“Sea of Storms” begins with the debut of new Aquaman writer Jeff Parker! The Earth’s crust is grinding to life, releasing deadly volcanoes and bizarre creatures…so humanity’s first instinct is to blame Atlantis! And as the plates pull apart, the pressures of ruling a kingdom under siege are weighing on Aquaman and Mera as well!

After the epic run of Geoff Johns, writer Jeff Parker dives in to put his spin on the reinvigorated character. Being a reader since the relaunch, and a fan of it, I went into the issue with some hesitation. I know of Parker’s talent, so even with the hesitation I had some high hopes too. Parker does a pretty solid job picking up on some of the plot points Johns built up, but also adding in a little bit on his own new additions along the way.

While Aquaman has again resumed his role as the king of Atlantis, the unease of his rule is still there. After all the things Johns threw out there, it’d be easy to just throw those to the side and pretend like they’re not there, but Parker instead digs into them more directly addressing some of the Atlantis’ leadership’s apprehension with their ruler. This is the part I really liked and hope Parker delves more into the political intrigue (shocked for this site, I know). The threat of monsters coming up from the deep is ok, but felt a bit monster movie to me. There’s potential, but not enough to judge that arc yet.

We’ve seen art by Paul Pelletier and Sean Parsons and the art is good, but doesn’t blow me away. I can’t say exactly what it is that doesn’t get me super excited, but it’s good. Characters look pretty consistent and there’s nothing glaring that jumped out at me.

Overall, for Parker’s first issue, there’s more than enough here to have me come back for more and see what else he has in store for us.

Story: Jeff Parker Art: Paul Pelletier, Sean Parsons
Story: 7.5 Art: 7 Overall: 7.25 Recommendation: Read