Finally, Aquaman is swimming back into good storytelling with a new gripping tale from Dan Abnett (The Punisher, X-Men). Arthur is in full detective mode, as he investigates a hanging story from the New 52 era, full of great character development and naive curiosity. The story is also a fine jumping-on point, as Arthur investigates Dead Water. AM and Mera are called in by the very men and women that tried to assassinate him and murdered some of his closet advisors, The Aquamarines.
The stage is thus set for the gorgeous art of Philippe Briones (A Goofy Movie). He brings each of these creatures to life, be it the razor sharp teeth, hammerhead, or the squid-like tentacles of the American Aquamarine soldiers. His full splash action scenes bounce off the page! Coupled with Gabe Eltaeb‘s coloring, Aquaman just looks exceptional. There is one downside of the issue though: unless you’ve read the New 52 Aquaman series, you likely won’t know who any of these characters are — despite a nice “90s-style” touch by DC listing the issues that reference them. Otherwise, much in the same realm as “Superman: Reborn”, Aquaman #19 is yet another great example of everything that DC Rebirth is doing right. 4.5/5 Seaman agree!