Fear Itself: The Deep (or: the one where Namor's a scaredy cat)

[nomadicwriter]

So, one of the comics coming out this Wednesday, as you're probably not aware, is part three of Fear Itself: The Deep. It's a non-essential tie-in to a pretty mundane event, produced by a little known creative team, and the book's biggest stars are Namor and Doctor Strange. It's not much of a surprise that most people haven't noticed it exists.

But it is a shame, because it's actually pretty good.

One of the Worthy seen in Fear Itself is Namor's former foe Attuma, so this issue naturally starts with the two of them facing off beneath the ocean in New Atlantis. However, during the battle, something strange happens. Attuma whispers Namor's own battlecry, "Imperius Rex," into his ear, and from that moment on, Namor starts acting pretty oddly. Instead of sticking it out to fight, he obeys the urging of his young sidekick Loa to run from the battle and live to fight another day.

From there, the action moves to a misty coastal town that would make a pretty good setting for a Lovecraft story, where we discover that Namor has called on an old friend for reinforcements.



It's pretty clear that Namor's not his usual self. He's looking decidedly morose, and beating himself up for having "darted away like a frightened, ink-spewing squid". He's even apologetic for calling on Strange, but he had nowhere else to turn, since even the X-Men are too busy to help him out.

Strange has no problem with helping an old pal, of course, and is pretty sure that even with his reduced powers, he ought to be able to summon their former teammates, the Defenders.



...It doesn't quite work as planned. Instead of finding him the Hulk as expected, his little magical helpers grab the closest person that seems to match the requirements, namely Lyra, who after all is the Hulk's daughter. (Sort of.)

Naturally, there's no time to sort out the mix-up, because she arrives simultaneously with a bunch of eldritch monsters swarming out of the sea.



With a team of Defenders thus assembled in the traditional makeshift way, they go into battle, but it's still pretty clear that something's just not right with Namor...



And that's about the time that the Silver Surfer shows up to join the team at the end of the first issue.

So far it's a great little mini-series, with nice dialogue and lovely, atmospheric art, and definitely one of the highlights of the Fear Itself event in my opinion. Well worth checking out as a self-contained story, even if you're giving the main event a miss.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

heh.... you know what... i kinda like this... I am glad some one did somethign with Lyra.... i lost track of her after She-hulks

[q99]

Loa! On land!

When'd she regain the ability to breath air? :)

(Not complaining- making her aquatic struck me as a bad idea)

[long_silence]

She's using a special potion to let her breathe on land. She mentioned in one of the later issues that she's used up her last one now.

[q99]

Aw, I'm hoping air'll be a permanent thing for her sooner or later.

The water things seems like a forced attempt to make her a Namor cast member to me, but it has the unfortunate side-effect of separating her from other young mutants at the same time. I don't mind if she hangs with Namor, but being able to hang with air breathers would be cool too.

[long_silence]

Well she is hanging out with Doctor Strange at the moment, so he might be able to help her.

It's not like any of the other young mutants other than Generation Hope are playing any sort of role in the books right now. Being a Namor cast member helps give her a role, it helps her from disappearing into limbo like it seems everyone else her age will. Even Pixie and Armor aren't entirely safe right now, (Magik is joining Uncanny X-men so they won't need Pixie to teleport them around anymore and there's no guarantee that Armor will still be part of Astonishing X-men in Regenesis).

With Namor joining the Defenders (after the Deep) there's a chance Loa might at least get a cameo or a mention there, if she doesn't join the team herself.

[protogarrett]

I have to admit that this looks pretty damn awesome.

[glimmung]

Namor without his arrogance is pretty pathetic isn't he.

[drmcninja]

His arrogance defines his character. Without it, he just seems like a nobody.

[ian_karkull]

This mini is surprisingly fun, despite -or probably because of- it's quirky inconsequentiality.

[nomadicwriter]

I think many great minis are born from the premise of "let's take some characters I like and play with them for four issues". Trying to do Big Important Things with the plot just gets in the way of the fun stuff.

[shadowpsykie]

Where is your icon from?

[nomadicwriter]

It was a backup story in World War Hulks: Wolverine vs Captain America #2. One of my LJ friends posted a scan and I had to icon it.

[ian_karkull]

Exactly. The books I tend to enjoy a lot more often tend to have this "Yeah, you go and do your big important stuff, I'll just stay in my own little sandbox and play with these guys for a while.. because they're awesome." feeling to them.
Which is probably why this actually feels so much like a "real" Defenders book to me.

[glimmung]

Shouldn't Loa be going through those critters like a buzz saw? Non-sentient monster mooks and all that.

[nomadicwriter]

She does use her powers on some of them later, but she seems to prefer keep it as a last resort, even though they're (presumably) non-sentient.

[proteus_lives]

I lke the art and first page.

[righthondude]

I want to get this but I'm a bit disappointed it's Lyra, not Jen.

[nomadicwriter]

Yeah, I do love Jen, and I must admit I barely know Lyra at all, though I do like her in this. But at least Jen's getting this new Destroyers series, and apparently she's also going to be in FF for a while starting with issue #10.

[valtyr]

Mmph, pretty art. Also, Namor has a girl sidekick? Suddenly riveted, how did I not know. Where does she show up before?

[nomadicwriter]

I haven't been following Namor prior to this, but I gather she was in the X-books and became Namor's sidekick during his recently cancelled Namor: The First Mutant Series. This is her.

[valtyr]

Awesome, thanks! I'll have to check that out.

[sinisterlink]

I did a bit of a mega post on her before if you want to check it out:

http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/2781685.html?#cutid1

I really need to do a part 2 now that the Namor series has ended...

[valtyr]

Oh wow, she's fantastic! How did I miss her? Thanks so much. :) I'll have to pick up some of those.