In 1990, when the first issue of Namor the Sub-Mariner shipped, Namor hadn't had his own ongoing series since Sub-Mariner wrapped back in 1974. There was a 4-issue mini-series in 1984 about Namor trying to make peace between Atlantis and the surface world, and in '88, Roy Thomas wrote Saga of the Sub-Mariner, a 12-issue continuity recap. But no ongoing series until John Byrne took this shot. I'm a little surprised, since it apparently meant Byrne left Sensational She-Hulk, which seemed like a passion project for him. Plus, Namor had been presumed dead following the Atlantis Attacks! summer event.
First thing Byrne does is try to explain why Namor swings between being reasonable and aggressive, which he pins on Namor's hybrid nature. Basically, the ocean deep has too little oxygen for him, and the surface world has too much, so he either suffers oxygen deprivation or, essentially, is oxygen drunk. Feels like it would be easier to just say Namor can be a reasonable, level-headed guy, but he's also very proud and tends to overreact to perceived slights to him or his people. Or, he knows some surface-worlders are good, honorable people and tries to work with them, but when he watches how casually we dump toxic waste on his territories, he tends to get a little pissed off.
Anyway, Byrne adds a father-daughter pair to Namor's supporting cast, Caleb and Carrie Alexander. Namor apparently saved Caleb from drowning when he was a boy, and Caleb has been a fan ever since. It's he who puts forth the oxygen imbalance idea, and constructed a machine to treat Namor's blood to address it. Namor flirts a bit with Carrie, but she's not ready for that kind of thing. Still, she stays around, being suspicious of the other women who show interest in Namor for at least the first two years of the book.
Byrne doesn't spend time on Namor as monarch, opting instead for Namor as businessman. Namor uses salvaged treasure from sunken galleons to buy out a company and build Oracle Inc. into something more eco-friendly. Byrne also adds the Marrs siblings, Desmond and Phoebe, as rivals, with Phoebe trying to seduce Namor before actually falling for him. Desmond, well, I covered what happened with him earlier this month in Random Back Issues #151.
Maybe Byrne just wanted a book to do continuity "fixes." Besides the thing about Namor's mood swings, he's also the one who establishes Namorita is a clone of her mother, and that Iron Fist didn't really die. A throwdown with the Super-Skrull ultimately leads to K'un-Lun, where it turns out Danny Rand was captured and replaced by the plant-people H'ylthri when he returned home for help dealing with radiation poisoning. It was one of the H'ylthri, impersonating Iron Fist, who got killed years ago. Namor saving Iron Fist puts him in the crosshairs of Master Khan, who wipes Namor's memories and teleports him somewhere.
Which is as far as my collection goes. Byrne returned to Sensational She-Hulk as writer/artist about 9 months earlier. I imagine writing and drawing two books was too much, and Jae Lee came on as artist after that, and I haven't dug the look of the issues I've seen over the years. Byrne left entirely after issue 34, though the book continued up to issue 62. Namor was apparently tricked into sleeping with Lyrra (disguised as Sue Richards) in issue 50, and they conceived a child. Strange how the writers didn't apply Byrne's, "hybrids can't conceive" thing to the Avenging Son.
I run hot and cold on the fixes. I'm fine with bringing Iron Fist back, but the blood oxygen level thing feels over-complicated, and making Namorita as a clone resulted in people shifting her appearance and abilities all over the place for at least the next 15 years, which didn't do the character any favors. Plus, with Namor being the star, Namorita gets played as deferring to him, and is more of a "plucky sidekick" he has to protect from herself. I definitely prefer Niceza's Namorita to Byrne's. Byrne also took Namor's ankle wings and flight capability in issue 7, which, whatever man. Namor wasn't doing a lot of aerial combat up to that point anyway, it just meant he had to use elevators sometimes and couldn't always chase after enemies.
I picked up Byrne's run as writer/artist up in the early years of this blog. One of the other comics bloggers at the time, Zombie Mallet, was doing a lot of posts about it. Mostly about how Namor fought better when he didn't wear a shirt. Shirt on, Namor gets knocked out by one punch to the back of the skull. Shirt off, he's immediately busting loose. I'd read a couple of issues when they first came out, so when Marvels and Legends had a back issues sale, I pounced.
One thing a quick scan of covers and issue summaries for the whole series drives home is Byrne avoided Namor's typical enemies, something later writers didn't. Byrne leaves and here comes Tiger Shark, here comes Attuma, here comes Lyrra. Is it better to have Namor contending with eco-terrorists who sabotage his company's new oil tanker, or Headhunter (a businesswoman with hypnotic eyes), or old Iron Fist enemies? I don't know.
It feels like Byrne trying to emphasize his new direction for the character, now making inroads in the surface world via business instead of politics. But, again, he didn't necessarily do a lot with that. Namor is either too impatient or too honorable to resort to boardroom skullduggery to triumph. Not when he can punch things instead. So Byrne has Namor initially try to remain in the shadows, letting the world think he's dead, and certainly not connected to Oracle Inc. That falls apart by issue 3, when Namor rides the Griffin through Roxxon's boardroom skylight because he thinks they sent it to attack him.
Likewise, Namor doesn't spend much time actually running his company, always giving someone else "temporary" control. Caleb Alexander, Desmond Marrs, Jacqueline Crichton (aka Spitfire, who Byrne de-ages from a 60+ year old to probably early 20s. Another attractive woman for him to draw, what a harsh fate.) I think it's mostly just a means to confront him with different threats.
For part of his run as writer/artist, Byrne inks himself, through the magic of duotone paper. Later, other people take over inking (Bob Wiacek in issue #23, for example.) The duotone gives the art a different texture. Rough, but not in a way that muddies Byrne's lines, as the inking tends to fade near the edges. The art, or the characters at least, don't look as busy when Byrne's handling it all, versus having a separate inker.
Either way, he keeps his layouts straightforward here. Mostly 4-6 panels a page, sometimes laid out in rows, other times stacked vertically. There's no joke issues about fighting in a snowstorm, or people breaking the 4th wall by stepping out of the panel. That kind of stuff doesn't fit the character. Namor's pretty straightforward, handling things in a manner that's quick and to the point.
2 comments:
That oxygen thing is so unnecessary; why can't Namor just be a dick, without having to explain it away as "not his fault"? The fact that he's not "heroic" is one of the most interesting things about him!
(That said, it *did* work when they explained Quicksilver's attitude as being the equivalent of being forever stuck behind slow walkers in the street, except everyone in the world is a slow walker, and they are veeeeeeeeery sloooooooooow.
I suppose in that case, it's relatable rather than weird science.)
Yeah, Quicksilver's works because, at the end of the day, the way he expresses his frustration and annoyance is still up to him. He could deal with it in other ways, but he behaves like a high-handed dick. The oxygen thing takes it out of Namor's hands. It's not him, it's a medical condition!
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