Marvel Knights: 4 (2004) #9

Today we conclude the Frozen storyline which took place in the Marvel Knights: 4 book that ran from 2004 to 2006. The first part of the story was reviewed in this post in February.

It took me a little while to determine why I didn't find this issue (and the previous one) as enjoyable as I could have. I recall that Marvel was criticized a while back (and might still be, I truly don't know) for its "decompressed" storytelling. These issues very much have that feel. This story could have been that single issue that transitions you from one major story to another but it feels like it was stretched into two.

That's one reason and I'm going to lead into another. In #8, Namor showed up to put the moves on Sue Richards for the umpteenth time. There was no apparent trigger for that action that I could pick up on. The issue ended with Reed Richards being fed up with Namor's advances towards Sue and the prince's general arrogance. Naturally, a fight ensued. Issue #9 picks up from there.

First, Susan Richards interferes in the fight...

Then Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, does.

But the Torch is there to stop the fight, not jump in. He needs help, you see.

The Human Torch is helping a lady look for her son who is believed to have fallen through the ice in the river. Conveniently enough Namor, who you may recall is in town for no particular reason, now has a purpose for being there. He finds the kid's corpse and...that's it. I suppose he goes home.

There are a few personal moments throughout, one in particular between Reed and Johnny, but this story feels like filler filled with filler. Namor's characterization is solid though. He's proud and headstrong but when called upon to do the right thing, he does not hesitate.

This book was written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and drawn by Jim Muniz.

The Invincible Iron Man (1968) #121

We've recently had a Defenders reunion theme and a solo series theme to the posts added to this blog.

The next one will be a "part 2" theme in which we're going to move forward with stories reviewed earlier this year. We already kind of did that with the Namor series from the 1990s so this will be a natural transition.

We begin with Iron Man #121 which sports an April 1979 cover date. Issue #120 was reviewed here.

Iron Man was drowning at the conclusion of #120 as a result of someone taking over his armour remotely. Of course, no honourable ally, or even opponent, will be harmed when the Avenging Son is around!

His bedside manner kind of sucks, mind you.

Once threats are out of the way, Namor explains that he was defending the old dude on the island (Hiram Dobbs) from the military because Dobbs had saved his life. Namor had come across toxic waste and in burying it, took ill from being exposed to it.

That's because they're not military but actually employees of Roxxon Oil. Roxxon found vibranium (the rare metal which made Wakanda wealthy, I believe) on the island and intend to acquire it no matter what. And so the heroes team-up to stop them.

There's some pretty good stuff in this story. Iron Man's involvement was the result of a completely insane coincidence and Namor's...Well, his was too, actually. He just happened to be swimming in the very spot where vibranium had recently been found. But the story did feed off his dislike for humans and added to his reasons for feeling that way so it's a good addition to the collection.

It seems that Namor appears in the following issue as well although it might just be during the first few pages as he departs the scene. We'll look into that and if his presence is more substantial, we'll have more Invincible Iron Man here before long.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths (2008) #1

This will be a brief review but not due to a lack of quality. Quite the opposite. This book's art, by Esad Ribic, is beautiful and the premise is plenty interesting. There is just little to no Namor content to discuss.

The gist of the story is that in the 50s, a notoriously skeptical researcher named Randolph Stein is called upon to search for Atlantis. More specifically, he is to retrace the steps of an earlier explorer named Marlowe. It seems Marlowe might have actually found Atlantis on his second attempt (that's him in the above image) and if so, the American government doesn't want those dirty reds beating them to it.

Namor, throughout this whole issue, is treated as an urban legend and so his presence is peripheral only. He doesn't appear directly, at least this early in the series.

That approach is well executed but it clashes with Namor's history. Namor was an ally during World War Two. Marlowe's first exploration is said to be in 1939.  If the Americans are concerned about the Russians finding Atlantis, that would suggest that the second expedition took place no earlier than 1948 or so. By then, Namor should have been well-known and not believe to be a creature of myth.

Setting that aside and just enjoying the book on its own merit is easy enough, however. This is well-crafted product which makes Namor "feel" legendary and if you're a fan of the character, you have to appreciate that.

Namor, The Sub-Mariner (1990) #61

All right, the other day we looked at the second issue of Namor's 1990s series. Today we'll look at the second-to-last issue which is also the second part of the Atlantis Rising event.  The first part was reviewed here.

There is an awful lot going on in this book, and quite a few players involved.

When we last saw our hero, he had been impaled on a sword wielded by the villainous Blood Wraith (ah, the 90s...). His soul was sucked into the blade. He tries to fight this but the evil souls also contained therein swarm him. As he begins to become overwhelmed by them, he is saved by...

Together they, at least briefly, dispatch the various other ghosts and what-not.

Meanwhile, the lady oceanographer is planting explosives on the ocean floor, unbeknownst to her male partner. When she gets back on the boat, she gives him some attitude and shoves his ass overboard.

Sap.

That blast is felt all the way down to the Building of Knowledge in Atlantis.

Prince Llyron?? Who the hell is this guy? Some friggin' poser? I'm going to have to fill the gap between issues two and 60 faster than I thought.

But what of Namor's soul? Namor and Black Knight join a lady named Victoria Bentley and some sickly dude named Sean Dolan. They explain to Namor that, long story short, every time Dolan draws this sword, he becomes Blood Wraith (lol...) and a battle is waged in the sword's blade between the forces of good and evil for Dolan's soul. That must suck.

They're a small team, but they reveal that they occasionally have help from one of Namor's ex-wives who was killed with that very same sword.

Drive just one sword through her skull and she won't ever let you forget it.

Meanwhile, on the beach, Blood Wraith (lol...) is giving Andromeda all kinds of trouble.

That clearly-possessed Vivian lady who blew up her lab partner earlier interrupts the battle, allowing Blood Wraith (snicker!) to deliver a killing blow in the battle. Andromeda, then, finds herself drawn into the sword as well.

What? So it's not really her? Aw, drag.

The next part is rather nonsensical. Namor follows the band of light that brought Andromeda down back to the real world. He brings Marrina back with him and releases her soul.

So it WAS her? Whatever, she's gone now.

Then Andromeda returns to life as well, for no reason that is explained in this issue, although she refers to herself as Genevieve Cross. I don't know what that's about yet.

And finally, Vivian's possession is complete as the villainess behind all this...villainy...reveals herself.

Oh, that's Triton from The Inhumans back there. He didn't really do anything.

Whew! Exhausting issue!

There's no question that the story advanced plenty though. The merging of Avalon and Atlantis is an interesting idea and Morgan Le Fey as an antagonist is a nice change from brutes like Tiger Shark and Attuma.

The next issue of Namor's book would be the last one and then Atlantis Rising would really take off, involving several books for a couple of months, annuals, and so on. We'll get back to it before too long.

Namor The Sub-Mariner (1990) #2, "Eagle's Wing And Lion's Claw"

After reviewing an issue of Tales To Astonish from the mid-60s, I figured I would continue to look at material in which Namor was the main man instead of a guest-star or a team member. I also want to move forward with some of the storylines begun earlier. In that light, the next two blog posts will feature issues from The Avenging Son's 1990s series.

Issue #1 was reviewed here.

The father/daughter combo that Namor met in the first issue are having a chat about the daughter's possible romantic connection to Namor when the Griffin crashes through the windows and abducts her, wounding Pops in the process.

So Mr. Alexander seeks help elsewhere in the building and finds it in the form of...Namorita!

Always good to see the little cousin.

Namorita goes straight to Namor with the old man's story. Namor happens to be watching a news story about a woman's shoe crashing through a cab window and dicking up downtown traffic.

Namor figures that was probably his new girlfriend's shoe that nearly killed a cabbie. He follows a straight line from the building in which she was abducted to where the shoe incident took place, continues to follow that line and ends up at the statue of liberty where, sure enough...

Nice detective work, your highness. You're a hothead but not a meathead!

And sweet research work, Mr. John Byrne. Unless, it's completely coincidental, since Neptune wielding a trident is common knowledge, Namor's outburst above probably makes reference to the very quest from Tales To Astonish that I wrote about in the previous post. It makes complete sense for Namor to use that expression. Nice attention to detail from the writer/artist here.

As this is going on, a drone of sorts captures the fight for the two creepy siblings with the Lannister vibe from the first issue.

Namor was believed to be dead at this point in comics lore so his presence would be doubly interesting for that reason, no doubt.

Now the Griffin may not be A-list but he's rather powerful nonetheless so rather than fight him on land, Namor takes the battle underwater.

But when his young (they always are with Byrne) lady friend manages to escape from being trapped by Griffin in the statue of liberty and sees signs of underwater turmoil, she prays that Namor is victorious. That doesn't work out so well.

This was a very fun read. Byrne did a good job of building from his first issue. The Griffin was made into a credible threat and seeds were sewn for the challenges that would emerge as Namor's plan began to unfold. It is easy to see with this particular issue why this book got good word of mouth at the time it was released.

Tales To Astonish (1959) #70, "The Start Of The Quest"

Looking back at Defenders reunions has been fun but most of them have been fairly recent. Let's go back in back in time a bit and to stories more specific to the avenging star of this show.

His own series!!!  Which he...shares with the incredible Hulk!

Well, it was still a promotion of sorts. Namor had returned to some prominence in 1962 after being off the radar for about seven years. He showed up in the various team books at the time; Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-Men...He appeared in Daredevil in April 1965 (cover date, natch) and even though it was published four months later (August 1965, obviously), Tales To Astonish #70 takes place immediately after that guest-spot. 

In that Daredevil issue, Lady Dorma tracked down Namor to let him know that one of his warlords, Krang, had planned a coup to take over Atlantis. When Namor reaches Atlantis, Dorma confirms that Krang was successful but because he rejects her advances, she rats him out.

Yet he is ultimately captured and tossed in the dungeons by Krang. When Dorma comes by to visit because "her heart would not permit her to stay away", the imprisoned prince reminds her that there is one way to reclaim the throne even if his people have accepted Krang as their leader.

Wow, Neptune really saw this coming!

Dorma helps Namor escape so that he can begin his search for the trident.

Off he goes to the Cave of Shadows, the location of the first clue in his quest.

But Krang ain't no sucker! He totally anticipated Dorma's actions and let them come to pass thinking that Namor is just going to get himself killed anyway.

At the Cave Of Shadows, Namor promptly finds the clue in a red sea shell. But it is guarded by giant-ass squid!

He finds that the exit from the cave is blocked, blames Krang (irrationally, really, but apparently accurate) and we end on that note.

The story was by Stan Lee and the art was by Adam Austin. The story of the quest would run through issue #76.

Defenders: From The Marvel Vault (2011)

My little theme of seeking out various instances where the original Defenders have reunited comes to an end with a one-shot from 2011.

Hulk (2008) #10 was great fun, Defenders (2005) #2 was insipid trash. This book is somewhere in the middle.

The story starts in kind of a jarring fashion. All the characters appear to be teleported into a forest setting and are talking like college students. For half the book, we have the Defenders in body only, which is a little disappointing.

Each character encounters something he wants very much. In effect, he is taken to his proverbial happy place. For Namor, naturally, that means encountering his former lady love, Dorma.

Whoever the kid is that's inhabiting Namor's body, when Dorma's advances make him uncomfortable because he's crushing on another girl already, he senses that things aren't right. He rejects the new reality and breaks the mind control spell.

The next part is a little unclear to me. Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange deduce that an alien ship was separated from its fleet and its passengers tried to bond mentally with the people of Earth in order to rebuild their society. This is what caused the "happy place" effect.

Unfortunately for Namor, the first teammate he freed upon breaking the spell was the Hulk. The green giant was none too happy about having his fun ruined (being yanked from his own happy place) so they started throwing down.

pillock
noun
British slang a stupid or annoying person

Don't act like you knew...

While these two pound on one another, Strange and Surfer quite simply solve the problem by sending the aliens home. The experience has had some impact on our favourite prince, however.

And so we end on a tender moment.

Not a bad book overall but by no means a classic. I would be surprised if this story was every referred to again in continuity but I'm sure if you're a fan of The Defenders, it made for a good nostalgic read.

Defenders (2005) #2

This is among the books I'd bought based on the recent news that the Defenders would be reuniting, at least temporarily. The point was to have a look at other times such reunions took place.

I'd already bought the first issue of this series and, well...hated it. This is just not my cup of tea. Comedic books that clash with long-estabished characters' usual personalities don't tend to work, in my opinion. When Doctor Strange and the Silver Surfer became well-known, people were not buying their books for a giggle. You can maybe make it work with the Hulk who, while we're on the subject, graces the cover.

When we last saw the team, they had been whisked away to Dormammu's dimension by Doctor Strange and were preparing to be overwhelmed by the villain's hordes. Namor does not do much in this book, but his first appearance at least demonstrates his power.

Sadly, that's about as much contribution from the avenging son as we're going to get. We are offered page after page of Dormammu and his sister Umar babbling and bickering like children and this kind of "hilarious" filler.

The prince speaks for me here and I wish that command applied to everyone. That's about it for Namor in this particular issue but I can't complain, he gets more face time than the Silver Surfer does. The bulk of the book is dedicated to the Dormammu and Umar comedy show.

Only three more issues to go, but unless they go on sale at some point, I'm going to read a lot of other books before I get to them.