Arthur Comes Home – Aquaman #50 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Erika is sharing an old Amnesty Bay legend at an AA meeting when Aquaman returns with the old gods of Unspoken Waters and Caille in tow. Amnesty Bay explodes with reporters and excitement as the town eagerly awaits to hear how its local hero has come back to life. Before long, Wonder Woman arrives to pay Arthur a visit as well, and Arthur brings Diana up to speed while Erika gives the old gods a tour around the town. Meanwhile, Mera is trying to give support to Atlantis’ Ninth Tride when news arrives that Aquaman has come back. This reignites concerns from Mera’s council that she has yet to be wed in the event of a succession issue. Plus, Black Manta is back!
Aquaman #50 has Arthur Curry returning to the wider world and revealing that he is indeed still alive. This brings excitement and curiosity to Amnesty Bay and the surface world but newfound strife to Atlantis.
It’s a fairly low-action issue, as much of the page count is devoted to Arthur settling back into Amnesty Bay and chatting with Wonder Woman. The Unspoken Water gods get a lot of page space too as they explore the town with Erika.
The cover-advertised return of Black Manta isn’t really until the last few pages, and, even then, he doesn’t have a confrontation with Aquaman.
That aside, this is still a very entertaining issue. There’s plenty of humor to be found, and the talk between Arthur and Diana does a good job of showing where Arthur is right now in his head.
There’s definitely a strong anti-immigrant sentiment from some of the press that confront Wonder Woman about the Unspoken Waters gods and Arthur’s return, and it’s not particularly subtle. Diana has a nice response to those sentiments, and it makes for a pretty damn good line.
Robson Rocha continues to be a fantastic artist choice for Aquaman, and he’s joined by Eduardo Pansica in this issue–who does some great work too. Inkers Daniel Henriques and Julio Ferreira give the work some good depth and detail, and Sunny Gho’s color art is brilliant and vibrant.
Aquaman #50 is a solid turning point for the comic under writer Kelly Sue DeConnick. Arthur has returned to the world, and conflicts and enemies are already moving against him. DeConnick does a great job of imbuing more personality into Arthur Curry here, and artists Rocha and Pansica provide phenomenal visual work. This comic easily earns a recommendation. Feel free to give it a read.
Aquaman #50 comes to us from writer Kelly Sue DeConnick, artists Robson Rocha and Eduardo Pansica, inkers Daniel Henriques and Julio Ferreira, color artist Sunny Gho, letterer Clayton Cowles, cover artist Robson Rocha with Jason Paz and Alex Sinclair, and variant cover artist Josh Middleton.
Final Score: 8.5/10
