Secret Empire: Brave New World #2: "Sanctuary, Part 2"

To cap off the year, I'm going to knock off a couple of "partial" Namor appearances, meaning anthology books in which he's involved in only one story or so.

I'll start with the second issue of this Secret Empire mini-series. I didn't care for the first one so I do so with some trepidation and low expectations.

The guy above is the new Patriot. We skip his story and that of "Bob from Hydra" to get to Namor's

In issue one, the original Human Torch from the Invaders days and his former sidekick/fellow Invader Toro sought out Namor in Atlantis to seek sanctuary (hence the title of this story) from the terrorist organization known as Hydra. Namor jailed them, fearing that if he helped them hide, Hydra would come after him for it.

We know Namor is often on the wrong side of a conflict but this decision seemed frustratingly inconsistent with his willingness to fight Nazis in WW2. And yet...

 

Okay, maybe that's a bit better. He's offering sanctuary of a sort without appearing to be doing so to save himself the headache of dealing with Hydra. That's one way to look after your peeps. We'll go with that.

Shortly thereafter, Atlantis is attacked. Namor goes to the fray to see what's up. He captures one of the attackers.

Ah, but to what end?

This damage caused in the attack enabled Hammond (the Human Torch, that is) and Toro to escape their cell.  In their attempt to get out of Atlantis, they encounter their rescuer, of sorts.

Nice! I've been jumping about Namor's history for a couple of years now and this is the first time I come across Namora. I only know the basics of her background so am aware that she is in effect a female version of the Avenging Son but know little else about her. Seeing the two butt heads should be fun.

Way to turn this story around after a disappointing start, Marvel.