#aquadog

Aquaman #1-4. November/2011 - February/2012. By Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado.

At the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, a new race of creatures awaken. They are shocked there is an 'up'. They make their way to the surface speaking a strange language.

In Boston, The Boston Police Department are chasing a group of criminals stealing a bank truck. Aquaman appears and defeats the group of thugs as he shrugs off the bullets from their guns. The police sarcastically thank him and offer back-handed comments about him needing water. Aquaman gives them a glance and jumps away. The officers snicker they'll be made fun of for being upstaged by Aquaman.

Arthur heads to Sam's for a simple meal but people harass him with questions. He orders the fish and chips which shocks the patrons as they thought he was their friend. He explains he uses telepathy to reach into a fish's midbrains to influence them to help him. A reporter beligerantly asks him questions about being how he makes money and asks him how he feels about being the superhero 'joke'. Arthur briefly daydreams about eating in the booth he's sitting in with his father a long time ago. Arthur takes more abuse from the patrons and decides to to leave. Aquaman gives two golden coins to a waitress, telling her to put her kids through college.

At night in the Curry Lighthouse, Aquaman stands in the shore and reminisces about a time when he was a child with his father. As they watched the sea, Aquaman asked his father why was he a lighthouse keeper when he could be the captain of his own ship. His father replies that the captains needed someone on land to help them watch the shores, and that it is called responsibility.

As he finishes dwelling on his memories, Mera comes to Aquaman and asks if he is okay. Aquaman tells her that he made his choice and wishes to remain in the surface to have a new life with Mera. He has no interest in being the king of Atlantis and says they need to find a new king. They kiss and embrace.

In the ocean, a group of fishermen are bucked and one falls into the ocean. When the monsters see the fishermen, they remark in their own strange language, "Food is up here", as the color of blood fills the water where the fisherman fell.

The fishing boat continues to be attacked by the creatures from the ocean. The creatures see a lighthouse in the distances and remark that more food must be nearby.

At the Curry Lighthouse, Arthur and Mera are viewing pictures from Arthur's childhood. When they come across a picture of Arthur with his father and another man, a knock at the door from a police officer Wilson interrupts them. He tells them he's been seeking their help by stopping by all major lighthouses. The officer tells Arthur and Mera that monsters kidnapped everyone in the coast of Beachrock last night and they need his help to locate the kidnappers.

Wilson takes Aquaman and Mera to the crime scene, which is crowded by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy. Aquaman uses his telepathy to look for any lifeforms in the ocean, but he is shocked to find there are none.

Scuba-divers find some kind of cocoon that they lift to the dock. Aquaman senses something alive in a nearby boat and tells everyone to stand back. Then, a group of Trench appear and attack Aquaman and Mera. Using her hydrokinesis, Mera prevents the Trench from reaching the civilians while Aquaman attacks them with his trident. However, Aquaman is briefly incapacitated by a Trench, who knocks the trident off him and proclaims that the "food", Aquaman, will be taken to the Trench.

Arthur recalls his dad watching the sun rise from a pier. Shedding a tear, Tom wishes that Atlanna, Arthur's mother, could be here and see how much Arthur has grown. Arthur comes to his father and asks him why does he come to the pier every sunrise, and Tom replies that he wants to be there when his mother returns.

In the present, Aquaman and Mera continue fighting The Trench. The largest of the pack screams in their strange language to "bring food home" and the Trench begin to retreat back into the ocean with several of the civilians from the shore. Aquaman and Mera wonder where are the Trench going and investigate the cocoon the Trench made. Aquaman opens it revealing a dog. A wounded Trench appears, but is quickly shot to death by local police. The military tries to take the body for study, but Aquaman and Mera take the body and leave.

Aquaman and Mera heads to a house in the coast, where a man named Stephen Shin lives. Aquaman tells Mera that Shin was a friend of his father's who taught him how to use his powers. He also mentions Shin attempted to kill Aquaman because he would not take him to Atlantis.

Entering Shin's house, Aquaman and Mera ask Shin to perform an autopsy on the Trench body they recovered and Shin reluctantly agrees. Shin deduces that the creature is a new type of sea lifeform that lives in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, out of the Trench. Shin wants to keep the body, believing it will help restore his credibility, but Aquaman won't let him. Desperate, Shin asks Aquaman where is Atlantis, but Aquaman simply leaves.

As Aquaman and Mera swim to the depths of the ocean to find the creatures's lair, Mera asks what will they do once they find the victims. Aquaman replies that they don't know what the creatures are yet. Mera believes that if the victims are food, then they must desperate for food and that they must be on the verge of extinction. Aquaman replies that if that's true, then the creatures are just trying to survive, just like they are.

Aquaman and Mera descend to a volcanic vent using monkfish to light their path. They find a wrecked craft, which has been there for centuries. Aquaman and Mera recognize the ship as Atlantean, one that predated the sinking of Atlantis. They discover a breach in the hull, deducing it was caused by the Trench, who fed on the ship's crew.

As Aquaman and Mera continue their journey, the monkfish abandon them, as their survival instincts were overriding Aquaman's telepathy. Mera believes that the best course of action is to seal the trench to prevent the creatures from attacking the surface. Aquaman is unsure as that would mean the death of an entire species. Mera says the creatures are mindless savages who only harm the world. Aquaman replies that the Atlanteans say the same thing about humanity.

Suddenly, Aquaman and Mera find a Trench spawn, which quickly dies. Aquaman and Mera conclude the spawn was mutated and created through inbreeding. Continuing down the tunnel, Aquaman and Mera pass through several Trench corpses, and Mera says that the Trench are a dying race.

Aquaman and Mera reach a massive room with two large creatures inside, which Mera recognizes as the king and queen of the creatures. The room is also filled with Trench soldiers and cocoons with the captured people inside. Aquaman and Mera push the wall containing the cocoons out of the room. Mera takes the cocoon to safety while Aquaman faces the queen and its soldiers. Aquaman throws his trident to the volcanic vent, unleashing a massive lava stream that kills the queen. Aquaman then meets up with Mera and pushes a large rock to the vent, sealing it up and trapping the creatures underneath. With the monsters no longer a threat, Aquaman and Mera bring the captured people home.

Later at Beachrock, the authorities take care of the captured people and one of the victims, a mother, is reunited with his son, who tells Aquaman he is his favorite superhero. Aquaman and Mera return home.

At their house, Arthur laments the decision he had to take regarding the Trench, but Mera tells him he did the right thing. Deputy Wilson appears at their door and presents Aquaman with a dog, which, according to Wilson, belonged to Janet Reed, one of the deceased victims. Arthur decides to keep the dog, and Wilson calls him Aquadog. Arthur also decides to teach the dog how to swim.

From DC Wikia

Did you find Pandora in the diner scene?

Anyway, this is the NEW 52 version of Aquaman (that pretty much remained through rebirth), that means it is pretty much our modern version of the character. Most of his story is taken from previous versions of the character, but some other elements are new. Also because this was written by Geoff Johns, the new Aquaman movie is pretty much based on this version of the character.

In terms of story, there is not much happening here. I would say that there is a lot more story in what Geoff Johns is not telling us on purpose. There is enough there to be intrigued, and the main focus is on how the world sees Aquaman, even more than how he sees himself.

Now, this is important, because previous writers were a bit lost with the character. I think Peter David’s version is very unique (that version would it fish raw instead of fried with chips, but that version didn’t grow up on the surface). I think this Aquaman is more human than anything else. He is also a king with no land, which is not really explained in this arc, but it’s important.

The Trench is a dumb menace that could have been handled differently. I cannot remember now, but I am pretty sure their “coming out” was caused by someone. So this is a four-issue prologue.

The art really sells the book. This is a gorgeous Aquaman and Mera doesn’t need to be sexualized to look cool (and powerful).

R u kidding? Aquadog loves EVERYONE.

He loves the vet. He loves the guy at the pet store who sells Sandy the dog food. He loves Coral’ss knife-wielding little friend. He loves Scarlett (even though she doesn’t really like dogs), and even the tall, weird guy in black armor who keeps trying to blow up the lighthouse every other week.