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In a world submerged, Namor but lives! Namor: Conquered Shores #1 headlines the Marvel Rundown this week. If you haven’t learn it but, tread water rigorously, for there be spoilers right here… to not point out a good quantity of aquatic puns.
What did you consider this week’s recent Marvel Comics catch? The Beat is ready to listen to from you! We’ll be anxiously awaiting your ideas, both right here in the remark part, over on social media @comicsbeat, or by worldwide maritime sign flag!
Namor The Sub-Mariner: Conquered Shores #1
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Pasqual Ferry
Color Artist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letter: Joe Caramagna
In Namor: Conquered Shores, the world has moved on… however Namor continues to be right here.
Set on a future Earth the place the waters have risen and brought again the land, the Sub-Mariner has abdicated the throne and now spends a not-inconsiderable quantity of his time brooding on what was. But whereas this idea might have been little greater than a Namor remix of Old Man Logan, the science fiction-y setting and suave interweaving of Timely continuity elevates this intriguing opening for a miniseries.
Waterworld
The subject opens on an arresting one-page splash of the Statue of Liberty’s torch at sundown, the solely seen landmark over the floor of the sea. This units the tone for the subject: reflective and meditative, however ever drawing the thoughts to what lies beneath. In narrative packing containers, Namor feedback on the undeniable fact that the time he spent with land-dwellers – the portion of his tales with which we readers are acquainted – now constitutes solely a “sliver” of his full life span.
“It turns out, all I had to do was wait,” Namor narrates. While the state of the Earth might have been hastened by Kree expertise, people had been going to burn out the planet eventually, anyway.
Against this sci-fi type backdrop, the one-time ruler of Atlantis thinks about the days when life on dry land was nonetheless plentiful. At least in this subject, there isn’t a try to resolve the “core issues” or restore the planet, which I appreciated.
The world has moved on, and Namor’s issues lie elsewhere… and inside.
Artifacts of the world that was
On the letters web page, Cantwell offers an afterword that provides perception into the concepts that underscore Conquered Shores. Citing the “Ray Bradbury/Weird Tales” vibe of Jim Hammond’s origin story in Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross, he explains how he adopted the Torch’s path deep into submerged Timely Comics continuity. Describing each the Sub-Mariner and the authentic Human Torch as pre-Marvel Comics “artifacts,” typically not noted of the broadly accepted continuity, Cantwell states an intention to make use of the title to dredge this continuity in order to look at the ensuing salvage.
Just how this can play out principally stays to be seen: that is solely the first subject of Conquered Shores, in any case, and the Human Torch solely seems in the last panels of this chapter of the story. But nonetheless, it belays significantly extra potential than a reductive post-apocalypic story based mostly primarly on showcasing “rugged” variations of acquainted characters.
Which isn’t to say we don’t get to see some acquainted (if weathered) faces apart from Namor and the authentic Torch. Captain America continues to be doing what Steve Rogers does greatest, even when the nation that serves as his namesake actually sleeps with the fishes, and a time-tested Luke Cage proves to have grown into his distinctive crown, making him an particularly worthy adversary for the Sub-Mariner.
However, the recognizable solid feels much less like an Easter egg hunt and extra like key figures in this meditative, moody story.
Conquered Shores
It have to be mentioned that all through this subject, Ferry and Hollingsworth work in concord to offer web page after web page of excellent artwork. In 2021’s Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow, the duo introduced readers to the retro world of Peter Parker’s previous. In Conquered Shores, they take us in the different temporal path. In each circumstances, their efforts transport the reader to an uncanny model of the Marvel Comics universe; acquainted, however nonetheless one way or the other recent and unusual.
And in fact, Caramagna’s lettering is as dependable as ever.
Taken all collectively, this all constitutes a staff stuffed with exceptionally gifted creators, every of them working at excessive capability and delivering a narrative that takes full benefit of the narrative potential of superhero continuity and storytelling.
Verdict: BUY.
Next week: Crypt of Shadows #1, Deadly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1, and MORE!
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