Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Riccardo Federici
Published by DC Comics
Man, King Rath is not in a good mood at all.
The first pin up page of the issue has him about to defeat Aquaman! Don’t worry, he’s foiled in the next page and that spoils nothing. Murk saves Aquaman! And that ticks Rath right off.
So, Rath rips off one of his body parts. And that’s in the first couple of pages.
Abnett starts the book off with high stakes and it doesn’t let up. After that rousing beginning we get some back story. It does get a little wordy but it moves right along.
Rath realizes that the resistance to him has their defenses down. Being the nice guy that he is, he knows it is time to attack!
Aquaman and Dolphin gather the troops to stand against this cretin. Can they defeat him in a huge final battle?
All of this leads to a big battle! And it’s pretty brutal. The thing is, it pretty much ends exactly like it begins! Still, it’s compelling.
Abnett has a great handle on this world and it shows on every page both with the dialogue and the characterizations of each character.
He really has Arthur and Dolphin down at this point and nails their characters in every scene.
Federici has been a welcome addition on the art front as well. His art is clean and services the story with flair and style. This is a good issue in a decent series. I can’t wait to see how Abnett wraps this whole crazy mess up.
RATING: B+
