Namor: The First Mutant Annual #1

COVER ART: 1/5 well BLACK FROG did not bring his A game on this cover. The image of Namor holding both Cyclops and Captain America up by their throats is very topical to this issue but very poorly executed. Frog just decided he didn't want to draw the feet on anyone so they just fade into the background.

STORY ARC: 5/5 JAMES ASMUS takes the reins on the writing duties for this annual issue. This issue is a race against the clock. Cyclops and Steve Rogers and Blastaar battle a raged and extremely water deprived Namor while Dr. Nemesis is trying to find a way to get the team back to their own dimension. Hope is seriously injured by Namor from Part 2 of this series and Cyke and Steve try to talk some sense into Namor before he kills someone, really to no avail. It seems that in this dimension of Blastaar, the rate that Namor goes to into berserker mode through his mind does not affect his physical strength at the same rate. Namor becomes the much smaller and lighter version of the Hulk. I have illustrated a few pages of this book below to illustrate some of the great fight scenes between Namor and Steve Rogers, and Namor and Cyclops. Blastaar is whooped pretty good by Namor and is not much a factor in this issue. Hope is able to recover with the help of the teamwork of Cyclops and Steve and jump into the fight against Namor by copying Namors powers of strength and flight. She even grows those little wings on her feet temporarily. But Namor is too much for Hope. He gets her in a serious choke hold. Dr. Nemesis shows up just in the nick of time with the device to transport the team back to Earth. There is a great moment when Namor is choking Hope as they are falling from the sky to wards the ocean. Just before Hope is completely gone, they hit the water, Namor reclaims his wits and Hope is saved, for the third time in this issue. Everyone is shown to be recuperating very well in sick bay. Everyone is back to normal and we are left seeing Blastaar stooing over his loss to Namor and vowing to kill the entire planet Earth.

FINAL VERDICT: 5/5 I have placed this out of my normal as I have placed quite a few images from this book so I thought this might be a better place this time for my final analysis. You can tell I obviously recommend this book very highly. This is just a fun book to read, even if you don't start with Part 1 or Part 2. If you are an X-Man fan, Hope fan, Namor fan or Captain America fan you would really love this issue.

STORY ART: 5/5 I was taken aback a bit when I saw the first page of this issue. The image of Namor was much more elfish than I had expected,almost alien, but to be honest, he is an Atlantean and who is to say exactly what they are supposed to look like. MAX FIUMARA who pencils this issue, and while his style is absolutely his own, I liked it! All the characters were portrayed much longer and leaner than what the popular style of overly stuffed muscle bound heroes. This issue's art is complex, detailed and

very unique. I particularly like how the characters proportions are drawn. Cyclops and Captain America are both the same height while Cap has a more Athletic frame with a thicker neck and Scott is more true to his nickname "Slim" but also very muscular but in a very lean way. There is a great image of Cap and Hope standing next to each other and Hope is very much smaller in size and height to Cap. I do like this attention to detail. I also love the way, during this series, Cap does not have his actual shield but a light shield that is see through. This was drawn and executed marvelously. The crazed look in Namor's eyes and his aquaticly deficient skin looks pail and extremely dehydrated. This makes his muscular body and skin so tight to his body. I have included many images and some comments of this issue for examples.

This is the 3rd page of this issue and a great example of the fantastic art in this issue. I love the first pane showing how Namor is swinging with all his might at Cap in a berserker rage. Cap, full of his wits, easily dodges the Prince of Atlantis even though Namor is stronger and faster than him. This is close combat folks. The second page is another "olay" by Steve Rogers when Namor swings wildly with his other hand. But Namor's rage and speed catch up to Steve and he finally gets his good hand around Steve's neck. This sequence is so well done. The first pane is full body, the second brings us in closer to half body, and the third pane is up close and personal in the characters faces. Great planning, great execution.

This is a great page of Cyclops blasting Namor with a quick blast to keep him at bay and get a big left hook for his trouble. What I like (because I am a huge Cyclops fan) is that Cyke was able to take a seriously big shot from a Berserker raging Namor without getting knocked out and keep on ticking.

This is a great image of Scott really blasting Namor with a powerful Optic Blast. I love the camera angle and the use of colors and shadow.

After Cyclops blasts Namor, Steve Rogers tries to reason with the water deprived and berserker raging Namor and gets his good left arm broken for it. You can almost feel Steve's arm break yourself! I love Steve's training and toughness! Without a beat, Steve delivers a powerful shield strike to the throat of Namor. This issue really created even more respect for both Cyclops' toughness as well as Steve's toughness and battle skills.