Tales to Astonish (1965) #72, "A Prince There Was"

I've had about enough of Namor as a team member for a while, or stories in which he barely appears, so it's back to solo books for the next couple of reads.

When we last checked in on Namor's quest to recover Neptune's trident in order to prove he was the true ruler of Atlantis, he was being crushed by the gigantic Seaweed Man. How would he ever survive such a predicament??

Fairly easily, actually. He used a little leverage to get out from under the monster's crushing hand (describing the technique as something similar to judo) then formed a twister around it.

Precisely what I would have done.

Namor forces that trap door open and what does he find? Exactly what you'd expect: A talking fish with a diamond in its mouth.

Namor now knows that he must find...The Diamonds of Doom!!!

Meanwhile, his lady love Dorma is in a pickle as well. Krang has grown tired of not even reaching friend-zone with her so he has her banished to the cave of the Faceless Ones.

That's creepy Zantor off on the right. I'm not sure how he spends his days but he does the banishing honours here.

As a result, Namor senses a disturbance in the force...

So he DOES talk to fish? Or do they just talk to him?

Anyway, Namor has 99 problems but Dorma ain't one. He's a prince and he has to go on with his quest. It is what it is.

When he finds the diamonds though, it doesn't really strike him right away that there just might be a good reason why they're called "diamonds of doom".

And...that's it??

As you can see from the cover, Namor shared this book with the Hulk so the story is only 12 pages long. We're left with a cliffhanger but if Namor was able to defeat the dreaded Seaweed Man, surely he'll find a clever way of overcoming the devastating effect of the diamonds of doom!!

X-Men Red (2018) #1, "The Hate Machine Part 1: Heal the World"

Marvel is celebrating the release of the Dark Phoenix film, though perhaps not its early results, and while Namor's history with Jean Grey may not be as noteworthy as the one he shares with some other members, he was a part of of her version of the X-Men just last year.

Once again, his appearance is brief, but at least makes sense. Jean has consulted with some of the most brilliant minds on earth and hatched out a plan to make the world a better place for mutants. Her first stop? Why, Atlantis, of course.

Maybe you'd get more if you were wearing pants when they arrived.

Atlantis seems like an odd choice until she elaborates a bit.

Jean arranges to speak before the U.N. (just like that) and states her case that mutants need to be recognized as a group even though they are not a nation as such (and attempts at having a nation specifically for mutants have just made them easier to target). This is where Jean's friends come in.

Once the meeting is at an end, the various members of the team are complimenting Jean on her progress when one of the ambassadors who questioned her drops by for a chat. It is quickly clear though that the ambassador is under some sort of mind-control and even more so when her head quite literally explodes.

Jean is suspected of having caused the ambassador's rather spectacularly gruesome death but Namor steps in to defend her from trigger-happy UN cops.

Nightcrawler whisks the team away to regroup, Namor included. The villain is revealed to be one Cassandra Nova, a name which...means nothing to me at all.

A decent enough premise though I'd be surprised if it hadn't been attempted before. I don't expect Namor's face time to increase much and while he had a good reason to be there initially, I wonder if he'll have a good reason to stay. We'll see how he's worked in.

Sub-Mariner: The Depths (2008) #2

The previous post was about clearing out a minor appearance in an Avengers book. Namor also has a small appearance in this book too, no matter what the title might seem to indicate, but his presence is felt throughout nonetheless.

The book's first issue was discussed here.

Randolph Stein, notorious hoax debunker, is out to prove Atlantis is a myth while working with a crew convinced that it exists and quite paranoid and superstitious about it. An impulsive act on his part puts one of the crewmen in danger so the rest of the crew begins to turn on Stein.

Namor, in this book, continues to be seen in shadows and as outlines in murky water. Esad Ribic's art is excellent at creating the claustrophobic mood.

Stein constantly shrugs off mentions of Namor's existence by suggesting that they are simply delusions caused by the depths and such, until he has a more direct encounter and the tables are turned.

Stein's opinion in regards to Namor changes drastically. He believes the encounter was real so he sets off on a solo mission to find the legendary creature himself to conclude the book.

This is a great book to read in bed late at night with the lights as dim as possible. The creative team has effectively built a creepy tension. It's a mini-series I could have easily gobbled up in one night but I am deliberately dragging it out. It stands out in quality amidst the other material in which Namor has appeared around the same time, that much is certain.

The Avengers (1963) #264, "Sting and Sorrows"

Since we've fallen off our usual pace of late, I'll quickly add another (very) brief appearance by Namor in an Avengers book.

The Marvel Universe was in the midst of its massively shitty Secret Wars 2 story which affected most of its titles. The book feels like a filler issue to bridge us over to the inevitable crossover. Most of it is pointless.

Namor's appearance amount to little more than a page in which his self-doubt is reiterated.

This leads to a cameo by Susan Richards for the Fantastic Four. Namor, as usual, crushes on her, but Franklin shows up to spoil the mood.

Oh, you will!

Namor's confidence issues in this book are actually kind of a refreshing contrast to his bluster in other books. He's been on other teams before so in a way it's out of place but he was often the most powerful and/or a founding member. As a newcomer on a team with Hercules perhaps it's not so strange after all.

The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (1985) #6, "No Strings Attached"

I want to finish out the Avengers team-up theme I'd started on. I've looked at books in which Namor showed up Captain America, Iron Man and Thor books but before going back to one of the team titles, we're going to have a quick look at a less obvious option.

It should comes as no surprise that Namor's presence in this book is quite limited. He had only recently become a member of the Avengers and he has little relationship with the Scarlet Witch and even less with the Vision. He basically just fills out the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The bulk of the story revolves around Magneto showing up at the party and the tension that this creates since just about everyone in that room has cause to loathe him. There are a few amusing moments though and an Invaders reunion of sorts.

Here, Namor shows his ability to explain things the other characters already know.

As people start to make their way out Namor, player that he is, throws down some charm.

That's a reference to her pregnancy at the time, which I admit I'd completely forgotten about.

That's pretty well the extent of Namor's contribution to the book but, to my surprise, he appears to be far more involved in the next issue so I'll be checking that out at some point down the road.

Thor (1998) #4, "From The Ashes"

The whole theme of teaming up with core Avengers members is advancing slowly due to time constraints but after checking out Captain America and Iron man books, we now turn to Thor.

Thor is in a pickle. A sea goddess named Sedna has captured him with plans to use her magic to turn him into a "suitable mate". He's at a significant disadvantage because in the previous issue, he hurled his mighty hammer at some sort of dragon creature and the hammer did not return to him as it normally does. It has been behaving erratically.

The God of Thunder need not fear, however, because the Avenging son is in the 'hood.

Without the hammer, Thor's turned back into his secret identity. Did you not wonder where that dude came from?

While the mortal version of Thor (Jake, I believe?) swims to the surface, Sedna calls on reinforcements to deal with Namor.

The sea dragon (or whatever) stuns Namor and also swims to the surface. There, this Jake guy basically calls on his hammer to get its ass back to where it's needed. This time, it responds.

Namor returns to take up the fight but this is Thor's book, after all, so the star performer is the one to do away with the beast. Sedna then makes another attempt at seducing Thor but Namor prevents it.

Sedna sees her plan is going south fast so she escapes.

Thor expresses his gratitude to Namor and even invites him out for a beer but the Prince declines the offer. He's got a kingdom to rule and all that.

But the boys leave one another on good terms which is a nice change from how Namor is so often manipulated into fighting his would-be allies or in conflict with them due to some misunderstanding. It's particularly consistent in this case because even when they have found themselves at odds, Thor has usually demonstrated some respect towards Namor.

One small oddity in this book; Namor speaks to (and of) Sedna as though he's known her a long time but she's only appeared in this issue and the preceding one in the volume.

The Invincible Iron Man (1968) #54: "Sub-Mariner: Target For Death"

We soldier on reading about meetings between Namor and core Avenger members. This time, we look at an Iron Man issue from the early 70s.

The cover is by Gil Kane. That man could draw a punch!

We are quickly introduced to Madame MacEvil (really?) as she argues with her computer and states her goal in life.

That's quite the outfit. At first glance, I was convinced this was Moondragon.

She fires a missile that strike an iceberg near Namor. It caused huge chunks of ice from the iceberg to collapse onto a passing ship so Namor has to come to the rescue!

Is that a hammer in your shorts, or...

Namor tracks the rocket's trail, little knowing that MacEvil has taken control of Iron Man's armour. When Namor catches up to her ship, she unleashes Shellhead on him.

That's tellin' him.

They fight for a spell until Namor dodges a repulsor ray blast and it hits the ship from which MacEvil was giving Iron Man orders instead. That causes MacEvil and her smart-mouth computer to lose control over Iron Man.

The armoured avenger is relieved but takes off without explanation which may not be the best course of action when dealing with someone of Namor's temperament.

Makes me wonder about how well these two got on when they next met.

There wasn't a lot of substance to this issue but in trying to determine whether MacEvil showed again later, it came to light that she is, in fact, the character we know best as Moondragon.

I joked about that earlier because the costume design was near-identical (colour aside) to the one Moondragon was known to wear in the 70s and, well, there are only so many bald women in the Marvel Universe. Her personality was so completely different than that of the Moondragon character I remember that I still did not think it was the same character, however.

This book is then, under a different name, Moondragon's first appearance so it's interesting in that respect and provides a touch more Avengers content than anticipated.

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.