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.

Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #1

This title may sound familiar if you've stumbled here before. A couple of months back, I picked up a different issue of SVTU.  Marvel published two giant-sized editions, for the most part reprinting material from a few years prior, before making the book a bi-monthly regular.

The giant-sized book sucked, but how about this one?  Let's find out!

Attuma AND Tiger Shark? This CAN'T suck!

Oh, Dr. Dorcas, too. Okay, so maybe it can suck in parts...

The book opens with Namor and Doc Doom arguing about who is partnering with who (whom?). Regretting a very recent decision to work alongside Doom, Namor bails.

Low blow. Namor should have turned around and beat his ass down. I'm fairly certain that Latveria will never make a list of great places to live, either.

At least Doom recognizes his error quickly. He reminisces about all the times he's been defeated by inferior folk in the past and swears to make this partnership work. He fires a fish-rocket camera thing to follow Namor around and record the prince's activities, presumably to sweet-talk him later. No, for real!

For no reason I could identify, Namor heads to a joint called Hydrobase and when he gets there, he's caught in some energy field. He gathers the strength to demolish the machine creating it...

...Then is approached by some douche named Jennings.

Oh, THAT Jennings! Still have no idea who he is, Len.

They are interrupted by Atlantean barbarians who are defeated by Namor in no time. Namor recognizes them as Attuma's men and Jennings confirms that Hydrobase has been taken over by Attuma and his horde. Namor calls bullshit on that and says he'll see to it that freedom is restored, but...

The trinity of evil reveals itself! Namor recovers his wits, flings both Tiger Shark and Attuma into the ocean to fight them and, naturally, ignores Dr. Dorcas.

As logical as that might seem, it comes back to bite him in the ass. Namor holds his own against two mighty opponents but Dorcas blasts him from behind with a very convenient weapon.

Yeah, imagine!

To be continued.

That was much more fun than the giant-size book I read a while ago, helped by the fact that it was Namor-heavy.

Who will rescue the Avenging Son now?! If only someone had tracked his movements with a fish-cam!

Oh, right!  Looking forward to that.

Thunderbolts (1997) #163

This is a much shorter appearance by the Avenging Son than the book's cover would have you believe.

Based on the recap in the inside cover of the book, The Thunderbolts were fighting an evil force known as The Serpent then made "The Great Escape". Their base of operations began to glow then disappeared. Why an escape was required is a little less clear because according to that very same recap, the tide had turned in their favour anyway, but here we are.

The Thunderbolts come to find out that they've gone back to the 1940s when they are suddenly attacked by Nazis. They are specifically in Austria, though they don't seem to be aware of that detail at this point. Regardless, if you're in Europe during WW2, you're going to get a visit from...

Unfortunately, that grand entrance doesn't happen until page 19 so up to this point it's really just a bunch of talking, second-guessing about what got the team where they are, etc. Rather dull, to tell the truth.

And since page space is limited by now, Namor's contribution is likewise limited. Now that I own several issue from his Invaders days, I marvel at how often he has found himself redirecting torpedoes towards Nazi U-Boats. Well, in this one, he throws a rocket back at them. More of the same, really, but at least we get the old battle cry out of it.

This all builds to a "golden age Thunderbolts" story in which the team will ally itself with The Invaders, or at least those two members.

That story actually skips an issue (sort of...it's number is 163.1. Marvel numbering, y'all) before resuming in 164 and concluding in 165. This issue might have taken a while to get going but I do look forward to seeing the story takes us.

AVX: VS (2012) #1

I haven't had a lot of time to devote to this little ode to Sub-Mariner awesomeness lately. This book is perfect, then, because it devotes only 10 of its supposed 22 pages to a fight between The Avenging Son and The Thing from The Fantastic Four. Or actually, based on what he's wearing, it may be accurate to say that he's The Thing from The Future Foundation.

There isn't much point to this book but it makes no bones about it. It was a six-issue extension of the Avengers vs. X-Men limited series that ran throughout most of 2012. It features nothing but fights that would normally have taken place somewhere during the second issue of the main series.

A scrap between Magneto and Iron Man kick things off, then we get into the meat of the matter.

Of course they're fighting in the ocean. We don't know why they're there or why these two in particular are scrapping for the umpteenth time. Either that's explained in the main series or it isn't at all. We're just here for the fights, remember?

The ending, which I won't give away even if the book is six years old as I write this, is a little unclear. It involves outside interference, to borrow a wrestling terms, by a sea creature that I would have thought Namor could have simply controlled. In any event, if you simply consider where these two characters have been in the pecking order over the years, you can't probably figure out who was awarded the "victory". A fun distraction that doesn't pretend to be anything but.