Week three of reading the best Aquaman comics I can find is upon us.  However, does this volume measure up?

Aquaman must deal with a new threat which comes from deep in the sea in AQUAMAN VOL. 1: THE TRENCH.

Some deep sea creatures venture out of a thermal vent at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.  This is the first time they have ever left their home. However, food has become scarce and they need to find more to survive.  They venture up to the surface of the ocean to see what food lies up there.

It takes no time for the creatures to find some fisherman.  They don’t eat the fisherman or at least not right away.  The creatures put their food into cocoons alive and take them down to their home or as they call it, the Trench.

Aquaman also ventured up to the surface after he heard some sirens from the harbor.  After he stopped some criminals trying to make their escape he gets his heroism belittled.

No one takes Aquaman seriously and he gets called tuna man.  It is misunderstood that he can talk to fish. Fish have brains too small to talk.  He reaches into their midbrains and pushes them to help. However, this is not true for dolphins or other intelligent sea life it would appear.

It doesn’t take long for Aquaman to have an encounter with these new sea creatures.  He follows them back to the Trench only to discover they have a tie to Atlantis. They make their home in an ancient Atlantean ship.

AQUAMAN VOL. 1: THE TRENCH was written by Geoff Johns with art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado.  DC Comics published the volume in 2013.

Well I made a bit of a goof with this comic.  It turns out this is the first volume in the same run as last week’s review.  The two comics have different authors so I didn’t realize I should have swapped the reading orders.  They both read independent of each other so it worked out.

It is really unfortunate that every Aquaman comic has to address Aquaman not being a joke.  In every volume I’ve read so far they have him do something badass to show he is not a pushover.  It is all Super Friends fault and his reputation may never recover.

This is the weakest of the three books I’ve read so far.  However, this is still really good. The sea creatures which I don’t believe they ever named were really scary looking.  A problem I had with them was they were defeated really fast. This seems to be a problem I am noticing with these comics.  Aquaman beats his villain really fast. I would like a somewhat drawn out fight. It is really hard to stay interested when Aquaman wins so fast.

Something which I really liked was the Atlantis mystery angle.  They never really go fully in depth into Atlantis and its history. It seems really rich with a ton of stories which can be looked into.  I really wanted to know more about that Atlantean ship, but that is a mystery for another volume it would seem.

I really liked this volume, but they are not written with each volume wrapping up the story in a clean bow.  The entire run tells a complete story which is fine, but it means the volume has an incomplete feeling.

Rating:

4/5