#slizzath

Garth’s evil necromancer uncle Slizzath raised an army of the dead, including Tula, Garth’s first love. He was confused and unable to fight her, especially since he had still not truly gotten over how much losing her had hurt him. But once she had been hurt in a way that should have killed her and revealed that her insides were dead and filled with maggots, Garth realized that it wasn’t really Tula, just a flesh puppet Slizzath used against him.

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Hello! Okay so, the answer to this at the time you sent this ask is: nope, not yet. But I was intending to find out more about Garth since he is not so commonly referenced here (that I've seen) so I have very little impression of him, and I figured why not treat this as a recommendation!

(Fair warning: I've never really read anything about DC Atlantis before this so I know very little besides what's in the miniseries, a few other Garth-centered issues I just read, some little googling, and a vague outline of the Aquaman movie. I also have some not-so-nice things to say about it so I hope you don't mind haha)

Overall I found the story interesting enough. I think the worldbuilding was pretty fun, it wasn't too confusing understanding his heritage and storyline, and it was fun to think about different kingdoms and civilizations. The Hidden Valley civilization was fascinating and I think the designs were really good (I really liked the artists for this series in general, but the architecture design especially was nice).

I also liked the touch of how they differentiated Poseidon and Neptune (Poseidon, the Greek god, feeling a lot more primordial with his green tinge and the whole archaic man vibe while Neptune, the Roman god, being a lot more ceremonial looking, dressed, and "proper"). Credits to the artists also for this I think, they really bring through the horror and creepiness of Tula not being Tula, especially in Garth's dream. It is overall a pretty standard storylin of the long lost nephew saving the people from the evil usurper uncle (Simba), a little overused, but I suppose the purpose of this storyline was more about his growth and coming to terms with his grief and loss.

Some parts I found especially compelling is the part where Tula regains a bit of her bearing and realises what is happening, and Garth consequently having to kill her himself. I know she was already dead and that she was literally hurting him, but his devastation was truly... something.

The scene where he yelled to his mother "Don't touch me! You abandoned me! You left me to die because of some cryptic vagaries about a magical catastrophe I might have been able to prevent!" was GOOD and the part he tells the Idylists "Just know your non-intervention marks you as killers just as much as if you'd slain all those others yourselves. That's not pacifism, folks, it's cowardice." Amazing, and he's right! I mean I'm not going to go into the whole non-intervention theory of morality or whatever (not that I'm even qualified to hahaha) but it's an interesting idea to bring up.

The destruction of Shayeris landscape because of all the ghostly death architecture was very upsetting to me too. Shayeris was so beautiful, somehow preserved even after the Idylists went hiding, but yet destroyed (at least partly) because of this and I hope they successfully restore it :(

Okay, so to the parts I feel like weren't done as well as they could've been:

Love triangle between Tula and Letifos: Honestly, I just generally dislike love triangles and especially those that pit girls against each other. This is made like only SLIGHTLY better by one of them I suppose literally trying to save his life from the other because of the plotlines but still... not a fan of catfights-type stuff in general (although comics loooooove them)

The concept of being blinded by love: This is always an amazing concept and I love to see explorations of it. BUT I feel like this one discounts a lot of other factors and has him ignoring his friends, his people, his responsibilities from trying to save all undersea people from literally dying, over a girl he knows deep down is not alive and has already betrayed him. It's touching in a way, but also foolish and more importantly, undermines everything else (love for his friends, his people, etc). I think he obviously should still have difficulties tangling with Tula, but I wished the writers had made him at least think about some of these. He barely seems to feel guilt over leading his people to a lot of their deaths, and every second he delays, more of his people are getting killed in a fight it is implied that he knows they cannot win, and yet he seems to have no issues with it. He is also remarkably chill about his mother being alive and the fact that his father has spent years being maligned when he didn't actually go insane. The TULA IS BACK is really too all-consuming for me. (Another issue of his also mentioned how aquaman is the defender of its creature and Garth is destined to be the defender of the undersea's people which makes it even weirder because he should care more about the people)

Withholding information: There is quite a bit if information withdrawal for surprise factor in this story, but a lot of them aren't given reasons. King Thar didn't seem to have told his people why he was building up weapons, even though Slizzath was banished only 20 years ago for dabbling in dark arts and necromancy, it's not like Slizzath is lost memory already. Knowing would bring a different kind of understanding, and even if they didn't want violent approaches, they could have discussed non-violent alternatives, or at least have been more prepared and know what was coming when Slizzath arrived. There seems to be no reason for this withholding of information. I suspect this might be because this is a post re-write (earlier stories seem to have Garth's father being actually mad and him even fearing he might go mad). Honestly, I think the wronged king is an interesting concept, I just wish they gave some in universe reason why he didn't just tell people.

The Pacifist ideology: The Idylists are supposedly some kind of pacifist and against fighting and war and instead choose to build, practice arts, and study sorcery. With that in mind, I just think it's slightly weird that the Idylists solution to every conflict is literal murder. King starting to build weapons, murder king. Baby might have magic powers that can free a scary being, murder baby. They set the Hidden Valley up with such a fascinating idea I wished they fleshed it out more. Why would they choose the option of murder king when there are other alternatives including banishment, prison, or just somehow magically sealing him away?

Queen Berra's (and the Idylists' by extension) choices: This might be one of the most confusing to me. Suppose abandoning her baby for the greater good somehow fits in the pacifist perspective because they're not actively commiting act of violence (even though it is clearly wrong), why did they never follow up on it after this plan obviously failed? Garth wasn't some random nobody, he was being raised by and worked actively with the King of Atlantis, surely they knew he was alive and should have a backup plan since child murder clearly didn't work. Whether the plan was doubling down (assassination) or alternatives where they fill him in or have some plan to prevent him from every finding out or just setting up a teamed force to prepare for Slizzath's recapture after the release when Garth taps into his ancestral powers, there SHOULD be some plan. It's been 20 years at this point, the scholars of the undersea didn't bother to think up of any new options besides adding the stabbing part so nobody dares to try and wait to see what happens? They're supposed to be pacifists, not stupid. Later, a part of the Idylists, including Berra, choose not to fight, but then abruptly change their minds mid-fight to join which is also confusing. I suppose the implication could be the Tempest's speech got to them, but it wasn't really made clear and seemed vaguely flippy-floppy instead.

Slizzath's Motivation: This one is very minor haha, but I also wonder what he wanted to do with everyone literally dead and nothing but puppets for his control.

Overall, I do think the story was a good setup though, and I wish different thing about Garth had been explored more, like

His initial fear of going insane (before he found out the truth about his father and especially after Tula's death)

His magic being intrinsically linked to his anger and confusion, becoming more powerful when he is angry and confused which implies some emotional use of power (mentioned here and also in a Teen Titans Spotlight issue)

His complicated relationship with his mom Queen Berra. She abandoned him at birth, but at least in this story, she did return at a time of need.

His feelings over his father. Previously, he thought his father had gone mad and that's part of the reason all these happened. He might have had some resentment towards his father, but now that he knows the truth, how does he reconcile that.

His exploration of other undersea people. This is not directly related to this storyline, but Atlan says that Garth is destined to be a defender of the undersea's people, so it would be fun to watch him learn about them (eg. Letifos, other Atlantean kingdom). Atlantis is a sunken ancient Greek kingdom, but it might be fun to also bring in other cultures.

His reconnection with his homeland's culture. I think he was raised by Atlan and Orin, with little to no connection to Shayeris or the Idylists. It would be interesting to watch him explore the pacifist lifestyle and choices, maybe have debates and push for changes that are necessary or even make some changes himself, becoming some sort of half-pacifist defender.

His potential leadership both Shayeris and the complications.

Also, just some observation, but DC really likes the revive your dead to fight you thing (Blackest Night is another one isn't it, and of course Blackest Night also has Tula). Reading this also made me realised... Tula was basically a fridged victim prior to the term fridging.