Aquaman: the becoming #1 spoilers and discussion
Well everything seemed to be coming up Jackson until it isn’t. But hey I guess that’s what happens when you get the keys to the kingdom while Arthur goes to Mars to hangout with Frankenstein......I did not make that up by the way. The reason he’s gone in this book is very vague but he says he has got a mission on Mars that involves Frankenstein, it’s interesting and just a little weird but he gets a few minutes in the first few pages to talk. But we aren’t here for Arthur we are here for Jackson whose working his way up in the world to becoming possibly the next Aquaman.
Things are alright in his life at this point. The Aquafamily like him and train with him in some very advanced AI, the people of Atlantis and Amnesty Bay seem to like him, he’s hanging out with his mom, and stopping crime that while may seem ridiculous but has a human element to it that shows his compassion. Honestly he even has time to talk to his old Titans friends just to talk since he’s off doing Aqua-Justice while they run Titans Academy. Honestly a lot of this first issue is just showing you his life and that when the time is right how he would make for a good Aquaman within the dc universe.
But of course it wouldn’t be an 8 issue miniseries if things didn’t go to hell and mess up his status quo. See some mysterious duo is watching him and want to stop him because he “doesn’t appreciate what he has” and a “Xebel will never be Aquaman”. So pretty much right off the bat we can tell this person has Atlantis ties somehow. This person puts the whooping on Jackson and then blows up the part of the royal building they are in and when Jackson comes to the Atlantis guard has come to arrest him...and honestly that’s the part that bothers me.
Look I get this story needs conflict, in fact I really liked this first issue and I’m sure next issue will show some evidence that the villain left to implicate Jackson, but I don’t like the guards pretty much immediately arresting him. This is the guy who has lived among them, helped save their city and people, is friends with their former queen and king, and has helped raise their baby for months because of time skips. I’d say maybe give the dude a bit more benefit of the doubt when he comes out of the wreckage and says that he’s been attacked and that a suspect is getting away. It would make sense if it was his initial introduction since he is Black Manta’s son but not when he’s been around a while and can talk to security guards by name. Like I said I get why they did it but I’m not really a huge fan of that ending.
Either way I think it’s a really good first issue that really gets into who Jackson is and shows you what qualities he has to be the next Aquaman while also introducing the main conflict. It does what a first issue of a mini is supposed to do and does it very well. Not to mention Olortegui’s art works very well for this especially in action scenes. Would probably recommend for Aquaman fans, readers of teen titans, and those interested if he will go on to become Aquaman like Future State.
Edit: Slight error on my part, it’s 6 issues not 8.
