Review: Aquaman Vol. 3- Throne of Atlantis
Quick Summary
Pros: This is a fantastic and thrilling conclusion to many of the plotlines established earlier in the series. It is also a great and tragic continuation of much of what has been started in the previous two Aquaman volumes. It also contains a few astounding twists which are a delight to read.
Cons: Simple illogical character motivations drive some pieces of the plot in small ways that don’t make much sense.
Overall: This is perhaps the biggest Aquaman based event of all time so the stakes are clearly very high. Yet this story is entertaining and interesting enough to deliver on the hype it has promised. It tells an amazing story that delves into character development while not holding back on raw action. The only problem with it is the lapses in logic that characters make from time to time.
Story
Aquaman Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis is a great crossover event overall, despite the fact that it is more of an Aquaman event than a true crossover with the Justice League. It tells a good and interesting story in a way that flows well for every character who is a part of it. It is also just a good example of a realistic version of what would happen with a high stakes problem in comic books. On top of all of this, it is also a continuation of everything that has been going on in Aquaman so far and also launches him into a new position that could allow for some really interesting future stories. The only think preventing this story from being as great as it should be are a few odd character choices which actually end up taking away from an otherwise amazing story.
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Many times the stakes are pretty high in comic books, but the main hero is somehow always able to deal with it. For example, when the Court of Owls is set to kill dozens of Gotham citizens, in Batman Vol. 2: The City of Owls (Review), the Justice League is not called. In the same vain, the Avengers rarely ever seem to show up in the countless times when Spiderman is in danger. This is not a bad thing overall because it would lead to characters like Thor or Superman constantly having to show up in every comic book to fix everyone’s problems. However every now and then it is feels nice to see the writers acknowledge that sometimes events actually do get too big for one hero. This was sometime positive to see in this smaller event and is what contributes to the event working, despite the focus clearly being on Aquaman over the rest of the Justice League.
The best part of this book is how well it flows out of everything established in the Aquaman universe prior to this. Johns has put a lot of work into building up the characters here in order to get the reader to connect with them thus making the universe here feel more authentic. This payoff happens here as numerous events throughout this volume either test what the reader knows about characters or sharply reveal more about them. Vulko coming out as a traitor and Orm being imprisoned were fantastic moments and were an absolute trip to experience. They contribute to the ongoing tragedy that is Aquaman’s life and also coincide with his assentation to the throne. This makes the end of this volume the heaviest moment of Aquaman’s life so far and it will be extremely interesting to see where things go from here.
The worst part encountered when reading this book would have to be the way conflict is manufactured through misunderstandings or illogical reasoning. Most of this flows from Orm in one way or another. Orm’s reasoning for attacking the surface is a good example of conflict that is generated logically and realistically, he has a legitimate reason for believing the surface world wants this war. However, things go downhill from here as Aquaman and the Justice League come to blows for unrealistic reasons. The League agrees to allow Aquaman to talk to his brother, yet only allow him to get eight sentences (I counted) in before appearing and declaring the situation out of control and thus escalating it to violence.
Right after this, both the League and Aquaman demand Orm be tried for his crimes, treating him like a common criminal instead of the leader of a country with legitimate reason for war. This would be like George Washington demanding King George III be put in jail after the Revolutionary War. War is clearly a different beast from petty crime and thus it doesn’t make sense for Orm to simply be jailed like he was. Although I thought this was a beautifully tragic end to the story, a little is lot from it because it stems from such an odd premise.
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Art
About half of the art in this collection is, once again, drawn by Ivan Reis. This makes it very similar to what is in Aquaman Vol. 1: The Trench (Review), so make sure to check that review to see a more thorough examination of the art.
The other half of this collection is done by either Paul Pelletier or Pete Woods and Pere Pérez. Their work ends up looking extremely similar to Ivan Reis to a point where I did not notice the art was done by someone else for a little bit. While it is very close, Reis’s work typically takes the edge by having more realistic and defined character faces, however the other art is still very good overall.
Continuity
Aquaman Vol. 3: Throne of Atlantis continues the story from Aquaman Vol. 2: The Others (Review). However, this is also a crossover event so make sure to check out our “Throne of Atlantis Reading Order” for more information.
The story here continues in Aquaman Vol. 4: Death of a King (Review).
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- Parts of this story flow out of the Justice League but most of it comes from the Aquaman series. The portions from Justice League come from Justice League Vol. 1: Origin (Review) and Justice League Vol. 2: The Villain’s Journey (Review).
- At the end of this story, people are shown preparing teams for the future. This is a setup for the Trinity War (Review) storyline. These teams will then appear in Justice League of America Vol. 1: World’s Most Dangerous and Justice League Vol. 4: The Grid (Review)