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

[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.