Namor The First Mutant (2010) #4:

With Halloween just around the corner, let's wrap up Namor's involvement in the Curse Of The Mutants story and his battle against a vampiric version of his grandfather.

You may recall that what was left of Atlantis was under siege from a great number of aquatic vampires. An ancient Atlantean wizard, named simply Logomancer, had found a spell which would eliminate those vampires but its requires the blood of a king. Namor just happens to be one. Knowing it would kill him, he prepares to take one for the team and leads his small army to face undersea bloodsuckers on their turf.

(For a slightly more detailed synopsis of issues one through three of this series, click on the "Curse Of The Mutants" tab under the "Story Arcs" heading at right)

Namor figured out that the leader of the vampires (Aqueos) is none other than his grandfather, Thakorr. While he faces off with him inside the vampire lair, his army outside get a little support.

Ah, there's 'mancer now! The wizard casts a spell that will reduce the power that the vampire horde draws from Thakorr, so that's a start. 

Inside, meanwhile, Namor and Thatkorr are squaring off rather bluntly.

Thakorr is a tough old bird though and starts to turn the tide against Namor, so to speak. Abira is there for the assist, however.

Guess so.

With his advantage restored and again with Abira's assistance, Namor begins the spell Logomancer had provided him with which he could destroy the vampires. It required the blood of a king and he is no longer the only king in the room.

Thakorr's still finds a way to get a final dig in.

Where Thakorr sees failure, Namor sees opportunity. He claims the city in which the Aqueos resided as part of his realm and offers the remaining wretches a chance to continue...huh...living, I guess, if that's what they call it. Don't raid us and I won't kick your ass, is what it boils down to. 

And so ends the Curse Of The Mutants story.

There was a lot packed into these pages including Loa discovering that she could breathe underwater. I thought it had already been established that she could with the aid of the amulet around her neck or something. Perhaps reading these books out of order has confused me there. They do not dwell on it in this book but it seems clear that it will discussed in future stories.

Unfortunately, the book ends with the confirmed deaths of two Atlantean brothers, Husam and Husni, who were fairly prominent in the earlier issues of this series. I enjoyed Husam in particular though he had that feel about him like he wouldn't be around very long. Mind you, in comics, he could pop up in the next line-wide event for all we know.

Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #4: "A Time Of Titans"

It's been nearly a year since I last read and reviewed an issue of this series which is surprising because I've enjoyed its over-the-top goofiness a great deal.

And this one promises soul-searing action! How can I resist??

At the end of third issue, in the afterglow of having vanquished a threat together, Doctor Doom and Namor appeared poised to renew their partnership. Let's see how well that's held up.

So that's about a C-.

The sheer power of their exchange is noticed by a passing navy ship and brought to the attention of a dude named Simon Ryker. It is hinted that Ryker created (or will one day create) the cyborg Deathlok. That's a cool reference there. 

During the battle, Doom is tossed into the side of the ship. When Namor attempts to chase after him, Doom blasts the avenging son out of the sky. Ryker therefore sees the opening he was hoping for.

Doom is peeved by the affront and tosses Ryker around a bit. Then accepting that Namor and he are not meant to be pals, he flies off.

Ryker will evidently use the energy he siphoned from Doom to create his perfect soldier so he's happy enough. 

Namor...Not so much... 

That's it! He is so DONE with the surface world!

Until the next issue of this series, that is. It seems Doom left Namor a parting gift and the prince will need the help of the Fantastic Four to deal with it. It kind of all works against the "super-villain team-up" theme but it should be fun!

Sub-Mariner (2007) #1: "Revolution"

Marvel Comics recently had a two-for-one (digital) sale. I took advantage of it to not only move forward with some of the books that I'd started gathering in the past but also to start some new ones, including a six-issue mini-series dedicated to Namor following the Civil War event. 

Here's a partial recap from what's gone on in Civil War. Namor's connected appearance in a Wolverine book was covered here.

The story begins with Iron Man and SHIELD overlooking a devastated (again) Atlantis in the present and some question as to whatever happened to Namor.

We begin to answer that questions with a flashback from eight days earlier. An explosive rocks a small town in Kansas. A great many citizens are killed and the resulting investigation seems to point the finger at Atlantis. 

Lordy. Haven't the surface world and Atlantis gone to war, or nearly come to it, a dozen times already over such sketchy evidence? When will everyone learn?

But asshole that he is, Iron Man makes the call.

This is an interesting approach. When Atlantis has been damaged, or some of its citizens injured or killed by the acts of unknown surface world residents, can Namor just call up whoever is president at that point and lay blame at his/her feet?

Namor first questions Nitro, which makes sense, but yields no results. He then checks in with his own council and finds out about rumours of an unaccounted-for sleeper cell that could very well be the cause of the Kansas explosion.

He later confronts an Atlantean named Timoran about it, a youngster he got a bad vibe from during the council meeting. It doesn't go extremely well for Tim.  

Namor then goes to speak to a mysterious "old friend".

Namor responds by suiting up for war but swears that if blood is spilled, it will be human blood.

SHIELD's "evidence" for blaming Atlantis for the attack on a Kansas town seemed a little thin but then they were surprised at the level of devastation that Atlantis had gone through so there would appear to be more  at play than just a scrap between that organization and the underwater city. Add in the mystery of Namor's mole within SHIELD (I have a theory...) and there's plenty here to keep one coming back. This was a good start.