Aquaman: Andromeda

Point Nemo is a spot on the Pacific Ocean floor which happens to be the furthest place from civilization on Earth.  This is important because an extraterrestrial object has just splashed-down on Earth there and an American operation is currently working to recover it.  Made up of a crew of specialists who may-or-may-not have their own mission-endangering hang-ups, they’ve got a state-of the art craft ready to descend and find out what this new object is on the ocean floor.  Which is something that Aquaman also has an interest in, because it might have some ties to a dark, forgotten corner of Atlantean history.

If you’ve ever read “Sphere” by Michael Crichton (or had the misfortune to see its mostly terrible movie adaptation) then you’ll know what to expect here.  Mysterious object is found in the ocean, humans go out to investigate it, weird stuff starts happening – you know the drill, only this time with extra Aquaman.  I do mean “extra” as well since while I wouldn’t say that he, and his nemesis Black Manta, are completely superfluous to the story, I wouldn’t be surprised if this started as an original story from writer Ram V who then retrofitted it to work with the minimum amount of DC Universe in it.

The reason I sound so cynical here is because I don’t think Arthur Curry and company add a lot to the story being told here.  That’s also down to, “Sphere” comparisons aside, how run-of-the mill the story feels here.  It’s not helped by the art from Christian Ward, whose psychedelic style I’ve warmed to in recent years but takes a big step back here with a washed-out look that gives everything here an unfinished appearance.  “Washed-out” is a good way to describe this story as a whole which I wouldn’t have picked up if I didn’t need something of a similar price to qualify for a Buy 2, Get 1 Free” deal on Amazon.  Guess I should’ve looked harder for something else.