Fanholes Side Story #3 Imperius Rex!

From the ocean's depths Namor has returned in his own solo title. This series spun out of the recent Curse of The Mutants storyline. I admit, I haven’t kept up with X-Men since Second Coming ended. First, lets get this out of the way because it needs to be said. Vampires. Yes, Vampires. Given the success of Twilight it seems Hollywood has become vampire obsessed. That obsession has now made its way to Marvel Comics for better or worse. It feels like Marvel is just throwing its hat in the ring simply to cash in. But, the vampires that Namor and his Atlantean warriors face are…underwater vampires. I’m serious.

So why did I decide to pick up this series, seeing as how it was launched in conjunction with Curse of The Mutants? I’m a total Namor fan boy. In a previous podcast I talked about how my first comic was Invaders #11. Due to that comic I have a special place in my heart for Captain America, the original Human Torch, and of course Namor.

Stuart Moore is the brains behind this series. You may know him from his run on Firestorm. Ariel Olivetti provides wonderful artwork, and that is putting it mildly. You could take almost any random page, frame it and proudly display it in your living room. Its that good. Best of all, it seems a good fit for Namor. Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself.

The first four issues consist of the underwater vampire arc. As silly as underwater vampires sound…its actually a pretty decent story. Not only that but I had no problem following the story considering I haven’t read any of the other Curse of The Mutants comics. The interesting thing here is Namor himself. We all know he is an arrogant, self absorbed character. Here, we see a different side. Here we have a character that is willing to admit mistakes were made in the past. We see a king determined to unite his people and survive no matter the cost, even if that cost is his own life.

In the second story arc we see Namor face the long history of Atlantean kings who were tyrants. Namor sees himself as yet another king locked into a destiny he can not change. It takes an old ally, an old foe to knock some sense into Namor…literally. That person is Doctor Doom. The self doubt that Namor felt during the first story arc is brought center stage as he must commit himself to a path apart from the other Atlantean kings.

Namor is also involved with the recent Escape from the Negative Zone story arc. This story begins in Uncanny X-Men Annual #3, continues in Steve Rogers Super Soldier Annual #1 and concludes in Namor The First Mutant Annual #1.

Its been announced this title will cease publication with issue #11, which is a shame. It seems that Namor, like Aquaman, is cursed. Will either of the two underwater monarchs ever have a successful and long lasting series?