Kurt Busiek's Aquaman was advertised, mostly by Busiek himself I think, as an underwater Conan, as Busiek left Dark Horse's excellent Conan series behind for a DC Comics exclusive contract. Aquaman is no Conan--while Busiek does get to explore an imaginary world, there's none of the fetishistic enthusiasm he had in Conan and the characters are too different. Yes, there's a lot of fighting, but Busiek sets up Aquaman as a travelogue, buddy story. King Shark--a giant shark with legs and arms--leads his buddy Aquaman around and they have adventures--short ones, to allow for the overall story to develop. As that travelogue, Aquaman is most successful. When Busiek's doing the overall thing, it doesn't fall apart, but his fingerprints are all the more visible. This story is part of DC Comics's “One Year Later” line, which--advertising malarky aside (or maybe the opposite)--means its supposed to sell to the widest audience of people. People who haven't read Aquaman before, like me. (Busiek goes so far as to mock the character, which is funny enough, but just adds to some of the confusion).
Busiek's greatest writing fault, and the biggest problem with Aquaman, is the lack of a solid central character. The titular Aquaman is a new Aquaman, one who's free of the years of Aquaman continuity, but also one Busiek has literally had alone in a tank of water for twenty years. The character knows way too much for someone so isolated--TV explains it all, apparently--and he's not particularly engaging. The supporting cast is--mostly--excellent and Busiek spends a lot of time with them, not just developing their relationship with the protagonist but developing little tangents, because those tangents are better than the protagonist. Central, prophetic comic book heroes tend to make boring characters (Star Wars, The Matrix) and Busiek isn't doing anything different here.
Butch Guice's art is dark and murky. His undersea world lacks any beauty--his fish, for example, all look like something from a nightmare--and, as such, Aquaman lacks any wonderment and it could use a dose. Busiek's time on the series is limited, unfortunately, since all problems aside, it's still a competent piece of work. It just lacks any oomph.
