Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis: Once and Future

Aquaman

by Kurt Busiek, Jackson Guice (Illustrator)

Collecting the acclaimed AQUAMAN #40-45, this volume heralds a fresh beginning for a brand-new Aquaman, as he embarks on a quest for his missing father, discovers the fate of Atlantis, and confronts the terrifying King Shark and the mysterious Dweller as an undersea war breaks out.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2006

About the author

Kurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.

Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.

During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).

Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.

In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.

In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.

In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.

Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.

Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the rare dud from Kurt Busiek. It takes place as part of the "One Year Later" initiative DC did after Infinite Crisis. Aquaman is missing only to have a new "kid" take over the reins as Aquaman. He looks like Aquaman and has the same name of Arthur Curry but he's not Orin. It's all very confusing. He begins to learn the ropes from the Dweller of the Deeps and King Shark. Busiek sets this up as a traditional fantasy, just set underwater. The setting sounds great. One of the problems I had though was that Busiek sets up all these questions and then proceeds to ignore them. Ten issues in nothing has been answered or the plot advanced. I found Jackson Guice's art in this less polished than normal. It looks unfinished.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to recommend. I'd say Aquaman fans might enjoy it, but it veers heavily from the established lore of previous Aquaman stories. I stumbled across a used version of this one and thought it was worth a low stakes gamble. Sometimes my reading decisions can be summed up in a simple formula:

Affinity for title character + Relatively low cost = Why the hell not

I didn't mind the slight deviations taken by this book, including Aquaman's origin story. I just decided to get on board with this one and see where it took me. While this story won't be remembered in the annals of comic book history, it was a decent enough read. Maybe only check it out of you really like Aquaman and you're curious to see what he gets up to in his more obscure adventures.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess at some point Aquaman disappeared. Then some guy with the same name who just happens to have a medical condition where he has to breathe water appears out of nowhere. Giant sharkman gives him Aquaman's costume. People who knew Aquaman call him imposter. Wandering and random fights. This whole book was a wtf moment. Great artwork poor story.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was little disappointed with this one. It wasn't terrible, but I was expecting more. And really, all it did was confuse me. This storyline may have been cleared up in later volumes but this one left it all as clear as mud.

So this was part of the One Year Later event, and to be fair most of the books in that series were a little confusing. So in this one we have this guy who is sort of Aquaman, but isn't Aquaman. Then we have a guy who is nothing like Aquaman, but IS Aquaman. Then we have a bunch of people wondering what's going. (A lot like the reader probably.)

Arts decent, but really if anything a little below average. I think they were going for Conan in an underwater setting, and you can see some of the tropes if you're a big Conan fan. Overall though, this one was okay at best.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Com a chegada do segundo filme do Aquaman nos cinemas, é claro que a Panini Comics Brasil não iria deixar de trazer material do personagem. Com tantas opções, a editora saiu pela tangente aproveitando que parte dessa série já havia saído no Brasil. Mas só o primeiro arco, que conta quem é esse novo Aquaman, que vai numa pegada mais "capa e espada" nos destroços de uma Atlântida destruída pelo Espectro. Eu não havia tido a oportunidade de ler essas histórias na época em que saíram, e gostei de ler agora, com um isto de aventura e mistério, com o roteiro esperto de Kurt Busiek e a arte turva de Butch Guice, entre outros desenhistas. Além disso, o encadernado traz quatro edições inéditas no Brasil, que trazem uma aventura do passado do outro Aquaman e uma outra, uma trama meio lovecraftiana meio Segredo do Abismo. Além, é claro, do arco principal que estabelece o personagem e seu mundo e tem uma história muito boa e interessante com os Demônios do Mar. Infelizmente não há muita esperança que uma continuação saia porque nem mesmo nos Estados Unidos rolou encadernado das próximas oito edições que fecham a fase, escrita por outro roteirista.

[Gary Butler · Rating 2 out of 5]

13th book read in 2017.

Number 543 out of 578 on my all time book list.

[Mina Villalobos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a fun read. The new Aquaman doesn't quite make sense, but the Sea Devils were cool and Kind Shark was fun. It had cool concepts and interesting characters, but it seems like such a waste to do away with Arthur I for this.

[persephone (hades’ version) ³³ ᵈᵘ ᵈᵘ ᵈᵘ · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was a little disappointed with this one. aquaman is dead! but there is this new guy called arthur joseph curry! his only power is that he can breathe under water. sure, what the hell.

[Jennifer Juffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly? I really liked this book.
Since I'm not hip into all the D.C. comic superheroes, and I was deprived as I child; I didn't watch superhero Saturday morning cartoons, I have no preconceived idea about Aquaman.
I thought the art was pretty good, nothing fantastic.
The writing was a little cheesy, but, hey, they're under the sea...
I'd be speaking a little odd myself. At least, bubbles weren't coming out of their mouths.

I recently read a review of another Aquaman series. I was told there were a lot of talking sea creatures.

In this book...
No, not many talking fish in this issue, unless your speaking of King Shark, son of the KING OF ALL SHARKS. (He sounds like a real winner in the dad department, but I don't think they're too many therapists for dad issues under the sea. So, we get a kind of messed up King of Sharks character with dad issues. )

This book seems to be AFTER the real Aquaman disappeared. I have no idea what happened to him. They're some clues in the issues, but I try not looking too deeply when I read.
(I really hate spoilers. - yep, even those of my own making.)

Anyway, I liked the plot and storyline.

I'm not going to rehash it. It's above anyway.
I figure people look mainly at Goodreads to see if THEY SHOULD read the book.

Although, I guess, they're some who enjoy discussing, too.

Should ya read it?
If you enjoy Aquaman or superheroes... or even an old timer quality line comic.

I don't think you'd be bored with this series.

At least, there's not a lot of talking fish swimming around.
lol

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realize he's pretty much viewed as the weakest character in the Justice League pantheon, but I always thought Aquaman was a cool superhero. Unfortunately, no creative team in recent memory has ever really been able to do the character justice. They chopped off his hand and replaced it with a hook to make Aquaman edgier. They gave him a hand made of water to make him mystical. Nothing worked, and I finally gave up following the Aquaman comics until Kurt Busiek (Astro City) took a turn with the character. I figured if anyone could restore this classic character, it would be Busiek.

Unfortunately Busiek's idea was to replace Aquaman entirely, handing the mantle to a younger guy who looks just like Aquaman, has the same name and abilities, but sounds like a teenager. He spends the whole time running (well, swimming) around with a giant shark guy, visiting Aquaman's old friends and fighting his old foes. Why? Because some tentacle-faced mystic (with a deep dark secret, natch) told him to. I love Busiek's work, but this was such a disappointing story. We didn't need a new Aquaman, we needed you to fix the old one and remind people why he's a worthwhile character.

The artwork for this collection was provided by Jackson "Butch" Guice. I've been a fan of his since his classic 80's Iron Man run with Bob Layton, and he's in good form here. Some of the pages are a bit inconsistent, and his non-human characters are pretty generic, but for the most part Guice depicts the undersea world very well. The artwork is what pushes the rating of this book to 3-stars.

I really wanted to like this, but came away frustrated and disappointed. Busiek is capable of so much better, and could made this Aquaman's defining series. Instead it joins Aquaman: Time and Tide and Aquaman: The Waterbearer as misfires in the Aquaman saga.

[Yongyoon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aquaman, Sword of Atlantis: Once and Future is considered the pinnacle of Aquaman. I must say, I expected a lot from the high praise from reviewers, but this was one of the weaker series I've read. The Aquaman found in the main Captain America series seems to be where all the better stories are had. Aquaman truly has a lot of potential with the oceans covering 71 percent of the Earth's surface, which would beat out any land nation-states if there ever were such a sea-dwelling nation-state covering all the oceans of the world. Regardless, I'm sure some indie writer will write a novel or novella showing how a sea nation-state would dominate other than that dolphins episode in The Simpsons and the scientifically unsound version of dolphin superiority in Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las historias en este volumen no son malas, tienen ideas interesantes y un nuevo acercamiento a la figura de Aquaman, a través de Arthur Joseph Curry. Es un Aquaman diferente, joven, impetuoso, sin experiencia y sin pleno conocimiento de sus habilidades y alcance. Lo que mas falla práctica mi son las ilustraciones. No son de mala calidad, sino que no logran transmitirme la idea del mundo submarino. Son simplemente cosas y seres que se ven y funcionan igual que lo harían en la superficie pero con burbujas alrededor. Ya eso es suficiente para sacarme de la historia. Hay algo en los vestidos largos de tela y los mapas de papel bajo el agua que le restan identidad al cómic.

[Theresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite superhero. After a catastrophic storm a young man named Arthur Curry finds himself deep in the ocean fighting to rescue the Shark King. Then a strange prophet tells Arthur about a dream of the future he had of him as Aquaman. The story is told in the prophet’s thoughts and POV.

After meeting Mera, Queen of Atlantis-in-exile, Arthur leaves with the Shark King to travel to Maine to find his family. He ends up meeting Jimmy Lockhart and the Sea Devils and talking to the ghost of Nuidis Vulko, the former Atlantean King’s scribe.

Very interesting story using a future ‘incarnation’ of Aquaman to save the Atlanteans.

[Alexa Moon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only goof thing about this for me is the art style. I really liked how everything looks and how the characters were brought to life.
That being said, it was very boring, at times hard to follow, super predictable and at the same time very vague?
I though this would follow the actual Aquaman but it was someone else that just wore his cloths and became him? WHAT. I really did not get this story and I think it's because I was so bored.
The art style is the only reason this even has stars. Seriously. 4 stars for the art. zero for the plot.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

This makes little sense and is a clear indicator of issues people have with DC Comics. An introduction to a new version of Aquaman for no reason isn't needed and these creators have done so much better. Guice's art looks unfinished and underwhelming. The coloring was also muted and unspectacular. Busiek's plot was odd and doesn't answer enough questions to have a complete collection. Overall, an unnecessary addition to the mythos.

[Sverre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Murky, scratchy art and ponderous plot. Hard to follow. Out of context when compared to previous book in this series (Sub-Diego).

[Adam Cole]

Backlog.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's an all-new Aquaman after Infinite Crisis, only he has the same name and costume as the last Aquaman. Plus, he gets prophecies from a dude with squid hair that he'll live almost exactly the same life as the last Aquaman. Much like the All-New Atom, what's the point in relaunching a character if you're going to tie him down to previous versions of the character?
Kurt Busiek tries to add a more sword-and-sorcery bent to Aquaman, which is an interesting idea (it's hard to do much with a guy who fights underwater crime), but is hamstrung by Butch Guice's muddled art. Guice did wonderful art on books like Ruse, but his lines are far too rough, and Dan Brown's colors are far too dark, even for the deep blue sea.
On the bright side, Aquaman's sidekick is a talking shark. That's pretty cool.

[Nicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes, people have been way harsh on this book. It wasn't the hottest thing I've ever read, but it was a fun read.

One reviewer already commented on the sword and sorcery approach, and I think that it works pretty well for Aquaman. It's way better than having him look like a fish out of water while he pals around with the Superfriends. The Sea Devils were a nice touch, too.

The "new Aquaman" concept is odd and doesn't make a whole lot of sense within the confines of this story. I really hope that it gets cleaned up later, preferably by good writing and not another massive DC reboot.

[Jerry Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis fails as a story about birthright. This graphic novel does little to establish "Authur Curry" as a character one can care about before he learns he is the King of Atlantis from an underwater sage. Instead, the title character seems dropped into some underwater adventures and developed as he journeys the seas to meet some allies and foes while engaging in a few battles and trying to find the man he believes is his father. This story is no page-turner.

[Koen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, okay, it's a pretty interesting, yet confusing and farfetched story, seeing the dweller guide the new aquaman to what he will/must become...
Now that I've read it, I am still anxious to find out what will happen next, after that twist at the end :)
One of the things I liked in this Aquaman, was definitely the artwork!

[Anne Barwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

DC's tendency to reboot origin stories and characters can be a tad annoying at times, especially with this as they still refer to the original Aquaman. Still, it's an enjoyable story once I got past but that's not what happened/what I remember part. Annoyingly ends on a bit of a cliffie and I don't have access to the next part of the story.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is strange. I'm not an Aquaman fan but essentially I presume that this came after some time after the events of the Infinite Crisis. Aquaman in this story is not the real Aquaman?

Definitely can see why he's not that big of a character. Definitely will stick with Superman or Batman. D+

[H. Givens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the King Arthur-esque reboot, and loved the art -- it lends the ocean a certain bleakness, touched with beauty. The story lacks a certain significance for those not familiar with previous versions, though.

[John Yelverton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whoever thought that they could replace the original Aquaman with this clown should be fired on the spot.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ploddingly plotted and drowning in murky coloring.

[Ola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels almost like a Otherworld story. I've heard that Infinite Crisis messed this story up? King Shark as sidekick worked fine.