Sub-Mariner (2007) #2: "Revolution"

I'm shocked that it's been almost a full year since I took the time to review a Namor book. I was sure I'd done so in mid-summer or thereabouts. 

I'm going to want to get things going again with major appearances for a spell, not just guest-appearances or team books in which he's little more than muscle. What better way to do that than with the second issue of his 2007 mini-series and its awesome cover by Gabriele Dell'Otto. 

In a SHIELD crime lab, remains found in Atlantis' throne room are being studied to determine if they are that of Namor, the Sub-Mariner. When the results confirm that they are, Tony Stark ponders who could have done such thing.

We flashback to six days prior to begin to find out. 

Atlanteans are being blamed for an apparent terrorist attack in Kansas, of all places. Namor is trying to find the perpetrators of the crime while SHIELD, including Iron Man, comes to breathe down his neck. 

He is. The plan is to prevent Namor from going to the surface, anticipating that he'd only make things worse. You can certainly make a historical case for that.

But Iron Man gives Namor "one more hour" to find those actually responsible. Okay, then what? You declare war? You arrest Namor for a crime he didn't commit? There's a part of the reasoning that I'm not following here.  

Not one to be told what to do, Namor gets through SHIELD's little cordon and heads for the surface. Meanwhile, in Seattle, a sewer worker makes an unfortunate discovery.

Namor then arrives at his destination which, predictably, is the Kansas town that was devastated earlier. There he finds a jewel in the rubble, apparently a clue as to who actually caused the damage.

Also, we see Norman Osborn out recruiting someone to capture the Avenging Son. It's....An interesting choice! 

Following his discovery, Namor flies to Xavier's school to request some unidentified assistance from the professor. He doesn't receive quite the greeting that he'd hoped for, however.

Well there's a little something to look forward to! With Venom shown earlier, the potential for a highly chaotic scrap is enticingly high with these three. 

The writers, named in the image above have done a very good job of building up anticipation with both issues so far. I thought this mini-series might just be an ultimately insignificant attempt to cash in on yet another Marvel "event" but the first third, at least, has been quite good.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #513: "Utopia, Part 2"

X-(Wo)man Loa's appearance in the last book I reviewed reminded me that it had been quite some time since I checked one of Namor's appearance in an X-Men book. Having read one as a result, I'm reminded why that is. 

As the cover reveals, this is chapter two so let's include the handy recap.

It seems that whenever I pick up an X-Men book which features Namor fairly prominently on the cover, he ends up being an afterthought inside. This is the case again.

Emma Frost is being introduced to the team of Dark X-Men she is going to lead. It is rather underwhelming.  Norman Osborn allows her to add members and she requests but a single one.

Frost probably has a scheme of her own brewing so perhaps Namor's role in future issues will increased and significant.

As it is, Osborn apparently has the authority place a curfew on the city of San Francisco. A group of young mutants chooses to challenge said curfew so Osborn's team of X-Men are sent out to, supposedly, maintain the peace.  That includes Namor.

The real X-Men are watching the proceedings from afar so one would expect the two teams to clash in the following chapter. Or have a nice long chat, these books seem to enjoy those. 

This book gives a little context to the only other Utopia book I've read, the dreadfully tedious Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1. That's about it.

Dark X-Men: The Beginning #1: "Namor / Norman"

This is the other "short story" I wanted to get out of the way before the new year.

There are numerous examples of a team book's first issue being dedicated to the group's formation. X-Men Red and Fear Itself: The Deep are two examples of such included on this blog.

It appears that this series is intent stretching out that procedure over three issues. Thankfully, Namor goes first.

Norman Osborn has put together this Dark X-Men team to keep mutants in check should Emma Frost fail to do so as per an earlier agreement between two. While Namor is in the shower, Osborn roams around long-windedly (got to pad that page count!) asking why Namor would ever join a man like Osborn who has had Atlanteans executed.

That's a hell of a good question. It is answered by Osborn with a bunch of psycho-babble bullshit.

Yeah, okay Dr. Phil. Osborn ultimately seems to manage to get Namor to cooperate while making Namor think that he (Namor) is deciding when he really isn't. Whatever.

And that's about it. The rest of the book is about two other members of the team. Namor is not involved.

I don't know the state of Atlantis at this point, or Namor's relationship with the underwater city, but Namor has been detested by Atlanteans a number of times in his history. He's always gone back to it and has worked to rebuild it and/or reclaim its throne numerous times.

So this notion that he wants to distance himself from it and embrace being a mutant is a little hard to accept. And unless he's been fed a line about what this team's mission is, I don't even really get how he'd perceive this gig as accomplishing that goal anyway.

It doesn't seem as though Namor spent an awful lot of time with this group. I hope he went on a couple of missions, realized the whole thing is a load, kicked Osborn in the dick, then left.

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign One-Shot

Comixology had a sale on X-Men books. I've been curious about Namor's involvement with that team so this seemed like a good opportunity to educate myself.

Thus far, I'd only reviewed one X-Men book which featured Namor on the cover. It turned out that the Prince was barely involved in that issue so the the experience was underwhelming.

But this one is worse!

I failed to notice that it was written by Brian Michael Bendis and therefore was unprepared for the amount of filler I would be facing. On the flip side. I've enjoyed Alex Maleev's art in the past so I looked forward to seeing that. And initially, Maleev's work is quite gorgeous, as seen here when Emma Frost is having dream vision of some sort.

There is another city scene early on that I enjoyed quite a bit so I was optimistic.

That is, until Namor actually shows up.

When I laid eyes on this, I thought this was a "Dark X-Men" type of deal in which the characters were being impersonated. No way could this bum, who looks like he woke up in a dumpster behind a pub, be "the" prince of the blood, the avenging son, the savage sub-mariner! But no, that's him all right!

Following that greeting, Namor tries to flirt with Emma Frost, she tells him he smells and the normally proud, arrogant, hot-headed monarch just sits there dumbstruck. Terrible.

The deal here is that Norman Osborn has called in Dr. Doom, Namor, Frost, Loki and some clown called The Hood to offer an alliance of sorts.

Osborn spends the next 10 or 12 pages or so explaining to everyone why this deal is beneficial and hinting at some threat that can keep them all in line if required anyway.

During this time, we're fed a bunch of "thoughtful" and/or suspicious glances. The image below is actually a full page of material.

As if Bendis' lazy method of "stretch-writing" 10 pages of material into 24 wasn't bad enough, we get another dream sequence towards the end.

Frost is having the same nightmare that she had at the beginning of the book. Now I get that they want it to be clear that it is a recurring dream but they can't be bothered to modify the dialogue or art even slightly. In light of how much space Bendis wastes just on people saying hello, duplicated art feels even more like being given the finger.

This is a one-shot with no resolution to either Osborn's offer or to Frost's dream sequences yet includes a few pages dedicated to a preview of the Secret Warriors book. It isn't particularly good use of available resources.

I haven't read much from Bendis (for which I'm now thankful). I knew he had his detractors but now I understand better why he does. At least I got that much out of this book. Otherwise I paid $1 and didn't get my money's worth.