Mera: Queen of Atlantis #6 Review

You Mean the Good Gal Wins?

Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: Lan Medina, Norm Rapmund, Veronica Gandini and Simon Bowland
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: July 25, 2018

Ocean Master means murder! Aquaman’s half-brother Orm continues his under-water power play with his sights set on Xebel, the watery kingdom nestled deep within the Bermuda Triangle. Will Mera’s home become Ocean Master’s domain? It’s mano-a-Mera when the Mighty Mermaid duels Orm in the finest royal tradition, with her ward Tula forced to marry the evil Nereus if she loses. Don’t miss this finale to the six-issue miniseries, which flows directly into AQUAMAN #38 this month!


We open the issue with Mera preparing for her big fight with Orm.  Well, actually, she seems pretty much ready for a battle of underwater powers and tells Leron just that.  It's a very quick setup as we jump right into the ocean version of Gladiator with the Throne of Atlantis on the Line.

I will pause a second a reiterate something that bothered me last issue and continues here.  Why in the world would anything that happens in Xebel determine anything that happens in Atlantis?!?  Why didn't Dan Abnett push this as just a "winner gets Xebel help" contest and then sort through the semantics of who will sit on the throne when and if they defeat Corin Rath?  I just keep imagining Orm winning, defeating Rath and then having a fit when Mera, the actual Queen of Atlantis, still gets the Throne.  It may just be my own little nitpick and really, it doesn't matter anyway.  I'm sure everyone knows how this is going to play out...I mean, the book isn't called "Orm: King of Atlantis", right?

Because of that, I was hoping that Abnett had something up his sleeve that would make this issue and series feel like it was worthwhile on its own, but unfortunately, that's not the case.  Orm and Mera fight, talk shit, fight...rinse and repeat.  While this is going on, Nerus and Lammia debate, cheat and debate some more.  All this is tied together with the same impersonal narration that has slowed the pace of an already slow as hell read.

The fight ends with the cliched "down but not out" moment when Mera realizes that winning the throne isn't what she wants, but what she must do and becomes the Mera we all know and love once more.  Dan Abnett picks up to a couple of pieces this book took apart and we end just in time to go off and read the real story in Aquaman #38.

I really had high hopes for this mini-series, but it amounted to nothing if I'm being positive and actually takes some steps back if I'm being realistic.  What do I mean?  Well, it ends with Orm being put back in the toybox again, but in a way that makes you wonder why he was even in the book in the first place.  

My guess is Abnett has plans for him to be the underwater Loki in the next arc, but because of whatever, he just ended up looking like a piece of crap...not in a villain way, but in a very awful, scumbag way.  Plus, the ending made Mera look like a bit of a jerk as well...Double Trouble!  Overall, though, it's the idea that this was just six issues of nothing but a setup for something we don't see in this book that angered me most.

I liked the art enough.  It's one big fight and Lan Medina handles the action well.  It didn't harm the story at all, but it wasn't enough to lift this mediocre issue either.

Bits and Pieces:

This mini ends with one long fight for the Throne of Atlantis, but there are no real stakes, no tension and really, no reason to read this issue or series.  The real action will be happening in Aquaman #38 and this entire series can (and probably will) be recapped in a sentence or two there.  The art is okay, but I can't find any real reason to recommend this.

5.0/10