Aquaman #20

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Philippe Briones

Colours: Gabe Eltaeb

Publisher: DC Comics

The mystery of Dead Water continues. Dan Abnett has been impressing my greatly with the past few issues of this series. It's good, mature storytelling that justifies why Aquaman is one of the best series DC is putting out.

I really admired how Abnett isn't ignoring the New 52 stories. He's embracing them, and continuing their storylines in a really unexpected way. While the original Dead Water story wasn't anything special, Abnett turns him almost into a horror movie villain. He very well sets up that Dead Water can travel through any water-based substance, and the confined location that Aquaman and Mera find themselves in was honestly reminiscent of Ridley Scott's original Alien film.

Philippe Briones' art was also very strong. His depiction of Dead Water was genuinely terrifying. Some of Briones' faces could have looked a bit better, but that might be the fault of the colourist rather than the penciller.

The mystery of Dead Water and H2.0 is only getting deeper, however, as Aquaman promises himself to find the source of all this chaos. This arc is shaping up to be the best of the series yet.

We get a slightly horror-themed issue of Aquaman here, and it worked very well. Abnett teases an intriguing mystery and his mature, confident storytelling rubs off on the main character. Briones' art was excellent as well.