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DC Comics
Aquaman #7 Comics Review
By Garth the Geek

March 29, 2012 - 22:19

Publisher(s): DC Comics
Writer(s): Geoff Johns
Penciller(s): Ivan Reis
Inker(s): Joe Prado
Colourist(s): Joe Prado
Cover Artist(s): Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Rod Reis
$2.99 US
Release Date: March 28 2012


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Geoff Johns is comfortable with silence. Instead, he places his trust in Ivan Reis and Joe Prado, and their ability to tell an effective story through action, and the end result is something very cinematic.

To explain...

PAGE ONE. Close up of some feet, running through a Brazilian rain forest. PULL BACK. We see an exotic woman, clothed head to toe in white; the only parts of her body that are visible are her eyes and her hands. Her eyes are wide, distressed. CUT TO-- a different set of feet, in black, pursuing the woman. CUT TO-- the mysterious black figure's hands. Attached to his forearm is a weapon that contains an arrow or bolt. He prepares to fire it. “You're a long way from home,” he says.

Reading Aquaman is like reading a very polished set of movie story-boards; it's visual story-telling at its finest. And for the first seven pages of the comic, there are only eight lines of dialogue. Many writers might be afraid to do something like this. Instead, they avoid it by filling the silence with captions, or quirky back-and-forths between the pursuer and the pursuee, as though the prospect of a page without words frightens them.

But not Geoff Johns. Since issue one of Aquaman, Geoff Johns has avoided captions and let his story progress naturally though action and dialogue, as though he remembers that ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS. Sure, a writer can get a lot of information across by employing captions, but instead of telling us, Geoff Johns prefers to SHOW us, and I greatly admire his talent and his restraint.

Aquaman #7 introduces 'The Others', a team of superheroes from Aquaman's past. We see a vision of Aquaman's potential death. We're glimpse repercussions of actions from previous issues. And we see the return of an established character, Dr. Shin, who's obsessed with Atlantis and who, I believe, will become a villain in future issues.

All-in-all, Aquaman has a lot to offer readers, and being the beginning of a new story-line, it's a great jumping on point for readers who haven't yet treated themselves to this series.

As always, you can't ask for much more from an ongoing series. Aquaman continues to be the highlight of the DCnU for me.


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