Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
There used to be a saying that you were either a Beatles fan or a Rolling Stones devotee, the same could be said of the big two comic book publishers in America, D.C. Comics and Marvel. Like the argument between The Stones and the four Liverpool musicians, there will also be a crossover who say for example find the compelling stories of Batman or Wonder Woman just as exciting as the moral guideline set out by Captain America or the incredible life of Peter Parker’s Spider-Man, just as there are those who love The Beatles but also see the appeal of Paint It Black or Sympathy for the Devil. However sympathy for D.C. Comics marine hero Aquaman has never really captured comic book fans in any kind of dramatic way.
Seen more as a side line or an unambitious addition, Aquaman has not featured highly in the abundance of lists made to celebrate great heroes of the American comic market and until D.C. Comics re-launched their entire range under the banner of the New 52, it perhaps would have stayed that way forever. It is something that the writers and artists of the new graphic novels including The Trench: Volume One make great pains to point out as one of the characters who sees Aquaman in a fish restaurant suggests, “How does it feel to be nobody’s favourite Superhero?”
With the world never more acutely aware of the environmental damage wrecked by humanity on the Earth and oceans, even if many are still seemingly blind to the ravaged destruction in the name of saving a penny here and there on the price of meat, Aquaman actually becomes relevant in a way that would not have been envisioned when the character was originally created. This Aquaman is brooding, slightly menacing and dark. He dwells on the plight of humanity as well as that of the creatures we cannot see and the way that the writer Geoff Johns captures these emotions with a tight and understanding script is a credit to the times in which we find ourselves in. The environment may not be a big deal at times in the world of Comic Book history, Marvel’s Prince Namor being one such exception but for a generation of people being made more aware of the tipping point that is on the horizon, it is never a problem in having this moral crusade that has been placed firmly in our grasp played out by a hero in which young minds and older comic book fans can identify with.
The story goes a long way to showcasing Aquaman as a hero of the 21st Century just as Batman was for the urban ominous storylines that Bob Kane portrayed. Whilst Aquaman will probably never be seen in the same light as D.C. Comic’s great creations such as Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman, he at least is now being treated as a viable hero for a generation of switched on environmentalists.
Aquaman, The Trench. Volume One is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall