The Aquaman of Future State is here! It features a new logo that is stylish and spiky. It has the young Aquawoman, Andy Curry, surfing on a strrange sea creature with a smiling Aquman, Jackson Hyde befhind her. This looks like the classic fun of the Aquaman from the 60’s. Andy Curry was introduced in a vision with Generations Shattered #1 and Jackson Hyde is introduced as Aquaman here. The character of Jackson Hyde first appeared in Brightest Day #4 (2010). He was based on Kaldur’ahm, Aqualad, from the beginning of Young Justice in 2010. “The Confluence Part One” is by Brandon Thomas with art by Daniel Sampere. Thomas wrote Aquaman in the “Follow the Water” story in the 80 page giant one-shot, The Doomed and the Damned #1 (2020). He also writes the Outsiders story in Future State: The Next Batman. Sampere was one of the artists for several issues of the Injustice 2 comic series and also Justice League #39 (2020). Confluence is the meeting of two waters into one. The issue was released on January 26th.
The opening is a splash page, no pun intended, with Aquaman also swimming out of the panel with his long dreadlocks. Behind him are several shark-like creatures with strange horns around their jaws. A technological underwater city is below them. The panels note that this is Neptune and the escape of Jackson Hyde. He is swimming toward the surface and fights off the horned sharks and their riders. Jackson’s hand reaches out and then he sees something. This makes him burst out laughing as he is pulled back down by guards. We have Jackson in chains before the ruler of Neptune, an alien with black eyes, and he says that everything has changed. He starts relating his story six years ago. The panel explains that Black Manta has escaped. This is the father of Jackson Hyde. His mother is an Atlantean from Xebel. There is an overturned boat with Jackson on the surface unconscious as young Andy Curry sinks downward. She revives and we see Jackson with short, tightly woven dreadlocks.
Andy is angry that he calls her Aqualass, she says she’s Aquawoman, and starts to use her power when he asserts his guardianship over her. This horrifies Andy since she has forced sharks to approach in her anger. Jackson goes to talk with her and they both realize that there is a change in the sea’s color! They find that the sky is pink and there is unusual sea life underwater. This opens up to a two page spread of The Conflluence, several multi-colored worlds connected in space. Kudos to colorist Adriano Lucas for the ocean colors and alien worlds. It reminds me a bit of the dolphin video game, Ecco: The Tides of Time (1994). The alien ruler says that they found the “great ocean” that connects space and time. Jackson and Andy travel the worlds of the Confluence, they are talking about the sixth world and also the talking snakes. Next, they are swimming away from a large island mass. This is actually a sea beast with muliptle eyes and tentacles around its mouth. It seizes them with the tentacles and they find that they are getting weak from the tentacle’s poison.
Jackson uses his electrokinesis to shock the tentacles and get free. He falls and tells Andy to use her power to control the beast. Jackson manages to hold onto one of Andy’s free leg. She activates her power and Jackson starts to fall. We see in a splash page Jackson’s hands and Andy caught in the tentacle, she used her power to sever her leg! This is surprising since Aquawoman in Future State: Justice League doesn’t seem to be missing a leg. Her leg is covered with her uniform. It could be a replacement. Aquaman had lost a hand, but replaced it with a harpoon, hard water, and eventually becomes resurrected in Blackest Night. The ruler says the loss of Andy is a trauma that they could have taken away. It reminds me of the Captain Kirk line in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), “I don’t want my pain taken away. I need my pain.” Jackson says that the chains were made for when he was weaker, but his strength has returned. He shatters the chains, which really looks Jason Mamoa Aquaman to me, and then uses the chains to destroy the guards. This is all due to what Jackson saw at the surface, a message in bubbles, it has given him hope and also vengeance. A final splash page has Jackson activating his Waterbearer blades against a legion of Neptune guards, call for back up! Future State: Aquaman opens up the aquatic world of the superhero with the Confluence, gives him a flawed past, but forges him into a powerful hero!
Five Waterbearers out of Five!
#FutureState, #Aquaman, #BrandonThomas, #DanielSampere, #Confluence
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