Arthur begins to recover his memories in Aquaman No. 48

After defeating Namma, Aquaman is determined to regain the memories of who he truly is, not just who he is on this island that he has been stranded on. Spoilers for Aquaman no. 48 follow.

The beginning of this issue starts off with Aquaman preparing to partake in a ritual that will give him the ability to regain his memories. This seems simple enough, but the way it’s played in the issue makes it a bit more enjoyable than many similar scenes. There are jokes made about the tropes of scenes like this, especially surrounding how one is supposed to position their body, making it play out well.

Once Arthur begins the ritual though, time seems to stop around him. He is pulled to the depths of the ocean by a mysterious voice, which turns out to be a giant, ancient shark, presumably some form of a god, named Mother Shark. It is here that Mother Shark reveals how Aquaman became an amnesiac, he, like everyone whose memories enter her domain, died. Instead of leaving him dead though, Mother Shark provided the old gods on the isle the champion they desperately prayed for, in the form of Arthur.

Image by DC Comics/Art by Viktor Bogdanovic

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This proved to be a test for Aquaman in order to see, even without his memories of his life or his love for Mera, would he still be a hero. The answer to that is yes because that’s who Arthur Curry is. Mother Shark provides Arthur with all the memories she thinks he needs, but he wants to know more, starting with the red-headed woman who he’s seen in his reacquired memories.

Kelly Sue DeConnick has been on a roll with Aquaman since her run began, and that’s no different here. She manages to incorporate her dark fantasy approach that she’s been taking with the story and character while also making this issue very new reader-friendly. This issue is essentially just telling the audience who Arthur is, which could get very boring for veteran readers of the series, but it never does.

As for the art, Viktor Bogdanovic’s style is much more in line with Greg Capullo’s than Robson Rocha’s, but that works very effectively in this issue. He makes it feel like a horror book at points and also very Guillermo Del Toro-influenced with several of the pages in this issue.

9.0/10 

Aquaman no. 48 does a fantastic job of bringing new readers up to speed on the character of Arthur Curry while also moving forward the story.