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).
 

The Incredible Hulk (1962) #118; "A Clash Of Titans"

With Namor coming to the Hulk's defense in the New Avengers: Illuminati issue reviewed last week, let's segue to the Avenging Son's appearance in the Jade Giant's own book, from 1969.

Oh, look, there's Dorma in danger again...

We get handy catch-up text to kick off the proceedings.

That strange cruiser is piloted by Dorma. Although she recognizes the floater as a surface dweller, she chooses to rescue him. If he's of any importance, that act could help cement peace with the land lubbers. All right, good thinking, blue lady.

But upon her arrival in Atlantis, we learn that not everyone is a fan.

Fara figures she can suggest to Namor that Dorma is having an affair with some skinny, pale, surface dude and get the prince all good and worked up. Use his temper to her advantage, so to speak.

Namor is already in the process of ranting about the surface world with Vashti when she interrupts, which works in her favour.

Namor has to see this for himself to he storms off to Dorma's quarters. Banner wakes up while the two Atlanteans argue. Waking up in a strange room to a bunch of yelling is hard on his nerves. He gets all worked up and we know that means. Hulk smash!

Our clash of Titans begins. Dorma gets knocked out in the action so Fara sees an opportunity.

Dorma helpless??  No way!!

A throw down between Hulk and Namor can't help but create significant collateral damage and Fara also gets caught in the spray. Namor gets knocked into a wall, and...

Oh. Well, so much for Fara. We didn't have time to get attached. Too bad. She could have been a good wildcard trouble maker.

Namor digs Dorma out but the Hulk isn't done yet. He launches himself at Namor.

Hulk gets literally blown out of the water so Namor goes to look for him.

"...And have found...a man!"

So he leaves. He doesn't check if Banner's okay or any such. he doesn't question what happened there. He's determined that Hulk is no longer a threat so it's back home because he's got renovations to finish. Okay!

I enjoyed that Namor didn't feel like a guest star in this book. He didn't just show up to have his ass kicked and make the Hulk look invincible. He arguably got more attention than the Hulk did in the Hulk's own book. That's rare so it made for a fun read, even if the finish was a little clunky.

The New Avengers: Illuminati #1

I've loved the concept of a secret union between the top dogs of the Marvel universe from the moment I first laid eyes on the cover below. I'm glad to finally get around to reading it, regardless of the various criticisms I've come across about the Civil War story.

We begin with the first meeting of the various men above and...one more. They are gathered in Wakanda years ago and naturally, T'Challa, the Black Panther, is also in attendance. It is shortly after the Kree/Skrull War that took place, in real time, in the early 70s, I believe.

Iron Man makes his pitch. He suggests that the various teams should unite under one banner to take on the world's problems. Namor is something other than impressed.

Namor argues that the public perception Iron Man expects, and cooperation between factions, would not happen because of some of the "questionable characters" among them.

And yet...He votes in favour of it on the condition that the entire operation be done with secrecy. This little program even includes a little mental monitoring by Professor Charles Xavier, something that I would think he would reject immediately but apparently not.

Black Panther does reject the proposal and warns that the whole thing will end badly.

And so we jump to the near present. The Hulk has devastated Las Vegas, killing several people in the process. Iron Man is being taken to task on the SHIELD helicarrier by some lady named (commander) Hill. I'm sure she's a big deal but I don't really know her.

They go over the old argument; If Spider-Man had simply killed the Green Goblin at some point, he'd have saved countless lives (the example works far better with Batman and the Joker...). Instead, the Goblin just goes back out there and kills a few more people. When is Spider-Man at fault for this? How often should the Hulk get away with this?

(Never. That's a stupid argument. No one can have the burden of murder thrust upon them)

With that in mind, the Illuminati meet. They plan to launch the Hulk into space where he can do no harm (in theory). I mean, they won't kill him, just...launch him into an endless void. You don't want to be cruel or anything.

But Hulk has a defender in Namor (see what I did there?), of all people. Those two have fought and argued numerous times but Hulk was a teammate and Namor's opposition feel quite appropriate. He will not tolerate the mere thought of this plan and makes his stance quite clear.

Namor and Iron Man battle underwater and Namor comes quite close to murdering his opponent here. He rips off his helmet and leaves him to sink like stone. Dr. Strange fishes them both out with some levitation type of spell before that happens.

Namor, then, is quite capable of committing murder to prevent murder. One to file away.

A disgusted Avenging Son beats it in a huff but shows up when invited at the next meeting. In that meeting, Iron Man previews Civil War for those in attendance (Namor, Strange, Reed Richards and Black Bolt). He explains that the government will expect all vigilantes (and mutants, Inhumans, etc.) to reveal themselves and to continue their activities only under SHIELD's oversight. He recommends that everyone sign up voluntarily.

The notion goes over like a fart in an elevator for most of the people in the room, including Namor who basically gives him in the finger.

And so a large crack begins to form in the Marvel universe.

I don't know how much of a factor Namor is in the actual Civil War mini series. It doesn't appear as though he's involved all that much, but he did show up in issues of Black Panther and Wolverine at the time. Click on the "Civil War" tag on the right to have a peek at those.

He is a far bigger part of this book than I thought, being that he is only half visible on its cover. His trademark arrogance and temper are both on display prominently and, as usual, he swims against the current, so to speak.

In typical Brian Michael Bendis fashion, the sitting-around-the-table debates are a little long but that aside, as a fan of Namor, I don't have much cause to complain here. An Iron Man fan might, but that's not my problem. ;-)

Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner #6: "...And to the Vanquished...Death!"

It's been over two years since I reviewed the issue prior to this one so it's about time I got around to the second part of the story.

At the end of #5, Tiger Shark had laid out Namor. Thinking he had killed its prince, Shark turned his attention to the throne of Atlantis, as so many seem to, but Dorma lures him away.

This is a rare occasion of seeing Dorma make herself useful. Every little bit helps!

Tiger Shark's sister, Diane, brings Namor back to consciousness and he sets off against his enemy and his true love but he fails to catch up to before the pair reaches Atlantis.

Once there, Shark decides he's going to run the place, but a brave warrior named Seth steps up to challenge him. Seth appeared briefly in the previous issue as well.

The fight is brief, as Seth's weapons are useless against Tiger Shark's powers.

The council of elders ask Shark to spare the young soldier if the villain wants them to acknowledge his victory. Seeing an easy path, Shark agrees. 

When Namor reaches Atlantis, his people are glad to see despite having exiled him earlier. They're a hell of a lot nicer when they need something. Namor and Tiger Shark come to blows, naturally...

Ah, but Namor refuses to murder Tiger Shark despite the opportunity to do so. His victory, as well as his show of mercy, convince the council of elders to restore him to the throne of Atlantis. And so in no time, Tiger Shark is incarcerated and Namor, well...

Nice! I...don't recall much about this "Destiny" Namor refers to but obviously it won't be long until he comes up again. He was in this issue earlier but because his presence was not relevant to this story, I glossed over it. We'll get to him later.

Defenders (2005) #3: "The End Of The World As We Know It!"

Speaking of Dormammu...

There was a Defenders sale a couple of weeks back on Comixology and since I'm unwilling to spend more than $1 for issues in this limited (in every sense of the word) series, I took the opportunity to move ahead a bit. Having just reviewed a book featuring Dormammu's villainy (Defenders volume 1, #2) made it seem like a good time to do so.

We open with Dormammu preparing to remake the entire universe in his image, as heavily implied on the cover. 

Dr. Strange and Namor are unaffected by this because they are trapped in Dormammu's domain.

Namor hasn't had water for a while and Strange uses this facts to his advantage. He suggests to their dull-witted guards that if Namor dies on their watch, Dormammu's going to be some kind of pissed and probably quite unkind.

So they agree to give him a little water. But as we know...

They teleport out and see that Dormammu has put his plan in motion as they materialize in goth heaven.

Strange is at least relieved that when Dormammu made this world, he didn't create evil versions of them. Assuming that Dormammu is unaware of their escape, he decides that they should go undercover.

Of course, he's wrong on both counts. Dormammu knows of their appearance in his realm and has made (literally) a new friend.

So presumably there's an alternative version of Namor as well? I guess that gives us a little something to look forward to.

If this all seems a little light on content it's because about a third of the book is dedicated to the Hulk being used to satisfy Dormammu's sister, Umar, sexually and the Silver Surfer attending a clam bake on some beach full of (skin-toned) surfer dude types.

I may hate this book as a Namor fan but if you're a Silver Surfer fan who bought it, I feel for ya.

Marvel Feature (1971) #2: Nightmare on Bald Mountain!

Several Defenders books have been reviewed here over the past year, but none from the original series since late 2018.

Today we'll go one better. We're going to look at the second issue of Marvel Feature, the book in which the team starred (for only three issues, mind you) before getting its own.

Out in Vermont, on the night before Halloween, a cult is attempting to summon the dread Dormammu to our world. Dormammu struggles to express gratitude.

The one who must be sacrificed is...Doctor Strange! Dormammu needs the body of a powerful sorcerer to inhabit and there are only so many of those to go around.

Over at his crib, the cult members trick the good doctor into flying off in his astral form, leaving his physical body behind to be abducted.

Strange's man-servant Wong is beaten up by those hooded goofs. He had been on the phone when the abduction took place. When he was no longer holding up his end of the conversation, the lady he was on the phone with, named Clea and who refers to herself as "a girl from another dimension whose powers have all but faded" came to find him unconscious. She revives him and they use the Eye of Agamotto to track down the other members of the Defenders and ask for help including, of course, the avenging son.

Through a boat load of filler, the foursome finally meet up in New York. Then since Clea was able to track Strange's astral form to Vermont, they take a bus out there. No Avengers quinjet for this bunch.

Once at the green mountain state, they are drawn to an eerie glow in the sky at...Bald Mountain!! As they advance towards it, they are assaulted by a bunch of cult members who are, of course, no match for Namor.

All along, Strange's astral form was riding Wong. As his physical body is about to be possessed by Dormammu, Strange hops back into it and takes the fight to his long-time enemy.

The battle between magical titans ultimately prevents Dormammu from entering our world so the battle is essentially won. A great explosion ensued, which devastated the mountain and served to illustrate how little faith Strange has in his colleagues.

So...I guess that's that. Not a bad one-and-done but not anything particularly memorable, either.

Fantastic Four (1998) #32: "Abyss"

Three members of the Fantastic Four enjoyed the spotlight in recent posts, so let's give the fourth (and my personal favourite) her equal time.

This was written by Chris Claremont so prepare for words. Lots and lots of words.

It seems that Susan Richards was sailing on her own when a giant wave capsized her boat.

Why was she alone? Because her husband's a neglectful asshole who never learns from making that mistake. The Fantastic Four, assisted by the Coast Guard and Navy, find her damaged boat and become increasingly worried when they are unable to find Sue herself.

Sue, however, discovers that she is able to breathe underwater due to a magical necklace given to her by Namor in an earlier issue which apparently I'll need to dig up now.

She's not entirely out of the woo...huh...waves, though. She still has to swim to the surface.

Namor shows up as she reaches the point of exhaustion from trying to do so. Their reunion is quite brief because they are under attack almost immediately.

She refers to their attackers as "Atlans". Using her force field to fend them off, the two attempt an escape during which Susan brings Namor up to speed.

So many words...I complain about more currents books being filled with little more than "meaningful" poses or telling glances between characters but there is such a thing as going too far the other way. If you think I'm being overly critical, that is only about a third of the dialogue on this page.

At least I haven't read the earlier issues so it's all new info.

Susan is not done giving Namor the scoop though.

Evidently, this Dorma caused the wave that wrecked Susan.

He got plenty of warning, yet when Namor lays eyes on Alternate Dorma, he still flips out and is taken from the battle quickly. Sue hangs in there a while but is eventually apprehended. Namor shakes off the initial shock and saves the day just as the rest of the FF pop in to provide an assist.

Susan talks Namor out of slaying this version of Dorma. She doesn't want him to become a cold killer like she is.

Eh. Try talking to Stingray about that nowadays.

Namor has no further interaction with the FF other than wishing Susan all the best, so he bails. Reed Richards takes a moment to tell Susan how his heart sank when he thought he'd lost her and so on and so forth. No doubt I'll be reading that speech again soon.

Pretty decent stuff overall. Some of pages in which the FF are looking for Sue felt like filler. That extra page or two could maybe have been put to better use in her own part of the story but that doesn't ruin anything. This was another enjoyable interaction between Marvel's Cosmic Family and its Avenging Son.

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.