How could Jeff Parker continue or even improve the quality of Aquaman?

At this point I suppose you already know that starting with issue 26, Jeff Parker is replacing previous writer Geoff Johns in Aquaman.

I already talked deeper about Johns' run in How did Geoff Johns turn Aquaman into one of the most popular DC franchises today? and I suppose you may think I'm already biased and fearful about Parker's run.

Well, you may be wrong, for the most part at least.

I absolutely loved Johns' work on the character and how well he was able to expand the universe aound here so when the news about him leaving the title were announced I was obviously quite disappointed since we wouldn't be able to see him explore more of Aquaman's world. Of course, there are two redeeming points about this, for one, Johns will be able to continue his story in the Justice League/Aquaman crossover event named "Rise of the Seven Seas" in 2014.

The other point is that Jeff Parker is his replacement on the proper book.

For those who don't know, Jeff Parker has been gaining a certain amount of popularity in the comic community, especially from Marvel readers since most of his work was produced for that company.

He worked in titles like Agents of Atlas, Red Hulk, Red She-Hulk, X-Men: First Class and Thunderbolts among the most notorious, all of them were well received from the critical aspect at least.

I can't comment about Agents of Atlas since I haven't read it yet, I can talk about the rest of his work though: 

• Red Hulk: He pretty much saved Rulk from the hate he was receiving from the fanbase (Although I personally didn't find Jeph Loeb's work on the character terrible) and turned it into a really good superhero comic with interesting ideas and some pretty cool antagonists.
• X-Men: First Class: A series full of nice concepts and great interaction between all the members from the cast which also gained more depth to their personalities,
• Thunderbolts: It was a wonderful title full of nice contrasts between the different villains and antiheroes from the Marvel Universe.
• Red She-Hulk: Think Red Hulk but with even bigger concepts.

So as you can see, he's not bad at all, in fact he's quite good. Now, this is only my opinion but based on the work I have read from him I can start deducing what are his strong and weak points.

For one, he's truly creative, not to the extreme where other authors like Grant Morrison, Jonathan Hickman or (Ugh) Warren Ellis can go, but he still has a pretty imaginative mind and can develope interesting ideas for the universe he works on. Second, he's really good at dialogue and is able to inject personality into his characters pretty easily. Third, he knows how to create compelling and powerful antagonists for the heroes. Fourth, he does really strong character work and you can see how the cast developes over the course of his runs. Finally, he can create really fun and entertaining stories that are a necessity for this medium.

But of course, as every other author he has his weaknesses. First of all, he's not that good at worldbuilding, as I said, he's pretty good at creating more depth to concepts that already exists but not so much at expanding the universe around the characters. Second, he doesn't seem to plan really far ahead, is not as obvious as in guys like Mark Waid or Scott Lobdell (Although both seem to be getting better at it in titles like Daredevil and Superman respectively) but the flaw is still there since his stories seem to lose a bit of focus after a while.

Fortunately, his strong points overcome the weak ones. There are a lot of things to be excited about for his run, both CBR and The Aquaman Shrine have done interesting interviews about his plans for the book and they do seem to be really good. Sadly, he won't continue Johns' worldbuilding on the title but there are a lot of aspects he could work on.

How could Jeff Parker continue of even improve the quality of Aquaman?

Well, he already mentioned in those interviews that he plans to balance Arthur's life between the surface and the sea which is something I don't think Johns really explored that deeply. Plus, he also mentions that he plans to work on Arthur's role as a king and a superhero which could bring really good character work. Also, he mentions that he plans to create and reinvent antagonists for the title while taking inspiration from the Silver and Bronze Age which were some really good periods for the character.

These are some pretty good ideas and Parker definitely has the skills to pull them off correctly. I personally would love to see more characters added for the cast from both the surface and the sea, it would be also cool to see Altantis being explored more. About the antagonists, you know what Aquaman villain would I like to see recreated the most?

That's right, Thanatos, Aquaman's evil doppelganger. I always thought that he had potential to be a really dangerous threat but he was never properly utilized, I hope that he's one of the first to be reintroduced.

Anyway, I hope this gives you a better idea about what to expect and I plan to write some thoughts about issue 26 when it comes out. Remain optimistic.