All-Winners Comics: 70th Anniversary Special (2009) #1

In terms of date of release, Fantastic Four #4 is the oldest book that's been covered here. I have read some of Namor's earlier material, including the first few issues of the original All Winners title, and intended to include it here as I progressed along. But what I've read so far is lousy to the point that now I just want to ignore it altogether.

Part of the appeal of this character is that he has been there from the beginning (1939). He is one of few characters to have been active in every era.

But now that I've read more of the stories from the late 30s to the 50s, I'm increasingly less interested in acknowledging them. While I understand that times were different then, I'm not sure I want to revisit and share the racism contained in those books, for example.

Fantastic Four was among the first books published under the Marvel brand in the early 60s. After being out of sight for several years, Namor was reintroduced in #4 and his early adventures treated like the comic book material that those characters read.

I may just take that approach and narrow my time frame from 1963 to present as opposed to going all the way back to '39. We can let books set in the past, like The Invaders, back-fill Namor's history.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we can not give the 70th anniversary book a glance.

We join the story as The All Winners Squad catch up to the villains in the story, Future Man and Madame Death. Captain America inadvertently destroys Future Man's time travel machine and sends these villains spiraling through time uncontrollably as our heroes escape that same fate.

A week later, the heroes are chilling in their New York headquarters in Times Square when Namor decides to unleash the full fury of Atlantis upon...

Nice transitional comedic touch.

The next few pages focus on The Whizzer and Miss America and their relationship. They are actually the two most visible characters in this book. It isn't until they are attacked by zombies and the team steps in with an assists that Namor shows up again.

It should be noted that the Captain America in this book is the Jeff Mace version. Previously known as The Patriot, Mace took the shield for himself near the end of WW2 when the original Captain America disappeared. He struggles with the weight of the responsibility and that back drop provides Namor and Mace with a little bonding time once the threat is eliminated.

Our hero doesn't get a lot of face time but what he gets is of good quality. As one of the senior members of the team and among its most powerful, it's good to see him be the one to provide validation for the new kid. He does not always display great leadership skills, but he does recognize valour.