So Why Go There?

I was reading through Byrne's first two years* on Namor the Sub-Mariner this last weekend, and I get to around #18, and we're at the point where Namor's first dead wife, the Lady Dorma, has mysteriously returned from the grave, but in a basically mindles state. Turns out some exiled Atlantean created a clone (well several clones) of her, to try and win Namor's favor, so he could be buried in Atlantis. Great, except he can't recreate her mind, and basically destroyed her body breaking it down for raw materials. Oops.

Anyway, the big reveal comes when the eldery fishman reveals that Namorita is a clone of her mother, slightly altered so it wasn't too obvious**. It's further revealed, Namor knew for quite some time, and just never got around to bringing it up. Proof that even half-Atlantean men run when it comes time to discuss important emotional stuff. Anyway, Nita kind of freaks, what with her worried she's a soulless creation***, and takes off for awhile. Namor searches for, and finds her, and we have one of those touching moments, as Namor insists that he has observed her bravery and loyalty, and concern for others, and knows that regardless of how she came to be, she has a soul. Well, that's great. Really, I'm happy, except I can't shake the feeling that the whole sequence was unnecessary. Namor already knew, so it isn't a case where we watch him come to grips with this new information. And with Namora gone, it wasn't like she and Nita could have a mother/daughter talk about it, and Byrne made it pretty clear that it wasn't supposed to affect how we viewed her, so why bother?

Then, I thought of something else. The whole reason Namora went the clone route was because, as a hybrid, she's sterile. So, as another hybrid, Namor should be sterile too, right? Except that last mini-series he had showed he had at least one kid. Crap, Namor got cloned offspring too! Great, there could be dozens of Namor's running around now (instead of just the two Avengers/Invaders gave us).

* Well, 25 issues, the point where he stopped doing the art.

** The alterations included giving Nita full wings, were her mother apparently just had undeveloped wing buds. So, apparently Namora couldn't fly. Which means. . . the Namora in Agents of Atlas is a Skrull! Nah, Agents of Atlas is too cool to be infiltrated by Skrulls.

*** Conner Kent could relate to those feelings, if he wasn't busy being dead, while his girlfriend and best friend make out. Poor dead Connor. Or did they break up? I can't keep track.