Avengers (1963-1996) #263: "What Lurks Below?"

A glance at the labels to the right side of the page made me notice that very few of the books I've read were from the 80s so...Here's one that is! January 1986, to be precise.

One of the few 80s books reviewed to this point was Avengers #262 in which Namor became a team member officially for the first time. In this book, we see how he fits in and how his presence affects the team's image.

The issue's opening pages are dedicated to a plane that crashes into Jamaica Bay. When we first see the team, Namor is the topic of discussion.

Cap and Wasp reassure their liason and in doing so, we find out that Whitman (the Black Knight) might be starting to crush on the Wasp a bit. Whatever.

When Namor finally does appear, Hercules and Captain Marvel (the Monica Rambeau edition) are showing him around the Avengers mansion. Namor comes across a bedroom that he favours but it happens to belong to the Olympian demi-God in attendance.

After bailing, a blast of light emerging from Jamaica Bay draws Rambeau to the location of the downed plane where she is brought up to speed on the day's events.

As the dude in the hard hat finishes his sentence, the divers are thrown out of the water. One of them explains that he heard a voice under water then was tossed away. Rambeau tries to investigate in her light form and she does find a cocoon near the crash site, but she is similarly ejected from the water, so she calls in her buds.

I like that. The reaction makes sense in light of how often the sub-mariner has attacked the surface world.

The team plans some strategy to approach the cocoon but the prince of the blood has no time for that jibber-jabber. He makes his own attempt at investigating, but it doesn't go so well...

...and the team is not shy about pointing it out to him.

Piss off, Whitman. Friggin' D-list loser....

Sadly, it is not the end of Namor's journey through humiliation because when they reach the cocoon and attempt to resist its repelling effect, Hercules is better able to withstand it and actually makes progress whereas Namor...

That's rough.

Anyway, of course they manage to recover the cocoon and take it back to the mansion. It will eventually lead to the first of what feels like dozens of resurrections of Jean Grey of the original X-Men and to the creation of the X-Factor team but this is the extent of the Avengers' involvement in their own book.

While I find Namor's "humbling" an interesting approach, I'm not sure about how much sense it makes. He had been on teams before this one (Invaders and Defenders) so it doesn't seem like fitting in should be such a difficult task but it creates an interesting dynamic early on. I don't recall what ultimately leads to his departure from this version of the team but now I'm curious as to whether his personality was a significant factor. I guess I'll find out down the road.