Aquaman No. 47 review: Arthur slowly begins to return

Namma is on the attack and Aquaman can’t stop here. At least not alone. Which is when the old gods of the sea enter the fray.

Since the status quo on Aquaman changed, the title has consistently been great. That’s not to say that it wasn’t good before, but Kelly Sue Deconnick and Robson Rocha have been crafting a story wholly unique to the character and the DC universe, and it’s something to behold. With this issue, they wrap up the first story arc of their run to not quite as stellar results as one might imagine, but still satisfies.

This issue jumps right where the previous issue left off and wastes no time getting to the main conflict of the issue. Because of this, the entirety of the issue is incredibly fast paced and while that hasn’t been the case in past issues, here, the fast pace works very well. Namma feels like an immediate threat and the pacing of the story indicates that incredibly well. Plus, it makes the action flow very well too.

It’s also great to see Arthur, or Andy as he’s known right now, acting like Aquaman in this issue. This arc has been building up the character back to who he was before he was stranded and it’s refreshing to see that the creative team isn’t going to dwell on his amnesia for too long. This is one of the few instances where the amnesia angle has worked well, but considering readers know who Aquaman, it’s better not to dwell on the amnesia for too long.

Image by DC Comics?Art by Robson Rocha

The biggest problem with this issue stems from the resolution of the conflict with Namma. Without getting into spoilers, in concept, it makes a lot of sense, but in execution it doesn’t really make much sense at all. There are just weird decisions made by certain characters that make really no sense considering who they’re going up against and then it makes even less sense regarding the final resolution of the conflict. One can chalk it up to comic book shenanigans and being a fantasy story, but even in the contexts of those, it still doesn’t make much sense.

Robson Rocha’s art in this issue is again, fantastic. There’s such an epic, Lord of the Rings-style feel to some of the pages in this issue and it’s beautiful to look at. Honestly, sometimes, his art doesn’t even seem like something that would be published by DC or Marvel, but rather Dark Horse or Image. It’s different, wondrous to look at, and tells the story incredibly well.

Along with the fantasy style that has permeated his art on Aquaman so far, Rocha also manages to blend an almost fairy tale-like style into this issue. A lot of the designs feel like they could be found in a Brothers Grimm story. The only problem with the art in this issue is that sometimes, the faces look a bit too overexaggerated, but those are few and far between.

7.5/10 

Aquaman no. 47 doesn’t stick the landing for this arc, but still manages to bring about a satisfying conclusion.