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)}