Aquaman: The Trench

Something stirs in the Mariana Trench. Something old, mysterious, and… hungry. Aquaman will face a menacing new threat, the carnivorous race known as The Trench. Aquaman has retreated from Atlantean life. He has relinquished the throne to his half-brother Orm and has decided to live on the surface with his wife Mera. His existence is regarded by the surface-dwelling populace as a joke. They ridicule his powers and think him inferior compared to the other members of the Justice League. When The Trench attack will Aquaman rise to the challenge or fade into irrelevance?

Geoff Johns’s portrayal of Aquaman is much more nuanced than previous versions of the character. His emphasis on Arthur Curry’s human origins is perhaps the most drastic shift from previous interpretations of the character. Aquaman has previously been portrayed as a hot-headed xenophobe. He frequently comes into conflict with a variety of land-dwelling nations and even fellow Justice League members. Johns’s Aquaman is in turn a much more quiet and brooding character. The anger is still there, lurking underneath the surface, but the man himself is much more open to being happy. The scene that demonstrates this best occurs at the end of the volume, following Aquaman’s battle with The Trench. A young boy tugs at Aquaman’s suit and Aquaman responds with a glare and a “Yes?” The boy then exclaims that Aquaman is his favorite superhero and that results in a small smile breaking across Aquaman’s face. Aquaman: The Trench is the relaunch of Aquaman’s story under the New 52 revamp that occurred in 2011. The art is done by illustrators Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. You can find it in the Graphic Novel Section of the Westmont Public Library.