Finally!!! In this week’s one-shot, our favorite anti-surface world villain is back! Writer, Dan Watters, dives deep into the feels as well as the big blue ocean itself. Watters brings back a long-awaited favorite, along with a surprisingly epic turn of events… Last time we saw Orm, his failure to overthrow Mera as Queen landed him in Atlantean prison. Freed in desperation by the very Queen who defeated him, Ocean Master is back… setting the board to wage a new game of thrones.
If you’re caught up with Aquaman (2011), you may remember a little boy that Orm saved in issue #23.2. That boy is now Orm’s step-son. To every reader’s surprise, Ocean Master has a human family that he cares for. The former-King who would have once upon a time taken over and enslaved the entire surface-world himself, now actually lives here with others – But for how long can the resentful Atlantean stay above? Erin and her son Tommy, quickly became Aquafan faves after Dan Abnett’s solo Mera run, Mera: Queen of Atlantis.
In this issue, we see exactly why. Erin gives her fiance the telling of his life as she strongly rejects his excuses and past obligations after he left them in an attempt to reclaim the Throne. Pointing out his obligation to their family and his obligations specifically as a father, it’s safe to say Orm’s in the dog box… Ocean Master, like his own father, has his own idea of parenting referring to Tommy as his heir.
Following the events of Scott Snyder’s Drowned Earth (2018), Sue continues to expand Orm’s character. The story is told to us by Orm who is recounting it for Erin. After breaking out of prison, Orm is forced to hideout in the lowest parts of the Kingdom. One that a spoilt royal-like him would Have never believed existed. This almost belittles the once high and mighty King to a fugitive, cowering among the homeless. His eyes begin to open and he starts to understand that even Atlantis cannot be as perfect and bountiful as it looks from the outside.
Getting deeper into the story, Orm finds a rig and his an old friend Parklor whose head was turned into a clam?? He battles the Marine Marauder who has taken hostages for Lex f***ing Luthor of all people. Defeating the experimentalist, he and Parklor go on following Dagon, the voice. Orm finds the voice’s owner in a young girl on the ocean floor at one of the deepest places in the world. Left in complete and utter darkness, she holds power beyond anything Orm’s ever known. She gives him a gift, seemingly intertwining them together and as she calls his name. They rise above the water as she says… “King Orm”.
In short, King Orm kills Marine Marauder then feeds her to the morbid experiments she planned to sell to Luthor. Calling upon the living experiments to join him in his Kingdom, Ocean Master plans to take vengeance upon those who deformed them and rebel against the evils of the surface-world, including the ruthless Lex Luthor.
Consistent to current Aquaman writer, Kelly Sue, Watters continues the good work lifting these characters, expanding their horizons further than ever before. With the mythological spin and confidence in pushing boundaries, we have seen some of the greatest writing in years. More importantly, “King” Orm is back on the playing field and ready to make his move.
