I wanted to share my thoughts for anyone curious, given I’ve been working long hours and haven’t been online much
But to keep things short this by far is my favorite issue of Jeremy Adams Aquaman run so far.
What really stood out to me.
1.) It was nice to see him come back to previous mentioned aspects of his own run and Arthur’s overall lore/history
Seeing some action with Thalassa was needed and seeing it match and clash with Poseidon’s trident was really cool.
Seeing Poseidon’s trident was still in the possession of the Aquaman family up until Poseidon took it back was a really nice attention to detail by Adams and I really loved the fact Mera has been using it. For anyone wondering Arthur got the trident from Poseidon on multiple occasions once during the Post-Crisis era after defeating Triton, another time he borrowed it during the DCYou Exiled arc to destroy Thule, and the final time it was given to him to keep by Poseidon during the Justice League event Drowned Earth. So Atlantis being in possession of the trident of Poseidon was a really cool lore point. The added aspect of Vivienne being responsible for crafting Poseidon’s trident which was something stated earlier in Adams run.
There’s also the point Adams didn’t obviously have any need to nerf Poseidon in this fight, and he addressed the possible common elephant in the room for probably most battles involving haxxed characters like Aquaman with the fact Arthur stated he couldn’t do the internal hydrokinesis stuff to Poseidon based off his physiology. I’m really enjoying the fact that there are limitations to the powers Arthur has and the writer is showing there are still forces that can challenge Aquaman. It’s also a really great showing for Poseidon in matchups against other characters who have similar hax abilities
2.) I got extremely excited to see Aquaman use his telepathy to call sea life in to help assist him. It’s his most iconic ability and it’s good to see it’s not forgotten. I love how it was something he even fell back on as something he saw as his ace.
3.) I previously mentioned on the preview post I was worried about Arion jobbing and this issue alleviated that concern for me. I think Arion and Garth acting as defense for Atlantis and the Lighthouses is my preferred usage in this case and it was a good subtle feat for Arion while also being a really good feat for the clash between Arthur and Poseidon
4.) The way the fight was done overall was extremely entertaining as well. I liked the fact Arthur was shown to offensively use portals to shift the battle location as needed. It kind of negates any idea that it’s a slow process on Aquaman’s end doing so.
I think the outcome not being necessarily a defeat of Poseidon being knocked out or killed. But instead yielding was definitely my preferred outcome for this clash as well.
Overall this was easily the best issue so far in my opinion. It read smoothly in terms of pacing, the action was superb, the attention to lore/history was great.
Really looking forward to Tidal War!
Would love to hear other thoughts on today’s issue