Aquaman #14 (DC)

(via dccomics.com)

writer: Geoff Johns
artist: Pete Woods, Pere Perez

In this prelude to "Throne of Atlantis," the Aquaman crossover with Justice League (both series written by Geoff Johns), you may learn the most fascinating thing about the title character of this series.

I give you a hint: the answer is in the cover image provided above.

Okay, chances are you still have no idea, so I'll just go out and say it: Ocean Master.  Who the hell is Ocean Master?  Aside from being one of Aquamn's most notable foes, he also happens to be Aquaman's brother.

Now, I know I appreciate the idea of a hero's worst enemy being his brother.  Many years ago I created a very crude comic (strictly for personal amusement) that was basically a very obvious knockoff of Superman (though there have been many, many creators who have done exactly that), with one crucial difference: he was not the only survivor of his world.  Unlike, say, Supergirl or General Zod, Powerman's kin was his own brother.  And mortal enemy.

No, I didn't get very much farther in the story.  That's basically all there was.

That's just part of the reason why I think Ocean Master's new level of significance is so brilliant.  Let me clue you in on a little secret: most of what anyone finds brilliant is something they may have thought of themselves, but someone else also ended up thinking it, and so it's like an affirmation.  That's brilliance in a nutshell, the less-common-than-you'd-think confluence of thought processes.

Anyway, another reason why this is so brilliant is because it's surprisingly rare in comics.  Martian Manhunter, in the years following JLA, when he had an actual ongoing series, had his own evil rival of a brother, but all due respect to Martian Manhunter (a continually underrated, brilliant character) and John Ostrander, but I will choose to overlook that one.

Of the major characters in comics, Aquaman stands pretty unique in this regard.  And somehow every single one of the creators before Geoff Johns never really saw fit to exploit this.

That would be like failing to acknowledge Wonder Woman as the ultimate ambassador.  Oh, wait.  Pretty much every Wonder Woman comic not written by Greg Rucka has done that.  (To steal an expression: hurm.)

Anyway, you may or may not have heard of "Throne of Atlantis."  It's one of the dozens of crossover storyarcs DC is currently in the midst of, and probably the one you should be noting right now in case you haven't already.  Obviously the point is to help raise the profile and significance of Aquaman, which Johns has been doing quite well in this series already, in a far more lucid and imaginative interpretation than the character has ever seen before.  As I've noted in the past, it's not enough to have Atlantis as a prominent element of Aquaman's story.  You have to know what to do with it.

Aquaman is a fish out of water in two worlds, which is pretty ironic, because one of those worlds is certainly under water.  He's not just that dude who talks to fish.  He's awesome.

The cleverest thing about this issue is that even though Ocean Master is kept in shadow and most of anything you need to know about him is omitted, it's so obvious what's going to happen, you're only following along as Aquaman himself discovers that his brother is going to turn out to be his worst enemy.  That was always supposed to be the virtue of the New 52: these elements are all familiar to older readers, but to new ones they can come as revelations, and the right writers will know exactly how to strike that balance.  In a way, this makes Aquaman quintessential New 52 reading.