I’m not usually a fan of when writers have to write their way into understanding a character. Jeremy Adams may be new to writing Aquaman, but I’ve read over 100 issues of Aquaman titles plus various spin-offs and events, and I’m not confused about what makes the character tick. I was impatient when Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad pulled Diana out of the forward action at the start of their run with Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Afterworlds and I was impatient when Kelly Sue DeConnick had an amnesic Aquaman at the start of her run with Aquaman Vol. 1: Unspoken Water, and so now a second quest for Aquaman to find himself (or for Adams to find him) feels like a lot of biding time.

Balancing this is that Adams is a writer who’s a lot of fun, and so even if disconnected, his Aquaman Vol. 1: The Dark Tide is interesting and enjoyable, with shades of high fantasy, The Wizard of Oz, and crowd scenes of weird creatures straight out of Star Wars. Adams delivers a supporting cast built from water-themed figures from literature and comics; these additions are good, then better, then downright brilliant, all of which helps buffet the book’s weaknesses. As well, artist John Timms has reached another level here, both again in his crowd scenes but also in his wonderfully detailed splash page spreads.

And, it’s clear by the end that Aquaman is and will be rather connected to the ongoing events of the DC All In era. So while I’m not sure eight issues of Aquaman in another dimension is quite the best use of these pages, certainly I’ve read worse in my time.

[Review contains spoilers]

To Adams' credit, no sooner is Aquaman trapped in an alien dimension than he’s face-to-face with “Jenny Greenteeth,” a hideous figure that bleeds Arthur to get the water from his blood, and then Arthur has to wield his blood as a weapon to escape. It’s gory, borderline horrific, as conceived well by Adams and drawn with uncomfortable detail by Timms, gut-wrenching even in his animated style. So it’s not as though we’re subjected to Afterworlds' talking squirrel, and Arthur gains two interesting allies, the sorcerer Arion and also Vivienne, the Arthurian Lady of the Lake, freed from her Greenteeth form.

Later they’re joined by Captain Nemo and his submarine the Nautilus. There’s a swashbuckling aspect to it and indeed an air of Star Wars, this motley crew traveling from alien town to alien town righting wrongs and scrounging for supplies. Between Nemo and Vivienne, it’s as if Aquaman stepped in to a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen crossover, and if Arthur has to be taken out of his element, there’s worse places he could be.

And just as Nemo’s fitting in well, Adams adds Zan, of Wonder Twins fame, because of course he can turn into water, the overenthusiastic final member of this oddball group. It’s so unexpected, and such a great idea to put Zan in an Aquaman book separate from his sister Jayna; I’m eager to see what Adams does with Zan next. (See also Lori Lemaris — I guess she’s back in continuity — taking a great scene-chewing villain turn.)

Certain controversies abound. I like that Aquaman now has water powers — I’d venture there’s a good part of the public that thought he already did — though it’s unfortunate that they come at the cost of Mera’s own. Equally, Arthur is restored as the king of Atlantis even as it seems he still doesn’t want to be, with no explanation given why he should be the reluctant king versus Mera as Atlantis' democratically elected regent.

Though I’m unsurprised Adams or DC editorial would want to move Aquaman back to a more recognizable status quo, there’s a lot of Dark Tide that sees Arthur pining for, thinking about, and wanting to save Mera; Adams spends far less time (nearly none) on what Mera’s lost or how she feels about it, or making her anything besides an object of desire. I was reminded of Adams' similarly problematic Green Lantern Vol. 1: Back in Action, which had Hal Jordan relentlessly pursuing an engaged Carol Ferris. Adams eventually wrote his way toward fixing that one and I’m hopeful he’ll do the same here; Mera appears to die in this volume, but the deaths too of Tempest and Aqualad Jackson Hyde lead me to suspect that’s a feint.

But more than many other DC All In books, there’s a lot of Darkseid in Aquaman just under the surface¹, and again that helps an otherwise-disconnected book feel more connected (broad line-wide crossover ties win again). Too, I continue to appreciate that Adams makes connections between his own various titles; we saw Adams' Jay Garrick: The Flash reference his Flash run, and his Aquaman references both his Flash and his Flashpoint Beyond(!). Dark Tide also includes quite a few elements from Future State: Aquaman — that’s not by Adams but by Brandon Thomas, but it was one of the best of the Future State titles, so there was a bunch here to interest me and to suggest Adams is on the right track.

I have enjoyed Timms work in a variety of places, including as perhaps the definitive adult Jon Kent artist on Superman: Son of Kal-El. But there is something too about Aquaman that Timms does exceptionally well — perhaps the relative thinness that Timms applies to faces “looks” like Aquaman to me. See also the fourth chapter, where a chained-up Aquaman appears as much drawn by Timms as he does, favorably, drawn as if by Francis Manapul. Pinch-hit artist Michael Shelfer also does fine with big monsters and making the book more gritty on some side quests chapters, though I found the manga-inspired faces a bit vacuous, less effective; both Shelfer and Timms had instances of loose or unclear art as the book reached its conclusion.

Curiously, at the beginning of Aquaman Vol. 1: The Dark Tide, Jeremy Adams goes through a litany of things that this book is not — not the story of Arthur Curry as a boy, a hero, a lover, or a king, but rather the story of Arthur as a “god killer!!!” I tend to take these kinds of first-page admonitions as gospel, the author’s real thesis, and yet at the very least there’s some very affecting flashbacks to Arthur and his father here, even perhaps more detailed than we normally see. I’m not sure how to square that with Adams' “not” language; this is the story of Arthur Curry as a boy, at least in part.

Glad this book ends back in the present, it seems. Interested to see what comes next.

[Includes original and variant covers]