 He is Arthur Curry, Aquaman, King of Atlantis, member of the Justice League, world leader, superhero, and a bridge between the surface world and the world below, and to far too many humans, the dictator of a rogue state. But Arthur and his beloved fiance, Mira, are determined to prove to humankind that Atlantis can be a force for peace and justice. Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode, another edition of A Week in Geek them here on YouTube. We are continuing our aquatic adventure in the year of Aquaman. This time I am reviewing what I am labeling as the first part of the Aquaman Rebirth Reviews because the series is currently ongoing, or I should say the regular Aquaman series, and I have here for you the first four trades which would be the first 30 or so issues of the current title. This, my friends, is one of my favorite books that I am currently reading, it is fun, it is filled with excitement, the action is intense, and Dan Appnet really knows his stuff and really knows how to capture the essence or the beauty I should say of what makes Arthur Curry Aquaman such an awesome character, such a beloved icon for superhero fans worldwide. I am a huge Aquaman fan and I was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to read and review these books for you guys and it is spectacular. There are some low points, I will admit, but for the most part it stays entertaining throughout the entirety and it really extends on what was built, the foundation of what Jeff Johns did to the character of Arthur and that reinvigoration I guess I should say was really spectacular and really did a wonderful job of just modernizing this character which was labeled a silly caricature at times and really proved once and for all that yeah he is essentially a aquatic Superman if you will with all his traits and many flaws and that to me is the most interesting aspect but we could dedicate a whole video to that and I will eventually just talking about why I like the character so much and why I think you know he has been such an underrated superhero for so many years more than 75 years but in this case we're talking about DC Rebirth I have the first trade here with me or actually I should say I have the first four trades right here to briefly summarize what's happening you don't really need to read Dan Appnet's new 52 run which I reviewed on my previous Aquaman video but if you do check it out you will find out that Dan basically set up the essential what you really needed to know of the character with stuff like the founding of the embassy for Atlantis or characters like Deadwater and stuff like that that is the basis and if you want to know where that came from you're gonna have to pick up the last volume of the new 52 run Dan however knows that not a lot of people are gonna go and pick up a random book which has issues 50 to 52 or something like that so he took the idea that he wrote on that book and presented it once again for new readers and so yeah you don't really need those books per se but like I always say if you want the full picture then go ahead and pick them up Dan continues the story of Aquaman and Mera establishing this embassy in Amnesty Bay in Maine I guess and how the world reacts you start getting into the political intrigue of it all of this rogue nation that's suddenly emerging from the depths of the sea and wants to be recognized by the UN and I think they could have elaborated on that a little bit however the story goes into a very familiar territory which was kind of one of my low points because it turned out to be thrown of Atlantis 2.0 eventually things go south and you get a terrorist attack from none other than Black Manta and the blaming of Atlantis begins with once again and the mistrust for the character and it's a very different type of mistrust we've got vigilantes like Batman where the city itself is after this character sometimes depending on the story but with Arthur you get a whole nation and you start getting these themes of xenophobia and all that and I guess for some it might be a little bit preachy but it's still as relevant as ever because like it or not humanity has a track record of mistrust and prejudice that cannot be shaken and cannot be stirred away this is something that's current and it's done in a way where it's not too preachy if you hate that sort of thing I myself did not really mind but yeah after the whole Black Manta attack everybody starts blaming Atlantis so Arthur has to step up and defend the nation as well as provide a link that and and establish a narrative that no this was in isolated event and it's not representative of what our nation is doing we want to bridge that gap between the sea and the land and air and what not and become a force for good and be recognized as one of the leading nations in the world because Atlantis in the story is a technological wonderland if you will underwater so all of that happens and you get this epic confrontation and by the way this whole run is very similar to Jeff John's New 52 stuff just a little bit greedier a little bit more murky and dirtier in the way that you present real politics and how nations react to our main leads and their home country volume to Black Manta rising continues that storyline and gives us one of the most epic things I have ever seen and just a really fourth wall breaking moment where you have the character examine his role in society and amidst the public perception and the Justice League and all of that and once Atlantis is in a state of war with the humanity because of a third act if you will a third wheel causing problems in the name of Atlantis with some terrorist and stuff like that you get the character of Arthur Curry examining what it means to be a hero what it means to be the Aquaman if you will Mira being that anchor that really just represents all the noble intentions and you've got the Justice League as well and you've got the character of Superman that really reinforces Arthur's role in all of this I thought it was just awesome it was tense and just seeing Arthur standing up to big blue like that I enjoyed the hell out of that and basically if you've always been a fan it'll speak to you and you'll understand and you're gonna feel like hell yeah this is this is my superhero and he's the underdog and all of this and people just don't understand I love that scene I love the story I don't want to give anything away because I want you to be intrigued and I want you to pick up the book so I think it's very cool next up in volume 3 which I do have right here crown of Atlantis right yeah crown of Atlantis goes back into the heavy politics of this Game of Thrones-esque world that is Atlantis and finds the character in the midst of a coup d'etat of sorts and that is awesome because you get to explore the inner workings of the city you get to see new grounds and like I mentioned in my new 52 review the history of Atlantis is a little bit murky it's you don't really understand all of it but you're intrigued by it and every writer adds another layer of history to the city to the characters to this wonderful world at DC Comics so I really really appreciated that just just great writing you get new ideas new concepts for these characters sure in not mine it might not be the best of the rebirth stuff of course you've got your Superman and Batman detective comics specifically those are a quality material but to me as a huge fan I freaking love this run and it is amazing now volume 4 continues that and brings us a look story-wise I do understand why they went with the look but I can't help but think maybe they're trying to morph cinematic opera man with the comic book version so it's reflective on both sides similar to what Marvel does with their Marvel characters in being a mirror of the movies and stuff like that so I got it but I am typically a fan of the Boy Scout look with the shorter hair but regardless all looks are cool or all the looks are awesome and it has art by the wonderful sedge I'm not gonna say the full name because I'm probably gonna butcher it but the art is spectacular I fell in love with it at first I wasn't too sure because it's underwater is a little bit more light in the way that it's drawn but it blends perfectly and he is able to bring out emotions out of these characters it's one of his defining characteristics in my opinion where the way he pencils the characters he's able to do like three-dimensional facial expressions on the characters like Aquaman, Mira and even newcomers like Dolphin which yeah she finally gets her reintroduction into the DC world she was seen many years ago with Peter David's run so now we're getting Dolphin again and she looks fantastic so yeah it ends on a big cliffhanger I cannot wait I'm gonna take a little break after this and not review the rest of the reword stuff just so I can compare like volume 5 6 or whatever to these first four and see the natural progression but overall some some final words on the title of on the rebirth title if you will it is very much what was done before but elevated to a sense of urgency of public spotlight and world politics and prejudice racism xenophobia and these elements that really do a good job of bringing these characters to life in an interesting mysterious and awesome way I don't know what you guys think I thought it was fantastic and I didn't talk too much about the art aside from Sejik but I'm gonna say Brad Walker is easily my in my top five lists of best Aquaman artists of all time so there you go that that tells you something it is fantastic plus the issue the solo mirror issue a work of art one of my favorites so what do you guys think of Aquaman rebirth if you've read it if not hopefully I've intrigued you to check out the title because it is worth your time as always you can follow me in your favorite social media platform thank you again for liking subscribing commenting on these videos you guys are the best as always thank you so much and I will catch all of you on our next video guys what do you guys