Fantastic Four Unlimited (1995) #11: "The Inhuman Condition / No Man Is An Island"

I was hoping to get into more significant appearances after whiffing on the past couple. I'm not sure this one qualifies. Namor gets a lot more face time but very little is of any significance. 

This issue is an epilogue to the whole Atlantis Rising event but a lot of it is devoted to the Inhumans. Namor does get his fair share of attention, but it's all over the place.

After a lengthy episode about the Inhumans, we finally see the avenging son reviewing the damages caused by Atlantis' rising. In doing so, he comes across a familiar face. 

Ah yes, Llyron. At one point said to be Namor's son, apparently by now we know that's a load. He possesses Mckenzie blood, somehow, according to Llyra, and had his growth accelerated by a geneticist named Vyrra "whose mind had been transferred into a clone" of Namor's ex-wife Dorma. Evidently, Lyrron has Lyrra's memories but Vyrra's mind.

Christ on a bike, that's a lot to take in.

Namor understandably leaves her there to rot. As he continues to assess the state of risen Atlantis, he comes across an Atlantean kid trying to draw oxygen from a puddle. He grabs her and attempts to save her by flying her to water but he's just a little too late. 

I want "Imperius Rex" to be my last words too. 

So Namor's having a shitty day. We cut to see what Llyron is up to and that, basically, is being a dictator. He's led his people away from risen Atlantis and he's come up with a plan to restock the shelves, so to speak.

Wonder if anything every came of that? One to look up. 

Back on dry land, various factions are fighting for the newly-appeared land mass. Namor wants them all to piss off, as he should. 

He does battle with some sort of creature called Man-Of-War brought in by the Portuguese military in case Namor showed up but all that feels like filler. Bottom line, he kicks everyone off the island, crashes into his throne and lets his hair down.

And so ends Atlantis Rising. 

The compilation (at least the digital one) includes all kinds of extras including a biography about Llyron which I might get around to reading some day since his origins aren't clear to me.

It also included this handy, if basic, map about Atlantis' new location. Nice touch. 

I don't recall how this story was received at the time but it is clear that an awful lot of work went into it. Yes, it was full of 90s garishness but it was epic in scale and it did change the status quo. I'm a little sad to reach its end, honestly.

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (1998) #4, "Heatwave"

I meant to follow a Canada Day post with one for the fourth of July but, as I did last year, I went off schedule. No big deal, we'll get to it now with the conclusion of a three-part story from Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty.

Click the tag for this book in the "Titles" list on the right side of the page for the previous two issues. 

We left the three core members of the Invaders (seen on the cover above, being Captain America, Namor and the original Human Torch) having just discovered a bunch of simulations of the Jim Hammond Human Torch as well as a number of POWs locked away in preparation to be turned into more of them. Nasty.

First things first. Captain America recovers the ship he and Namor used to reach Atlantis and applies it to a POW rescue mission.

That whole plan seemed to happen awful fast...Still, as they are taking care of those men, the torch duplicates are unleashed on the world.

Captain America comes up with a plan to defeat them. The three Invaders members allow themselves to be chased, and "trapped" onto on of the ships, abandoned for this purpose. 

Cap had to know that this explanation wouldn't go over very well. He further argues that the fake torches lack judgement and a conscience. They are, in effect, little more than any other war machine such as a torpedo. 

Hammond nearly kills himself attempting to appeal to some sort of moral compass among the "Firebrands" but ultimately, they are all destroyed according to the plan above. 

So what of Nazi-occupied Atlantis? Well, while the heroes were dealing with the fake torches, Atlantis looked after its own affairs. They didn't waste any time either. 

Namor's mum, Fen, is mighty pissed at having been duped by the Germans. She has the Nazis in front of a firing squad and prepared for execution but Namor intervenes.

I didn't realize the relationship between Namor and Fen was so strained. I'll need to get out of the team books and back into his own title. 

The issue book concludes by spotlighting that the adventure strengthened the bond among the three core members of the Invaders but particularly so between Namor and Hammond as they are both outcasts of a sort.  That's a nice touch, and for a book specifically about Captain America, it was very respectful of its guests. That's not always the case so it was appreciated. 

Marvel Universe (1998) #1: "The Spoils of War"

When quarantines and isolation began, I figured I'd have more time to take in some Avenging Son awesomeness but that has not turned out to be the case. I've been busy as hell but I finally get some quiet time to take in some Atlantean heroics.

Today, we're looking at a short-lived mini-series called, quite simply, Marvel Universe, in which the Invaders starred for the first few issues.

We begin with a recounting of the demise of a large German sea vessel called the Deutschland at the hands of the Invaders. 

We find out that the event is narrated, sort of, by Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, a Nazi and I believe the founder of Hydra, as he ponders the loss of the ship while in a meeting with German military leaders.  He is disgusted by his fellow Nazis' inability to see the future and the big picture so he leaves them to debate pointlessly. He has a brief meeting with the Red Skull in a secret lab geared towards, at least on paper, suspended animation and preservation.

We transition to a scene in a German submarine as its captain appears pleased to receive an encoded message. His glee is brief, however, because he is visited by undersea royalty. 

The men don't put up much of a fight so Namor has no difficulty getting his hands on the message that the captain received. 

But the captain ingest poison rather than talk. The poison was concealed in a ring with the Hydra logo so evidently we are seeing the formation of that organization.

This leads to a retelling of Namor's origin as told by Betty Dean to a couple of G-Men. The Human Torch and Captain America get the same treatment; a few pages of adventure followed by an origin story. The purpose in all cases is for the military to determine, based on these background checks, whether these three men can be trusted.

Once that has been established, these three core Invaders members are brought in by Allied Command and given their mission. Hydra is not only operational, but they are preparing to build an atomic bomb from their secret island base. They also acquired this sweet beast, the "dragon" referred to above.

...But Hydra swiped it. That, and books about things which have yet to happen, appear to make Strucker quite confident. 

So we have a little time travel going on here then? Good tease. 

This was quite enjoyable. Going over the origins of each Invader seemed a little pointless but in a 36-page book, it didn't hurt the story at all. I only wish that other members of the Invaders, like Spitfire and Union Jack, were included (Toro and Bucky, not so much).
 

Fantastic Four (1961) #412: "Settling The Score With The Sub-Mariner!"

The last issue I read featured a scrap between Namor and the Thing and the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four. Not to leave anyone out, today we're going to check out a throw down between Namor and the other male member of the Four, Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic.

There was a period of time after Atlantis Rising in which Namor stuck around the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards wasn't around so maybe Namor was biding his time for Susan Richards' affections. We'll find that out later when we read earlier issues from this series.

In any event, as we join this story, Reed has recently returned to the team, all bearded up. We are told that the FF were in a scrap involving Black Bolt of the Inhumans during which Susan stretched her powers to their limits, causing her to collapse from exhaustion.

She needs her rest, but Namor sees an opening...

The rest of that sentence is rather unkind. Reed overhears it, as well as Namor's suggestion to Sue that she kick Reed's stuff to the curb. Oh dear.

Naturally, that goes with Reed over like a fart in an elevator.

And so they fight it out once more. Neither man gets too nasty a shot in though. Namor tosses a car, Reed lets it bounce off his malleable form back towards Namor, Namor dodges it, etc. If anything, Namor does more damage verbally than physically.

The prince ain't wrong, y'all.

Richards directs the battle towards a construction site. He's needed back at the Baxter Building though. This Skrull chick named Lyja who's been shacking up with the FF of late helps Susan hop into one of the team's little hover crafts, or whatever the hell they are, to find him. And they do.

Namor will have none of it! If he must, he'll take Susan by force!

Well...He'd take her AWAY by force. There are limits to his impulsiveness. He's not Ben Roethlisberger.

Time for Reed to be the big hero.

Awww...I haven't followed this team regularly but I could swear I've read a number of variations of that speech over the years.

As the Richards leave, Lyja asks Namor if he's through playing possum. That's right, the avenging son was faking his defeat!

You're no Jennister Aniston yourself, Skrully.

Namor leaves it up for interpretation as to whether he took a dive to bring the Richards couple closer together or whether the purpose of his subterfuge was to impress Susan with the purity of his love. Wow. His words, not mine.

With that, he leaves, "destined to return when the Fantastic Four least expect it".

So some eye-rolling dialogue and the story (by Tom DeFalco) was basically high school drama but the Richards/Namor dynamic rarely fails to entertain. The art was by Paul Ryan, John Lowe, Bob Wiacek and john Kalisz.

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.

The New Warriors (1990) #14, "The breeze of an Underwater Wind"

Namorita's appearance in an issue of the 1990s Namor series that I reviewed earlier this month reminded me that I'd squirreled away an appearance by the Avenging Son in a New Warriors book from around the same time. Namorita was a regular on the New Warriors and arguably one of its most popular characters.

There is very little substance to Namor's inclusion though, unfortunately.

The shirt and tie on Namor should have tipped me off as to the nature of his contribution to this story.

Namorita and Speedball *groan* come upon a bunch of guys emptying a ship of its cargo at an unusual time of night. The natural response is to assume the worst and begin beating on them. They do just that and in doing so, discover that they were hauling Atlantean artifacts. They also meet another crap character from that era.

"Call me your worst nightmare! Call me Darkhawk!"

Dear lord...That dialogue is my worst nightmare.

Namorita is appropriately unimpressed so the two do what heroes do when they first meet. Fight!

Speedball is the voice of reason (yeah, okay...) and breaks it up but the scrap enabled the smugglers to get away. Good job, Warriors.

Namorita goes after them, being the only one with the ability to do so, and encounters our villain-du-jour.

Perhaps as an act of overcompensation, Urchin beats the hell out of Namorita and "scalps" her. In this book, that just means he cut off her ponytail.

This is where Namor comes in, finally. When Namorita's body is found floating in the drink, she is brought to her cousin's place. She explains what happened and Namor just kind of...shrugs.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow! The guy nearly beats your cousin to death and this is your reaction?

Namorita quite understandably storms out in anger and when Namor tracks her down again...

The custom behind the armour basically abbreviates to "kill or be killed". Namor attempts to prevent Namorita from laying a pounding on Sea Urchin but she tells him off and splits.

The saving grace to Namor's lame behaviour is provided during this segment. Namorita suggests that the treatments begun in the early issues of Namor's own series, which are intended to calm his rash nature, may have taken things too far the other way so now he's a milksop. That's good continuity and explanation, so we'll accept that.

Anyway, Namorita finds and fights Sea Urchin and defeats him but overcomes the urge to kill him, making herself unworthy of the armour.

That's about it. The issue had a transitional feel to it, the kind that is published between two major events.

And while Namor's contribution may have been on the weak side, at least it was better than Darkhawk's. All that poser did was enable criminals to escape.

Namor The Sub-Mariner (1990) #4, "Black Water"

A recent post about an Alpha Flight issue put me in the mood for more John Byrne material so today we move ahead a bit in the 1990s series to issue #4.

The book opens with a pair in a submarine attaching a "surprise package" to a much larger underwater vessel. File that away for now.

We move from that to a discussion between Namorita and that Carrie chick that Namor's been flirting with. Carrie has decided that since Namor's romantic history is rather...frightening...she doesn't want to be a part of it. Frankly, it's hard to argue with her reasoning. Nita flies off to tell her cousin, who seems like he couldn't care any less.

He is too preoccupied with attending certain festivities, as are the creepy-ass Marss twins, who happen to discuss the subject because they are still spying on Namor with drones.

Namor doesn't seem like the type to host too many parties but on his way to it with Namorita as his +1, he explains his reasoning.

...He doesn't want to blow it on account of being anti-social and secretive. All right, fair enough.

Namorita finds the party dull as hell until the Marss twins show up. She goes to chat up Desmond. Meanwhile, a disguised Namor also has eyes a guest.

Tony "Iron Man" Stark is in the audience as well, which makes sense as a business big shot. Nice touch. Byrne has always been good at those fun cameos.

But as the "guest of honour" submarine super tanker arrives (that is what Sue Richards is reacting to above), so does the "surprise package" that was attached to it during the book's first couple of pages. And so...

Namor sheds his disguise to investigate the explosion before the submarine releases oil into the water. Things look okay at first, but...

And we end with Namor getting bogged down in the oil, unable to swim or breathe.

Kind of a fun issue. Byrne managed to keep the story moving forward and keep your interest even if it was light on suspense and action until the very end. The lack of a super-villain made for a nice break and the prospect of Namor teaming with several old friends (who have also at times been foes) makes one look forward to the story's continuation.

Thor (1998) #4, "From The Ashes"

The whole theme of teaming up with core Avengers members is advancing slowly due to time constraints but after checking out Captain America and Iron man books, we now turn to Thor.

Thor is in a pickle. A sea goddess named Sedna has captured him with plans to use her magic to turn him into a "suitable mate". He's at a significant disadvantage because in the previous issue, he hurled his mighty hammer at some sort of dragon creature and the hammer did not return to him as it normally does. It has been behaving erratically.

The God of Thunder need not fear, however, because the Avenging son is in the 'hood.

Without the hammer, Thor's turned back into his secret identity. Did you not wonder where that dude came from?

While the mortal version of Thor (Jake, I believe?) swims to the surface, Sedna calls on reinforcements to deal with Namor.

The sea dragon (or whatever) stuns Namor and also swims to the surface. There, this Jake guy basically calls on his hammer to get its ass back to where it's needed. This time, it responds.

Namor returns to take up the fight but this is Thor's book, after all, so the star performer is the one to do away with the beast. Sedna then makes another attempt at seducing Thor but Namor prevents it.

Sedna sees her plan is going south fast so she escapes.

Thor expresses his gratitude to Namor and even invites him out for a beer but the Prince declines the offer. He's got a kingdom to rule and all that.

But the boys leave one another on good terms which is a nice change from how Namor is so often manipulated into fighting his would-be allies or in conflict with them due to some misunderstanding. It's particularly consistent in this case because even when they have found themselves at odds, Thor has usually demonstrated some respect towards Namor.

One small oddity in this book; Namor speaks to (and of) Sedna as though he's known her a long time but she's only appeared in this issue and the preceding one in the volume.

Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty (1998) #3, "Descent Into Madness, Chapter Two: Sins Of The Mother"

We've seen a lot of Captain America lately but carrying on with the theme of Namor team-ups with core Avengers members, we're going to continue a story begun here.

We are in 1942. Following the events of the second issue, Cap has been jailed in Atlantis for three days but, when he could, he used the edge of his shield to chip away at his chains. Atlanteans have no respect for we land lubbers so they arrogantly left Cap's shield within arms reach. Dumbasses.

So Cap escapes, takes out a few Nazis and makes his way to the "air-filled hyberbaric" lab in which the Nazi scientists who reprogrammed the (Jim Hammond) Human Torch do their work. He also finds a "death chamber" full of human guinea pigs that those same scientists were planning to experiment on. Oy.

Cap sets off to find Namor who is having a chat with his mum, Fen, current leader of Atlantis under Nazi influence. It's not going particularly well.

Cap shows up and does his best Dr. Phil. He tells Namor that he (Namor) was brought up to hate surface dwellers because Fen hates herself for breaking the rules and doing the deed with Namor's dad years prior.

Hm. Not sure how well that meshes with past material but let's ride the wave for a while and see where this goes.

One of Fen's guards tries to harpoon Cap from behind for having a big friggin' mouth but Namor will have none of it.

Damn right.

The Nazis get kicked around so they unleash the brainwashed Human Torch on our heroes in an effort to turn the tide, as it were.

The strategy backfires when Fen begins to realize that the Torch is not the threat the Nazis made him out to be. Also, Cap snaps the Torch our of his brainwashing by showing him the death chamber horrors being perpetrated by Torch's "side".

The jolt brings Hammond back to his usual naive, gentle self. With his head back on straight, Torch recalls that he was studied, poked, prodded...and evidently duplicated. In a desperation move, one of the scientists yanks a door open and lets loose...

And that is it for part two! This team-up ultimately turned into an Invaders reunion so we'll probably conclude this thing the next time that team gets the spotlight.