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.