Aquaman & The Flash
Aquaman & The Flash
Ratings1
Average rating3
The premise here is a good one: a mysterious alien force takes over all the people of Earth, but the two title characters are fortunately out of its reach at the time, leaving them as the only ones able to fight back. The focus is on comparing and contrasting the heroes, with their thoughts often displayed side by side to show how they either differ or are more similar than they realise. There's also quite a bit about Mera and Iris, and how important they are to the lives of the male leads, although they're there more as inspiration than as active participants - to be fair, much of the story is just a two-hander with little room for other participants.
In order to work, however, the story has to play up the contrast between the leads, and it does this by making Arthur seem a bit dim, thinking with his muscles while Barry is more flippant - and, arguably, like Wally West rather than himself). Plus, Arthur does get some quite corny dialogue and there's an over-reliance on puns. We're basically getting a buddy story with an exaggerated dislike of the two characters for one another being pushed towards mutual respect through mutual adversity. Again, not a bad idea, but it's arguable how well it fits with what we've seen of them before. (Then again, I don't generally read Justice League comics; maybe they're always bitching about each other and I've just not noticed).
So not without its flaws, but it's fun with an unusual and often interesting enemy. And, if you're after a superhero chalk-and-cheese buddy story... yup, it's certainly got that.