Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #41
	Story Title: 'Over His Head' Writer: Kurt Busiek Artwork: Butch Guice Colorist: Dan Brown Letterer: Todd Klein Editor: Joey Cavalieri Published by: DC Comics AQUAMAN created by Paul Norris
	Reviewed by: Bruce Logan

This review isn’t spoilerific ‘cause having not read the previous issue (one of the two OYL issues I missed/passed on. The other being ‘Blood of the Demon’), I don’t have any knowledge about what has happened so far and moreover who this guy is. Going into this issue, I thought that Aquaman was rebooted completely, but it is no so…or maybe rebooted with a completely different past (for almost all involved characters).

I won’t comment much on the actual story itself. Passing on the previous one, I only picked up this title due to highly appreciative reviews out there. Will try to my hands on that one to catch up to speed….meaning, I WILL be following this title. However, I do have a couple of questions, well, one major one. To me, this series comes across as having a fantasy factor to it. Fantasy not in the Batman, Superman, Nightwing etc. way, but a little along the lines of that set by movies/books like Lords of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and others. And this make me think as to how this new Aquaman is going to fit with the rest of the DC universe…mainly the upcoming ‘Justice League of America’ series. He is too inexperienced to be just taken as a member of the league….unless this story is actually starts in the past with the present Aquaman being more seasoned.

The art although not particularly appealing to me (independently) works quite well in this setting. What I don’t like are the dialogue bubbles….namely their color. Looks like someone intended them to be a deeper blue or maybe white, and by mistake, bleached (or colored) them at the last moment. However, that is me just niggling.

The highlight of the issue is the fight between Arthur Curry and the whatever that Atsiul is intended to be. We get to know that Atlantis was destroyed. Well, we already saw that but somehow it seems to have been given a different twist in its explanation. The Atlanteans, under a recovered Queen Mera, have been shown to have tried…and failed in their attempt to resettle and rebuild. They have now relocated to some broken down dump of a city/town focusing (just) on survival…and it is here that the fight between Arthur and Atsiul takes place.

The ending (unlike many other titles) is not so much shocking as it is a setup for the next issue….and for further adventures for Arthur. As for me, I’ll try to catch up on the previous issue before the next one comes out.

Conclusion: Taking it as a ‘introduction’ arc for a new character, it is developing quite well.

Rating: 8/10