Though DC Comic's underwater superhero Aquaman is undoubtedly more popular than Marvel's Namor, Namor predates the former by a couple of years. With DC having pushed Aquaman into the spotlight more often, he is also the character I am more familiar with.Still, the more snippets of Namor I'd gotten of Namor through other comics, the more intrigued I was. Especially interesting to me was the idea that he's not always the nicest of guys, possibly even venturing into villain territory.
It was high time I explored this character a little deeper.
The first thing I noted was that they refer to him as a mutant and on the cover he's wearing the X-Men symbol. I hadn't known that he was part of that world and I suspect there was some retconning going on. In any case, with the exception of a visit from X-men Emma Frost and Loa, his X-Men connection seems a bit forced and unnecessary.
Still, the story is fun, if a bit convoluted at times. It involves underwater vampires and so, a scuba diving Blade would have made more sense than the X-Men, but I don't want to be too negative— there were freaking underwater vampires.
Ariel Olivetti's art is pretty great. Lines are crisp and the visuals are lifelike, with a touch of fantasy. The last issue has a new artist whose work was decent if nowhere near as good as Olivetti's. The colouring, too, was wonderful with Olivetti's run, with a murky blue overtone that fit the tone and setting, but still clear enough to see the details.
1 comment:
Interesting review. I haven't read this comic and since I don't care for Emma Frost, I'll pass even though the underwater vampires sound tempting. :)
For a long time, Namor was a member of the Avengers, so his association with the X-Men is, indeed, new. He was often the headstrong and hotheaded one, bringing internal tension to the team. He's also been a villain, especially against the Fantastic Four. More recently he was in the New Avengers comics leading to Secret Wars.
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