Aquaman #55 Review and **SPOILERS**

Wetter Together

Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick

Pencils: Robson 

Inker: Daniel Henriques 

Colors: Sunny Gho 

Letters: Clayton Cowles 

Cover: Robson Rocha, Jason Paz, & Alex Sinclair 

Variant Cover: Chris Stevens & Sunny Gho 

Assistant Editor: Andrea Shea 

Editor: Alex Antone 

Group Editor: Brian Cunningham 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: December 17, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

The cover promises that Aquaman and Black Manta are going to end this. NOW! And lord, I hope that’s true. Let’s find out in my review of Aquaman #55, commencing now!

Explain It!

So, uh…what was it? Aquaman was floating in the foreground while Black Manta-Bot and one of Maurer’s C’thulu monsters slugged it out in the background? Well, surprise, the once King of Atlantis isn’t dead. Amazingly, Mera is able to save him by using her water manipulation powers. Even more amazingly, she creates a gigantic water construct of herself to speak with Arthur. This is so awesome, I just can’t stand it. Much of this is owed to the fact that Robson and Henriques didn’t render this like a bunch of crap. But just the idea that Mera could make water talk is incredible. But we’ll be sick of by the end of the issue. 

Mera also retrieves Jackson from…somewhere, and he’s all thrilled to see his Xebellean Queen flexing her water skills. Arthur saves Maurer, who is having the time of his life since his mentally-projected tentacle beasts are fueled by rage—Black Manta’s rage. Anyone else feel like Maurer is that weirdo no one knows  who crashed the party? 

While Arthur cheers her on, Mera and Jackson link powers and form a super Mera of gigantic size, which proves to be more annoying to Mecha Manta. Seeing he is about to croak, he tells his new suit to employ the self-destruct sequence—but it refuses! Because it is originally based on his father’s diaries, if you remember. Yeah, you knew that bullshit was going to come back and bite us in the ass. 

Indeed, it was sort of the crux of the issue, with Black Manta’s mech suit’s artificial intelligence having some internal thoughts through caption throughout the issue. I feel like I should write that sentence again. Is this a Phillip K. Dick story or something? It was kind of an obvious ending, married to some spectacular visuals that seem more polished than in the last couple of issues. The inkers and co-pencillers have changed, so maybe that has something to do with it. There is much to like in this issue for Aquaman fans, but it took way too long to get here. Seeing Mera and Arthur reconnect, however, was a pretty sweet moment.

Bits and Pieces: 

Every T is crossed, every I is dotted, and it highlights how much extra baggage this story  has been dragging along. A satisfying conclusion to a bloated arc with a pretty cool development that's run into the ground in the same issue that it's introduced. Forget it, Jake. That's comics.

6.5/10