TITLE: Justice League, Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis
AUTHOR: Geoff Johns
PENCILLERS: Tony Daniel, Ivan Reis, Paul Pelletier
COLLECTS: Justice League #13-17, Aquaman #15-16
FORMAT: Hardcover
PUBLISHER: DC Comics
PRICE: $24.99
RELEASE DATE: September 25, 2013
By Rob Siebert
Editor, Fanboy Wonder
I’ve had to tighten my budget a little bit in recent months. As a result, some of the heroes who are normally on my pull list aren’t there anymore, at least temporarily. I’ve had to scale back on my Batman, my Superman, my Spider-Man, my X-Men, etc. But monetary restrictions aside, Aquaman has been a mainstay among my purchases.
Let me repeat that: Aquaman has been a mainstay. Aquaman.
To average joes, or perhaps those who’ve been away from comics for the last several years, that statement likely sounds ludicrous. But under Geoff Johns’ pen and Ivan Reis’ pencils, this perpetual punchline of a character is now starring in one of DC’s most compelling titles. With both Aquaman and Brightest Day, Johns has re-established and fleshed out the character’s origin, supporting cast, rogues gallery, and home city of Amnesty Bay. He’s in on the joke, but refuses to be a joke. In Throne of Atlantis, Johns and his various collaborators elevate Aquaman’s game to Justice League-level, as America faces an attack from the underwater city of Atlantis. Now, Arthur must choose which side he’s loyal to. And while the surface world may have Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Cyborg on its side, the League will ultimately be forced to open its ranks if they want to win this war.
What I admire about Throne of Atlantis from a writing standpoint is how many proverbial hats it wears. It’s obviously a Justice League book, so it has to provide a League-level threat. That threat comes from the pages of Aquaman, so it serves as a bridge to that book. But we’re also in a pretty fresh continuity, so it’s also got to further develop the relationships these “new” characters have with one another. Furthermore, the plot pulls off some nice world-building, incorporating characters like Hawkman, Firestorm, Black Canary, Vixen, and more. The book manages to do all these things quite effectively. Everything falls into place very naturally.
One of my favorite elements of this new Aquaman status quo is the trench monsters, which we also see here. I believe they were designed by Ivan Reis. I don’t even think they can be placed in the villains category, as they’re really just evil underwater foot soldiers. But I’m in love with their look. It’s a perfect monster movie design, and you get the impression that if you somehow came across something like these things in the real world, you’d be legitimately scared for your life. Considering Aquaman is often chuckled at by casual fans, introducing these creatures contributes a lot to the cool factor of his world.
The Superman/Wonder Woman relationship which started in The Villains Journey also continues here, with varying results. In the first two issues, Johns and Tony Daniel tell a story which re-introduces the Cheetah, one of Wonder Woman’s classic villains. Diana’s reluctance to accept help from Superman and the rest of the League lead to Clark trying to get her to open up. In issue #13, this results in an incredibly awkward moment where Superman flat out asks Cyborg and The Flash to leave the room so he can talk to her by himself. The characters react with an appropriate suspicion, but nothing ever comes of it. Later, Superman takes her to Smallville, and much like we saw in Aquaman #1, they eat in a small local diner where people are agast to see superheroes among the common folk. Why they had to be so damn conspicuous is beyond me. At least in Aquaman, Johns gave us some comedy (“You can’t eat fish! You talk to fish!). Finally, in issue #14 we see Batman discover their budding romance by placing a tracer on Superman’s cape, which for some convenient reason his super-hearing didn’t alert him to…
Generally speaking, however, I like where they’re going. In issue #15, we see Clark actually explain to Diana why his civilian identity exists, and why the glasses disguise works. When the crisis hits, they’re actually out in public trying out a disguise for Diana. Seeing them jump into action together is pretty cool. The idea of Clark taking Diana to Smallville, which is obviously a very personal place for him, is a good idea in principle. I’m just not thrilled with the way it was handled. But they don’t seem to be botching it, which is a relief.
One complaint I still have is that these don’t seem like characters who’ve been working together for five years. They seem like they’ve been a team for…well…12 issues! For instance, in issue #13 we see Cyborg talks to Flash about how he wonders if he’s just a machine pretending to be human. We also see Batman and Aquaman debate over how the League should be led. These, for my money, are interactions that would have happened six months to a year into the the League’s existence, not five. You can even make the same argument about Wonder Woman learning about Smallville. I get that DC wants the reader to be there for these big moments, and not necessarily have them via flashback, or off-page. But there’s a certain lack of experience and camaraderie between these characters that hurts my suspension of disbelief.
Still, Throne of Atlantis is a considerable improvement over Origin and The Villains Journey. The series seems to be working its way into a groove. It’s not out of its awkward phase yet, but it’s slowly but surely getting there. And, as I’ve said time and time again, Johns and his crew have given Justice League the status and importance it deserves.
RATING: 7.5/10
Front page image from somewhatnerdy.com. Image 1 from comicvine.com. Image 2 from timeinc.net. Image 3 from trinitycomicshop.com.
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