Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1: "Namor / Norman"

This is the other "short story" I wanted to get out of the way before the new year.

There are numerous examples of a team book's first issue being dedicated to the group's formation. X-Men Red and Fear Itself: The Deep are two examples of such included on this blog.

It appears that this series is intent stretching out that procedure over three issues. Thankfully, Namor goes first.

Norman Osborn has put together this Dark X-Men team to keep mutants in check should Emma Frost fail to do so as per an earlier agreement between two. While Namor is in the shower, Osborn roams around long-windedly (got to pad that page count!) asking why Namor would ever join a man like Osborn who has had Atlanteans executed.

That's a hell of a good question. It is answered by Osborn with a bunch of psycho-babble bullshit.

Yeah, okay Dr. Phil. Osborn ultimately seems to manage to get Namor to cooperate while making Namor think that he (Namor) is deciding when he really isn't. Whatever.

And that's about it. The rest of the book is about two other members of the team. Namor is not involved.

I don't know the state of Atlantis at this point, or Namor's relationship with the underwater city, but Namor has been detested by Atlanteans a number of times in his history. He's always gone back to it and has worked to rebuild it and/or reclaim its throne numerous times.

So this notion that he wants to distance himself from it and embrace being a mutant is a little hard to accept. And unless he's been fed a line about what this team's mission is, I don't even really get how he'd perceive this gig as accomplishing that goal anyway.

It doesn't seem as though Namor spent an awful lot of time with this group. I hope he went on a couple of missions, realized the whole thing is a load, kicked Osborn in the dick, then left.

Secret Empire: Brave New World #2: "Sanctuary, Part 2"

To cap off the year, I'm going to knock off a couple of "partial" Namor appearances, meaning anthology books in which he's involved in only one story or so.

I'll start with the second issue of this Secret Empire mini-series. I didn't care for the first one so I do so with some trepidation and low expectations.

The guy above is the new Patriot. We skip his story and that of "Bob from Hydra" to get to Namor's

In issue one, the original Human Torch from the Invaders days and his former sidekick/fellow Invader Toro sought out Namor in Atlantis to seek sanctuary (hence the title of this story) from the terrorist organization known as Hydra. Namor jailed them, fearing that if he helped them hide, Hydra would come after him for it.

We know Namor is often on the wrong side of a conflict but this decision seemed frustratingly inconsistent with his willingness to fight Nazis in WW2. And yet...

 

Okay, maybe that's a bit better. He's offering sanctuary of a sort without appearing to be doing so to save himself the headache of dealing with Hydra. That's one way to look after your peeps. We'll go with that.

Shortly thereafter, Atlantis is attacked. Namor goes to the fray to see what's up. He captures one of the attackers.

Ah, but to what end?

This damage caused in the attack enabled Hammond (the Human Torch, that is) and Toro to escape their cell.  In their attempt to get out of Atlantis, they encounter their rescuer, of sorts.

Nice! I've been jumping about Namor's history for a couple of years now and this is the first time I come across Namora. I only know the basics of her background so am aware that she is in effect a female version of the Avenging Son but know little else about her. Seeing the two butt heads should be fun.

Way to turn this story around after a disappointing start, Marvel.

The Avengers (1963) #265: "Eve of Destruction"

We've had a look at the Invaders, Fantastic Four and quite a bit of Defenders of late so let's look in some more on some of Namor's early days with the Avengers.

The Secret Wars II crossover event in the 80s sucked huge quantities of ass so I was reluctant to even get this books, but ever the completist...

The Beyonder is one of those annoying characters that could reshape reality with a blink yet never chooses to. All he does is threaten to do it, repeatedly.

The action gets underway immediately as the Avengers are caught in a sudden twister. We are told that The Beyonder trapped the team in it in Secret Wars II #8 to keep them occupied as he abducted Captain America. He could have teleported them to the other side of the globe but he chose strong winds instead.

Each member takes his or her turn to attempt to break the tornado's hold.

Ultimately, Hercules stops it by...Clapping his hands together. Apparently the concussive force does the trick. Sure, okay. #ComicBookScience

When thoughts turn to rescuing Captain America, and Namor instinctively takes charge, he and Hercules have words again, as they have since Namor has joined the team.

That's the Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel there, the only one we ever needed. She takes control of the situation and orders Namor to recover the crashed Avengers aircraft from a nearby pond. The Black Knight, who never seems capable of minding his own business, suggests that Hercules should lend a hand.

Ha ha ha ha! What a strange insult...

Naturally, the team manages to track down where the Beyonder is holding Captain America captive. He could have taken him to Jupiter but instead he shelters in a cave near Denver.

As the two are chatting, Namor shows up.

Ah, but the Beyonder isn't as stupid as the complete misuse of his powers would lead you to believe! He knows Namor is faking all this and when he catches the other Avengers attempting to free Cap, he loses his mind! And even though he could obliterate them with a thought, or fire them into space, he...throws rocks at them.

Well, that's dumb, but at least it brings up this tender moment.

The Beyonder does defeat them in short order though and the story continues in Secret Wars II #9, which I'm not getting any time soon.

Writer Roger Stern did the best that could be done with the situation he was handled. A lot of this issue felt like filler to get us through SWII so that we could get back to our regularly-scheduled programming. The interaction between characters made the book enjoyable enough though.

Hulk (2008) #11: "Trapped In A World They Never Made"

Reviewing The Order yesterday, which included the masked version of Doctor Strange, reminded me of a Hulk story that I had yet to finish. We're going to step forward with that one now.

As a quick recap, The Grandmaster and The Collector, cosmic brothers who use Earth's heroes and villains as pawns in games, are pitting the Defenders against a gathering of each member's fiercest foe. In Namor's case, that means Tiger Shark. Yes!

The Grandmaster tacks on another stipulation. The fights will take place in an unfamiliar environment.

Being that this is a past version of Namor, he struggles against his opponent, who has been boosted since.

And yet, the Collector and Grandmaster feel that the combatants are too evenly matched. So they bring a wildcard into each contest.

This is done similarly to dropping the fighters in an unusual setting in which to scrap. The newcomers are very well known to their teammates but not to them. Namor and Tiger Shark get a particularly shitty draw, for them.

The Hulk and Red Hulk had been sent to Atlantis to do battle. The red version appears to kill the green as the book ends, leading to a major victory for that side. The contest concludes in the next issue!

This was a fast read but a fun one. For being a Hulk book specifically, the other participants get a fair bit of attention too. I'm looking forward to the final beat down.

The Order (2002) #1: "The Best Defense..."

I read some time ago that Namor appeared in a book called The Order but my source misidentified the book. Marvel released a series by that name in 2007 but, that I know of, Namor never appeared in it.

He did, however, appear in a book called The Order in 2002 which I only recently stumbled upon. It was yet another Defenders reunion, for all intents and purposes, under a different name.

We begin with Nighthawk freezing his ass to death in the Himalayas. He's talking to himself and indicating that more powerful colleagues have left him behind. Intriguing!

We then cut to the Arabian Peninsula where soldiers from a country called Murkatesh are staging an invasion. But the Defen...huh...The Order is there to put an end to those shenanigans!

The next few pages are dedicated to each member showing what he can do. And as they leave the devastated military behind, they cryptically state that America is next.

Then things get a little confusing. Even though this is the first issue of a mini-series, it feels as though I've missed an awful lot.

In their civilian identities, Valkyrie and Hellcat are telling Valkyrie's folks about their superhero identities when the group is visited by a little dude named Papa Hagg who, apparently, we're supposed to know.

Hagg (in the Hawaiian shirt below) expresses concern about Nighthawk's whereabouts until being reminded that he actually has to ability to teleport him to them. Oh yeah!  And so he does.

That's a hell of a thing to forget.

Once recovered, Nighthawk explains that the four members of the Defenders were livid at a curse that the scientist supreme, Yandroth, set on them that forced them to come together when the earth was in danger. 

 

...to the Himalayas. He followed, heard them swear an oath, they took off and he got stuck there. Taht teleportation ring he mentions malfunctioned.

When the Order attacks the US Navy, as they promised to do earlier, we find out that Doctor Strange actually knew of Nighthawk's presence in the Himalayas and prevented him from returning. Harsh.

The trio of Defenders attempts to stop the Order's attack on the navy but are easily repelled after which Strange makes this declaration.

This was a pretty interesting book, if a little unclear for someone who hadn't been following these characters very closely at the time. It appears that the Order members are being manipulated, as you might expect, yet it seems odd that they would take the time to take an oath of some sort if that were the case.

Either way, seeing the less powerful (with perhaps Valkyrie as an exception) Defenders take on the team's heavy-hitter should be entertaining.

Fantastic Four - Atlantis Rising #2: "Assault on Atlantis"

After yesterday's post about an Avengers book in which Namor is prominently featured on the cover but not in the interior, I thought I'd move on to a book in which he should be far more involved. This seemed like a safe bet.

But I was wrong.

The book is exactly as the title suggests. The heroes who have gathered (Namor, Thor and The Fantastic Four minus Reed Richards but plus Ant-Man) take the battle to Morgan Le Fey and Atlantis. Sue Richards uses her force field abilities to crack open Le Fey's defenses and the heroes throw down against a number of Inhumans.

Therein lies the problem. Between the Inhumans who are not members of the royal family and the Fantastic Force group, there is an army of little-known and uninteresting characters in this book. It become difficult to keep track of everyone's abilities, affiliation and motivations.

At least in Namor's case, he scraps against the better-known royals. In the previous installment of this story, he tossed Black Bolt around. This time, he tangles (pun intended) with Medusa.

Wow! Somebody has NOT been missing leg day!

Namor compares her hair to tangling with the tentacles of a giant squid. One of my favourite aspects of his character is his uncanny ability to sweet talk women. Go on, you old honey dripper!

Gorgon gets into the scrap as well but Namor continues to hold is own.

He's not much involved going forward. Long story short, the risen Atlantis is basically destroyed but most of the heroes get out with the help of Sue Richards' force field though some are unaccounted for. The gang regroups on a nearby beach but Namor has no time for hugs and handshakes.

Thus ends Atlantis Rising, for all intents and purposes.

An issue of Fantastic Four Unlimited followed which served as an epilogue anthology. We'll get at that down the road sometime but at this point all we know is that Namor's supposed son, Llyron, intended to find a new location for Atlantis that Namor would never find. I think we know how that worked out.