It’s a solid beginning

Mera: Tidebreaker
DC Ink
Creators: Danielle Paige and Stephen Byrne
Release date: March 2019

Let me preface my remarks on Mera: Tidebreaker by saying I’m not exactly the target audience for DC Ink, the new imprint focusing on young adult original graphic novels. I’m not a young adult. It’s been several decades since I was 16 like the title character in the debut title of this new line. My 7-year-old daughter is closer to 16 than I am.

I confess that I felt that age difference a bit when reading some of the dialogue in this book. There was a bit of eye-rolling on my part when it came to some of the drama that was created by these teenagers dealing with their problems in ways that teenagers would; their solutions only created more problems for themselves, but they were solutions or reactions teenagers would likely come up with.

I will also say that this story doesn’t fit perfectly into the established DC Comics continuity for these characters or with the movie continuity, although it more closely resembles the movie casting choices. There are contradictions. But then, no comics fan is a stranger to such contradictions when dealing with characters that have been around more than a few decades. Some elements in one story contradict elements in another when you pile story after story on for that long.

With all of those caveats, this is still a pretty solid read about characters that I very much enjoy. Aquaman is one of my all-time favorites, and I have had an appreciation for Mera and what she has to offer long before what many consider her full-fledged “superhero debut” in “Blackest Night,” “Brightest Day,” and other modern stories.

Princess Mera of Xebel, one of the smaller kingdoms under Atlantean rule, resents all things Atlantis like many of her people do. They see all Atlanteans as smug, cruel overlords who seek only to keep the lesser kingdoms subjugated unfairly. Mera’s father, King Ryus of Xebel, has made a pact with the people of the Trench, another lesser Atlantean kingdom. The Trench prince, Larken, is being sent to the surface to locate and kill the rumored Atlantean prince, Arthur Curry. Once that assassination takes place, Larken has been promised Mera’s hand in marriage, uniting the two lesser kingdoms, which will then revolt openly against the Atlantean queen, Atlanna.

Mera and Larken are childhood friends who care very much for each other, but Mera resents being told who she will marry and what she must do. Instead, she wants to prove to her father that she can be a ruler and a warrior in her own right, just like her late mother, so she decides to set off on her own for the surface world to locate and kill Arthur Curry herself. But once Mera locates the future ruler of Atlantis, she finds he is not the person she expected.

As I said, Danielle Paige’s story is engaging and full of realistic teenage reactions. It also includes a number of new characters alongside the ones more familiar to Aquaman fans. And Stephen Byrne’s art shows a deceptively simple economy of line and is quite engaging. He doesn’t muddy his panels with an excess of linework, but those panels still include plenty of detail when called for. His characters have distinctive faces making it clear who each is from panel to panel.

If you’re a fan of last year's “Aquaman” blockbuster film, give this book a try. As I said, things won’t line up perfectly between the two storylines, but both are truly engaging, enjoyable tales.