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Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Paul Davidson, Alex Lins
Colorist: Neeraj Menon
Letterer: Joe Caramagna
Sometimes you can take consistently great comic book creators for granted. For example, Jason Aron has spent much of 2024 reminding the comic book world what type of writer he is with series like Batman: Off-World and his run on Action Comics. Now he is back with Marvel once again taking on one of their oldest characters. I once thought that Aaron had done pretty much all her could have for Marvel but based on this first issue that is nowhere near the case.
Namor is a hard character to get right. Is he an Anti-Hero? Is he a villain who is simply misunderstood? Often he is a little bit of everything. As this book opens we are dealing with a much different type of Namor. He is often the living embodiment of ID, but that bravado is all but vacant. No longer a King but a mere prisoner of some facility that uses its location near the ocean as a way to mock his power. However, what they do not know is Namor lacks the desire to return to his kingdom. Why? That is not fully clear at this moment.
With the way this book opens, it would be easy to say this is not ‘my Namor’ with how defeated he has become. I could see many say that Namor would never be in this type of state, but I think it works because Namor has always been emotionally stilted. He has many highs and many lows with not much in between. The mystery of course is what exactly happened to leave him in this state. That will be the true test regarding whether his actions here feel warranted.
One element that is being built up is the isolation Namor feels. He is one of a kind and because of that, no other kind wishes to claim him. Growing up many of the Atlanteans viewed him as a freak and treated him as such despite his nobility. We get several flashbacks to those moments to give context to the life Namor has led. For those wishing for the classic Namor, those flashbacks offer just that. He suffers no fools and is many steps ahead of individuals who wish to do him harm.
Paul Davidson and Alex Lins are on art duties and although it does not specify it appears Davidson handled the present day while Lins had the flashbacks. Their styles are similar enough that at first, it was not apparent this had multiple artists. Neeraj Menon’s colors did far more to differentiate those periods than the linework. For the underwater scenes, Menon used a much more washed-out design to help signify where the action was taking place. It was distinct enough to be noticeable but subtle enough to not be distracting.
Davidson had a challenging task because most of his part of the story takes place in a confined area and involves a great deal of conversation and inner reflection. He handled that challenge well keeping the camera moving to make scenes filled with exposition flow as smoothly as they could. Lins had a different type of challenge where he had to craft a story that was fully underwatered. Something that is not easy to do but similar to Davidson he handled it well.
My only major qualm with them is that neither could seem to grasp the face of Namor. He simply did not always look like his normal self, and it was not like other Marvel comics that changed the way a character
looked to match the actor who portrayed them in the MCU. He just looked off compared to the way we have seen him in the past. Maybe it was the stringing long hair. Plus Lins Namor ha
d a much rounder face than Davidson’s. You can justify it since Lins’s version was meant to be young. Still, it was the one area of the art where the inconsistency was noticeable.
As the story moves forward we learn Namor’s absence has led to chaos in his kingdom. Separate kingdoms have been forming and are now in a conflict dubbed “World War Sea”. I do rather love that name. So now Namor must choose between staying with his captives or saving his people and risking failing them yet again.
Namor #1 was clearly designed to set the stage. Giving us a broken Namor that needs to be rebuilt and the conflict that will do just that. Because of that, it does come off as a big tease to something much bigger. But Aaron’s style fits the voice of Namor quite well, and as cliffhangers go there’s plenty of promise. Finally a new story for Marvel’s oldest character.
Final Score: 7.5 out of 10
