Review: Aquaman Vol. 6- Maelstrom

Quick Summary

Pros: The book is very diverse, with the first arc feeling like horror and the second arc feeling like mystery. The worldbuilding here is well done and appreciated. The book looks great artistically.

Cons: The transition between the two storylines is somewhat jarring.

Overall: This is a book that no Aquaman fan will want to miss out on. Here readers see Aquaman go head to head with a horrific monster while also uncovering the secret history of his royal ancestors. The story is entertaining and thrilling right up to the end with only a minor bump along the way. Fans of Aquaman, Atlantis, Mera, or just comic books in general should make sure to give this book a try.

Story

In Aquaman Vol. 6: Maelstrom, writer Jeff Parker brings the quality of the Aquaman series back to its pinnacle, all while adding his own twist to things. He starts with a chilling horror story detailing the rise of a creature from the deep and then transitions into a story about an ancient mystery stemming back to the royal family of Atlantis. Though the jump between these arcs is slightly mishandled, both plotlines are fantastic on their own. Meanwhile, a heavy dose of worldbuilding helps deepen the history and legacy of Atlantis as a society, something that makes the entire series better. This is an Aquaman book everyone can enjoy and a nice addition to the King of the Seas’ legacy.

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The book begins with two Secret Origins issues that give a brief history of Aquaman and Mera’s lives. These issues are almost entirely recap and don’t contain much new material. For new readers, this will serve as a great introduction into exactly what is going on in this series. Older readers might find this annoying and unnecessary, however I found it to be a nice refresher, especially at a point this late into the series.

From here, the story picks up directly where the last volume left off: Mera is fighting rebels in the depths of Atlantis while Aquaman takes on a new enemy in the form of Chimera. Both of these sequences have their fair share of action, but it is the Chimera portion of the story that drives things forward.

Chimera presents himself as a strange and unique enemy because his motivations are more bestial than any other villain Aquaman faces. His very construction and presence also shifts the tone of the book away from traditional superhero action and more towards creepy horror. This is a terrifying amalgamation of undersea life that could easily haunt anyone’s nightmares. Twisting the story in such a way is an impressive achievement by Jeff Parker and a unique change of pace for the series.

From Chimera, Aquaman learns that his human biology is presenting a threat to the safety of Atlantis and that he must act on this in order to save his kingdom. However, the transition here is not handled very well and may be one of the low points in this book. The Chimera plotline is simply dropped with little resolution and a new one is instantly started up. The new storyline is good and makes sense at this point in time, but the transition to it is definitely jarring.

Now Aquaman is on the search to save Atlantis and discover the secret history his mother hid from him. He travels through lost sections of Atlantis, makes his way to Gorilla City, and finally discovers a secret dimension in which his mother is hiding. Their meeting is dramatic and upsetting in a bittersweet sort of way. There is no sappy reunion or happy reconciliation here, as Atlanna is too distraught to accept her son, but I actually liked this ending better. Parker writes an atypical reconciliation that defies expectation but is still filled to the brim with emotion. Plus, introducing a living Atlanna opens the door on a number of potential storylines that could be fun to see play out in the future.

Speaking of introducing ideas for the future, the amount of worldbuilding and lore construction Parker does here is insane. Besides the reintroduction of Atlanna, he redefines the spiritual makeup of Atlantis, adds details to the secret history of Gorilla City, and creates a teleportation system that adds depth to the Atlantis’s history on land. Over the course of this book, Aquaman’s entire world is imbued with a greater sense of history, giving the entire series a greater feeling of epic and meaningful adventure.

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Art

It seems like with each subsequent Aquaman collection, artist Paul Pelletier’s work gets more detailed and imaginative. Here he is given the opportunity to depict vast, foreign landscapes and new hidden portions of Atlantis, both of which he succeeds with. This might be Pelletier’s best looking book yet, and his earlier book’s already looked nice. Overall, readers can enter this with the assurance that the world of Aquaman is going to continue to look as good as it reads.

Continuity

Aquaman Vol. 6: Maelstrom occurs directly after the events of Aquaman Vol. 5: Sea of Storms (Review).

The story here continues in Aquaman Vol. 7: Exiled.

This volume also references and continues the stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below.

• In the recap of Aquaman’s life his fight against Apokolips is shown. This is from Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (Review).
• Grodd mentions being separated from the Speed Force and being imprisoned. This happened in The Flash Vol. 3: Gorilla Warfare.