Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2 Review

Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2
Written by: Dan Abnett
Pencils by: Lan Medina
Inks by: Norm Rapmund
Colors by: Veronica Gandini
Published by: DC Comics

A review by Cory Webber.

Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2 sees the continued struggle for Mera to regain her health and take her rightful spot on the throne. The former king of Atlantis, Orm the Ocean Master, challenges her rule. But, Orm is torn between his duty to Atlantis and his love for his new surface family.

Abnett continues his great storytelling that he started in the main Aquaman book. As Arthur Curry deals with King Rath in Atlantis, Mera deals with her own problem on the surface. Mainly, Ocean Master attempting to regain the throne for himself. Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2 does great at connecting itself to the main story while being its own thing.

Abnett has crafted the greatest, most powerful version of Mera. As a result, she has become extremely fierce, independent, wise and really strong. The fact that she is vulnerable in all those areas here is really something to behold. Abnett’s character work continues to soar. Forcing Mera to be land-bound is a great choice, story-wise. It allows us to see the goings on in the surface world in relation to Atlantis’ current power struggle. I really feel this will be an Aquaman run that will be looked back on as an all-timer

This is my first real taste of Ocean Master, but I haven’t felt out of the loop. Abnett succinctly recaps his and Mera’s shared history. Some longtime readers may feel his inclusion is forced, seeing as he’s the villain in the upcoming movie this Fall; however, I find his presence to be required given the Game of Thrones type story Abnett has been weaving for so long. The inclusion of his surface family certainly complicates things as it imposes some humanity on him.

The art in Mera: Queen of Atlantis #2 is definitely different from the Aquaman proper. It’s not to say that it is bad, but the art on the main title has been phenomenal as of late. I just feel you should be warned lest you expect Mera to be more similar to Aquaman than it actually is.

That being said, the pencils, inks and colors work very well together. Plus, the sense of action and movement are top notch. This book flows very well…maybe too well since it seemed to be over too quickly. This issue does offer a nice change of perspective from Ocean Master, even though not a whole lot happens, plot-wise. His point-of-view possibly offers a glimpse of some of the challenges Mera might encounter as Queen, given her upbringing.  Given the events here, and in Aquaman, she’s got an uphill (upcurrent?) battle.

Verdict:
Buy it! Abnett is really doing something special with all these characters, and with none as much as he is doing with Mera. I can’t wait to see how this whole thing wraps up in four more issues.