That's why Reis was the perfect, maybe only choice to tackle this new Aquaman series with Johns. Honestly, Reis is a large reason why the Aquaman bits of Brightest Day were that series' best moments (Zombie sharks. Ever since Ivan Reis picked up art duties on Green Lantern with Geoff Johns, I've been following every project he's been attached to. The entire scene was played for laughs up until this point, then this one panel delivers the emotionally resonating punch that grounds the character and makes him someone instantly relatable to for readers. It's during the previously mentioned diner scene where Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis hit us with an amazing panel to explain why Aquaman just walked into a seafood restaurant for lunch.

While this issue spends a great deal of time harping on the poor former king of Atlantis, it also provides some fantastic character beats that subtly explain Aquaman's past and his ties to both Atlantis and earth. But don't be too quick to judge, it's clear by mid issue that Johns has an enormous love for the character and is only taking this approach to acknowledge the thousands of Aquaman haters out there and then using the rest of the book as a master class to show how ill-informed about the character's potential those people are. Pre-established Aquaman fans might feel burned at first by Johns' approach to the character in this first issue.

Geoff Johns spends a lot of time over Aquaman #1's twenty pages beating the character down - cops feel inadequate at their job when they're upstaged by him, a 'blogger' in a diner asks him how it feels to be the butt end of every joke and robbers begin laughing their heads off when Aquaman appears to stop them.

Aquaman new 52 vol 1