Sunday Splash Page #376

"Heads of the Board," in Namor the Sub-Mariner #8, by John Byrne (writer/artist/letterer), Glynis Oliver (colorist)

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.

Random Back Issues #151 - Namor the Sub-Mariner #19

Did some of Byrne's Sensational She-Hulk scripts get mixed in by accident?

We open on Byrne doing a version of racist WWII Namor comics. Weird place to start. Even stranger, it's Jacqueline Crichton (aka the former Invader Spitfire), reading the comics, which Namor apparently has sitting around his skyscraper apartment. No explanation for that is forthcoming. Jacqueline muses on the war before catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She got de-aged thanks to a blood transfusion from the original Human Torch, and recalls Namorita's been on her to update her look.

We get a page or her trying on some of Nita's clothes before she's called to deal with a problem in Namor's private office. Not more racist caricatures. Namor's friend Caleb Alexander went in there to confront Desmond Marrs, the corporate shitbag who hoodwinked Namor into giving him control of his company while Namor was away. Jacqueline finds Caleb bleeding and unconscious on the floor.

The news is relayed to Namor, Namorita, Caleb's daughter Carrie, and Desmond's sister. Phoebe insists Caleb must have attacked her brother, which just about gets her a knuckle sandwich (that she'd deserve) from Carrie. They're in the Savage Land, where Super-Skrull was posing as a resurrected Danny Rand and hypnotized Ka-Zar into giving Rand-Meachum rights to strip mine the Savage Land. Super Skrull's gone, but Ka-Zar and Joy Meachum are going forward with the plan.

Namor appoints Jacqueline head of Oracle and tells her to buy up Rand-Meachum. Shanna hitches a ride with Carrie and Phoebe to New York to get her husband, but Namor and Namorita need to stop in Atlantis. Namor's dead wife, Dorma, turned up alive, but mindless. Worse, her tomb is empty.

After a two-page interlude about a "Mr. Smith" buying a secluded house to begin his work of subjugating the animal kingdom (starting with the poor realtor he kills), we return to New York, where Desmond Marrs is running from. . .the Punisher?! Desmond tried to take over Stark Enterprises (I think that during Armor Wars II), and Stark flattened him. Marrs turned to drugs for raising cash, and we all know how Frank Castle feels about drug dealers.

Give Desmond credit, the guy shoots Frank three times in the chest. For some reason, Frank doesn't immediately kill him, instead letting Desmond, well, you can see. If I remember right, Desmond somehow isn't dead, which doesn't seem like the sort of trick you could pull on the Punisher, but oh well.

Back under the sea, Namor and Nita find the cave where Dorma was discovered. It's full of equipment Namor finds familiar, equipment that belongs to Vyrra the Banished. Vyrra actually made more than one clone of Dorma, but none have the woman's mind or personality (though one of them develops some sort of will by the time Jae Lee's drawing the book.) Vyrra was banished by Namor's grandfather for his work, but hoped by giving Namor his wife back, he might be allowed to be buried in Atlantis, as he could only extend his life so far.

Namor's only interested in Dorma's remains, which Vyrra explains have been reduced to several jars of mushy crunchberries. Perhaps reading the room and expecting Namor's about to snap his neck, Vyrra remarks he's glad to see his skills hadn't diminished in the decades since he last used them. Namorita doesn't get it, but when Namor tries to end the conversation, she demands to know. Yep, it's Byrne's, "Nita is a clone of her mother, because hybrids are sterile," explanation on us. Thanks, John.

{7th longbox, 135th comic. Namor the Sub-Mariner #19, by John Byrne (writer/artist/letterer), Glynis Oliver (colorist)}

Saturday Splash Page #116

"No-Frills Commuter Flight," in Sub-Mariner (vol. 1) #35, by Roy Thomas (writer), Sal Buscema (penciler), Jim Mooney (inker), Jean Izzo (letterer), colorist uncredited

The three issues of Namor's late 1960s-early 1970s series I own are courtesy of Essential Defenders Volume 1. The first picks up from the final issue of Dr. Strange's first series, as Strange enlists Namor's helps defending Earth from the Undying Ones. That issue starts with Namor returning to Atlantis, but having lost his gills as a result of some aliens abducting and experimenting on him 4 issues earlier.

Roy Thomas resolves that within a handful of pages and then sends Namor off to help Strange, although it ends with Strange sending Namor back to Earth and staying behind to fight the Undying Ones himself (the Hulk would later help Strange escape, but Barbara Norriss gets left behind.)

The other two issues involve Atlantean scientists realizing the U.S. Army is building a device which could screw up the entire world's weather. No one's going to listen to Namor with all the times he's attacked the surface world, so he'll have to stop the device by force, and that means allies. The Silver Surfer buys in on the premise of protecting this world of madmen (after the customary misunderstanding fight with Namor.) The Hulk's busy destabilizing a Latin American dictatorship because they decided to shoot at him, but he's on board for smashing some different soldiers.

The two-parter sets the tone for a lot of Defenders stories. Minus Dr. Strange's (or later Valkyire and Hellcat) more level-headed demeanor, Hulk is less a teammate than a natural disaster you can gently nudge in a certain direction. He fights the Army, Namor, the Avengers when they show, Namor and the Surfer again when he tries to just smash the machine rather than letting the Army agree to more study before implementation. The Surfer spends a lot of time moaning about human tendencies towards violence, but is he any better for responding in kind. Certainly not any less annoying. Namor tries to just order everyone around, which goes as well as you'd expect.

A Little Nonsense In Winter

Do you think Namor is any good at holding his breath? This can refer to above or below water. For us, if we want to go underwater, and we don't have breathing apparatus, we have to practice. It's a necessity.

But Namor wouldn't have to. He flies out of the water into the air, he can breathe air. He goes back underwater, he can breathe through his gills. There's no necessity (he doesn't go into space often). Namor doesn't strike me as the sort to practice something like that just in case or for the heck of it, the way Captain America or Shang-Chi might.

Which means Namor might lose a "holding your breath" contest against Franklin Richards, or one of the Power kids, if you could get him to do it. Which would embarrass the hell out of him, and provide a good laugh for everyone else. Ben and Johnny in particular would never let him hear the end of it. Until he drowned Johnny, at least.

The Line Of People Angry At Namor Goes Around That Block He Demolished

Sort of related to yesterday's idea about Jimmy Woo being menaced by threats he would no longer remember, do you think that ever happens to Namor? He's had more than one bout of amnesia, and he can be destructive and hot-headed even when in full possession of his faculties, so there have to be plenty of people with grudges.

I picture him being attacked by some person, angry over the destruction of their life from one of Namor's attacks on the surface world, and Namor responding, "Which attack? The one where I summoned a giant whale with legs? The time I was walking to meet with the U.N., the Hulk showed up to help, and we started fighting, or one of the half-dozen other times I've declared war on you pale air-breathers? Speak up!" It'd be better written than that, but in general theme, that's what I'm thinking of.

It could either be played up as "Look, that might be an important day to you, but it didn't mean squat to me, scram", or more sympathetically,* "I'm sorry, I can't recall the specifics, I've had a tumultuous existence".

* I think Namor's capable of sympathy. Not a lot of it, but some.

Like Wookies, Atlanteans Tend To Rip Arms Off When They Lose

X-Men versus Agents of Atlas #1 was my first time reading about this Dr. Nemesis character. Based on what I read, Parker summed him up quite well with that little caption box: 'Scientific Genius. Height of Arrogance.' I don't know if there's more to him than being smart and pompous, and right now, it doesn't matter.

What I think we need is an Arrogance Battle between Dr. Nemesis and Namor. They're both hanging around the X-Men, they both think very highly of themselves, let's see who's more supercilious. We can use the younger mutants to ask them stupid, exceedingly obvious questions that will annoy them, then see who delivers the more cutting, yet calm remark. Who can provide the more withering look of utter contempt towards? Who better expresses their frustration that you are wasting their time with your pettifoggery*, when they have important business to attend to elsewhere?

* The first time I ever saw this word was an issue of the Avengers where they were shuffling the roster. They were debating how to arrange the main lineup, reserves, and inactives, and Namor finally gets fed and proclaims 'Enough of this pettifoggery! Let us vote!' That was when Sandman and Rage both got to become Avengers.

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.

Definable Patterns In Comic Storytelling

Relax, it's not really as deep as it's sounds, I just felt like doing one of those thesis-esque titles.

So in reading through the first 25 issues of Byrne's Namor series, West Coast Avengers and New Warriors, I've detected a sense of closure after that 25th issue. Like there was an overarching plot from the first, and now it's done, and they're moving on to the next arc.

With Namor, the first 25 seem to focus on Namor getting involved in the surface world, and dealing with parts of his past (his history of aggression, his dead wife, his time in WWII, etc.). Well, that and things Byrne had some sort of vested interest in (I'm still not sure why he was so intent on bringing Iron Fist back, but I won't complain). The 25th issue wraps up a lot of those things, and sets Namor off in a somewhat different direction.

The point of the first 25 issues of West Coast Avengers seems to have been to get a roster constructed, as well as deal with various psycholgical problems of the members (Wonder Man, Tigra, Hank Pym). Sounds a lot like New Avengers, except WCA actually involved time travel, Hellcat, and about a dozen different super-villains getting beat down (including Ultron and the Grim Reaper). And nothing as incomprehensible as the Xorn/Magneto thing. After 25 issues, the roster is set, one of the major villains of the first 25 issues is dealt with, but there's still some other threads left open to hit later.

New Warriors plot point seemed to be Night Thrasher, and what the hell was up with him. Throw in some bonding between the team, some confrontations tied into character history (Firestar/Hellfire Club and Marvel Boy and his dad), and by issue 25 Nicieza was pretty much ready to go from there.

I think Darkhawk had roughly the same scenario, with Chris Powell having found the truth about his dad's death, fended off numerous people trying to kill him, learned some of the ups and downs of herodom, and helped keep his family together, but by then he'd run into another person with similar armor to his, which raised new questions as you moved into the later issues.

This doesn't always happen. The adjectiveless Spider-Man series of the '90s didn't have an arc I could discern, but the book went through about 4 writers in 25 issues (3 after MacFarlane left at #16), and it was one of 4 monthly Spidey titles, so it was at least a little beholden to what was happening in those. It's hard to have a defining arc in those circumstances.

But why would writers go with 25 issues as sort of a wrap-up/jumping forward point? Did writers have to come to the Editorial with a plan laid out for the first two years of any project they wanted to kick start? Was it simply because it was a quarter of the way to 100 issues?

Good Ol' Fashioned Randomness

I've realized that it isn't where my brain goes that scares me, it's how it gets there. The path from watching two old men fight on The Boondocks to looking up whether it was Alfredo Griffith or Alfredo Griffin that played for the Blue Jays in 1987 is surely an odd one. For the record, Alfredo Griffin actually played for Oakland that year. He did play for Toronto in 1984.

Anyway, in addition to my weekly pull, I've been buying some older comics this year, what with Ken having been given a few thousand to sell off by a customer. Plus, I brought back a few of mine that I'd loaned to a friend years ago. Well, I technically gave them to him, but he had them buried under his clothing, so I don't think he'll miss them. So what have I learned from them?

- I like Spider-Man comics where he teams up with the Black Cat (The Powerless Saga, and the Invasion of the Spider-Slayers stories). The exception is when Kevin Smith decides to retcon rape into her origin. Thanks Kev, hope Clerks 2 is a big success for you.

- Ultron Unlimited (Avengers #19-22, Vol. 3(?)) is freaking awesome. So much so that, as pointed out by Len and Jack, no Marvel writer has dared to use Ultron since, probably out of fear that the story wouldn't measure up. That's probably a valid concern.

- Of course, that's no reason not to use Alkhema, Ultron's second "wife" (also pointed out by Len and Jack).

- Or Count Nefaria for that matter. Marvel suffers from a severe lack of villains that make you go "Oh, shit! The good guys are in trouble!" when you see them in the book. In theory there's: Kingpin (Daredevil), Green Goblin (Spider-Man), Thanos, Apocalypse, Ultron, Dr. Doom, The Sentry (well, he makes me go "Oh shit!" when I see him in a book). . . that's about it. But they've got some who could be that way, if they'd bother to use them. Of course, why make scary villains, when you can just have the heroes slap each other around?

- There are few things at DC that make me happier than seeing Batman losing it and slapping the Joker bloody and senseless, especially when it's because the Joker brainwashed Catwoman back into being a villain, which means the Bat is sleeping alone tonight(Detective Comics #570, Mike Barr, Alan Davis, and Paul Neary).

- Batman killed an Eclipso manifestation with a toy sword (Detective Comics Annual #5)? Why does this guy give the JSA trouble again?

- I collected The Order, which is a six part arc/mini-series in Busiek and Larsen's Defenders that explains why Hulk, Namor, Surfer, and Dr. Strange had been acting as they had until then. Busiek did that part fine (I think health issues had taken Larsen out of it by then), but how the day was saved makes no sense to me, no matter how many times a I read it. The Big Four's female counterparts get hit by energy which passes through them and hits said Big Four, and then they aren't so angry anymore? Buh?

- The first 18 issues of John Byrne's Namor are as kickass as Mallet said they were, which is good since I took that as a recommendation, which is why I bought them when I saw them at the store. Namor's a jerk, but a cool jerk, who loves to beat people up while talking about how awesome he is. Clearly, he idolizes Thor. And hey, frequent appearances by Namorita in her pre-blue, pre-blown up days are always welcome here at Reporting on Marvels & Legends.

I've got some other books, but I'll hold those in reserve for another day.

Things I Think About #16

I found out from Len a couple of weeks ago, that Avi Arad, the head honcho at Marvel has three favorite characters. They are:

Cable
Namor
Thor

Now Cable's got an ongoing book, and had another one before this. Namor's been in a bunch of different titles and if they ever get around to that book they were going to do about that "Secret Scoiety" we saw in New Avengers, he'll be playing a role there as well.

But what about Thor? Sure, Thor:Blood Oath wasn't bad, but it's off in its own little continuity. So what I'm waiting for is when Arad walks into the Marvel offices and asks "Where is Thor? Why isn't he in any of these books?" Then I'd love for someone to turn to Quesada and say "Joe, you want to field that one?"

So, let's make some guesses? How long until Thor is back in the mainstream Marvel Universe?

I'll say that it happens in the aftermath of Annihilation and Civil War. So that'll be what, end of the year, early 2007, something like that? Ladies and gentlemen, place your guesses.