Jumping-On: "Aquaria" ("Savage Dragon" #215 Back-Up Story)

- by Señor Editor, 27 July 2016

Adam McGovern, Paolo Leandri, Dominic Regan & Steve Price are the fearsome foursome that brought us “Nightworld”, a miniseries we wrote quite a bit about here two years ago. “Nightworld” was great and I missed reading comics by these guys, so I was pretty happy to hear about their newest work. From the depths of McGovern’s & Leandri’s minds comes Aquaria, the hero of the back-up story from this week’s “Savage Dragon” #215.

The back cover. Click to enlarge.

“Aquaria” is a six page story, but McGovern (writer, creator) and Leandri (artist, creator) use that to the fullest, giving the readers and old school romp that covers all the necessary beats: a short origin, a fun action sequence, and an ending that should make you want to read more about our hero.
 
The comic takes place in a world where global warming has finally had enough of our bullshit and caused a massive flood that covered the East Coast. New York survived, but became a much more aquatic place – think Venice (with skyscrapers and sea mutants), not “Waterworld”. Young oceanographer and Brooklynite Mirta Del Mar found this whole development rather exciting, and kept exploring the flooded city. During one of her trips, a whirlpool sucked her into the toxic Gowanus Canal and she gained some extraordinary abilities.

What makes this creative team’s comics so enjoyable is their unique approach to storytelling. Though a very different story, “Aquaria” has the same kind of charm that “Nightworld” had. It’s rooted in a classic Silver Age Marvel style (the monster attacking NYC story and the way it’s told almost echoes some classic Stan & Jack “Fantastic Four”), but it comes with all the elements that made this kind of comics storytelling timeless. It’s more fun than 99% of modern comics dare to be, it has an interesting hero (Aquaria isn’t just another Namor or Aquaman – even in these six pages her character shines through) and a boatload of aquatic puns and jokes that are actually pretty funny.
 
It also has a trash mutant. Because that’s clearly an aquatic trash mutant right there, destroying the city. Consider us all in.

Leandri’s art and Regan’s colors once again create a really sharp, vibrant visual style, though it sets a much different tone this time than it did in “Nightworld”. It’s a joy to look at and we can only hope we see a whole lot more from Aquaria and this team in the near future!
 
For some reason, there’s 22 pages of “Savage Dragon” attached to this story. Nah, I’m just kidding – while reading the main story in this book mostly just reminded me that it’s hard to jump back into a series after missing the last 150 or so issues, it also looks like a really cool comic and Larsen’s art ages like fine wine. It made me want to check out some more of the recent “Dragon” issues, so it’s clearly a win-win scenario.
 
If you’re a regular “Savage Dragon” reader, then you’re gonna be pretty damn pleased with this issue’s back-up. If you like new and fresh comics or are a “Nightworld” fan, you should definitely pick this issue up and support “Aquaria”. It’s already on Comixology and in any self-respecting local comicbook store, so go get it!

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And when you do get it, come back here and leave us a comment! Tell us how you liked Aquaria’s debut!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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