Aqua Leung
Mark Andrew Smith, story
Paul Maybury, art
Image Comics
Review by David Uzumeri

Aqua Leung is an odd fish. (I’m horrible.) It appears, at first, to be a light and whimsical fantasy tale; Paul Maybury’s detailed linework evokes a cross between the graffiti-inspired kineticism of Damion Scott and the simple figurework of Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The initial premise, as well, certainly seems to back this up; it’s a sort of cheeky modern twist on the classic Aquaman origin story (underwater prince of lost Atlantis washes up on shore; raised by land-dwellers). So, it is in the interest of fair warning I describe my surprise to see my first graphically eviscerated dude around page 30.

Make no mistake, Aqua Leung is a full-fledged fantasy book, part one of a series - with all the advantages and pitfalls that accompany that approach. It begins with the omniscient narrator describing the status quo of the world and Aqua Leung’s background, in a sort of historical catch-up lesson that is reminiscent of the first few minutes of Lord of the Rings (the movies - not the books). This sets up necessary background information for the reader, but at the cost of minimizing a real-world hook - by the time Leung’s story hits the reader-identification phase, we’ve already been bludgeoned in the face for 25 pages by raw, unbridled exposition.

However, once the story really gets going and the high fantasy aspects are in full swing, Aqua himself becomes the book’s main attraction, dispatching opponents to fulfill his destiny with a sort of precocious abrasiveness that I, at least, found endearing. This also gives an opportunity for personal interaction that allows Mark Andrew Smith’s enjoyable dialogue to really shine; he’s got a clear gift for it, as it’s punchy and funny without making the character seem outrageously or unrealistically witty. As the book goes on and the narration appears less and less, this quickly becomes the book’s most captivating element.

From a plotting perspective, there’s nothing particularly unique about Aqua Leung - it is (at least in this first installment) a standard quest story with the trappings and archetypes of the Aquaman legend and the structure of a Zelda game (complete the three tasks! find the seven objects!). It falls prey to a very common fantasy writer pitfall - after the immense amount of effort that goes into building a world for a story like this to take place in, much of the time the writer can forget to convey to the reader why it’s cool. The exposition dump at the book’s beginning is really the biggest symptom of this problem - by placing setting and plot before character, it presents too much information before the reader is fully invested in it. If 1984 started off with Emanuel Goldstein’s “The Book” - an exposition dump that pisses off many readers when they get to it anyways - I highly doubt as many people would have gotten hooked on the predicament of Winston Smith. This is a concern that can easily be resolved in later installments, but it does make this book somewhat difficult to get invested in.

As for Maybury’s art, his figure work is beautiful and his linework is detailed. It’s good-looking stuff, pleasing to the eye, expressive and eyecatching. It works very well in the character-driven moments. However, in some of the larger, more action-packed scenes, it can sometimes be very confusing - especially in battle scenes with a lot of detail. Sometimes Maybury gets around this with clever panel layouts (there’s one sequence with arrows I found particularly well-done) but much of the time, in combination with the (arguably appropriately) muddy underwater colors provided by Russ Lowery, it becomes a bit of a strain to figure out the action in the larger battle scenes, with Maybury’s layouts at times not helping the matter.

Aqua Leung is a really solid package, and once I got past the initial barrier of investing myself in the world I found myself really enjoying the book. The character has promise, and subsequent volumes may very well work out the kinks as well as establish Aqua Leung’s world as substantially different from those of its inspirations. I’m interested to see future volumes develop, and if well-executed high fantasy underneath the deep blue sea is your thing, I’d recommend this book.