization, which gives Johns a whole world - literally - to play with. Unfortunately, he chose to talk about sexism. Now, I'm all for tackling social issues in comic books. DC has a long history of making social and civil issues a part of their stories. But in this case, Johns misses the mark and it comes off as paltry. It's a bit disconcerting, on her first visit to actual human society, that Johns would immediately put her in a situation to be objectified. It's pandering to an idea that Atlanteans must have a bad impression of surface-dwellers due to bad experiences. Honestly, I'd hoped Johns would have taken a more experimental route with his Human-Atlantean relations.

All in all, it was still a great issue. Mera's show of force is so much fun to read, and Ivan Reis' artwork is fantastic in conveying the action. The water looks like it's moving and has more density than normal, facial expressions are rich and textured, while the lanscapes are subtly shaded and colored. Unfortunately, exceptional art can't save the story from being a tad boring. I'll wait patiently to get back to Atlantis' origins...until next month.

GRADE:

B-