A cool book with a cool hook and some truly fabulous art, and yet tying The Shadow so closely to his original timeline, and Batman so conspicuously to the current day, does create a juxtaposition that doesn't quite work.

Although I have fun picking nits, Aquaman is a good book. I daresay, even, one of the best DC is currently publishing. Unfortunately, we're due for a smaller dose of the sea kind, as come July he gets demoted to monthly status and will see a price hike to $3.99. Even with Stjepan Sejic coming on board for art, I'm not sure that's the best way to lure in new readers.

What I have been saying about this book since the beginning still applies. It is very well drawn, and very well scripted, but the plotting really needs to pick up the pace.

DC should have just canceled this book the moment it decided it was going to tip over the narrative apple cart upon which this entire series was based. Of course, considering where sales were, and given the price hike to $3.99, I don't expect cancellation is that far off, regardless.

Right now, Justice League is a treat, with good scripting and great visuals, but as a narrative meal it's all dessert and no meat, giving immediate satisfaction but ultimately leaving one hungry for more. As the saying goes, in terms of plotting for individual issues, there's not enough there, there.

And I'll say this word is DC is going to try again with a second round of Hanna-Barbera remakes. If this version of The Banana Splits, by this issue's creators, is in that mix, I will most definitely pony up my hard-earned cash every month for some of that.

But, now Jimenez is gone,with future issues to be written by Kate Perkins. I assume the writer change is permanent. It might be interesting to see where this series goes from here, for however much longer it lasts, given its place near the bottom of the sales charts. I half wonder if Jimenez' meta-textual commentary this issue might have been a parting shot. Are BIG changes in the wings for this series? We'll have to wait and see, but with the coming prince increase to $3.99, something will have to change in order for me to stick around much longer.

Really, it was good. But just good. For me, there just wasn't enough there, there, and I can't help thinking how much better this same two-part tale would have been if published in 1978 as Aquaman #64-65, by Paul Kupperberg and Jim Aparo, instead of in 2017 as #17 -18, by Abnett and Eaton.

This is a great looking issue with a lot to offer in the story, even though I almost feel like this entire issue could be cut from the eventual collected edition to come without really losing anything from the overall plot.