Broken Frontier

Many mysteries continue to confound the remaining habitants of the now ruined city of Atlantis, including King Orin’s current metamorphic state and the threat of a great evil connected to it all.

Now here we go again. Aquaman seems to be continuously rolling under the wheels of change thanks to the upturning of the status quo when One Year Later swept across the DC Universe. I’m still reeling from all the mysterious changes that took place, and now that we’ve reached the milestone 50th issue, more changes are upon us.

This time popular literary fantasist Tad Williams takes over from outgoing writer Kurt Busiek in order to further push the boundaries of the sword and sorcery conventions eclipsing this title. Now I’m not sure what to make of his initial story here, but he’s obviously one writer with a mission to plunge the readers into a compelling epic through and through. He also wasted no time at all to set the stage for a great coming evil (The Awaited One) which is seemingly connected to Orin and of the remaining citizens of Atlantis. To top that bombastic plot thread, further developments unfolded when Tempest shows up in a confused state and a brand new villain debuts seeking to obliterate Orin from the sea floor.

So are you as intrigued as I am? Well, I would certainly hope so since Williams definitely has a plan for Orin and co. that I am sure will keep readers guessing for the next several months. His method of multi-layered plotting pushed the story into new directions that left me wanting more, and that’s a good sign since I was slowly tuning out from Busiek’s last few issues. Thankfully I am feeling a sense of freshness again, as Mr. Williams puts his spin onto things to breathe new life into a concept that started to stagnate. For the time being at least he’s caught my attention once again, so I am going to give him a few months to prove that the sword and sorcery concept can work in this series.

My only complaint though so far, really comes down to artist Shawn McManus. Now it’s not that I don’t appreciate the quality of his work, but it’s just that he’s taken a more whimsical approach with his drawing abilities. For whatever reasons, I can’t help but make a comparison to someone like Windsor McKay and perhaps it’s just in the way he (Shawn) illustrates his facial expressions. This comparison seems to stick in my mind, but I think the greater issue for me is that the story and art don’t quite match as well as they should. I feel that high fantasy concepts like this one here should be graced by artwork that is a little more prolific for my tastes.

Ultimately for me, this series continues to revel in the idea of altering the mythos of Aquaman at every turn. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a great story, but in the back of my mind I am wondering what is the point of all this. Certainly the full effects of One Year Later are still sweeping through this title and if nothing else a little mystery here indeed goes a long way. I am curious to know how Tad Williams intends to put his own personal stamp onto things, and he obviously got off to a rocking good start thus far. Now, if only he could tell me which Aquaman is which, but I guess that’s a question that will have to be answered in due time.