Crime and Grunyan Runs
Story By: Dan Abnett
Art, Color and Cover By: Stjepan Sejic
Lettering By: Steve Wands
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: August 16, 2017
**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE
BOTTOM**
Back to the seedy, sandy underbelly of Atlantis,
where freakish mutants run a world of crime that involves…I dunno, fish
prostitution? I don’t know enough about the day-to-day operations of Atlantean
life to say what the preferred crimes might be. I suppose extortion is always a
mafia favorite. We left Dolphin and Aquaman in the clutches of Krunch, the
crab-faced crime boss, and I can’t wait to check back in on the situation! So
let’s take a look in my review of Aquaman
#27, right now!
Explain
It!
Aquaman and Dolphin are in the clutches of undersea
mafia don Krunch, which is not what the solicit for this issue seems to
advertise. All well and good, though, since it’s on par with the way the last
issue concluded, Kadaver having taken them hostage after murdering other key
members of the Deluge. Krunch has somehow figured out that the mysterious
bearded man that looks exactly like Aquaman is, indeed, Aquaman, and he’s going
to leverage his hostage to gain more favor with Corum Rath. Remember, that’s
the fella sitting on the Throne of Atlantis right now, and who covered the
place with an impenetrable Crown of Thorns. Krunch tries to make Aquaman reveal
his identity by showing Dolphin in a tank under threat of a gulper, which is
like a giant, toothy fish that looks very interested in eating people. Krunch
don’t know Aquaman very well, do he?
Meanwhile, Murk leads a bunch of Atlantean guards to
find Vulko, who was sprung from aquajail last issue by Mother Cetea of the
Widowhood. Mother Cetea also sent Ondine, a disgraced member of the Widowhood,
to help Vulko with his coup against Corum Rath. She shows Volko how a member of
the Widowhood becomes disgraced when she quietly and expertly murders two
members of the royal guard. Ondine tells Vulko they’ve got to find some kind of
artifact that can destroy the Crown of Thorns, and Vulko suggests Arthur’s
trident would probably do the trick—but Rath has it locked up tight in the
royal lockbox! Ondine seems to think this is merely a problem to be solved. At
that moment, Mera heads to Titans Tower to speak to Aqualad, better known as
Garth, about the tense political situation in Atlantis. She asks if he’ll use
some kind of magic he gave up a while ago to break the Crown of Thorns, and
this gives him serious agita. Man, everybody seems to hate this Crown of
Thorns! I wonder how it remains in place with so much public sentiment against
it.
Back to Aquaman, he sends a “vuu vuu vuu” to the
Gulper, which makes it less apt to eat Dolphin. This trick is enough for Krush,
since only Aquaman can use aquatelepathy. And to show this is true, Aquaman
then has the Gulper break through the tank, freeing Dolphin and making its
handler look like a real chump. Dolphin and Aquaman swim away while the Gulper
chomps away at much of Krunch’s team, except for Kadaver who swims after
Arthur, and right into full frontal combat! At the very end, there’s a page
where Mother Cetea ruminates on who would be best to succeed Corum Rath after
he’s been deposed, and comes up with one name: Mera of Xebel! But she hated
Mera like three issues ago! Go figure.
So there are a lot of balls suddenly in the air here,
and we’re still no closer to finding out how Aquaman escaped death and an
unkind burial at the hands of Murk. I really liked Crunk, both in personality
and design, and was glad to spend some extended time with him. But I hope this
story arc doesn’t extend itself too much before we get some much-needed answers
to obvious questions.
Bits and
Pieces:
The plot thickens, and perhaps gets more murky as the waters are ever-muddied...okay, forget this terrible water metaphor. This is a pretty solid issue that looks cool, but doesn't have any great moments. The mystery of how Aquaman yet lives persists, and we get some new questions and developments besides. Hopefully this all comes to a head next issue.
7/10
I'm jumping back into Aquaman after a few months absence. Not enough has changed that I can't follow what happened, but enough has changed to capture my interest. While not a lot happens in this book, I really enjoyed visiting Atlantis' underworld. Especially with Kadaver and Krush being my guides. There was a Mos Eisley cantina feel to it. Dan Abnet is one of those writers who seldom fail and seldom wow, but the art really takes it to another level. Stjepan Sejic's art and coloring is right up there with Juan Ferreyra. It's a 7 for me.
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