AQUAMAN & THE OTHERS #1 / ACTION/DETECTIVE COMICS #30 [Reviews]: Legacy of Justice.

It’s that time again, fellow congregation. You guessed it:

The Fistful of Comics!

This round is courtesy of GHG‘s Master-of-all-things-DC — Minister Gabe! Which means, we’ve got a bunch of DC stuff, an Image comic, and … a Spider-Man comic?? How does everyone’s friendly neighborhood property of Mickey Mouse hold up? Read on.

Jump to:
-Action Comics #30
-Detective Comics #30
-Ultimate Spider-Man #200
-The Field #1

AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS #1

I’m a pretty big fan of the underrated Aquaman, even to the point where I got some grief for putting his big story arc on my DC Top 10 for 2013 list. With that, I was excited to see the King of Atlantis getting a second book; though I was a little worried about him sharing it with his mini-Justice League — The Others — since the group is relatively new to the DC Universe, and not all that recognizable.

Thankfully, they’re great characters (all created by DC Demigod Geoff Johns). And if you’re the least bit curious, Aquaman & The Others #1 is quite obviously the perfect introduction. Each member eans about 3 or 4 pages to highlight their personality and how they react in a fight, all the while still remaining relevant to the main storyline.

We’ve seen Ivan Reis (the cover artist for this book) as an artist on the initial run of New 52 Aquaman, and Lan Medina (Fables, District X) does a nice job of emulating Reis’ art style. Writer Dan Jurgens (Booster Gold, Death of Superman) sets up the “Thousands of years ago” premise at the beginning, and introduces each character nicely. When they all get in the same room, a much larger plot is quickly and concisely relayed without letting the dialogue suffer. The little jealous banter between Aquaman and the jungle woman Ya’Wara is fun, and sets up the continuity from Curry’s previous adventures with The Others.

The general plot? Each of The Others has a piece of Atlantean ancient tech that they rely on for various reasons. When they’re each attacked, they realize their particular relic isn’t working. Aquaman brings them all together to find out who’s attacking them, and why their tech is malfunctioning. It’s a pretty basic plot, but like I said, for generally obscure characters all getting their own monthly book, it’s a good introduction, and a fun read. Jurgens is a strong dialogue writer, and he juggles this large cast of characters well.

Now that the basic intro stuff is out of the way, “Legacy of Gold” is only destined to get more intricate, providing Aquaman will have more room for ass-kicking, trident-stabbing action!

3.75 (out of 5) Tridents.

(Flip the page for 2 more mini-reviews!)