I was just coming to post these CapandKirby!!!! I can't wait for this issue! Just saw it online and wow this is looking very great, I do like how we have this how did Steve and Namor reconnect after their initial bout. Also Chip made this comment:
I was just coming to post these CapandKirby!!!! I can't wait for this issue! Just saw it online and wow this is looking very great, I do like how we have this how did Steve and Namor reconnect after their initial bout. Also Chip made this comment:
"No one should ever question where my allegiance lies." - Namor of Atlantis
Saw that! LOL I mean, the man's right, looking at those panels it is kinda obvious.
Lot of great stuff in those pages. Zdarsky knows his stuff. References to Iron Man having a secret identity at first, where not even the Avengers knew he was Tony Stark. References to Steve not exactly believing he was not having just a really weird dream when he was unfrozen from the ice, thus his 'I remember now' reference to Namor, etc.
And Zdarsky hit the nail on the head, through Namor, of why I love Steve Rogers so much, it's his unrelenting optimism and the overall hopefulness of the character, something he maintains no matter what crappy circumstances life continually deals him.
Chip writes a good Steve and I just wish he would give some attention to the Torches too, I really can't believe things have gone this long and we don't have a single Toro and Bucky scene where they talk either in the present or the past. They were close friends. Also he just seems to write the torches off all the time, I really hate the Iron Torch body. I'm hoping Namor snaps out of his funk soon enough, and we get a good ending.
"No one should ever question where my allegiance lies." - Namor of Atlantis
I think (and this sucks and I hate it) that the Torches fell into Marvel's current philosophy of 'if they're not a household name don't give them the spotlight'. Which is a backwards sentiment because a) a good writer/artist can sell anything, any character can become a household name with the right team and b) Marvel just expects fans to know who characters are, be familiar with characters, without doing any actual work. They don't give Jim or Toro enough appearances. Toro could have easily appeared in Bucky's recent solo. Jim could have appeared in Steve's trying to break him out of prison or something. They can't just dust characters off every five years or so and expect newer readers to know who they are and care about their connections to each other. I'm guessing most of Invaders' sales came from long-time readers. And that's all well and good, but keeping these characters, or in the very least their connections to each other and strong bonds between them, front and center, would do a better job of grabbing a new generation of fans.
Thank you for posting the preview! It seems too long since the last issue.
I love Zdarsky going back to Avengers 4 and help filling in the scenes. Though I think their amnesia estrangement may have lasted quite a bit longer than that. IIRC, even in the Avengers and Defenders war, they weren't exactly familiar or friendly with each other.
No one has explained or even commented on the black eyes thing, which I find irritating. Machan doesn't seem too concerned about people dying. Quite the opposite.
From this new preview, it's clear that Namor still has his wings. Which, of course, makes it extremely odd that he would be stranded on this island, since he can just FLY away. He can also SWIM. Even if he can't breath water, he clearly has his muscles, and his skills and his 90+ years of experience. And if freaking human Ka-Zar can SWIM and navigate and spy and fight sea monsters on ONE BREATHE, than surely Namor can swim on the surface of the sea to get help.
Also, what about the Hydroman powers? Hydroman is ostensibly an altered human. There's nothing Atlantean about his powers. So, why doesn't Namor still have Hydroman's powers? Which, of course, would also be a method of getting off this island.
That's not to say I'm really looking forward to seeing some epic Hell In the Pacific interactions between Namor and Cap ... but the set up seems a little flawed.
Namor the Sub-Mariner, Marvel's oldest character, will have been published for 85 years in 2024. So where's my GOOD Namor anniversary ongoing, Marvel?
I have to admit that as much as I love the bromance and seeing a moody Namor with a understanding Steve, it was poorly done.
Namor is not just and Hybrid, is a mutant, that was pretty clearly stated, he is a mutat so his X gene shouldn't be erased just because some "airbreather" gas. Neither the hydroman powers should be gone. why that gas had effect in first place?
That's the point of Namor, he is not a Atlantean, he is not human, he is not mutant, he is something unique, and that's why he feels alone.
I love the run but those details still bugged me.
"And you eater of world. May you taste our righteous fire, And choke on it. For my planet's sake, I spit my last breath at thee"
Not much of a drop for Invaders this month, and still ahead of a number of other books. It's actually been a pretty steady book, over the last year.
# 48 Invaders 01 - 36,462 +1000 2nd printing
# 86 Invaders 02 - 19,772 + 2nd printing
# 49 Invaders 03 - 33,465 (22,422 calculated actual ordered / #117 dollar ranking)
#114 Invaders 04 - 16,460
#139 Invaders 05 - 15,430
#138 Invaders 06 - 14,792
#080 Invaders 07 - 28,668 (14,334 calculated actual ordered / #156 dollar ranking)
#136 Invaders 08 - 14,248
#155 Invaders 09 - 13,689
#189 Invaders 10 - 13,246
Namor the Sub-Mariner, Marvel's oldest character, will have been published for 85 years in 2024. So where's my GOOD Namor anniversary ongoing, Marvel?
Only two issues left but I think according to the numbers you posted Rev, that there has been a steady fanbase for the book. I always feel the issue is Marvel does next to nothing to promote their books. I only can hope we don't have to wait too long for another Invaders team up.
"No one should ever question where my allegiance lies." - Namor of Atlantis
With Marvel giving Namor a bunch to do currently, re: his team-up with Hulk against Roxxon in Immortal Hulk and his importance to the still unfolding/ongoing Avengers/Winter Guard/Squadron Supreme storyline in Avengers, I'm thinking we're going to at least see he and Steve on the panel together more often in the near future, their lives are very much intersected at the moment. And if that exposure introduces more readers to this wonderful team and leads to another shot at an Invaders run I will be a) thrilled b) throw a party and c) first to subscribe.
Meanwhile, I hope Marvel lets the Torches appear in more comics, too.
On that note, I do hope whatever catharsis Steve and Namor come to on that island in Invaders #11 sticks and is brought up in Avengers. As a Cap fan, I'm interested in the conflict/crossroads Steve has faced between helping Namor in Invaders, and the other Avengers thinking war with Atlantis is inevitable and I hope Marvel doesn't drop the ball on this and addresses it again, particularly when Namor and the Avengers cross paths again.
I certainly hope we do get something more with them in other comics, and I'm honestly just so over "Mad King" Namor story arcs, I feel like this has been going on for a while and I'm ready for Namor to have his own agency again and actually effect things in the MU and be taken seriously by other characters and Marvel writers. He really does need a solo, its been almost 10 years!
"No one should ever question where my allegiance lies." - Namor of Atlantis
And speaking of the current Invaders run and continuity, a quick peak at the January solicitations for Immortal Hulk and it looks like Roxxon may use a gamma radiation infused/modified version of that bomb they stole from Namor on the population of Phoenix, Arizona. This is one of things that gives me hope that there WILL be continuity and that the storyline started in Invaders will carry on.
IMMORTAL HULK #29
AL EWING (W) • JOE BENNETT (A) • Cover by ALEX ROSS
MARVELS X VARIANT COVER BY TBA
• Giant monsters have been unleashed in Phoenix, Arizona. The Roxxon Corporation is unavailable for comment.
• The people need help. They need the crusading outlaw with a heart of gold they read about in the Herald. They need their secret hero.
• Instead, they’re getting the IMMORTAL HULK.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
That's the thing, with the current trajectory of several books, I'm getting the impression that Namor might actually be vindicated a little bit in the months to come? I mean, Roxxon is clearly a big bad in several books, not just the Invaders: re:Immortal Hulk, Avengers, the War of the Realms event, they were name dropped in Cap, etc. But there is an overall, sort of anti-authoritarianism going on throughout all of Marvel (in a fascinating way that mirrors the current state of things in real-life). In the Cap book you have evil rich/billionaires running things behind the scenes and owning politicians, they also have the press in their pocket, and you have Steve framed for murder because said people running things don't want the human population to have a symbol of hope. In Immortal Hulk you not only have Roxxon set up as the enemy but also Shadow Base, which dissected and was trying to duplicate the Hulk, and was a billion dollar US government funded program. In Avengers the US government and the Russian government built their own superhero teams, the Squadron Supreme and the Winter Guard, because they want war with everyone: Atlantis, the Avengers, whoever crosses their paths. We also know that Mephisto is manipulating the situation for maximum chaos/impact. I'm sort of getting the impression here that we're not to side with government/major corporations/shady billionaires at the moment: they're all up to something, they're all evil. As such Namor is in the place of: "oh, everyone you humans look to for policy is trash and the corruption goes super deep?! well, I've been trying to tell you that for ages, guys, I've been knew".
This issue makes my head hurt.
I'm going to re-read it, but there's plenty I disagree with. Except for the flashback scenes. Those were awesome. More hugging!
Also, at no time, unless he was possessed, would Jim Hammond want to kill Namor, IMO. Of course, I don't think Namor would have torn his head off, either.
Namor the Sub-Mariner, Marvel's oldest character, will have been published for 85 years in 2024. So where's my GOOD Namor anniversary ongoing, Marvel?
The part that really just made me go WTF??? is Namor taking the blame for Machan then a few panels later saying"you're on your own" and also him saying that maybe it was him all along? what the hell? Like the reason why Namor and Charles fought was bc he didn't want to change people and now Namor is saying he isn't sure that he wouldn't have changed them??? Like it just makes zero sense, first we say Namor is mind controlled but now its like what? Machan is him? Anyways I did enjoy Namor being compared to the Red Skull, bad writing there, and Jim wouldn't kill Namor imo no matter what had happened unless it was something really big like Namor hurting Toro (which he would not do) bc that would be the last straw for Jim. Also Namor wouldn't have ripped off Jim's head unless he was possessed. All in all, theres alot I don't like about this run, how it deals with the torches, the Invaders constantly fighting each other more than Nazis or the big bad, and Namor being blamed for something that he had no control over, he didn't ask Charles to mess with his head. However the flashback scenes are really the highlight of the series, Chip honestly should have just focused more on setting this in WWll imo.
"No one should ever question where my allegiance lies." - Namor of Atlantis