Hulk (2008) #10

While not my favourite superhero team by any stretch, the return of the Defenders, announced about a week ago, is nonetheless good news. It means that while he may often be in situations to which he's poorly suited (fighting in space, other dimensions, whatever), Namor remains on pages of comic books.

It's hardly the first time that Marvel has touted the return of their so-called non-team. It happens every few years, whether it's in a new title or a guest-appearance.

So we're going to take a look at a couple of those instance, starting with Hulk #10.

When we join in, The Hulk is loving life until his lady Jarella gets taken away by a giant blue hand (in a yellow glove). She is used as a pawn to get the Hulk to fight on behalf of the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster and his brother (The Collector) are a couple of cosmic dicks who are constantly involving Marvel heroes in their little games and competitions.

To fill out his roster, Hulk immediately thinks of his old Defenders buds. Grandmaster, clever cosmic dick that he is, chooses which version of those characters Hulk will get to fight with. He deliberately chooses each member at a time when they have suffered the loss of a female companion so that they are properly motivated. For Namor, that means...

This is a shitty time to interrupt someone and, as he will, Namor loses his temper. Hulk subdues him and the Silver Surfer talks him down.

That's some good intensity in those eyes. Major appreciation for artist Ed McGuiness here.

Once the foursome is gathered, The Collector reveals his own team and wouldn't you know, he had a similar but twisted idea.

Damn, man. That would be some scrap. It appears as though the story runs through the next two issues of this series, which is good news. This was a great way to set things up.

The Best Defense Comes In December

This news is a few days old now. I tend to be more preoccupied with Namor's past appearances but I decided to make note of it as a reminder.

Marvel's promotion of this event began with single-character images. Hulk came first, I believe, and Namor shortly thereafter.

Before long, they revealed a full team picture.

Several comics and general entertainment news outlets have reported on it, clearly parroting a press release. Of the few I've read, Graeme McMillan of The Hollywood Reporter did the best job of explaining the set up so let's turn it over to him for a couple of paragraphs. I've changed the punctuation a bit to make it (in my opinion) easier to read.

Spread across five special issues, The Best Defense will feature the original comic book membership of the Defenders — the Hulk, the Silver Surfer, Namor the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Strange — in one-off issues featuring all-new stories, alongside a fifth release titled The Defenders: The Best Defense. Marvel is describing the five titles as “interconnected specials that tell a unique and captivating story for each original Defender.” 

Both the Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense and the Defenders issue will be written by regular Hulk writer Al Ewing, with art by Simone Di Meo on Hulk and Joe Bennett on Defenders. Namor: The Best Defense will be by Chip Zdarsky and Carlos Magno, with Doctor Strange: The Best Defense by Gerry Duggan and Greg Smallwood. Jason Latour will both write and illustrate Silver Surfer: The Best Defense.

Let's also note that Namor is not wearing the Rockabilly Lobo outfit that is expected to debut in Avengers #9. We may then have some confidence that the image change will be only temporary.

Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty (1998) #2

All right, back on track. I had planned on reading a few Captain America and/or Invaders books around the fourth of July or so and did, but with vacation and such I didn't get around to actually posting about them. I do so now, with the following book and its rather grandiose title.

I'd actually started working on it a while back but came across an odd challenge; Much of the art is vertical rather than horizontal so it is difficult to copy into a post. Let's see what we can do.

The book begins with the original Human Torch mysteriously making himself hot enough to dive into the ocean and attack Atlantis. The (literally) boiling Atlanteans get reinforcements from the Nazis, while Namor and Captain America look on, shackled.

What what what?? None of this makes any sense. We transition to flashback material for some answers.

The Invaders are battling Nazis attacking a shipyard but Cap-Am is suspicious at the lack of aircraft in the Nazi assault. It's as if destroying the facility is not their primary goal. Peculiar.

As if on cue, an airship appears and Namor decides to attack it. The move is ill-advised as he gets blasted out of the sky by the ship.

The Human Torch attempts to help Namor but is instead snared into an asbestos net cast from the aircraft. The airship reveals itself to be some sort of advanced spaceship-looking craft. It drags the Human Torch into the ocean. Namor follows...and neither return.

Until a few days later. On a military base, Captain America is fresh off a chewing out from a commanding officer over his team's poor performance during the Nazi attack when Namor shows up out of nowhere with a rather grim command to follow him. They set off to...Nazi-occupied Atlantis.

It isn't long until they are seen by Nazis and attacked.

And now we're caught up. The Human Torch arrives as Namor and Cap are subdued. The Nazis are controlling the Torch and using him as a fabricated threat to gain confidence from the Atlanteans.

As Captain America attempts to explain this to Namor, he is told to shut his pie-hole by a female newcomer.

Cap wonders why the normally hot-headed Namor doesn't just tell her to go stuff her gills. He gets his answer in short order.

Ah! Lady Fen (assuming she's the real deal)!

How about that? This is a rather personal story for Namor considering that it was the second issue of a Captain America series. Good deal, looking forward to the conclusion.

New-Look Namor?

Oh, boy. I don't know about this...

CBR.com highlighted a new design for The Avenging Son based on a cover for Avengers #9. Check that out below.

AVENGERS #9 

JASON AARON (Writer)
DAVID MARQUEZ (Art/Cover) 

WORLD WAR BELOW! 

With the underwater world on the brink of war, the Avengers go aquatic to save the day, but air-breathers are no longer welcome in the undersea city of Atlantis. And Namor, the Sub-Mariner, lord of the seven seas, has a bold new plan that will change the balance of power on Earth forever. 

32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

The new look might debut in issue 8 of this series based on the following portion of its solicitation.

Behold the wonders of Avengers Mountain. But someone who doesn’t seem impressed is Namor, the ferocious lord of Atlantis, whose rage may turn the oceans red with blood!

I may end up being surprised but I can't help but be reminded of rockabilly Lobo from a few years ago which went over like a turd in a punch bowl.

Issue eight should be available at the end of September, nine in early October.

For all that the big reveal takes place in the Avengers book, it appears that Namor will continue to appear in the X-Men Red book based on that book's September solicitation.

In the wake of an unprecedented assault on Atlantis, the X-Men must react and recover…while at the mercy of a world that grows more hostile to mutants every day, and a foe who is determined to keep it that way!

No matter what he happens to be wearing, at least our boy's in rotation!

All-Winners Comics: 70th Anniversary Special (2009) #1

In terms of date of release, Fantastic Four #4 is the oldest book that's been covered here. I have read some of Namor's earlier material, including the first few issues of the original All Winners title, and intended to include it here as I progressed along. But what I've read so far is lousy to the point that now I just want to ignore it altogether.

Part of the appeal of this character is that he has been there from the beginning (1939). He is one of few characters to have been active in every era.

But now that I've read more of the stories from the late 30s to the 50s, I'm increasingly less interested in acknowledging them. While I understand that times were different then, I'm not sure I want to revisit and share the racism contained in those books, for example.

Fantastic Four was among the first books published under the Marvel brand in the early 60s. After being out of sight for several years, Namor was reintroduced in #4 and his early adventures treated like the comic book material that those characters read.

I may just take that approach and narrow my time frame from 1963 to present as opposed to going all the way back to '39. We can let books set in the past, like The Invaders, back-fill Namor's history.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we can not give the 70th anniversary book a glance.

We join the story as The All Winners Squad catch up to the villains in the story, Future Man and Madame Death. Captain America inadvertently destroys Future Man's time travel machine and sends these villains spiraling through time uncontrollably as our heroes escape that same fate.

A week later, the heroes are chilling in their New York headquarters in Times Square when Namor decides to unleash the full fury of Atlantis upon...

Nice transitional comedic touch.

The next few pages focus on The Whizzer and Miss America and their relationship. They are actually the two most visible characters in this book. It isn't until they are attacked by zombies and the team steps in with an assists that Namor shows up again.

It should be noted that the Captain America in this book is the Jeff Mace version. Previously known as The Patriot, Mace took the shield for himself near the end of WW2 when the original Captain America disappeared. He struggles with the weight of the responsibility and that back drop provides Namor and Mace with a little bonding time once the threat is eliminated.

Our hero doesn't get a lot of face time but what he gets is of good quality. As one of the senior members of the team and among its most powerful, it's good to see him be the one to provide validation for the new kid. He does not always display great leadership skills, but he does recognize valour.

Captain America (2004) #635.1

The specifics for this issue are a little hard to track down. Comixology lists it as part of the 2004 to 2011 Captain America series, yet it was released in August 2012. That series ran to issue 50 until modifying its numbering to 600.

As of #620, "& Bucky" was added to the title. Guest-stars became a regular occurrence from #629 on, with the likes of Hawkeye, Iron Man and The Black Widow joining the Captain on his adventures.

And Namor, for one issue.

There's always a concern that the guest-appearance will be limited to just a few pages but not in this case. The book opens with Namor reluctantly facing some sort of gathering in an unknown location in 1942.

So...Why are you there at all?

The spokeswoman for the group explains that the weapons of Atlantis have been pillaged and Namor's people are being used for a "cross-purpose". 

That cryptic message delivered, we move to an air battle over France. Cap-Am jumps from a troop-carrying plane onto an enemy fighter and is joined by The Avenging Son, who more or less happens to be passing through.

Once back on solid ground, the Captain follows Namor to the latter's target, a group called The Thule, described as... 

Namor accurately points out that Captain America wasn't dragged into a damn thing. While Cap-Am self-monologues over Namor's apparent lack of willingness to make friends, the villain reveals his secret weapon.

Release the Kraken!

That thing is made of dead Atlantean(s) wearing a Medusa-like skull mask which gives it magical abilities. The Prince Of The Blood will not stand by and see his people treated this way, even the dead ones, so it's on.

Yeah, that, and the wings on his ankles also remind me that he's more than human.

I enjoyed this. It was very much Captain America AND Namor as opposed to the Sub-Mariner showing up long enough to toss a few punches.

The story (by Cullen Bunn) was a "one-and-done" though I suspect regular readers picked up on a few hints of back-filling. Namor's arrogance was on display, there were a couple of interesting inclusions among the covenant that Namor was talking to prior to meeting Cap and the art was gorgeous. I'm not sure the images above spotlight its quality adequately.

This was not a key appearance in Namor's history by any stretch but its a welcome addition to the collection.

Namor The Sub-Mariner (1990) #1

John Byrne is one of those creators for whom I need to separate the person from the art. There are many aspects of his personality that I dislike and that make me want to avoid supporting him but I can't deny that his work was often outstanding.

There is also little question that he enjoyed and appreciated this character a great deal. Carving out Byrne's contribution to the Sub-Mariner legend undeniably diminishes it greatly.

I reviewed one issue from this series already (#60, if my memory is sound) but at that point Byrne was long gone. Let's go all the way back to the beginning and see how Byrne launched it in the first place.

Byrne chooses to tell this story in prologues and epilogues which is a little strange at first because you wonder if you haven't missed something.. This would have made a great zero issue but I'm not sure those were a thing in 1990.

We begin six months earlier as a father/daughter team of marine biologist or researchers or something named Alexander are...researching...when suddenly...

Apparently at this point in his history, Namor is believed by the rest of the world to be dead, making this sudden appearance all the more surprising for the Alexanders.

The Prince Of The Blood lands on an island in the Pacific. For a moment, it appears that he may have lost his memory yet again, but he shakes it off. He comes upon some primitive tribe. When said tribe treats Namor as an intruder and attacks, he kicks their primitive asses.

Ah, he's in one of his "cursed to be alone" phases!

The Alexanders track him down and convince to come back to their boat.

Once on the boat, the gentleman pointlessly tells Namor's origin story. As if Namor needs to be told that he's half-human and half-Atlantean (and therefore technically the first mutant, see). But I suppose we have to think of new readers.

On the flip side, I don't believe that Namor's mother has been seen very often and in this book, she looks great (the 40s version was hideous).

The old man does introduce Namor to a theory to the effect that an oxygen imbalance causes the Prince's rage. Too little oxygen when Namor's underwater, too much when he's on land. What's a brother to do? But evidently anticipating that one day he might meet Namor, the geezer has built a machine which regulates the oxygen balance. So...good for that.

The encounter causes Namor to run off to think. He comes back some time later with a treasure chest and a plan.

Oh look, an old dude putting the moves on a significantly younger lady. This must be a John Byrne book. It's not out of character for Namor to play the smoothie on occasion though. At least there's that.

The book concludes with a wealthy brother/sister combo talking business just after the lady stopped her brother from shooting himself in the head out of boredom.

Can you guess?

Namor's plan is basically to save the planet (read: the environment) through the business world by flexing the vast amount of wealth to which he has access.

That is certainly a new spin on a character that to this point was usually more interested in doing away with the surface world altogether. So while portions of the book felt like filler, its premise is (was) certainly intriguing enough to continue reading.

Avengers (1963) #3

The fourth issue of the original Avengers title is famous for bringing back Captain America. Its popularity should, of course, pale in comparison to the previous issue which guest-starred The Avenging Son but inexplicably, that is not the case.

Seriously, Namor was absent for several years prior to returning in Fantastic Four #4 so Captain America's return in Avengers #4 is quite appropriate.

The book is kind of fun but it took forever for Namor to show up. I was starting to think his appearance would be limited to just a couple of pages. I should have paid closer attention to the splash page as they state point blank, right in the middle, where he shows up in the story.

The first 14 pages are devoted to the Avengers attempt at finding the Hulk in the first place by calling on Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in cameo appearances. Then when they do find him, with the help of Rick Jones, Hulk completely outsmarts them several times (think about that) to escape and finds a deserted island to chill on.

But not so fast, green genes!

Bow before royalty!

Naturally, when heroes meet, they fight. But after the obligatory dick swinging, a deal is more or less struck.

 

Notice the proper use of pronouns by The Hulk? None of that "Hulk smash!" stuff here. He didn't refer to himself in the third person at the time. Presumably he became dumber in later issues. The Avengers should still be ashamed of themselves for getting played by him, but maybe it isn't as bad as it first appeared.

The powerful duo challenges the Avengers to a fight and the team accepts, of course. Namor does most of the heavy lifting here.

Hulk dicks around trying to take Thor's hammer away until he begins to turn back into Banner. It seems odd for that to happen in mid-fight, but there you have it. So Namor is now badly outnumbered.

And he uses that new strength to...fly off in retreat. In a nice display of respect though, when directed by The Wasp to knock Namor out of the sky, Thor refuses on the basis that Namor has earned his escape through valor. Solid, symbolic fist-bump between two heavyweights there.

Namor appears in the more celebrated fourth issue as well and we will give that a look another day but this issue was your standard Stan lee/Jack Kirby silly fun.