I Think Peter David's Aquaman Run Is Overrated

[Timothy Hunter]

First off I'll start off with the positives. The miniseries that capped off Peter David's Aquaman, Time and Tide was really fun. You get some nice early interactions between Arthur and Barry. Issue two of Time and Tide is one of my favorite single issue stories ever. I still prefer Aquaman's Silver Age origins, but the retcons this miniseries make work. I like Aquaman being raised by Dolphins and Ocean Master being half Inuit. Personally I'm not a fan of character reboots, but the stories being told with these changes are quite good. I also quite like the Legends of the Dead Earth & Year One annuals.

Peter David was known as one of the main critics of Image Comics during the 1990s. He even debated Todd McFarlane about Image at the fan convention. However, I would argue that David's Aquaman revels in the the worst tropes of the 90s to a degree that it is just as guilty in that regard as a book like Spawn or Youngblood.

Gratuitous violence? Check. Aquaman gets his hand bit off by Piranahas in the first issue.

Extreme 90's artwork? Check. Egeland and Calafiore feel like DC's attempt to duplicate Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld.

Heroes Fighting Heroes For No Good Reason? Check. In issue 16 Aquaman beats the Justice League half to death, including old friends of his such as Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter.

One of the major problems of this run is characterization. Aquaman and all of his supporting cast are all portrayed as uncharacteristicly selfish, petty, and cruel. Aquaman is a grumpy recluse who hates humanity and is abusive to his friends. Vulko is a machiavellian schemer hellbent on usurping Aquaman and replacing him with his son Koryak. Garth is overrun with petty jealously towards his partner and surrogate father Aquaman. Dolphin is a ditzy airhead who cheats on Aquaman with his ward, Garth.

I love flawed characters but the issue for me with how unlikable the "heroes" are written as, is that their reasons for acting the way they are feels so contrived. Why after all these years would Vulko want to hoist Arthur out of power? Why after all these years would Arthur be so cruel to Garth and Mera? It doesn't feel like a natural progression of the stories that came before.

I thought the portrayal of the two main female characters, Mera and Dolphin was really sexist even for the 90s. Dolphin was treated as little more than a object of desire for Aquaman and Garth, and Mera was your archetypal spiteful ex wife. Supergirl, She Hulk, and Fallen Angel prove that Peter David can write women really well, but I found the gender politics in his Aquaman to be gross.

Peter David is known for his humor, and I must say he is far more successful at comedy here than most superhero comics with a humorous bent. There are as many misses as hits, but I recognize how hard it is to be funny in comics, and David here does it better than most.

My biggest problem with the comedy isn't that it's not funny, but that it feels so out of place in such a mean-spirited book. Martin Egeland's McFarlane-esque, expressive artstyle adapts well to the humor, but Jim Calafiore stiff, x-treme artwork makes any attempt at levity fall flat.