 Before he was Arthur Curry, before he was King of Atlantis, before he was Aquaman, he was a baby who survived being abandoned and left to die, raised by the seas and adopted by an old fisherman. They yet to be Aquaman learned the ways of the surface world before returning to the seas in search of his true purpose. Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode, another edition of A Week in Geek, this time we're going back undersea with another Aquaman review, this time we're talking the legend of Aquaman, aka Keith Giffin's tenure small run, if you will, with the character. This was pretty interesting, for a long time I had heard of this book but it's it's finally here, it was reprinted for the very first time in trade paperback form and it gives us the 89 series, which only lasted five issues and a one-shot special edition thing which I'll get into. Basically this book looks to reinvent the character's origin story by giving us something completely different than what was established before and it may or may not be to everybody's liking. Then it goes off into a weird territory where it's a pseudo sequel to the previous stuff that was being written and gives us a whole new story but then at the end of this it got rebooted once again so really the best way to treat this offshoot is a what if or an else world in my opinion. Yeah it takes some liberties with the story but if you love the character you're gonna have some type of enjoyment but unfortunately if you're not a fan of the character I have a very tough time recommending this book to you specifically because one we get and I believe it's called so so right here in the back Aquaman special number one by the way this was a much better looking cover than this because this is just way too weird in the context of the book it makes sense but as a cover I don't know I would have picked something else something a little bit more bright but anyways the special reinvents the origin where you have the character that was abandoned and then he grew up by himself in the ocean and eventually Arthur senior finds him as an adult and adopts him and it's just a really weird way to introduce the character as an to present an origin for this character I should say without you know because previously the character had such a rich history of being a descendant of the crowd and all that stuff and the symbolism of Arthur senior finding him as a baby and raising him and teaching him human values compassion morals and all that stuff whereas here he's already an adult he's naked and then this older dude finds him and then there's like this big wrestling match in the water and Arthur senior doesn't really have a lot to say or in part wisdom on the character and when the time comes for Arthur to move on and he finds Atlantis then they bridge the gap into him finding out that he's he's going to be king and then he he's in prison because he's an outsider he's put in this aquarium with the rest of the prisoners and they all wear the traditional orange outfit I don't like that I don't like the idea of the hero costume being associated with crime and punishment I think it's fit that he uses it as a more of a regal outfit more of a kingly outfit if you will I should say so to associate something that is supposed to be really awesome and cool with prison and even the character says in the book that you know it's a reminder like he's gonna keep using it to remind himself or where he came from I'm like nah man this sucks I wanted like if you were to go to prison and they give you one of those orange jumpsuits and you get out you're not gonna be like I'm gonna keep wearing the orange jumpsuit because I'm proud no it's just silly and kind of dumb in my opinion but regardless Keith does a commendable job of establishing a new origin story the character eventually you know meets Mira and all that stuff they have Arthur Junior and here is where the story just goes off and just becomes something bizarre you might you may or may not know from the late 70s early 80s at Arthur Junior spoilers from a 30-plus year old story the character of Arthur Junior dies at the hands of Black Manta and Aquaman was somewhat at fault because of this so this is the divergent point I guess the diverting point where this story takes off you have Aquaman going into exile he is upset at what happened Mira is devastated they take her into an insane asylum so when the character comes back he finds out that this mysterious alien possible alien force is at fault for imprisoning political parties they are causing a destabilization of the military and the kingdom of Atlantis itself so Arthur obviously teams up I should have mentioned earlier that he meets up with Volko for the first time he was in prison as well it's a very on-the-nose war-like story for Aquaman the whole origin of the whole premise of this book is very war-oriented it's not necessarily my cup of tea and it can't be a little bit weird to read especially if you're used to the swashbuckling adventures and all that stuff plus there is a humorous factor involved when you find out that there are giant jellyfish roaming around trying to control people I am not kidding I typically stay away from spoilers but yeah there you go giant jellyfish that look like a crang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles they're in charge of controlling Atlantis it's up to Aquaman to try and stop him look this is all really far-fetched and really silly but if you're a fan like I am of the character and the whole mythos and all that stuff you're gonna have a fun time reading this it's a little bit corny the dialogue is super rugged in my opinion and it may not be for everybody especially because from panel to panel or from scene to scene I should say actions occur at the turning of a page like literally something bad will be happening and then they do a complete 180 and something else happens a total mood change that is just a little bit bizarre so the one positive of this book the Legend of Aquaman has to be the art by a by Robert Lauren Fleming he is legendary of course and the art is no exception I love the restoration that went into this with the crisp and beautiful details and just a really bright colorful and impressive looking book in my opinion there's some of the artwork right there here's what I mean Atlantis is usually depicted as an open space the barrier is to keep people out but inside I go everything's a little bit too dry so it's it's a little bit odd when you consider the great work that was established before and then afterwards with Peter David and all that stuff you know I guess some of the appeal here for this book would be the character of Arthur coming to the realization that even though he had left the crown and he comes back part of the appeal the charm of the Aquaman or Arthur Curry or whatever or the hero per se is that he can unify all these people even though he is long gone and he returns in the moment of crisis he still has this innate ability to unite people of different backgrounds for a common goal or looking past themselves for the greater good and working together for a brighter future I think that part I think Keith nails it it's just the clunky dialogue the weird tonal shifts and just the bizarre story the nature of the story and the weird ass origin that make me not recommend this book wholeheartedly I don't know there's a reason why this only lasted five issues everything gets resolved and we move on to better and more awesome or things I should say but yeah the legend of Aquaman if you're interested in a small piece of the characters history then pick it up have you read the legend of Aquaman let me know down below what you think and how would you fight an invading army of jellyfish I'm very interested in knowing guys as always thank you for liking commenting and subscribing till we can keep them here on YouTube as always you can follow me on your favorite social media platform I'm probably there I will catch all of you on our next video