Fantastic Four Unlimited (1995) #11: "The Inhuman Condition / No Man Is An Island"

I was hoping to get into more significant appearances after whiffing on the past couple. I'm not sure this one qualifies. Namor gets a lot more face time but very little is of any significance. 

This issue is an epilogue to the whole Atlantis Rising event but a lot of it is devoted to the Inhumans. Namor does get his fair share of attention, but it's all over the place.

After a lengthy episode about the Inhumans, we finally see the avenging son reviewing the damages caused by Atlantis' rising. In doing so, he comes across a familiar face. 

Ah yes, Llyron. At one point said to be Namor's son, apparently by now we know that's a load. He possesses Mckenzie blood, somehow, according to Llyra, and had his growth accelerated by a geneticist named Vyrra "whose mind had been transferred into a clone" of Namor's ex-wife Dorma. Evidently, Lyrron has Lyrra's memories but Vyrra's mind.

Christ on a bike, that's a lot to take in.

Namor understandably leaves her there to rot. As he continues to assess the state of risen Atlantis, he comes across an Atlantean kid trying to draw oxygen from a puddle. He grabs her and attempts to save her by flying her to water but he's just a little too late. 

I want "Imperius Rex" to be my last words too. 

So Namor's having a shitty day. We cut to see what Llyron is up to and that, basically, is being a dictator. He's led his people away from risen Atlantis and he's come up with a plan to restock the shelves, so to speak.

Wonder if anything every came of that? One to look up. 

Back on dry land, various factions are fighting for the newly-appeared land mass. Namor wants them all to piss off, as he should. 

He does battle with some sort of creature called Man-Of-War brought in by the Portuguese military in case Namor showed up but all that feels like filler. Bottom line, he kicks everyone off the island, crashes into his throne and lets his hair down.

And so ends Atlantis Rising. 

The compilation (at least the digital one) includes all kinds of extras including a biography about Llyron which I might get around to reading some day since his origins aren't clear to me.

It also included this handy, if basic, map about Atlantis' new location. Nice touch. 

I don't recall how this story was received at the time but it is clear that an awful lot of work went into it. Yes, it was full of 90s garishness but it was epic in scale and it did change the status quo. I'm a little sad to reach its end, honestly.

Sub-Mariner (1968) #50

The mention of Llyra in the previous post about Spider-Man served up a handy suggestion for a good hopping-on point to the Sub-Mariner series. Let's give a look at the extra special 50th issue of Namor's series. Don't take it from me, though. It says so right on the cover!

We join Namor as he's asking himself the very questions stated on the cover. Reading this out of order, we have no idea what caused his memory loss but that just helps us relate to his condition. His "curtain over clouded memories", if you will.

Namor asks if he's a man like the others while wearing green scale shorts. Maybe he hasn't seen his own pointy ears yet or the wings on his ankles.

But he does take that lady's advice to go jump in the ocean, figuring that either he'll find peace in the ocean or die and be relieved that way. Can't...argue with that logic.

And while he's finding out which one will turn out to be true he also happens upon a breathing corpse. Or something.

Well, obviously you care a little...

He rescues her and this is what he gets for his trouble.

Spak! Save someone from drowning and next thing you know, you get uppercutted and called a perv. Don't do it for the glory, y'all!

Turns out that's Namorita, his second cousin, so yes, that's kind of gross, but at the time no one knew that.

There is a lot flowery language in this book and while it starts out kind of dramatically comical, it gets old fairly fast.

Holy cripes, man...Bring it down a notch...

At this point, he's felt drawn south and when he reaches that spot, he immediately gets attacked by a bunch of crab dudes led by this guy...

I remember this Atlantean Colonel Mustard from some Avengers books. A crossover with Alpha Flight or something. I'll need to dig them up.

Anyway, Byyrah and his crab dudes actually have Namorita hostage and are attempting to use her to make Namor obey them. Namor swears to tear them apart with his bare hands when the REAL leader reveals herself.

Double swerve! There's Llyra, as advertised. And apparently, they read Congreve in Atlantis.

Namor justifiably tosses her in an oil pit in short order and takes off with Namorita to have a chat.

This Shakesperean tale was both written and drawn by Bill Everett which is pretty cool since he invented the character. He created Namorita, for that matter, and this book is notable for featuring her first appearance. It would perhaps not be to everyone's liking, but it is certainly a must for fans of either character and/or their creator.

Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #214

I have about 20 books on my Comixology Wish List specific to Namor The Sub-Mariner, ready to be purchased at a moment's notice. When choosing which one to read today, how could I pass up such an intriguing solicitation as the one for Amazing Spider-Man 214?

Thanks to the Wizard, Spider-Man must rescue the tenants of his building from a burning rooftop. But passed-out Wino Charlie wasn’t aware of the danger! Can Spider-Man save himself, and Charlie, from a certain, fiery death?

Being that the book has a cover date of March 1981, it probably won't spoil it for anyone if I say that...Charlie made it! That whole bit was done in five pages.

That burning building was Peter Parker's place of residence. It isn't clear (to the reader, or Peter Parker) why that particular building was chosen for arson, aside from an attempt to bring Spider-Man out. But of all buildings to torch...

Anyway, Parker has to shack up (at the insurance company's expense) at a fancy hotel with his hot neighbor from down the hall and some dude who sings country music too loud. That's the kind of "every man" situation that made Parker so relatable, you know?

Elsewhere, Sandman and The Trapster (hey, wasn't he Paste-Pot Pete before?) are busted out of jail by the Wizard and an unknown (at this point) ally who appears to be in charge.

Ah, but Namor suspected something was up! He had someone keeping an eye on things.

The above Atlantean heads home to give his report and in no time we're all...

Right on.

Now for some reason, Namor thinks Peter's hot neighbor is the one plotting against him so he goes straight to the hotel in which she's staying.

Being that his spy was tailing someone else altogether, I don't know how Namor concluded he should go to that specific room on the ninth floor. Atlantean instinct? Namor appeared in issue 211 of this series as well, so perhaps this lady is our villain in disguise and it's just not made clear here.

We ignore that and enjoy a pretty good scrap in which Spider-Man mostly has the upper hand until he thoughtlessly spears Namor into...one of those pesky water storage tank that was in every rooftop in New York-based comics of the time. Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

So a soaked Namor gets his mojo back and just as he's questioning web-head...

Hugging a rope is good advice?

Our villainous mystery woman reveals herself.

And now we're all caught up!

Seriously though...a caption box points out that Llyra was last seen in Sub-Mariner #50. I looked it up, that book came out in the spring on 1972, almost nine years earlier. I would think that if you're going to keep an air of mystery around someone for a big reveal later, it would be a character that most people would care about and/or recognize. You do that with Doctor Doom. I'm not sure that Llyra generates the same reaction.

Nonetheless, this was an entertaining read even if it took a while to finally get my Sub-Mariner fix and I dig that the primary villain is an Atlantean. The Frightful Four take down Spidey/Subey and the story continues in the following issue.

This one was by Denny O'Neil with art by John Romita Jr., Jim Mooney and Bob Sharen.