“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.”
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NAMOR
No longer your grandfather’s sub-mariner.
Namor, King of Atlantis and known as the Sub-Mariner, has returned to the Marvel comic universe. He was notably absent from main story lines in Marvel since the destruction of the multi-verse in 2015. His time during Secret Empire in 2017 was for the history books, but his story line was amazing. He return sporting a new look: some bad-ass armor plating from the neck down his arms to his hands. No shirt (surprise it’s the ocean) and the kicker… armored pants. That’s correct, no more green underwear or creepy open chest 70’s night club owner look. I can’t help but notice that his return and warrior king redesign come at the heels of the soon to be released DC Aquaman movie, but I digress.
His new return is well, very Namor. In the first few pages, we find him breaking out the ‘join or die’ mantra to two d-listers under a cruise liner. Namor doesn’t like Stingray’s answer and sics his metal War Sharks to very much murder him. Like straight up, Godfather style murder. The story progresses to the Avengers confronting Namor, which naturally, in his own element underwater, is far superior to even Thor. Namor cuts through the newly rererererereformed Avengers group (see Avengers #1 2018) and only stops when he hears Cap ask for a moment of his time.
This is all a beautiful ruse while the newly elected Chairperson of the Avengers Black Panther is on his own secret mission underwater to a mysteriously guarded ‘bunker’ part of Atlantis. His only mistake is setting off a silent alarm. He stepped on a starfish. God bless that’s brilliant. The starfish makes its first ever real purpose known in a fictional universe.
At this point, we know Namor will do anything to make sure his people are safe after a dead Celestial fell on Atlantis (see Avengers 1-7, 2018). His people are desperate and want to flee to the surface, but can’t survive. His rage takes him into an idea to form his own group of water-type characters to become the Defenders of the Deep. Nice nod to Namor’s time with the Defenders in the 70’s. He says the air-breathers can have their land, but the Defenders of the Deep will protect the ocean and those who live in it. He didn’t seem to want to play nice.
I liked this issue. It had the re-imagined return of one of the oldest Marvel characters mixed into a recent story line. Well written and amazingly drawn. Namor’s armor is hardcore and dare I say, movie ready. Marvel is far ahead of DC in the movie universes but DC has the advantage as of now with the Aquaman movie. I like Marvel’s move to go with Namor in a story line. I hope this means a stand alone comic is coming for the Sub-Mariner. We miss your grumpiness.
If you’ve read it, let me know what you thought of the issue in the comments below.
Beta Ray Greg is the Comic Critic for SoBros Network. Be sure to follow him on Twitter: @BetaRayGreg
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