Secret Empire: Brave New World (2017) #1: "Sanctuary"

While I have not read a Marvel book on a regular basis in several years, I still heard/read much of the criticism surrounding Secret Empire specifically and the various accusations of "character assassination" of stalwart characters like Iron Man, Cyclops, Mr. Fantastic and (in this case, Captain America) in recent years.

This book makes me think that Namor needs to be added to the list, especially since he appears to be a full-blown villain in current books. He has not been represented particularly well in recent years, it would seem and I believe now that it started here.

We begin with Namor fighting off fellow Atlanteans. The very first line of dialogue from him is "Do you KNOW who I am?". Remember that for a moment.

He makes short work of his aggressors.

Some military-looking types happen by and Namor turns the attackers over to those soldiers. Just prior to doing so, he appeared to be about to execute them. That was a bit of a red flag as to his state of mind.

It is pointed out to Namor by one of the soldiers that this is the second assassination attempt on him this month. So to answer Namor's question from earlier, yes, if they were assassins targeting you, they very much know who you are. What a peculiar question to ask.

Namor is in the process of instructing a soldier to enhance security when he is interrupted with news that he has guests. The soldier he had been talking to actually asks if the guests are assassins as well.

Yeah, dumbass, they're at the front door asking for permission to enter to murder Namor. JFC.

These two are at the gates.

That's the Human Torch (Tom Hammond, SHIELD agent) and Toro from the Invaders. They seek sanctuary.

The former is an android. He explains that Hydra's brainwashing techniques on SHIELD agents during their takeover didn't quite work for him.

Toro, meanwhile, is an Inhuman (he is?) and therefore an automatic enemy of Hydra. News to me.

Namor states his position to his former colleagues.

Upon learning that Namor has an alliance of sorts with Hydra, the Torch and Toro come to realize that they made a mistake in going to Atlantis to hide out. They attempt to leave but are prevented by the Atlanteans, including Namor.

The two former Invaders are then jailed with the other "dissidents".

So Namor who, when faced with the Nazi threat in the 40s, joined these two and others to battle that threat now decides he needs to imprison them out of fear of Hydra finding out that they're sleeping in his basement? Bitch, please...

Had he explained that Atlantis has been devastated far too many times to risk even the slightest damage, I might have bought it. Instead, this feels like Namor taking a knee in front of Hydra and there's little in the character's history that would suggest he'd ever do such a thing. Quite the opposite.

This is one story out of three in this anthology book and thankfully Namor is not included in the other two because they are complete time-wasters. They add nothing to this story or to, I suspect, Secret Empire as a whole.

Unfortunately, the Invaders story (if you could even call it that, since it really only features two member against one) continues in the remaining four issues of Brave New World so evidently I'll have to stomach those at some point. It won't be any time soon.

The following image is a variant cover to this book by Chris Samnee.

Captain America (1968) #365, "Submission"

It surprises me that, in light of how often Captain America has been included in this blog, this is the first time a book from his original series is reviewed. Continuing to spotlight Namor's appearance in various cross-company events, today, we look in on Acts of Vengeance.

There doesn't appear to be much more to Acts of Vengeance than villains swapping out heroes to harass. The reasoning is that the lack of familiarity with the villains' abilities will give those evil bastards an edge.

The Red Skull appears to be engineering this though it seems a well-dressed, mysterious man is perhaps manipulating him as well. My guess is it's Loki but that is not revealed at this point.

Captain America flies into the scene in an aircraft referred to as Flagship, He is headed for Avengers Island (they had an island?) then dazzles us with his power of observation.

Are you absolutely sure? Check again if the island has disappeared.

Once on land, Cap gets an explanation from the Avengers' butler, Jarvis.

Yes, of course. Would you have been less surprised if it had been blasted into space? Shifted into another dimension?

While Cap recovers his wits, we encounter Namor while he is searching the seas for the spawn of his recently deceased wife, Marrina. At this point in his career, this is a common hobby for him. it seems to always be what he's doing when he happens to swim by.

Namor is approached by the mysterious man from earlier and offered a partnership with the likes of the Red Skull, Magneto (again) and Doctor Doom (again) but the prince basically ignores him and moves on.

Namor then arrives at Avengers Island hours later which is odd because he wasn't going there. Presumably he was giving his spawn-quest a rest for a moment.

Namor is also quite perceptive.

He roams the inside the mansion a while looking for clues and is caught unaware by...The Controller!

What the hell was he doing down there? If he didn't know Namor was a member, he might have been waiting down there a hell of a while for someone to swim by.

Controller (typically an Iron Man villain, hence his appearance in this book under the Acts of Vengeance banner) has Namor under his control (hence his name) and he aims him right at Captain America.

It just so happens that the Captain was recently told by what appears to be an Avengers employee that Namor has been spotted swimming nearby. As he goes out to meet with his Avengers teammate, he is met with a hell of a greeting.

The fight is on!

During the scrap, Cap notices the disc on Namor's neck and concludes that it must be one of the Controller's control devices.

He had to be told an island was missing but THAT he noticed. And Controller isn't even one of his typical foes.

Namor's power and the dangers of facing him are both highlighted very well during the fight but knowing that the Avenging Son is under control leads even a dimwit like Cap to make the obvious connection. Destroy the disc and you should be able to sever that control.

Hyaaa!  Nice move, flag man!

Namor's brain pretty shorts out so he loses consciousness. Cap expresses some concern that he might have turned a long-time friend and ally into a vegetable and directs his anger towards the Controller.

That fight is scheduled for the next issue but being that Namor is incapacitated, I doubt he'll play much a part. But he kicked plenty of ass in this one.

Fear Itself: The Deep (2011) #1:

We're carrying on with our look at Namor appearances in various Marvel events and this time, it's a fairly recent one. The Deep was a four-issue spin-off to the Fear Itself mini-series in 2011. 

Marvel provides a handy recap in the inside of the front cover.

Ah.

That's kind of a lot to take in. No time to mess around though because after a page of being shown various examples of devastation of marine life around the planet, we're tossed into battle.

Turns out he will. Namor is overcome by fear. Attuma (going by the brutal name Nerkkod, evidently as a result of the hammer's influence) defeats him and lays some devastating blows against New Atlantis.

Namor, thankfully, is rescued by a young lady named Loa. This is my first exposure to her. Apparently she was (is?) an X-Man. She seems okay.

Two days, later, Doctor Strange responds to being summoned to a pub called Oliveri's. He and the avenging son meet again.

Telling someone he's your final option is not the most tactful way to ask for a favour but it gets the job done. Strange casts a summoning spell of his own in an attempt to gather the Defenders. Nice!

While the spell does its job, we check in on the villains, in the form of Attuma's generals.

Hey, Tiger Shark! Always good to see him up to no good!

The blue dude is Tyrak (tie rack?) and the goth chick is named Aradnea. I was not familiar with her either and in looking her up, found out that this was her first appearance.

She is aware that Namor yet lives and sends aquatic goons to put an end to that. Why she waited two days I have no idea.

Aradnea's creatures attack the pub but as they arrive, Team Namor gets some extra help as a result of Strange's summoning spell from earlier.

Another new face for me. She says she's the Hulk's daughter, "sort of". Okay then.

The battle is on and this version of the Defenders get their licks in but when Namor takes a shot, his confidence crumbles again.

Lyra saves him but more sea creatures appear and things start to look bleak. Fortunately, our team gets a dramatic last-minute save.

That IS cool.

I was not expecting a Defenders reunion. It may have been part of the promotional material for all I know but you couldn't tell from the cover. Marvel may have missed a bit of an opportunity there but not knowing made for a pleasant surprise.

For that matter, again based on the cover, I wasn't even sure how much Namor we'd get. I gambled slightly on the "Deep" part of the title, assuming that it would involve Atlantis. I thought it might essentially be a Namor/Strange team-up so ending up with a team book was a good surprise.

Fantastic Four (1961) #402, "By Our Friends, Besieged"

We're going to look at Namor's participation in various Marvel events over the next few posts and to launch that, we'll move ahead a bit more in the Atlantis Rising story.

When we last saw Namor, he had been fighting a mind-controlled Thor above the ocean over newly-risen Atlantis. A group of Inhumans in a space craft blasted him out of the sky on their way through. Namor was found by some of his people and taken to safety.

He next appears in Fantastic Four 402.

Namor finally wakes up, is greeted by an old friend, and brought up to date.

Oof! That's rough.

Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four head to London England to participate in a NATO meeting about Atlantis'...Rising. The Inhumans crash the party and basically tell everyone to mind their own.

Namor was asked by Vashti earlier if he would seek vengeance or be a healer for his people. It is at this point that he makes his plan quite clear.

Heal on your own, people, I have to put boots to asses! The earlier scene with Vashti seemed to hint that Namor would become a more balanced, subdued leader but nope! To be fair, he is not in charge of Atlantis right at that point so they're not officially "his people".

Namor feels that the the Inhumans conspired with Morgan Le Fey to raise Atlantis and he wants to slap a few of them around for it. Black Bolt steps up and with that, the gloves are dropped.

Susan Storm separates the two monarchs with a force field. The Inhumans then get a holographic message of some sort from a dude name Arcadius (no clue) telling them to return to Atlantis ASAP so they gather together and teleport out.

They are replaced by Thor, who has come to his sense at this point. So the Fantastic Four, the avenging son and the Norse God of thunder prepare to take the battle to Atlantis directly in the next installment.

Parts of this epic have been hard to follow but when you remove the clutter and follow just the one character around, it's much clearer, even if my knowledge of the Inhumans is limited.

Captain Marvel (1968) #4, "The Alien and The Amphibian"

When the Black Panther movie out came out last year, I reviewed a few of the books in which Namor fought alongside (or against) that character.

I don't have the slightest interest in the Captain Marvel movie and Namor has shared very little page time with Carol Danvers. He has, however, guest-starred in an issue of the original Captain Marvel's book from 1968, and it is this one that we will check out today.

We join Mar-Vell is in his hotel room, agonizing over his mission. He is, it would seem, a Kree soldier tasked with spying on humanity but he has become somewhat attached to we earthlings and his conscience is getting the better of him. Well, that's nice.

His soul-searching is interrupted by a message to get his (or technically his alter-ego's, Walt Lawson, missile expert) ass to The Cape. And once there, he's brought up to date with the day's plans.

See the lady in the background? That's the current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers in one of her first appearances. She knew from day one that there was something off about this Walt Lawson guy. 

The missile is launched as planned, but...it turns around sharply and crashes into the ocean (see where they're going with this?). How could that happen?? Well...

The rocket is still set to release its bacteria. This Yon-Rogg dude wants Mar-Vell to ensure that happens but Mar-Vell wants no part of it.

And of course, as the navy arrives and everyone converges on this rocket, Namor happens to swim through on his way to visiting the Fantastic Four. He is spotted by the navy.

And so they fight!

Quite a few punches are thrown but Captain Marvel orchestrates things so that in striking Namor, the sub-mariner falls backwards and trips a self-destruct mechanism in the rocket. The rocket explodes and apparently that resolves the bacteria issue.

So Captain Marvel looks like the hero to the general public for preventing the bacterial spread yet avoids being perceived as a traitor by his superior, Yon-Rogg.

Namor looks like a would-be mass murderer, but that was already kind-of-sort-of out there after declaring war on the surface world and all that.

As an added bonus, the following issue's splash page features a replay of the scrap. So while Namor does not guest-star as such, he helps launch the story.

Avengers / Invaders (2008) #1, "Old Soldiers, New Wars"

In the two previous posts, we've seen meetings of Marvel super-teams. In one, Namor was a member of the X-Men and in the other, the Avengers.

Today we'll see him either team-up with, or battle (that part is to be determined at this point), the Avengers as a member of the Invaders.

The story begins in 1943 during one of the Invaders' many battles with German soldiers. Pages from Bucky's war journal provide the narration as Bucky introduces us to his teammates. He doesn't say much about Namor specifically, just that if he (Bucky) had powers, he'd want to have the avenging son's strength, flight, etc. Okay.

During the battle, they are surrounded by some sort of green mist. Remember that, it's important later.

We cut to present-day New York, where Spider-Man is battling the Thunderbolts. The 'bolts are there to apprehend the web-slinger as part of the government's crack down on superheroes at the time. So we actually get three teams in this book! Neat!

And in the midst of this battle, the Invaders suddenly emerge.

Still in "battle mode", and in light of Bucky detecting a German accent on Citizen V, the Thunberbolt leader, the Invaders simply...jump right into the fight!

Namor does some pretty solid damage here. With an assist from Bucky, he floors the Radioactive Man...

Then shortly thereafter devastates Penance.

Oh, you really don't want to know...

The Invaders defeat the 'bolts, then Captain America decides that he and his team should go into hiding until they figure out what's going on.

None of this, of course ,escapes the attention of SHIELD and, by association, Tony "Iron Man" Stark. How will he react? We'll need to find out in issue #2.

Good set up even if, in reality, we only got one member of the Avengers in on the action in Spider-Man.

It is also a bit of a drag that the Avengers roster at the time was not exactly a classic one. I doubt if you asked folks to identify the core Avengers team, they would include Wolverine, Luke Cage and Spider-Woman. But whatever. I still look forward to seeing where this goes.

Alpha Flight (1983) #39, "The Invasion of Atlantis"

Continuing a theme of team-ups involving the multiple teams Namor has been on over the decades, I must admit that this one was not part of the original plan.

I'd originally planned to read/review Avengers #118 which, as you can see at right, co-starred a Defenders team which included the Avenging Son.

After taking it in, however, I realized there is no point. Namor shows up in crowd shots and that is about the extent of his contribution to the story. I don't believe he has even one line of dialogue.

As a result we find ourselves cheating a little bit with Alpha Flight #39 instead. Namor has never been a member of Alpha Flight but he participated in a few of their adventures during the John Byrne years and developed a relationship with one of their members, Marrina. He's not a member, but he's certainly an ally, so close enough.

Off we go then!

Alpha Flight is returning from an exhausting mission to find a guest at their mansion, none other than the Atlantean Byrrah, Namor's cousin. Byrrah explains that he has been sent by Namor to seek help.

Byrrah has an unusual method of asking for help. It's difficult to believe that he was Namor's best option.

Alpha Flight is told that Attuma has taken over Atlantis and is holding Namor's beloved hostage. That, of course, is Marrina, so Alpha Flight is compelled to step up regardless of the possibility of starting yet another war with Atlantis.

As they near Atlantis, their aircraft is shot down and they begin a long underwater battle against the armies of Atlantis. They are barely hanging in until the reinforcements arrive.

As the two teams plan their approach, Namor announces the he no longer seeks the throne of Atlantis. Rather...

Bah, that's weak...

So in order to rescue Marrina, they become the attackers and take the battle to Atlantis.

Well at least here Namor shows he still has hair on his balls after that sad speech earlier.

The fight is rather brief, however, as the two teams (Marrina included) are surrounded by Atlantis soldiers and the book ends on that note. The story is to be concluded in Avengers #272, which we'll get to another day.

This was a fairly simple story and it was entertaining enough if you could overlook the frequent hand-wringing internal dialogue of the various members of Alpha Flight, courtesy of Bill Mantlo. Its art is by Dave Ross.

Something else to note; his name is spelled Byrrah in this book but in the Sub-Mariner's first series  it was spelled Byyrah. Either mantlo got it wrong or someone else did in the past and the new spelling stuck. Whatever the cause, this is why the character appears under two tags in the "Atlanteans" category at right.