BRIGHTEST DAY #20

Now if you say the title of this issue – Aquawar Part Two – out load, very quickly, and with a lisp, it sounds like Klingon, doesn’t it? Something else that is out of this world, is this installment Written by: Geoff Johns and Pete Tomasi; Art by: Ivan Reis, and Patrick Gleason; and Published by DC Comics in March 2011.

THE STORY:

The Aquawar continues to range on the beaches of America, with a handless Aquaman and a naive Aqualad on one side of this battle, and Black Manta, Siren, and a host of Bermuda Warriors on the other. Thankfully, this blatantly one-sided fight is quickly aided by the re-emergence of Mera and Aquagirl, whom try their best to aide their aquatic acquaintances to the best of their abilities, SPLOSH! During this time, Aqualad cauterises Aquamans hand-wound, so that he can stabilise himself, and help turn the tide of battle. But prudently, before he can, Mera beats him to the punch, POW! And literary turns the tide, by using the ocean to sweep the Sirens surly sea-men into the sea, SPLASH! And then, once in the ocean, Aqualad seals these fiends back into the Bermuda Triangle once more. Now you would have thought that this would be a good end, wouldn’t you? With the Aqua-family sealing this battle with a well earned embrace. However, out of the blue, Deadman shows up, and guided by the White Light, evaporates Aquaman into coral.

THE REVIEW:

Hmm? Now, for me, the whole pretext of Brightest Day is starting to come to fruition with this issue. And I say this because of Aquamans current status – sushi-status. Well, the whole bring them back to life, get them to do something, and then kill them at the whim of the White Light, is obviously a forbearing to an overall arch that Geoff and the gang want to explore. Thoe what is this overall arch? Geoff knows (of should that be God?). But I tell one thing that I am pretty certain off, is that these deaths will be fleeting, as I’m sure that by the end of this mini-series, all these so-called ‘dead heroes’ will be back – and most probably in there own comic book. Another thing that I am pretty certain of, is that this mini-series is starting to dwindle in content – as the last two issues were sparse in content and quick in the execution. OK, there is a lot of story to tell in Brightest day, as well as a lot of characters lives to explore. It’s just that I would have preferred more content and less splash pages (literally in this issue)  just for the shear hell of it (or should that be halibut?). Now please, do not get me wrong, Ivan Reis art is just breathtaking on this issue, and really does lend to the overall ‘War’. Thoe, it was not much of a ‘war’, was it? More of a police action with a tang of turbot at best. Still, a nicely presented aquatic interlude if nothing else.

THE RATING: B+