Aquaman #41 Brings The Reader An Atlantis Devastated
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers for Aquaman #41 and Justice League #10 Ahead!]
Atlantis still struggles to cope with life on the surface of the water, but things take a more severe turn when the Atlanteans exposed to Earth’s oceans undergo monstrous transformations. The waters of the world are rising, and they turn all exposed to them into aquatic monsters. Queen Mera scrambles to save what is left of her people, and Aquaman is missing. Batman contacts Mera on behalf of the Justice League in the hopes of receiving her help.
Aquaman #41 is a Mera-focused issue, showing the still-new Queen of Atlantis struggling against a new and intense threat to the kingdom. The title is crossing over with Justice League for the “Drowned” story, which seems to happen in the fallout of Black Manta and the Cheetah’s assassination of Poseidon.
Aquaman does show up in the issue briefly, but little is accomplished on his end. It just shows the cause of this new apocalyptic situation.
On the whole, the issue feels like it’s primarily setting up what is going down in Atlantis. A lot happens, but it doesn’t feel like much plot advancement because it doesn’t deal with the epicenter of the drama, which seems to be taking place with Aquaman and the Justice League.
That aside, it’s still a solid story, and I’m glad Dan Abnett is still on board with writing Mera-centric comics even though her miniseries ended months ago.
Aquaman #41 teases its readers with a cover from the incredible Riccardo Federici, whom was the artist on this title not long ago, but Lan Medina is far from a disappointing artist to have on a comic. His style is highly detailed, expressive, and has a distinctly heroic manner of posing and displaying the characters. He brought great work to the table with Mera: Queen of Atlantis, and the streak continues with this comic. Vicente Cifuentes brings skilled inkwork to the book too, and Gabe Eltaeb keeps the color palette vibrant and eye-catching.
Aquaman #41 plunges Atlantis deep into the waters of “Drowned,” and it shows Queen Mera pushed to her limit in defense of her kingdom. It’s a solid if not particularly exciting read, but it’s worth a recommendation. Feel free to check it out.
Aquaman #41 comes to us from writer Dan Abnett, artist Lan Medina, inker Vicente Cifuentes, color artist Gabe Eltaeb, letterer Steve Wands, cover artist Riccardo Federici, and variant cover artist Joshua Middleton.