Namor #1

Recap
"LAST KING OF ATLANTIS" War rages beneath the waves, from the lost cities of the Secret Seas to the fathomless depths where the Elder Whales reign. Seven kings, old and new, fight to rule the watery realm. But where is Namor, the once mighty Sub-Mariner? He's sitting behind bars on the surface, with no intention of ever setting foot in the seas again. So begins an oversized Atlantean event that will forever reshape the landscape of the undersea world while at last laying bare the dark history of Atlantis and its fiercest, most infamous defender. An epic that will redefine the King of the Seas in the manner of Jason Aaron's PUNISHER series!
Review
Marvel’s first mutant is many things, but he is never weak. He never cowers. And he never gives up on his undersea home. Or does he? Namor #1 takes a long established character with long established traits and puts him in a story that takes a new look at who and what Namor is.
The king of Atlantis languishes in a surface world prison in Namor #1. He’s mistreated and kept away from water. But Namor remains defiant, despite thinking he will never return to his undersea home. All that changes when the prison is attacked by Atlanteans sent to kill him. Namor survives the attempt on his life and discovers afterward that Atlantean society is fractured and at war with each other–a war that threatens to invite retaliation from the surface. But will Namor answer the call to try and stop it all?
Namor #1 is almost whiplash inducing in the sense that whatever the story might seem to be in the opening pages changes significantly by the end. But what is coherent throughout is a theme Aaron weaves in about Namor being an “other”–not just on the surface world, and especially the prison he’s in, but also in flashbacks to Atlantis when he was young. Aaron calls out the idea explicitly early on, making sure the reader doesn’t miss it. With that theme in mind, readers watch Namor protect the prison’s abusive guards (perhaps only as an unintended consequence) from the Atlantis forces sent to kill him. This depiction of someone protecting those who hate him may preview the upcoming storyline.
Third person narration pops up in a few places in Namor #1. It’s used less to describe events or provide exposition than to set a mood. Aaron’s intent seems to be to give Namor a larger than life presence–understandable considering who he is as a character. But the language used has more of a carnival barker quality and doesn’t quite confer the added weight it’s trying to.
Aaron’s initial approach to the series’ titular character is an interesting one. Namor #1’s opening pages led to a contradiction–almost a weakness–that is unusual for the character. Namor’s internal monologue speaks to a self-imposed exile. Even if he could return to the sea, he wouldn’t. In the opening pages it gives him a nobility. The prison guards’ abuse doesn’t truly touch him, in a sense. But the moment Namor is presented with the demands of a higher calling, his appeal to self-exile loses its nobility, becoming more of an excuse. Aaron very effectively takes Namor’s arrogance and intransigence and uses it to make him feel somehow smaller.
Davidson and Lins’ Namor is unusual. The adult version of the character isn’t conventionally attractive, which is typically the case even when he is drawn with an edge of anger or hostility. Certainly this tracks to some degree given the environment Namor finds himself in early in Namor #1. He is unkempt. Lines and shading on his face make him look haggard, even old. It goes further than that, though. His nose ends in an abrupt point. His brow appears more upswept than usual. Looking straight on, his face is quite angular.
Namor’s visual depiction reinforces and ultimately sells the attitude that Aaron gives him in this issue. The art very effectively reinforces that something has changed in the man.
Young Namor, on the other hand, possesses a youthful innocence in his early pages. He looks almost cherubic in some panels. And his shorts even have that quality of a pre-teen/teenager still growing into clothes that are slightly too big. But Namor’s well-established intensity and hard edge still lives in the boy’s eyes. Davidson and Lins never let readers forget who this boy becomes–even before the surprising events near the end of the issue.
Color choices create a stark contrast between Namor’s present day setting in the prison and the young Namor in Atlantis in the past. Atlantis is bright and soft. The water is sky blue. It’s an inviting setting. The modern prison setting doesn’t feature blue at all. Instead, dark gray, brown, and beige are used for most of the setting and Namor’s attire. And when the story ventures underwater in the present, the color choices are still darker and harsher. Menon makes Namor’s past into an idealized time compared to the much harder present.
Final Thoughts
Aaron finds a way to turn Namor’s long standing character traits into a source of inner turmoil and even, arguably, a weakness. At the same time he sets Namor up as an outsider. The art team transforms the character as well, making him almost more average. When all is said and done, the creative team hasn’t changed Namor in an essential way or made him more sympathetic, but they have humanized him. Namor #1 begins a story that takes a complicated, broken monarch and sets him on a path of potential redemption.
Namor #1: The Imprisoned King
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 8.5/108.5/10
- Art - 8/108/10
- Color - 8/108/10
- Cover Art - 6.5/106.5/10