Aquaman/Justice League: Drowned Earth #1 Review and **SPOILERS**

Say Hello to My Wiggle Friend

Writer: Scott Snyder 

Art: Francis Manapul, Howard Porter and Scott Godlewski 

Color: Hi-Fi and Manapul 

Letters: Tom Napolitano 

Cover: Manapul 

Variant Cover: Dale Keown and Jason Keith 

Assistant Editor: Andrew Marino 

Editors: Rebecca Taylor and Paul Kaminski 

Group Editor: Marie Javins 

Cover Price: $4.99 

On Sale Date: November 28, 2018

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Well, the Earth is drowned, so you can’t say the title of this mini-event was a lie. How big of a wet-vac are they gonna need to clean up all this gunk? Maybe Aquaman will get Topo to do it in Aquaman/Justice League: Drowned Earth #1, which I have reviewed right here!

Explain It!

Though the chips are down, the Earth is underwater and nearly every human transformed into a fish monster, the pieces have fallen in place for a great comeback by the remnants of our heroes: Aquaman and Wonder Woman have retrieved Poseidon’s trident and some garments to protect them from the stink water. Mera has fashioned a blade from the Tear of Extinction that can slay the Ocean Lords who brought forth this watery menace. And, uh, Flash is still only part fish, so that’s nice. All that has to happen is for everyone to meet up conveniently and forge and offensive against Black Manta and the Ocean Lords, who would destroy humanity forever. And when this does happen, things come together like a pile of bricks in a commercial laundry dryer. 

The ending of this thing, it keeps jerking the reader around, as if to make up for the tension that drained away completely over the previous four issues. First, Aquaman and Mera are headed up to the Blood Reef to kill the Ocean Lords. Then Aquaman wants to appeal to their sensibilities and give them the trident. Mind you, they’ve already released a Death Kraken that will annihilate all life on Earth once its sky-descended tendrils touch the water. Then Mera is okay with kibbutzing. First the Ocean Lords are against it, then they acquiesce. Then, Black Manta kills them and takes control of the Kraken. But he doesn’t have control of the Kraken. In the end, Aquaman flies a Hail Mary into the Kraken that eliminates both it and himself, though not even the denizens of the DCU think he’s gone for good. 

There’s also the fact that Lex has the Totality and kicks Black Manta out of the Legion of Doom, and some sort of to-do at the center of the Earth involving Wonder Woman and Cheetah that looks like Howard Porter drew it in the dark. This has the most hilarious part, because it involves raising these Atlantean columns to allow passage to the Blood Reef, so they make a big deal about making Atlantis Rise!!! …Which is literally the state Atlantis was already in, after the events of that Corum Rath/”Deluge” nonsense and the four-part crossover between Aquaman and Suicide Squad that was literally called “Rise Atlantis.” Dudes. Pull yourselves together over there. I’m not asking for ironclad continuity, but if you are making a watershed (heh) moment of your story the raising of Atlantis, maybe peek through the most recent six issues to find out if its already been done or not.

Bits and Pieces:

At the conclusion of "Drowned Earth," things get complex and then are summarily dispatched. You might not be afraid to go into the water after reading this book, but it might put you off calamari for a while.

7.0/10