Pulp #627

Well hello again! It’s that time of the week again where I carry on about comics. Hopefully by now those of you that are still at school/uni have finished by now and you’re on holidays – now the year is over, there’s plenty of time to read comics, right? Ah, if only! This week, I wanted to talk about one of the more recent DC animations: Justice League: Throne of Atlantis. I figured that considering we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of the Justice League sooner rather than later (especially with DC’s massive list of movies on the way), it made sense to give them a bit of attention. It certainly helps that there’s a lot of material to work with!
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is set up as a direct sequel to 2014’s sort-of-reboot Justice League: War, which saw the Justice League’s formation to fight against intergalactic tyrant Darkseid in an adaption of the Justice League: Origin story by DC legends Geoff Johns and Jim Lee. Throne of Atlantis is another story written by Johns, and while the movie is a somewhat loose adaption, it’s still a good movie.
Throne of Atlantis serves as an introduction to and origin story of Aquaman, one of the founding members of the Justice League in the New 52 reboot that the movie is adapted from. Why Aquaman wasn’t in the first movie escapes me – especially considering the comic has this awesome scene where he gets some massive sharks to chow down on some Parademons. Despite being AWOL for the first movie, Throne of Atlantis thrusts Aquaman into the spotlight very quickly.
While Arthur Curry is mourning the death of his father, a US submarine is mysteriously destroyed, and its payload of missiles is stolen. While trying to make sense of his abilities – super strength, near invulnerability and incredible swimming prowess, among others – Arthur is set upon by assailants that attack from the ocean and murder the one man that may have had the answer to all of his questions. He is joined in his fight by the Justice League and a mysterious woman named Mera, and is drawn into a rapidly brewing war between the surface world and Atlantis. Arthur is torn between embracing his destiny as ruler of Atlantis and his life on the surface – assuming, of course, that he can survive the terrors of the deep first.
Throne of Atlantis has its ups and downs – for example, the voice cast is stellar (Nathan Fillion is Green Lantern!) but the plot is a bit iffy. I feel like Throne of Atlantis wasn’t properly adapted; the origin story was shoehorned in, and is easily the weakest part of the plot. The actual comic story took place after Aquaman had become an established hero, and the two sides to the story don’t mesh very well; the inclusion of the Justice League doesn’t sit well, and they’re almost superfluous to the overall story. Those gripes aside, it seems clear that DC are following a trend that I first noticed in Batman: Assault on Arkham a while back: their animations are finally catching up to the comics and avoiding censorship. The stories are gradually getting darker, and the bifurcation of an Atlantean – in addition to seeing people impaled by icicles – shows that DC aren’t wearing kiddy gloves anymore. I wonder if it’s a sign of things to come? Despite a few gripes, Throne of Atlantis is a solid movie, and a worthy sequel to Justice League: War. If you’re a DC fan, it’ll be right up your alley.