Aquaman #24

By Geoff Johns & Paul Pelletier

The penultimate issue of Geoff Johns’ “Death of a King” arc offers a backstory on the history of Atlantis. It was an interesting story that served as a good jump on point for readers after a lengthy wait sine the last issue in the series.

Aquaman #24 spends the majority of the issue telling the story of King Atlan and the fall of Atlantis. Johns does a great job of weaving this story in with what is currently happening with Aquaman, and in typical Johns fashion manages to flip everything the reader thinks they know about Aquaman mythology on it’s head.

The story does occasionally feel like it’s spinning the wheels in preparation for the final issue of the arc and the final issue of Johns’ run in Aquaman #25. Although the story of Atlan is solid, it would have been nice to move along Aquaman’s story a bit more, especially after learning he was out of commission for six months.

Paul Pelletier contributes some great storytelling in Aquaman #24. He sells a confused and angry Aquaman during his sections and offers great action during the Atlantis scenes. Alongside inker Sean Parsons and colorist Rod Reis, the team also sells the dank pit the Dead King came from and contrasts the regal views of an early Atlantis.

Although it felt a bit like a filler issue in places, Aquaman #24 breaks a lot of new ground in Aquaman’s mythos while providing an interesting and tragic origin story of how Atlantis came to be. With only one issue left you still have plenty of time to catch up before Johns’ run is over.