 Hey everybody, welcome to another exciting episode, another edition of A Week in Geekton here on YouTube. My name is Javier Menendez and today we're going to be continuing our Aquaman talk here on this very channel. We're going to be covering the later portion of Dan Abnet's run. So stay tuned. Yeah, everybody, welcome back. Previously, actually a year ago, I talked about the, I think it was a year ago, I talked about the first four trades in Abnet's re-worth run. Now, if you're not familiar with it, and if you don't mind spoilers, then please do continue watching. If not, go ahead and watch that first video where I talked a little bit more in depth about the origins of that run. Of course, it started in the new 52 and etc. etc. But yeah, this run continues after what was the start of the whole civil war in Atlantis, where our main bad guy Corum Wrath took over after the events of the first three volumes where there was that embassy attack on the Atlantis embassy attack, I should say, with all the diplomats and all that stuff eventually escalating into a war between Atlantis and the U.S. government. Superman stepped in. One of my favorite moments from the beginning run was that confrontation, that talk between Aquaman and Superman, and I loved how that reflected the character's status from Metta standpoint with the fandom. I'd love that scene so much. That was easily my highlight of the beginning portion of the Abnet's run. Now here, we continue that adventure with the repercussions of the civilian, of the civil war, I should say. Mira has left the kingdom of Atlantis, Aquaman is presumed dead, and there is talk about this ghost or as you know, they're referring him now as the Aquaman, there's talk of this ghost that is leading a revolt against Corum Wrath and we find out that yeah, it is Aquaman. We previously had the introduction, the rebirth introduction, I should say, to Dolphin. So that is where we leave things off in Volume 4. Beginning with Volume 5, obviously, are two lovebirds here reunite. Mira gets, she loses her ability to breathe underwater under a magic spell, a magic attack, and so it is a race to save her life. We got the character of Aquaman trying to continue this revolt against the tyrannical Corum Wrath and his regime that he started in Atlantis. We also have all the different side characters that have been introduced in this run. Volko is also a key part in this story as he is trying to get all of these sea listers involved and build a big enough army to take down the official army that Corum has. That means going down to the trenches down below, and I don't mean the actual trench, but to the innermost circles in Atlantis to recruit would be sort of like these mutated hybrids, I should say, of sea creatures slash Atlantians to get them involved. Now, the first Volume 5 that I'm talking about, Volume 5, the crown comes down, has art by Ricardo Federici, and for the most part, I've really loved it. This, to me, is the answer to Marvel's Issaad Rybik and his magnificent glorious work on Jason Aaron's Thor. Well, the equivalent of that, we get Ricardo doing fantastic work here on Aquaman, and it looks breathtaking, it looks beautiful, realistic, and just a great sense of depth with these characters as they are roaming around trying to stop the main bad guy while also trying to earn the people's trust so they can win back the throne, if you will. Now Aquaman in this story refuses to return to being a monarch, and instead, if they succeed, it will be up to Mira to become the Queen of Atlantis and continue the succession and all that stuff to get Corum Wrath out. So that's sort of the setup. One of my complaints, by the way, is that Volume 5 is pretty short. It only has issues 31 to 33 and then annual. The annual is not totally necessary, but it's actually pretty cool. It's like 20 years in the future. It's a different sort of what-if timeline, and I thought that was really, really awesome to see something like that. I think that was drawn by Max Fumuda, I think I said that right, or maybe not. He was the guy that did the art in Fumara, sorry, Max Fumara. He did the art in the Miolaverse for BPRD and stuff. So I really, really enjoyed reading that, that was awesome. But one of my complaints is that this is really tiny, this is only three issues of Aquaman material. If you are not counting the annual that I just mentioned. After that, it sort of leaves in a cliffhanger with the status quo that I just mentioned. And instead of picking Volume 6, you kind of have to read this book. This is Mira Queen of Atlantis, Mira's first ever solo book. It is written by Dan Atlet and it is drawn by Lan Medina. Unfortunately, it is part of the bigger story. It's not a standalone title. You have to read it before reading the final volume of the arc, Volume 6, Kingslayer. So yeah, you do have to read this in between. It's not totally necessary, but if you want to read Mira, it has to be before you finish the Appnet Civil War stuff, if you will, the Atlantean Civil War. For the most part, Mira's book is pretty freaking fantastic. Her title is well written. I love how strong and determined the character is. Mira is one of my favorite comic book characters. And I think Appnet, you know, he knows the character pretty well. He's written Aquaman for a few years now, so he knew what he was doing when he did this. And it has fantastic art from Lan Medina. Really pretty artwork. I mean, look at this. This is pretty spectacular fitting for our lovely queen. And you know, here she is in all her splendor, doing her thing. Basically the return of the queen, as it says right here. Back in the New 52, after a throne of Atlantis, Ocean Master was captured and he was imprisoned in Bel Rive, Bel Rev, if I remember correctly. He escapes doing, you want to think it was forever evil during that time period. And he befriends a single mother with her son. And that's who you see here, a pacifist Ocean Master who has fallen genuinely in love with his character and has formed a loving relationship with her and her son. Which was really cool to see and it added a more interesting layer of somebody that was very totalitarian, very strict and very phobic when it came to land dwellers, as they like to say. So it was really interesting to see that dynamic, to be, you know, that dynamic to be explored, I should say, in a very cool way with him falling in love with a land dweller. So when you start reading this book, if you've not read the New 52 stuff, you're going to meet an Ocean Master that is changing, that is, he's different. He's going through an evolution of sorts and I really, really appreciated that it was something fresh and unique to do with the character that actually, yeah, several other versions have tried, but I thought that this particular one did a good job of reminding us who Ocean Master is and his legacy, but also opening the door for change, for potential change. So the book is great. And at the end of this, it sets up the finale, if you will, of the war for the throne with Volume 6 Kingslayer. This also has like four issues, which is a pretty small trade, in my opinion, but it has amazing artwork, stellar writing. And actually, one of the things that people criticized of this run for, and I will get to it in a little bit with the negatives, is the pacing, because it's a long story that I think could have been trimmed down a bit. I think it could have been shorter, especially if you were reading it with singles monthly. It would have been really annoying because the story drags. When you read it in trades, it picks up a lot better and faster. So I think the pacing could have been a little bit better. But really, Abnet does what an Aquaman writer, what I wanted a writer for this title to do, which was to explore the inner workings of Atlantis. A lot of writers through the decades have focused more on Arthur's position as a Justice League member and as a world hero. And vaguely exploring the duality of being from both land and sea, yes, they do feature him as the king of Atlantis, but it's more focused on the stuff that happens in the surface world and the tension between the two places, you know, different countries, I should say. Sorry. Atlantis. Whereas this, almost all of it, I'm going to say, what, like 80 or 90% of it is down below in the depths of the sea, so I really appreciated that and gave us a new window into the inner workings of the city and it introduced several new characters, several new concepts. We saw like the school of magic being explored, the widow tower thing and the selection of a new queen, all that inner working and inner workings of a monarchy and all that stuff. That to me is the most exciting thing about this run. Also, you're giving us a really cool kick-ass version of Aquaman that at first was a mix of old school and then it was clearly inspired by Jason Momoa as well. So you incorporated a bunch of elements to create what I think is a satisfying version of the character that people can enjoy. I still think New 52 is a good entry point and if you like that, go to this instead because the rebirth stuff, even though the pacing is a little bit off, it's still a worthwhile story about xenophobia, the fears of war, succession, dual roles and how, you know, obviously a character like Mira taking control of a city that mostly wanted a king. So you get to see stuff involving that and I think for the most part, Avanette does a fantastic job, really accessible, really cool. The art in it is fantastic, like I've briefly shown. It just has wonderful colors, wonderful art by Federici and seriously, look at this with the tones and the waters and stuff. It just, okay, this is, no I can't show that, that's a spoiler. But yeah, stuff like this just looks really good in page, you're holding it. And the villain, Coral Wrath, I think that also might be a slight negative, in my opinion. There is a complexity to the character because he comes from the barracks, he comes from deep down below where people are treated almost slave-like and his rise to power to fill a void in his heart that he could not do as he was growing up with the relationship of his father, which his father believed in the system and what he was doing, working the stones and all that stuff. So I do believe that Coral Wrath, he is a worthy villain for the pantheon of Aquaman characters. I just think at a certain point, they unleash a force within the book and the character just spirals into generic territory for me. It could have been a little bit better, but overall I'm satisfied and I think it was an amazing story and the resolution for Coral Wrath was really good. I really enjoyed it regardless of the way the characters was written for the final arc. He started one way, it got interesting and then it ended in another way. Let's just say that. If you've read it, I think you know what I mean. So yeah, great great arc, fantastic writing and world-building by Dan Abnett. He really got it down and I will miss it. I will genuinely miss what Abnett did, which started in the year 52. Basically his story, you know, there's still more to tell because it continues onward into other books that I'm going to talk about, but for the most part, this is like the meat and bones of his run where you do get to explore this new side of Aquaman. Later on, after that story ends, we get this Aquaman and Suicide Squad, Sync Atlantis, where it is written by Rob Williams and Dan Abnett. It was a mini crossover between the two titles. I cannot divulge the info that's in this book because you need to read the others. Really something happens that involves the Suicide Squad and the art for the most part is pretty awesome too. It's pretty great. I liked it. It's a nice blending of two artists because it was Joe Bennett and Jose Luis. Yeah, it's fun. It's not the most complicated thing in the world. It's a very simple story that once you start reading it, you could figure out what's going to happen in the end. But it's pretty cool to see a team like the Suicide Squad interact with Aquaman characters. So I thought that was a pretty fun, well written book. Now the last portion is the crossover with Justice League, Drowned Earth, with Aquaman and Dan Abnett and Scott Snyder. I'm going to do a separate video on that simply because it is sort of like this deluxe hardcover and stuff. So I want to do a separate video for that to finish off the Rebirth stuff. But overall, fantastic. A worthwhile time if you're an Aquaman fan to at least read these Abnett stories in trade. They read a lot better in trades in my honest opinion. They're wonderful. And you get excellent world building, new elements to explore with the character of Aquaman, Mera, Dolphin, Volko, Corum, Wrath, all these wonderful characters that I love. Of course Ocean Master and all that stuff. So yeah, I am very much pleased. I thank Abnett for all the wonderful contributions that he did to the wonderful world of Atlantis. And I'm saying wonderful a lot. But it's that great. It's that good. I genuinely loved it. And I think if you give it a shot, you're going to like it too. Because it's action packed and pretty fun to read in my honest opinion. Have you read the entirety of the storyline? Abnett's run in Aquaman, let me know down below. And if not, what is your favorite Dan Abnett written material? I'm very interested in finding out. Guys, as always, you can follow me on your favorite social media platform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that fun stuff. Just type a week and geek them and I'm there for you. Thank you everybody for liking, subscribing, commenting. You guys are the absolute best. I love every single one of you. Blessings to all that wish you nothing but the very best I have got to go. I will catch all of you on our next episode.