She's A Calming Influence

Aquaman 13
DC Comics
Geoff Johns, writer
Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Julio Ferreira, artists

After the detour of this title's Zero issue, discussed here, we return to the action of "The Others." Black Manta has stolen all of the Atlantean relics from the members of the Others team Aquaman used to be a part of -- all of them, that is, except for Aquaman's trident. Along the way, Manta has brutally murdered two members of the Others, Vostok and Kahina. Understandably, Aquaman is out for blood, and none of the surviving members of the Others is able to dissuade him from pursuing and exacting revenge on Manta. Aquaman's wife, Mera, however, is another story.

Mera has been learning about Arthur's past with the Others for the first time as the events of this arc unfold. She has also seen Aquaman grow more and more enraged with each clash. She forces Arthur to acknowledge that he really doesn't blame Manta for his father's death anymore. With time has come the clarity that the heart attack that killed his father would likely have happened even without Manta's attack. That realization only makes Arthur feel worse about his subsequently, mistakenly, taking the life of Manta's father. Mera gets Arthur to admit his shame, then reassures him that he is no longer the man he was six years ago when these events took place. Mera talks Aquaman down so that the final confrontation is not a one-on-one bloodfest, but rather a decisive but non-lethal take down of Black Manta by Aquaman, with Mera and the Others as backup.

On the negative side, this issue also reveals that Manta did not steal the Atlantean artifacts for himself. He was working for someone else who, at this point, remains in the shadows. Nice wrap-up to "The Others" saga, but Aquaman's story is far from over.