The Story: The “King of Atlantis” is the Rodney Dangerfield of superheroes: he gets no respect. Everyone thinks all he does is talk to fish and that his “Atlantis” is nothing more than a figment of his imagination. The truth is, Atlantis indeed exists and Aquaman is much, much more than meets the eye. And their about to find all of this out the hard way.

The Verdict: Kudos to Geoff Johns for this opening issue of the new ongoing Aquaman series. Within 20 pages he manages to address the entire stigma the character has developed over the years from non-readers. The way the people treat Aquaman in this issue is the exact way people think about him in real-life. I can’t count the amount of Aquaman jokes I’ve heard over the years, and the sad fact is if anyone has actually taken the time to read some Aquaman stories over the years, he’s a far more interesting character than most give him credit for. In the hands of a good writer, he shines. Peter David, Keith Giffen, Rick Veitch and Kurt Busiek have all written good to great Aquaman tales in the past, and it looks like Johns is poised to join that list with this new ongoing. Out of all of the new first issues included in the re-launch, this is just about the only entry that not only goes a long way in attracting new readers, but also comic book veterans who have shunned Aquaman over the years.

While there’s a heavy focus on Aqua-jokes, it’s obvious Johns has a real love for the character. Amongst all of the ridicule, there’s a great scene where Aquaman enters a seafood restaurant, orders fish and chips, and is gawked at by everyone. But it all makes sense before it’s over, and this one scene immediately makes Aquaman a relatable character to the reader. It resonates perfectly. The overarching story that is set into motion looks to be a good one too; the creatures that are ready to come ashore look creepy as hell, and if you’re a fan of the 80s film Humanoids from the Deep, you’ll have a good idea of what these things look like. Ivan Reis follows Geoff Johns from Green Lantern, Blackest Night and Brightest Day to Aquaman, and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been a fan of the guy’s work since the Rann-Thanagar War mini-series, and he just keeps on getting better and better. His artwork has a big cinematic feel, and he can draw Aquaman like no other. Facial expressions are among the cream of the crop as well; the look Aquaman gives a police officer after being asked if he need’s a drink of water is priceless.

The Outlook: I’m always one to root for an underdog, and Aquaman definitely is DC’s biggest when it comes to heroes that they obviously believe should matter a lot more to the public. So it's just the cherry on top that this is as good as it is, making wanting to see it succeed all the easier. Pick this up and have your mind changed about how cool Aquaman can be.

The Story: The Daily Planet has been sold to a mega-corporation, one that under a previous owner was known to do pretty bad things and Clark Kent isn’t particularly happy about it. As he sulks in the skies over Metropolis, he catches sight of some terrorists hijacking a tanker truck and swoops into action. Seems rather routine for Superman, but it’s just the calm before the storm.

The Verdict: I was hoping for the new line of solo Superman-related titles to go a perfect 4-for-4 and totally change my mind about them. I should have known better. Superman #1 feels like a relic of the 80s. Remember back in the day, when every panel was littered with useless boxes of text that added nothing to the story that the art wasn’t already telling us? Remember when the characters had to tell you exactly what they were doing even though the panels expressed it just fine? Well, it’s back. And it’s bad. The issue started off nicely enough, with a new Daily Planet building and the establishing of Lois becoming a star TV news anchor and Clark being upset about the changes, but once the action scenes start brewing, things take a turn for the worse. All of this useless text describing the action was actually novel at first; it’s snippets of Clark’s eventual Daily Planet article describing what happens. But the problem is, we’re SEEING it happen. We don’t need a print account of it. It adds absolutely nothing to the visual story being told; it’s almost like they kept Perez’s script telling the artist what to draw in the finished comic. And that doesn’t even make sense considering Perez is doing the layouts.

And speaking of those layouts, holy shit are they ever busy. I counted a couple of pages that have 13 panels. And that’s not for action-heavy pages. It’s for pages with just normal dialogue, like one with Lois directing her news report. And all of these panels are filled with text boxes and word balloons. Don’t get me wrong, I like old comics; Chris Claremont's legendary run on Uncanny X-Men is among my all-time favorite superhero material, and he was not above over-explaining everything happening in the artwork. But that’s a product of its era; this just feels archaic and stilted in this day and age. I also absolutely hated the final couple of pages. Okay, we get it; Clark and Lois aren’t married in this new universe. Do we have to make Clark into a sad-sack now too? That final scene is a massive downer, and not the way you should want to send readers away from your first issue. Due to the design of the page layout, Jesus Merino’s artwork feels like it doesn’t even have room to breath. On the more widescreen pages he shines; on the busy ones, it’s like he doesn’t have enough room to show off his stuff. Oh, and that little connection to Stormwatch #1 that was supposed to be explained in this issue? I’m just as confused as I was before I read it.

The Outlook: How bizarre is it that out of the new Superman line of books, the one that actually carries the man’s name is in the worst shape? Everything about this first issue feels awkward and forced, and not one thing about it changes my preconceived notion that solo Superman isn’t worth my time. Action Comics was great, Superboy and Supergirl had intriguing openings, but the man that started it all falls flat.

Check back daily for more reviews from the final week of releases!