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.

Namor The First Mutant (2010) #3: "Royal Blood: Part Three"

Halloween's a comin' so I'm going to catch up on a couple of books with more of a horror feel, starting with the 3rd issue of Namor The First Mutant.

Issue 1 was read here and #2 was read here.

Atlantis is in mid-rebuild (again) and her forces are depleted so this is a terrible time for underwater vampires (Aqueos) to attack, but sure enough they have.

Namor and the rather fine Abira are chatting with an ancient wizard known only as the Logomancer about how to destroy these creatures. The Logomancer recommends a spell but as they start looking into its requirements a little deeper, Namor dismisses Abira as he would a child.

In order for it to work, the spell needs the blood of a king. ALL of the king's blood. Namor doesn't want Abira to know that he plans to sacrifice himself for his people.

The spell is incomplete. The Logomancer believes that its final part is hidden in a tomb in the Aqueos' hidden city.

So armed with some sort of Atlantean triple lightsaber, and given better directions as to how to find the city and the tomb within it, Namor and his few troops take the battle to the aqua-vampires.

Namor asks Abira along. When they reach the tomb and complete the preparations for the spell that will banish the Aqueos, he levels with her about her role in all this.

As they debate procedure, they are interrupted by the Aqueos leader.

Grandfather, eh? Always good to bump into family.

I haven't come across Thakorr much to this point, from memory, but it's rather clear he hasn't aged well. This story will conclude as of the next issue so I would expect a solid family scrap though it appears by looking at its credits ahead of time, Ariel Olivetti did not pencil and ink that one. Too bad, I've enjoyed his art a great deal.

Namor The First Mutant (2010) #2: "Royal Blood, Part Two"

Curse of The Mutants was not universe-wide, to the best of my knowledge, but it hit several X-Men books, ran for more than half a year, and spawned a number of tie-in mini-series.

It also launched another Namor series, the first issue of which was reviewed here on February 1st. We now move on to #2.

Following the events of the first issue, Atlantis now has a pronounced vampire problem. Namor is discussing manpower with one of his military men, Jian, who makes his first appearance in this book.

Jian announces that for a variety of reasons, including a lack of trust in Namor's leadership, he can only round up 36 warriors to battle the vampires. To his mind, that is enough to wipe out the vampire horde (Aqueos). I like the cut of his jib.

The two men receive a visit from other members of the X-(Wo)Men, being Emma Frost (the White Queen) and Loa whom we met in that Fear Itself: The Deep book I read earlier. Good to see her. She seems nice.

Me too. Well, I questioned it, anyway. I guess we're building up to something.

That conversation is interrupted as well, this time by Husam and Abira of a group called The Tridents. They tell Namor of a vampire attack on their own reef.

Writer Stuart Moore does a neat thing here. While the characters are chatting, the panel will occasionally switch to some Atlantean getting wiped out by one of the vampire creatures.

It creates a good effect of danger and trouble circling and tightening around the good guys and it offsets the tedium of watching a bunch of people just talking. Pay attention, Bendis.

See the old lady at bottom right, there? That's the Oudvrou and she is has some history with these underwater vampires. She is the third person to interrupt a conversation in this book.

When Namor asks her to share what she knows, she tells a seemingly pointless story in which Namor looked like fool as a youth. In effect, she humiliates him publicly.

While Namor deliberates her fate the power goes out. Upon investigating with his fellow Atlanteans, the danger that had been closing in earlier is now made clear.

Husam and Abira head off to turn the power back on while Namor and Jian have their backs. Namor is telling Jian that he is starting to connect the various clues around the Aqueos and their goals when Husam and Abira return to vanquish the vampire army with a powerful light.

Namor doesn't quite finish his thought. Instead he vows that four hours hence, they are becoming the hunters rather than the prey.

We're not particularly more knowledgeable about the Aqueos at this point then but they are further established as a legitimate threat. Onwards to #3.

Namor The First Mutant (2010) #1, "Royal Blood, Part One"

I approach this book with some trepidation. Just about everything I've read involving Namor that was written in this century so far as been complete ass. This series was rather short-lived so I'm a little suspicious. Nonetheless, we dive in.

Even though this is the first issue, apparently we need an explanation as to what has happened in other books prior to this. Let's see...

Dracu...what?

Dubious premise but let's roll with it.

All right, so Namor seeks out this old one-eyed crone to obtain the location of the...*checks notes*...Aqueos, which I guess is what we call underwater vampires.

Namor orders her to get to the damn point then, with location in hand, seeks backup. He heads to Atlantis, currently a dead city (again??), to command the help of one General Kadar but finds the military man to be mortally wounded and many of his soldiers slain.

The Vault Of Law. That's what he's about to say. And he confirms that the damage was done by these Aqueos creatures.

Namor recruits the buff dude holding Kadar, named Husam, and his little brother Husni. The brothers and the hot redhead we later find out is called Abira are collectively known as the Tridents and while Namor makes it clear that he is settling for them and they are clear that they are cooperating out of family obligation rather than respect for Namor, an uneasy alliance is forged nonetheless.

Off they go.

If you feel that Husni sounds something like a Star Trek red shirt, I compliment your sound instincts.

On the way, Namor explains that the Vault to which Kadar referred is a chest that only an Atlantean king can open. The reluctant team finds a cave so deep and dark that they struggle to see their way inside despite their superior Atlantean eyesight.

Husni, in a very well executed moment of tension, zigs when he should zag and takes a different path than the rest of the group. They can hear him but not see him. They eventually track him down but not before he meets an apparently grisly demise. He does, however inadvertently, lead them to the prize.

I'm not sure I understand how the head was put in the Vault in the first place. Perhaps that was explained in an earlier X-Men issue.

The Namor-led Tridents are now surrounded by underwater vampiric assholes though. Namor scraps with their leader and for a moment feels like he might recognize him. That's got me a curious.

Husam, noble warrior that he is, provides Namor with the weapon the Avenging Son needs to dispatch his enemy and get away so, well, they do.

The vampire leader is not going to take this lying down, however.

Well goddamn. I doubt there are many books out there featuring Namor that would fit in the horror category but this one firmly does, in my opinion.

A lot happened in this book, which is a nice change from some of the stories from around the same time which are little more than people staring at one another from across a table.

I quite enjoyed Husam as a reluctant ally though I can't help but feel I shouldn't get too attached to him either. He'd make a good sidekick of sorts though, assuming he makes it through this series.

A mystery around the identity of the Aqueos leader was set and we end on a cliffhanger. There was a lot to like here.