Aquaman and the Others #9 Review

Written by: Dan Jurgens
Art by: Lan Medina
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 7, 2015

Will the Real POW Please Stand Up

Aquaman and the Others has been a mess of a book and that and the poor sales has lead it to be canceled in March.  That leaves three issues left for me to read and review and that's three too many.  I try to go into my reviews as unbiased as I can, but I can't seem to lift the dread I get each time I have to review this book.  Last month ended with a ghost from Prisoner of Wars past emerging to exact vengeance on his killer, The Operative.  Any chance of excitement was killed by the heavy handed dialogue and the lack of connection I have with any of these characters.  Unfortunately, I feel the same way about this issue.



The issue opens with Prisoner of War and The Operative fighting it out.  Well, it's actually Gary Korec's ghost trying to choke out the Operative and in case we forgot, Jurgens tells us Gary's story...again.  When Ya'wara jumps in, Prisoner of War (or Gary) escapes and we find out that his (or Gary's) story has some holes or should I say moles.  It seems that Gary is not who he claims to be.  When he goes to meet KGBeast, it's clear he's one of the bad guys.  Okay, I didn't mind this little twist. Actually, it was pretty cool.  It's just everything sorrounding it is so ridiculous and heavy handed. The Operative jumps between remembering Gary to not and the dialogue between Ya'wara and the Operative is laughable.  Then Prisoner of War shows up, claims it's really him and off they go to their headquarters.  Really?!?  I would think they'd check things out a little more, but I guess that's why Aquaman ditched them for the Justice League.

We then head off to visit Mayhem in their Moon Base.  That sounds cool enough and when I realized this was a Vostok heavy issue, I'll admit that I was a little bit happy.  He may be the best character in this book and we get a big chunk of backstory that's horrible, fitting, bu far from surprising.  We know that he was "produced" to be the Soviet Union's ultimate Cosmonaut,  but the lengths the Government went to get the job done are appalling.  Then the scene devolves into more heavy handed exposition about the strength of Mother Russia that would be too much even for an 80's movie staring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The dialogue in this book is definitely quantity over quality.

The issue ends back with The Others and we quickly realize that Prisoner of War was Korec all along.  He turns on the team and when Ya'wara shows up, she says she "smelled" him all along.  Wait one second.  You are telling me that she knew he was still under the control of Korec, but brought him back to the HQ, didn't tell anyone and then let him roam free.  Sure she caught him red handed, but the bad dead was done.  Way to go Jungle Girl!  Of course, Korec is pissed and shoots Ya'wara and dumps the body overboard.  However, Ya'wara never has any evidence of getting shot.  None.  I am so confused.

This issue is another confusing,heavy handed and just awful issue.  I saw this ship sinking after the first couple issues, but I've stuck with it and will see it out until the end.  I'll be sitting with the band playing "Autumn".

Lan Medina's art was never my cup of tea and it all comes down to a pet peeve of mine...blank, white eyes.  Would it be so hard to just give us a little black dot for a pupil?  It's not every panel, of course, but that makes the time it pops up that more noticeable and annoying.

Bits and Pieces:

Aquaman and the Others #9 was yet another awful issue.  I'm sure that most people have bailed from this book, especially since it was cancelled and I envy them.  After nine issues, this "team" still feels like complete strangers to reader and themselves.  The dialogue is so heavy handed and laughable and the artwork lacks detail and pupils.  This book wans't good monthly, won't be good collected and is just plain not good.

3.0/10