Written by Alex Sanchez
Art by Julie Maroh
Published by DC Comics/DC Ink
This book is absolutely wonderful.
From start to finish, this is a well crafted and nicely illustrated book. It is a story that is a twist on the Aqualad character, told in a way that I would never have expected. My hat goes off to the two creators of this fine book.
The opening sequence shows a young man named Jake Hyde having a dream.
We get to see Jake floating above Atlantis in this dream. It quickly goes from this dream to Jake’s regular life. We get to see his family and we get to see all of them going about their daily lives.
We find out that Jake’s father drowned a while back.
Jake doesn’t swim as a result of this. Ironically, he lives in the middle of New Mexico. Yet, he starts to find himself wanting to be near the ocean. His mother wants to play it safe, as does his best friend, Maria.
Jake then finds himself attracted to the captain of the swim team, Kenny Liu.
This plot line is really well handled in the book. The creative team makes it simple and not heavy handed. All of these things are happening and then something really weird happens to Jake.
He starts to get strange blue markings on his skin. The markings glow in the dark when they come into contact with water. This causes Jake to go search for his identity and figure out who he really might be.
The story is well handled. The LGBT themes are done very well as arevthe themes of misplaced identity. The artwork is perfect as well and really makes the book a stand out. This is another triumph from the DC Ink line.
RATING: A
