Review - Aquaman: The Waterbearer

When Aquaman is sentenced to death following a regime change in Atlantis, the enigmatic Lady of the Lake rescues him. In exchange, he is given a mystically empowered aquatic hand and becomes her champion. Upon his initial misuse of his powers, Aquaman sets in motion a series of events that could harm his benefactor.

Aquaman: The Waterbearer collects Aquaman #1-6 and material from Aquaman Secret Files 2003 and JLA/JSA Secret Files & Origins #1, written by Rick Veitch and art by Yvel Guichet.

The Waterbearer picks up in the aftermath of “The Obsidian Age,” a storyline that ran in JLA that dealt with the disappearance and reappearance of Atlantis. As such, it demands a certain level of working knowledge of the preceding events. Without it, readers may find themselves desperately trying to fill in the blanks. Still, writer Rick Veitch and artist Yvel Guichet don’t dwell too long on it. Instead, they keep the narrative moving forward by introducing new lore to the Aquaman mythos. The creative team opts to borrow from Arthurian legend (apt considering our hero was a king named Arthur) and the concept of the watery hand is absolutely brilliant. As the ousted ruler of Atlantis, Aquaman’s given new purpose as the champion of the Lady of the Lake and he finds himself having to learn how to use his new gift. True to his hotheaded nature, he makes mistakes and he has to deal with those consequences.

Despite its inclusion of Arthurian legend and some interesting narrative choices, The Waterbearer isn’t as attention grabbing as it could be. It lacks direction due to a meandering storyline that delves into a plethora of subplots. There are so many plot threads, but the end of this collection ties none of them up. In fact, the trade itself is a massive disappointment due to the fact that it effectively ends on a cliffhanger. It makes little to no sense that the collections department at DC Comics opted to collect the first six issues of Veitch’s run rather than the entirety of it. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to have this trade run the full twelve issues.

I like a lot of the concepts and ideas introduced in Aquaman: The Waterbearer, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Yvel Guichet’s art is an undeniable asset, especially in capturing the more whimsical elements of the story. The scenes involving the Lady of the Lake and her handmaidens are gorgeously illustrated, standing out as some truly distinctive work. Unfortunately, Veitch’s narrative direction and dialogue choices don’t match the high quality of the art. He has a firm grasp on Aquaman, but the other characters seem to suffer from neglect and floating plotlines. For instance, Mera is catatonic, Dolphin is trapped in Atlantis, and the Lady of the Lake is nothing more than a plot device. While my opinion would likely be different had this collection included all twelve issues of Veitch’s Aquaman run, The Waterbearer failed to capture my interest and was a bit of a chore to get through. Had the women been given more of a prominent role, I’m certain I’d have felt a little differently.

RATING: C