Tales to Astonish (1965) #72, "A Prince There Was"

I've had about enough of Namor as a team member for a while, or stories in which he barely appears, so it's back to solo books for the next couple of reads.

When we last checked in on Namor's quest to recover Neptune's trident in order to prove he was the true ruler of Atlantis, he was being crushed by the gigantic Seaweed Man. How would he ever survive such a predicament??

Fairly easily, actually. He used a little leverage to get out from under the monster's crushing hand (describing the technique as something similar to judo) then formed a twister around it.

Precisely what I would have done.

Namor forces that trap door open and what does he find? Exactly what you'd expect: A talking fish with a diamond in its mouth.

Namor now knows that he must find...The Diamonds of Doom!!!

Meanwhile, his lady love Dorma is in a pickle as well. Krang has grown tired of not even reaching friend-zone with her so he has her banished to the cave of the Faceless Ones.

That's creepy Zantor off on the right. I'm not sure how he spends his days but he does the banishing honours here.

As a result, Namor senses a disturbance in the force...

So he DOES talk to fish? Or do they just talk to him?

Anyway, Namor has 99 problems but Dorma ain't one. He's a prince and he has to go on with his quest. It is what it is.

When he finds the diamonds though, it doesn't really strike him right away that there just might be a good reason why they're called "diamonds of doom".

And...that's it??

As you can see from the cover, Namor shared this book with the Hulk so the story is only 12 pages long. We're left with a cliffhanger but if Namor was able to defeat the dreaded Seaweed Man, surely he'll find a clever way of overcoming the devastating effect of the diamonds of doom!!

X-Men Red (2018) #1, "The Hate Machine Part 1: Heal the World"

Marvel is celebrating the release of the Dark Phoenix film, though perhaps not its early results, and while Namor's history with Jean Grey may not be as noteworthy as the one he shares with some other members, he was a part of of her version of the X-Men just last year.

Once again, his appearance is brief, but at least makes sense. Jean has consulted with some of the most brilliant minds on earth and hatched out a plan to make the world a better place for mutants. Her first stop? Why, Atlantis, of course.

Maybe you'd get more if you were wearing pants when they arrived.

Atlantis seems like an odd choice until she elaborates a bit.

Jean arranges to speak before the U.N. (just like that) and states her case that mutants need to be recognized as a group even though they are not a nation as such (and attempts at having a nation specifically for mutants have just made them easier to target). This is where Jean's friends come in.

Once the meeting is at an end, the various members of the team are complimenting Jean on her progress when one of the ambassadors who questioned her drops by for a chat. It is quickly clear though that the ambassador is under some sort of mind-control and even more so when her head quite literally explodes.

Jean is suspected of having caused the ambassador's rather spectacularly gruesome death but Namor steps in to defend her from trigger-happy UN cops.

Nightcrawler whisks the team away to regroup, Namor included. The villain is revealed to be one Cassandra Nova, a name which...means nothing to me at all.

A decent enough premise though I'd be surprised if it hadn't been attempted before. I don't expect Namor's face time to increase much and while he had a good reason to be there initially, I wonder if he'll have a good reason to stay. We'll see how he's worked in.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths (2008) #2

The previous post was about clearing out a minor appearance in an Avengers book. Namor also has a small appearance in this book too, no matter what the title might seem to indicate, but his presence is felt throughout nonetheless.

The book's first issue was discussed here.

Randolph Stein, notorious hoax debunker, is out to prove Atlantis is a myth while working with a crew convinced that it exists and quite paranoid and superstitious about it. An impulsive act on his part puts one of the crewmen in danger so the rest of the crew begins to turn on Stein.

Namor, in this book, continues to be seen in shadows and as outlines in murky water. Esad Ribic's art is excellent at creating the claustrophobic mood.

Stein constantly shrugs off mentions of Namor's existence by suggesting that they are simply delusions caused by the depths and such, until he has a more direct encounter and the tables are turned.

Stein's opinion in regards to Namor changes drastically. He believes the encounter was real so he sets off on a solo mission to find the legendary creature himself to conclude the book.

This is a great book to read in bed late at night with the lights as dim as possible. The creative team has effectively built a creepy tension. It's a mini-series I could have easily gobbled up in one night but I am deliberately dragging it out. It stands out in quality amidst the other material in which Namor has appeared around the same time, that much is certain.