Aquaman is one of DC's biggest icons, and he deserves to be celebrated as such. Thankfully DC did just that with the Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular, and it's a celebration no Aquaman fan will want to miss. Read Full Review

As always, a nicely designed and delivered book. The pin ups and alternate covers were superb. The stories, as you would expect, were a mixed bag, with about half being top quality. I did think overall though Arthur Curry got less love than previous 80 page special characters did. The best stories for me were the ones that focused on his earlier days, and perhaps the collection didn't look at legacy quite enough. Overall, though, a solid book with some nice stuff from great creators. Read Full Review

Overall, the Aquaman 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular is a solid issue that commemorates the character if not the different eras always effectively. The covers will get you through on that count, but it could get expensive if you wanted to collect 'em all! There's a lot to enjoy and a couple stories serve as portents of things to come that appear to be quite good. It's just sort of ironic that Black Manta and Jackson Hyde seem like they are poised to take Aquaman and the Aqua-Family's place. Read Full Review

A mixed bag of fun stories with great art, but too many are repetitive and play it safe. Well, happy birthday, Aquaman. Sorry your party's so lame. Read Full Review

And for a book intended for that purpose, this special just doesnt seem worth the investment. This one is strictly for everyone whos a die hard Aquaman and want in on the ground floor of Jacksons ascension to the role of Aquaman. Read Full Review

There were so many pieces of Aquaman's epic that made Arthur Curry into such an interesting character. His relationship with Mera, the fears of not being good enough for her or as King of Atlantis. I also enjoy seeing him as a family man between him, Mera, Garth, and eventually Andy and Jackson. Plus the way they all handle the more bizarre encounters like the Lady in the Lake looks okay. Then there are the times when he and Ocean Master express themselves in artistic fashion. But there are a few things that don't seem quite right like epilogues to previous runs like in Dan Watters instance. Only thing missing is how Arthur actually interacts with Black Manta.

It annoys me a little in how Aquaman (or even Jackson) practically had no part in Manta's upcoming run, like he was just something to latch onto. But at least it goes into Jackson's uneasy relationship with his father because it feels like a genuine conflict of interests. more

This was one of the better anniversary anthologies from DC. Maybe it's because I haven't been reading a ton of comics lately, but this felt more engaging than DC's other recent outings. It wasn't amazing, but it was solidly okay. I can't say it made me a big fan of Aquaman, but I did selfishly come up with ideas for if I would write Aquaman. I will not share them here.

One of the better of the recent crop of DC anniversary anthologies that I've read, but the format of several eight-page standalone stories puts a firm ceiling on how great any of these books can be. Still, a nice time for anyone looking for an Aquaman fix until the various miniseries kick off in a month or two.

AQUABEAST

Could’ve and should’ve been great

Another anthology, another book with mixed results. I liked Stephanie Phillips' story, she remembered Arion and I respect that, plus it really was a good story. Dan Watters' story was great, he wrote the YOTV one-shot for Orm too, he's the only writer who respects and understands Johns' version of the character. And Jurgens did a great job with his story, plus Epting on art is always a huge plus. The huge disappointment were Johns' story and Chuck Brown's. Since when is Manta an upstanding dad (Johns) or a guy who "fights for the people" (Brown)? Are you kidding me? Manta is a selfish douchebag, a horrible father and he fights only for himself, certainly he doesn't fight for "the people", even if they're black. He would slit the throat of anyone, regardless of the color of their skin, if it's in his best interest. I get that they're making a solo book for him but let's not change the character just because a writer wants him now to be a "man of the people". Overall not bad but not great either, I would certainly have liked more stories to focus on Arthur, rather than other characters, and the stuff they're trying to pull with Manta is pretty stupid. more