Aquaman #45 Review and **SPOILERS**

A Tale of a Fateful Trip

Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick

Penciller: Robson Rocha

Inker: Daniel Henriques

Colorist: Sunny Gho

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Cover: Rocha, Henriques & Brad Anderson

Variant Cover: Cully Hamner

Assistant Editor: Andrea Shea

Editor: Alex Antone

Group Editor: Brian Cunningham

Cover Price: $3.99

On Sale Date: February 20, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Three issues now into Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run on Aquaman…or is this the fourth? It’s the third, right? Having this happen right when the year changed really screwed up my perception of time. Whatever the case, either we should get some answers about what the corn is going on around here, or we are one issue past finding out just what in tarnation is happening on the Isle of Weirdo Water Gods. Let’s find out where we’re at in issue #45, which I have helpfully reviewed for your perusal, right here!

Explain It!

This issue should have been the first in the arc. That means, of course, that the arc would probably be truncated from its six-issue requisite, and that suits me just fine. Because this issue makes the previous two fairly well redundant, and is told in a much more elegant way. If this had been the first issue of the run now occupied by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Robson Rocha, I might have been much more enthusiastic, instead of the positive shrugs I’ve given the book. It hasn’t been bad, just sort of forgettable and weird. And in the light of this issue, those other issues have virtually no point, except for Rocha’s incredible artwork at each turn.

So this issue is Aquaman—sorry, Andy and Caille’s boatride to that evil witch’s island. The one who was cast out from the Village of Unspoken Water on the Island of Heebie Jeebies, and now she’s causing all the fish caught by the village to be dead on arrival. This bit of current action is dovetailed with a story of genesis—an origin of the world, from the point of view of the original ocean gods, Father Sea and Mother Salt. When upstart gods killed Father Sea in his sleep, Mama Ocean got peeved and turned into Namma, killing all the new gods and generally being cranky about it. In doing so, the sun got invented, humans were made—point is, it’s all due to this one Namma woman, who was separated into seven parts and flung around the world. She was able to assemble six of ‘em, now she needs one more to—kill all the fish, I guess? Something bad.

And—surprise, surprise—Caille is not Namma’s daughter, but her left foot, the last part she needs to become Mecha-Namma. And there’s Aquaman, bringing her right home to momma. As for the backstory, it’s meticulously detailed here, making the previous two issues redundant. Which brings me back to my initial point: this should have been the first issue. If it had been the first issue, it would have been jaw-slackening. This is most visually-arresting issue of the new run so far, and the genesis story is so epic, I didn’t even bother to reveal its details here—you should really read it to get the full effect. Since this isn’t the first issue of DeConnick and Rocha’s run, I have to knock the score down a little—it becomes redundant, rather than stupefying. But it’s still a solid comic book, and if you’ve been on the fence about jumping into Aquaman until you hear more about the run, this could be the issue for entry.

Bits and Pieces:

An epic tale of the world's beginning, told a bit too late in this story arc. Perhaps its the story arc that should be truncated. PERHAPS EVERY STORY DOESN'T NEED TO BE SIX @#$%! ISSUES LONG.

7.5/10