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.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #6, "Sub-Mariner Joins The Evil Mutants"

Our X-Men theme got off to a bummer start so let's see if going back in time to issue #6 of the original X-Men book can get us on track.

His shorts are red so we're off to an auspicious start...

It is interesting to note that this book is part of a tradition of guest-appearances by Namor in the early issues of other Marvel series. The most famous famous is of course Fantastic Four #4, but he appeared in Avengers #3 as well and even the 7th issue of Daredevil. Marvel took no time to learn about cross-promoting.

In this issue, the X-Men are having dinner when Professor Xavier is inspired by that day's newspaper. Jean Grey speculates as to whether there are other mutants around to which the wise mutant father figure responds...

And at that very moment, "as fate would have it"...

Thus...

That's...New to me. Has he done that since?

When Magneto arrives at Atlantis, Namor is in a rage about Reed Richards repeatedly cock-blocking him in regards to Sue. So Magneto instead tries to manipulate some nobody to do his bidding.

That dude plants a thought into Namor's head that Magneto as a "fellow mutant" (nod nod, wink wink) might be best suited to assist Namor in the prince's battle against Mankind. Intrigued, since it had never occurred to Namor that he might be considered a mutant, the avenging son seeks out Magneto at the latter's hidden island.

Why would Namor need an undersea racer?

Once on the island, Namor is not too impressed by what he sees. Magneto tries to use the Scarlet Witch as a lure, which seems to be working to some degree. But when the X-Men also arrive at the island and attack, Magneto has harsh words for the Witch and Namor will have none of it.

With Namor turned against them, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants retreats but leave the Scarlet Witch and her brother, Quicksilver, behind. Those two are no friends of the X-Men either so Namor still finds himself at odds against the mutant team. Professor X attempts to restore order, successfully, but Namor has had enough of their drama.

Magneto takes one more shot at Namor from a distant location but to no avail. And so Namor returns to the ocean, once again annoyed by the surface-dwellers.

Man, I left an awful lot on the table with this one. I found I had to ignore some material from this issue to avoid having the blog post be too long.

It was a good problem to have after reading a Brian Michael Bendis book last time I updated the blog. If Bendis were re-writing this book today, it would be a 12-issue mini series.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #527

Dud.

This issue is part two of a story called The Five Lights. While searching for Namor appearances, I found out I had the first part of Five Lights already yet had no memory of purchasing it. It wasn't until I came across a character based out of Vancouver, BC, Canada that I remembered that I'd bought it for my blog about Canadian super-heroes.

So what the hell? I went ahead and bought the second part. The cover seemed promising. The cover date is October, 2010.

Despite the rather dashing cover appearance, the Avenging Son only appears on two pages, flirting with Emma Frost and making an argument that Scott Summers, Cyclops, is a tool. He's not wrong, but as guest-appearances go, it's a little disappointing.

Oh, he throws some sunshine towards his chef, too, simultaneously taking a shot at we landlubbers. Monarchs need to be able to multi-task.

He eats sushi with Emma Frost which, at first, seemed odd. I suppose surface dwellers eat hot dogs and wiener tots so maybe Atlanteans eating sushi isn't so weird but it initially raised an eyebrow.  I bet I come across something in some other book which contradicts this.

But the fact I'm questioning the act of eating sushi just underscores what a pointless purchase this was. If you were to collect Namor's major appearance only, this is very much one to skip. Not even one Imperius Rex, y'all!