Introduction
Aquaman and The Others is one of best series that truly
captured something that was never done before in the history of comics. It had
a very diverse team from different races and they had personalities and
abilities that were different from one another. The team basically summed up of
a (The Operative) British “Batman-like” secret agent character that also had a
grandson named Aaron with magic abilities, two characters who had ghost like
abilities one was Native American and the other was a Black Marine war hero, a
South American jungle woman, a Russian astronaut-like man who was involved in
some experiment and of course there’s Aquaman and Mera who are both Alanteans.
I have more info about them in my first review which you can check out in these
links. But doesn’t the diverse cast of characters sound awesome to you? I think
it’s very awesome and I am deeply sad this series has been cancelled. It has
been a great fun ride with series and I kind of knew this series would come
into an end because these are very obscure characters. Also, DC never took
advantage of featuring them in other series besides Aquaman. (You can
definitely check Aquaman issues that have the titles “The Others” as a story
arc. It tells more on how these characters known each other and has their
rivalry with Black Manta. It’s very cool interesting story and it’s how I first
came to love these characters.) I kind of wish they just made another story arc
that tie-ins both Aquaman and “Aquaman and the Others” or have them guest star
in other popular titles to at least give them some interest for people to buy
them. I also wish that they showed an origin story on how all these characters
came to be, got their powers, etc. But hey at least I got to know Vostok’s
origin which has an interesting tale and I honestly think it was something
never done in comics and I heard it similar to a film call The Moon which I
never seen. But overall this was a great series and we had some interesting
stories that involve characters Vostok, Prisoner of War, and The Operative. It
was very interesting how they connect of three of them into one story. I also
liked how we got to know Sayeh, the sister who took the mantle of Kahmina after
her death. I kind of also wish we got to learn more about Sky and I didn’t want
her to leave the team. She had an interesting power and relationship with Aaron
(another character that needed to be explored too) that they could have expanded
on. But besides that it’s a series that you should definitely check out when it
comes on trade and hopefully they will appear again in other title or some sort
of media or who knows maybe they will have their own series again in the
future.
Story
As the fight between The Others and The Members of Mayhem
continues, Vostok is left with a daring choice either let a nuclear missile hit
Earth or find a way to stop it?
The Good
Wow, I am really amazed how they managed to close the main
chapter of this story arc and they barely left any important plots hanging. I
honestly think this is one of the best final issues I have ever seen. They
ended Vostok story in charming and tear jerking way. He was really well nicely
done for the character. I didn’t want to end this way, but it made sense for
the tragic life he through. I also like that each character has a moment to
shine with a nice action spread and some decent lines to say as they fight.
Some of them were actually pretty funny too. They even showed each character’s
powers and skills which, I thought were pretty cool.
Most of the art was nicely detailed and they demonstrated
the fights very well even though some of the art did rushed at some panels. But
overall, the art was still good and they managed to do the best they can for a
final issue.
The Bad
There’s nothing particularity too bad in this issue. They
managed to end all the main stories before the issue ended. The only bad thing
is some of the art panels were undetailed. I was also interested in knowing what
Maelstrom’s good future is all about that Sayeh said during the issue. It would
have been something cool to see briefly touched on, maybe someday in the future
it will. But everything else is fine.
Theme
The theme for this series is “finding yourself”. Finding
yourself is usually what people do when they go through a traumatic experience
or a relationship that couldn’t quite fit. People need to sometime separate themselves
with whatever they are doing and focus on themselves alone. That’s Vostok goes
through as he leaves off from being a superhero. He’s gotten tired of his
traumatic childhood experience haunt his everyday life and being a superhero
doesn’t add a different flavor to that. So, he’s giving himself a better chance
of a better life by giving up the superhero life and enjoys his life finding
who he really is for once and see what makes him different than the other
clones.
Verdict
This issue gets a 4/9 out of 5/10 stars. It really ended in a good closing chapter. None of the story arcs are left hanging and unanswered. I didn’t like Vostok giving up on being a superhero but it made sense to his life struggle from his backstory and I would’ve probably done the same. The art was pretty good and I liked how each character had their own moment to shine with a splash page. It really demonstrated what power each character had. So, overall this series as a whole I would give it a 4/8 out of 5/10 stars. I really recommend getting this series on trades if you haven’t picked it up yet. Even though, we still haven’t gotten an origin on how all these characters got there powers. We get to know who they are and how they react or work together with one another. Plus, I liked how Vostok, Prisoner of War and The Operator stories interconnected with one another. It was very well nicely done. I also kind of wish Sky and Aaron’s relationship could’ve developed a little bit more. I was really disappointed that she left the team early. It really didn’t serve any purpose and I rather they would have the character there considering this series didn’t really have a chance to last. I was also curious about Vostok’s clones wondering whatever happened to them and if they are still around. It would have been cool to see and I think his origin story was pretty cool as well. I heard it was a reference to a movie called The Moon which, I never seen and I will check out someday and maybe you should too. The art was really done nice well for every issue. I really don’t remember the art ever being so bad. I’m also sad this series had to go and I saw this from a mile away. Because we have seen these characters in any other series besides Aquaman and maybe if they did it would have probably bump the sales a bit or they could have tied a story to some Aquaman issues somehow. I really hope DC expands these heroes to other titles or source of media because they are a very diverse team and they have some unique personalities and powers that more people need to see. It would really boost their popularity and hopefully gain another series of their own.
