Captain America: Sentinel Of Liberty (1998) #3, "Descent Into Madness, Chapter Two: Sins Of The Mother"

We've seen a lot of Captain America lately but carrying on with the theme of Namor team-ups with core Avengers members, we're going to continue a story begun here.

We are in 1942. Following the events of the second issue, Cap has been jailed in Atlantis for three days but, when he could, he used the edge of his shield to chip away at his chains. Atlanteans have no respect for we land lubbers so they arrogantly left Cap's shield within arms reach. Dumbasses.

So Cap escapes, takes out a few Nazis and makes his way to the "air-filled hyberbaric" lab in which the Nazi scientists who reprogrammed the (Jim Hammond) Human Torch do their work. He also finds a "death chamber" full of human guinea pigs that those same scientists were planning to experiment on. Oy.

Cap sets off to find Namor who is having a chat with his mum, Fen, current leader of Atlantis under Nazi influence. It's not going particularly well.

Cap shows up and does his best Dr. Phil. He tells Namor that he (Namor) was brought up to hate surface dwellers because Fen hates herself for breaking the rules and doing the deed with Namor's dad years prior.

Hm. Not sure how well that meshes with past material but let's ride the wave for a while and see where this goes.

One of Fen's guards tries to harpoon Cap from behind for having a big friggin' mouth but Namor will have none of it.

Damn right.

The Nazis get kicked around so they unleash the brainwashed Human Torch on our heroes in an effort to turn the tide, as it were.

The strategy backfires when Fen begins to realize that the Torch is not the threat the Nazis made him out to be. Also, Cap snaps the Torch our of his brainwashing by showing him the death chamber horrors being perpetrated by Torch's "side".

The jolt brings Hammond back to his usual naive, gentle self. With his head back on straight, Torch recalls that he was studied, poked, prodded...and evidently duplicated. In a desperation move, one of the scientists yanks a door open and lets loose...

And that is it for part two! This team-up ultimately turned into an Invaders reunion so we'll probably conclude this thing the next time that team gets the spotlight.
 

Avengers (1963) #4: "This Monster Unmasked!"

Marvel is having a massive Avengers sale for the next few weeks so we're going to take advantage of that. I plan on checking out books in which Namor appeared with core members of that team over the next few posts.

But first, let's check out a very early meeting between Namor and Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

After battling the Avengers to a draw in the previous issue, Namor's in a bad mood. He takes to the ocean but can't find the peace he craves, we are told.

He comes across an "isolated tribe of eskimos" worshiping an ice cube. This irritates him all the more so he chucks their chunk of ice into the drink with a deft over-under move.

And wouldn't you know it, the Avengers happen to drift by in a submarine. They recover the floating form only to find out it is Captain America and head back to New York with him.

As they arrive in the Big Apple, the Avengers are greeted by paparazzi and suddenly turn to stone. Only the captain avoids that fate as he was hanging back and the media wasn't aware of his presence. Long story short, he investigates and tracks down this dude.

Mr. Meaningless rats out Namor, claiming that the submariner approached him with an offer of help getting his ship out of the ocean if Meaningless turned the Avengers into rock. Cap counteroffers; turn the Avengers back to normal and we'll get your ship out for you.

Namor somehow knows all this and flip his lid. In yet another crazy coincidence, he happens across a troop of his former elite guard who are still loyal to him. The combined forces attack the Avengers together just as that team has succeeded in freeing Meaningless' ship.

They go on like this for a while until an earthquake hits. Namor assumes it will destroy the Avengers so, once again, he bails.

In actual fact, it was caused by Meaningless' ship taking off now that its been freed from the bottom of the ocean. In a great show of gratitude by the alien, he nearly killed everyone nearby.

Speaking of gratitude, as a result of this encounter, Captain America was offered Avengers membership. In creating the threat that caused the Captain to save the team, you could argue that Namor was instrumental in making that happen. Beyond inadvertently freeing the Captain from the ice, that is.

As a kid, I knew that Namor had chucked a frozen Captain America into the water and freed him from suspended animation but I always believed he had done so with full knowledge of who was trapped in the ice. Namor didn't find out until 1985 when Captain America returned the favour and made him an Avenger.

The thawing out is replayed in Captain America #100 (and no doubt many other places).

It is the only page on which Namor appears in this book. But it's a significant one! And his throwing motion is much improved.

Tales To Astonish (1959) #71, "Escape...To Nowhere!"

Let's put the multiple book crossover theme to rest and check back in with a quest first discussed here last October.

In Tales To Astonish #70, Namor embarked on a search for Neptune's trident. Krang had stolen the throne of Atlantis from Namor by dastardly means but recovering the trident would prove to the people of Atlantis that Namor is truly the only amphibian for the job.

At the book's conclusion, Namor had found the first clue in a seashell but was trapped in a cave with an angry giant squid! #71 picks up right from there.

Namor uses the shell to defeat the squid...

This releases an apparition from the shell. It is of Neptune and the old king gives Namor his next set of instructions in order to locate the trident. The Submariner must face his next peril in the "Forbidden Deeps".

But first he has to make his way out of the cave and to do so, he uses his power of...burrowing.

Yeah, I don't know about that one...

What he finds are a couple of Krang's soldiers, those who blocked the cave and were unaware of Namor's incredible drilling prowess. He deals with them easily and continues his quest. And when he reaches the (not-very-well) hidden (and forbidden) deeps...

That...Doesn't seem so bad. But it actually is.

Why don't you just drill through it?

I kid but this whole quest thing is pretty fun. As you read you find yourself wondering what madness Stan Lee will come up with next. When we get around to #72, we'll see how he tops Seaweed Man!

Namor The First Mutant (2010) #2: "Royal Blood, Part Two"

Curse of The Mutants was not universe-wide, to the best of my knowledge, but it hit several X-Men books, ran for more than half a year, and spawned a number of tie-in mini-series.

It also launched another Namor series, the first issue of which was reviewed here on February 1st. We now move on to #2.

Following the events of the first issue, Atlantis now has a pronounced vampire problem. Namor is discussing manpower with one of his military men, Jian, who makes his first appearance in this book.

Jian announces that for a variety of reasons, including a lack of trust in Namor's leadership, he can only round up 36 warriors to battle the vampires. To his mind, that is enough to wipe out the vampire horde (Aqueos). I like the cut of his jib.

The two men receive a visit from other members of the X-(Wo)Men, being Emma Frost (the White Queen) and Loa whom we met in that Fear Itself: The Deep book I read earlier. Good to see her. She seems nice.

Me too. Well, I questioned it, anyway. I guess we're building up to something.

That conversation is interrupted as well, this time by Husam and Abira of a group called The Tridents. They tell Namor of a vampire attack on their own reef.

Writer Stuart Moore does a neat thing here. While the characters are chatting, the panel will occasionally switch to some Atlantean getting wiped out by one of the vampire creatures.

It creates a good effect of danger and trouble circling and tightening around the good guys and it offsets the tedium of watching a bunch of people just talking. Pay attention, Bendis.

See the old lady at bottom right, there? That's the Oudvrou and she is has some history with these underwater vampires. She is the third person to interrupt a conversation in this book.

When Namor asks her to share what she knows, she tells a seemingly pointless story in which Namor looked like fool as a youth. In effect, she humiliates him publicly.

While Namor deliberates her fate the power goes out. Upon investigating with his fellow Atlanteans, the danger that had been closing in earlier is now made clear.

Husam and Abira head off to turn the power back on while Namor and Jian have their backs. Namor is telling Jian that he is starting to connect the various clues around the Aqueos and their goals when Husam and Abira return to vanquish the vampire army with a powerful light.

Namor doesn't quite finish his thought. Instead he vows that four hours hence, they are becoming the hunters rather than the prey.

We're not particularly more knowledgeable about the Aqueos at this point then but they are further established as a legitimate threat. Onwards to #3.

Secret Empire: Brave New World (2017) #1: "Sanctuary"

While I have not read a Marvel book on a regular basis in several years, I still heard/read much of the criticism surrounding Secret Empire specifically and the various accusations of "character assassination" of stalwart characters like Iron Man, Cyclops, Mr. Fantastic and (in this case, Captain America) in recent years.

This book makes me think that Namor needs to be added to the list, especially since he appears to be a full-blown villain in current books. He has not been represented particularly well in recent years, it would seem and I believe now that it started here.

We begin with Namor fighting off fellow Atlanteans. The very first line of dialogue from him is "Do you KNOW who I am?". Remember that for a moment.

He makes short work of his aggressors.

Some military-looking types happen by and Namor turns the attackers over to those soldiers. Just prior to doing so, he appeared to be about to execute them. That was a bit of a red flag as to his state of mind.

It is pointed out to Namor by one of the soldiers that this is the second assassination attempt on him this month. So to answer Namor's question from earlier, yes, if they were assassins targeting you, they very much know who you are. What a peculiar question to ask.

Namor is in the process of instructing a soldier to enhance security when he is interrupted with news that he has guests. The soldier he had been talking to actually asks if the guests are assassins as well.

Yeah, dumbass, they're at the front door asking for permission to enter to murder Namor. JFC.

These two are at the gates.

That's the Human Torch (Tom Hammond, SHIELD agent) and Toro from the Invaders. They seek sanctuary.

The former is an android. He explains that Hydra's brainwashing techniques on SHIELD agents during their takeover didn't quite work for him.

Toro, meanwhile, is an Inhuman (he is?) and therefore an automatic enemy of Hydra. News to me.

Namor states his position to his former colleagues.

Upon learning that Namor has an alliance of sorts with Hydra, the Torch and Toro come to realize that they made a mistake in going to Atlantis to hide out. They attempt to leave but are prevented by the Atlanteans, including Namor.

The two former Invaders are then jailed with the other "dissidents".

So Namor who, when faced with the Nazi threat in the 40s, joined these two and others to battle that threat now decides he needs to imprison them out of fear of Hydra finding out that they're sleeping in his basement? Bitch, please...

Had he explained that Atlantis has been devastated far too many times to risk even the slightest damage, I might have bought it. Instead, this feels like Namor taking a knee in front of Hydra and there's little in the character's history that would suggest he'd ever do such a thing. Quite the opposite.

This is one story out of three in this anthology book and thankfully Namor is not included in the other two because they are complete time-wasters. They add nothing to this story or to, I suspect, Secret Empire as a whole.

Unfortunately, the Invaders story (if you could even call it that, since it really only features two member against one) continues in the remaining four issues of Brave New World so evidently I'll have to stomach those at some point. It won't be any time soon.

The following image is a variant cover to this book by Chris Samnee.

Captain America (1968) #365, "Submission"

It surprises me that, in light of how often Captain America has been included in this blog, this is the first time a book from his original series is reviewed. Continuing to spotlight Namor's appearance in various cross-company events, today, we look in on Acts of Vengeance.

There doesn't appear to be much more to Acts of Vengeance than villains swapping out heroes to harass. The reasoning is that the lack of familiarity with the villains' abilities will give those evil bastards an edge.

The Red Skull appears to be engineering this though it seems a well-dressed, mysterious man is perhaps manipulating him as well. My guess is it's Loki but that is not revealed at this point.

Captain America flies into the scene in an aircraft referred to as Flagship, He is headed for Avengers Island (they had an island?) then dazzles us with his power of observation.

Are you absolutely sure? Check again if the island has disappeared.

Once on land, Cap gets an explanation from the Avengers' butler, Jarvis.

Yes, of course. Would you have been less surprised if it had been blasted into space? Shifted into another dimension?

While Cap recovers his wits, we encounter Namor while he is searching the seas for the spawn of his recently deceased wife, Marrina. At this point in his career, this is a common hobby for him. it seems to always be what he's doing when he happens to swim by.

Namor is approached by the mysterious man from earlier and offered a partnership with the likes of the Red Skull, Magneto (again) and Doctor Doom (again) but the prince basically ignores him and moves on.

Namor then arrives at Avengers Island hours later which is odd because he wasn't going there. Presumably he was giving his spawn-quest a rest for a moment.

Namor is also quite perceptive.

He roams the inside the mansion a while looking for clues and is caught unaware by...The Controller!

What the hell was he doing down there? If he didn't know Namor was a member, he might have been waiting down there a hell of a while for someone to swim by.

Controller (typically an Iron Man villain, hence his appearance in this book under the Acts of Vengeance banner) has Namor under his control (hence his name) and he aims him right at Captain America.

It just so happens that the Captain was recently told by what appears to be an Avengers employee that Namor has been spotted swimming nearby. As he goes out to meet with his Avengers teammate, he is met with a hell of a greeting.

The fight is on!

During the scrap, Cap notices the disc on Namor's neck and concludes that it must be one of the Controller's control devices.

He had to be told an island was missing but THAT he noticed. And Controller isn't even one of his typical foes.

Namor's power and the dangers of facing him are both highlighted very well during the fight but knowing that the Avenging Son is under control leads even a dimwit like Cap to make the obvious connection. Destroy the disc and you should be able to sever that control.

Hyaaa!  Nice move, flag man!

Namor's brain pretty shorts out so he loses consciousness. Cap expresses some concern that he might have turned a long-time friend and ally into a vegetable and directs his anger towards the Controller.

That fight is scheduled for the next issue but being that Namor is incapacitated, I doubt he'll play much a part. But he kicked plenty of ass in this one.

Fear Itself: The Deep (2011) #1:

We're carrying on with our look at Namor appearances in various Marvel events and this time, it's a fairly recent one. The Deep was a four-issue spin-off to the Fear Itself mini-series in 2011. 

Marvel provides a handy recap in the inside of the front cover.

Ah.

That's kind of a lot to take in. No time to mess around though because after a page of being shown various examples of devastation of marine life around the planet, we're tossed into battle.

Turns out he will. Namor is overcome by fear. Attuma (going by the brutal name Nerkkod, evidently as a result of the hammer's influence) defeats him and lays some devastating blows against New Atlantis.

Namor, thankfully, is rescued by a young lady named Loa. This is my first exposure to her. Apparently she was (is?) an X-Man. She seems okay.

Two days, later, Doctor Strange responds to being summoned to a pub called Oliveri's. He and the avenging son meet again.

Telling someone he's your final option is not the most tactful way to ask for a favour but it gets the job done. Strange casts a summoning spell of his own in an attempt to gather the Defenders. Nice!

While the spell does its job, we check in on the villains, in the form of Attuma's generals.

Hey, Tiger Shark! Always good to see him up to no good!

The blue dude is Tyrak (tie rack?) and the goth chick is named Aradnea. I was not familiar with her either and in looking her up, found out that this was her first appearance.

She is aware that Namor yet lives and sends aquatic goons to put an end to that. Why she waited two days I have no idea.

Aradnea's creatures attack the pub but as they arrive, Team Namor gets some extra help as a result of Strange's summoning spell from earlier.

Another new face for me. She says she's the Hulk's daughter, "sort of". Okay then.

The battle is on and this version of the Defenders get their licks in but when Namor takes a shot, his confidence crumbles again.

Lyra saves him but more sea creatures appear and things start to look bleak. Fortunately, our team gets a dramatic last-minute save.

That IS cool.

I was not expecting a Defenders reunion. It may have been part of the promotional material for all I know but you couldn't tell from the cover. Marvel may have missed a bit of an opportunity there but not knowing made for a pleasant surprise.

For that matter, again based on the cover, I wasn't even sure how much Namor we'd get. I gambled slightly on the "Deep" part of the title, assuming that it would involve Atlantis. I thought it might essentially be a Namor/Strange team-up so ending up with a team book was a good surprise.

Fantastic Four (1961) #402, "By Our Friends, Besieged"

We're going to look at Namor's participation in various Marvel events over the next few posts and to launch that, we'll move ahead a bit more in the Atlantis Rising story.

When we last saw Namor, he had been fighting a mind-controlled Thor above the ocean over newly-risen Atlantis. A group of Inhumans in a space craft blasted him out of the sky on their way through. Namor was found by some of his people and taken to safety.

He next appears in Fantastic Four 402.

Namor finally wakes up, is greeted by an old friend, and brought up to date.

Oof! That's rough.

Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four head to London England to participate in a NATO meeting about Atlantis'...Rising. The Inhumans crash the party and basically tell everyone to mind their own.

Namor was asked by Vashti earlier if he would seek vengeance or be a healer for his people. It is at this point that he makes his plan quite clear.

Heal on your own, people, I have to put boots to asses! The earlier scene with Vashti seemed to hint that Namor would become a more balanced, subdued leader but nope! To be fair, he is not in charge of Atlantis right at that point so they're not officially "his people".

Namor feels that the the Inhumans conspired with Morgan Le Fey to raise Atlantis and he wants to slap a few of them around for it. Black Bolt steps up and with that, the gloves are dropped.

Susan Storm separates the two monarchs with a force field. The Inhumans then get a holographic message of some sort from a dude name Arcadius (no clue) telling them to return to Atlantis ASAP so they gather together and teleport out.

They are replaced by Thor, who has come to his sense at this point. So the Fantastic Four, the avenging son and the Norse God of thunder prepare to take the battle to Atlantis directly in the next installment.

Parts of this epic have been hard to follow but when you remove the clutter and follow just the one character around, it's much clearer, even if my knowledge of the Inhumans is limited.