Namor the First Mutant is set to debut on August 25 -- three short weeks away! As a huge Namor fan, I'm beyond excited. Since I can't convince my local comic book shop to throw a party, I figured I'd make a few celebrations online with a countdown of favorites.

21 DAYS TO GO!
Stuart Moore in his latest interview mentioned keeping Namor in his X-men costume for his new ongoing book, in part because he thought it looked more regal.  Over the 70 years of his existence, Namor has worn a surprising number of costumes. Well, at least I was surprised at how many. While not completely up to date, you can see quite a few of them represented at this Micro-Heroes site. This might give a hint of my favorite Namor costume.
 

 20 DAYS TO GO!
One of the first comics that I read was Silver Age Sub-Mariner #3, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema. While it wasn't the most significant Subby tale -- it was in fact the second half of a story -- it hooked me on Namor and comicbooks.

In case you haven't read it, Triton and Namor, in a Defiant Ones riff, were antagonists chained together, who had to work together to defeat Plant Man and stop his huge creature creation, called Leviathan, from doing a Godzilla number on London. I did say it wasn't the best comic book. What it did have was melodrama! And high fantasy! And melodrama! And thwarted romance! And melodrama! AND, a character unlike any one I had seen in the stack of comic books my friend's brother had given us. Here was a character that was honorable, but an enemy of other superheroes. Someone who had played the villain in other books! Someone with a really bad temper. 
 

19 DAYS TO GO!
For a kingly character more used to giving orders than taking them, Namor has been on quite a few teams over the decades.  I vaguely remember reading a Golden Age book where he was supposedly in the USMC!  I'm not sure how that was supposed to work, but I'm just going to put it down to a Golden Age thing.  IIRC, Namor has been part of these groups.  Did I forget any?

1. Invaders
2. All Winners Squad
3. Defenders
4. Avengers
5. Deep Six
6. Fantastic Four
7. New Invaders
8.  Illuminati
   
9. Cabal
10. Dark X-Men
11. X-Men

18 DAYS TO GO!
Forget dehydration, Namor's real weakness is women.  Namor REALLY likes women.  And women REALLY like him.  In his books, you'll find lots of women -- ladies of his court, Nazi spies, police women, Communist spies, warriors, hippie girls, mermaids, empresses, queens, CEOs, scientists, the girl next door, and yes, even Aunt May!
 

 17 DAYS TO GO!
Arguably, most the heroes of the Marvel U could land on Namor's List of Enemies. He's certainly fought most of them. However, I'm sticking to his Rogue's Gallery, the villains who just keep coming back to make his life miserable ... until they die. Sadly, except for Warlord Krang and Tiger Shark and maybe U-Man and Attuma, these characters are dead.  
 

 16 DAYS TO GO!
This was a tough category, as between being a prince and being ... prickly, I don't think Namor has many friends.  I left out any Atlanteans or relatives or dead characters like Betty Dean.  Also, Sub-Mariner the Initiative revealed just how few of his alleged allies he could count on.  But these are the folks I think who would go out of their way to help Namor, and that he would do the same for.
 

15 DAYS TO GO!
Okay, this is even harder than yesterday's post. For the purposes of this list, I'm not considering Namor's friends so much, but other male characters that I'd love to see with Namor in a team-up / buddy book. So, it's not necessary that these characters get along with Namor. In fact, if they don't, even better for the conflict and comedy.

BLAZING SKULL -- His appearances in the New Invaders had me smiling and LOL!

DOCTOR DOOM -- besides the obvious classic Super Villain Team Up issues, just consider this hilarious fumetti with action figures at Random Happenstance.

BUCKY CAP -- this or their team up from the Man Without a Face arc in Cap.


MAGNETO


HERCULES -- this or Pak and Van Lente's Love and War arc.

(Thanks to Not_Your on the Marvel.com board for the scan and reminding me of how cool this team-up was.)

I really can't pick a favorite among these. I'd be thrilled to see any of them. For a bromance ... Is there anyone other than his Golden Age buddies, Cap and the Human Torch? I don't think so. I'm sure I left out some other great candidates, even ones that have never met Namor, so post any that you'd like to see.

Thank you! :)
 
14 DAYS TO GO! 
There's been some speculation that Namor would be in the upcoming Captain America movie.  He's also had a solo flick in development heck at Universal for a decade - with a script by David Self that I'd kill to read!  So, there's been several actors names bandied about over the years:

DAVID BOREANAZ
JASON STATHAM
DANIEL DAE KIM
VIN DIESEL
THE ROCK
 
And plenty of fan casts:
 
JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS
JASON BEHR
LUKE GOSS 
ZACHARY QUINTO
ERIC BANA
HUGO WEAVING 
 
To which I'll add my two picks:
  
MANU BENNETT  -- who clearly has no problem with the attitude or the speedo costume. :)

13  DAYS TO GO! 
The Namor I grew up with and know best is from the Silver and Bronze Age.  But recently I've learned the joy of Golden Age Namor, who is a slightly different fellow.  Oh, he would still lose his temper and invade NYC at the drop of a hat.  But he also wore alot more clothes in some stories.
 

damn i guess u do like him

LOL!  You're too kind.  Most of my friends, and not friends, say ... other things. :)   Will be playing catch up, in part because of the twofer posts.
 
12 DAYS TO GO!
Here's an area I'm hoping Stuart Moore will be filling in again for us. Back in the early Silver Age, Stan Lee and Roy Thomas gave us a plentiful, if oddly named, supporting cast for Namor among his own Atlanteans. Sadly, I think this list has been somewhat decimated. I'm hoping that Vashti is still alive! He's definitely one of my favorites. I always saw him as sort of long suffering Albert / father figure to Namor. Here's a quick run down of a the Silver Age Atlanteans.
 
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11 DAYS TO GO!
Speaking of the Golden Age ... it was a time when Namor abandoned stately cries of Imperius Rex! and spoke in the vernacular. Great Pickled Penguins! Check out some of these exclamations!!!

Comics Make No Sense: Galloping Guppies! and Holy Haddock!

10 DAYS TO GO!
 If you not as enamored of Namor as I am, and you want to catch up on his story before the new ongoing debuts, the quickest way to do so is with some books.  Sadly, many of his comics aren't collected ... yet.  The John Bryne and Jae Lee Namor run from the 1990s, for example.  But here's a few to get you started.

NAMOR ALL NAMOR - The Essentials

ON THE TEAM

GUEST APPEARANCES

Yes!  Thank you!  Almost caught up...
 
 8 DAYS TO GO!
Over the decades, there have been a ton of covers featuring Namor, so I have a hard time picking one favorite. But here are a few from his own books!  Do you have any favorites?

     

 
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7 DAYS TO GO!
You might have noticed that I tried to post a cover from each of Namor's series in my last Countdown post.  I missed the ones below with an asterisk.  So, of course, my question for today is, which is your favorite series?

Golden Age Sub-Mariner
Atlas Sub-Mariner
Tales to Astonish*
Sub-Mariner
Super-Villain Team-Up*
Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner
Saga of the Sub-Mariner*
Namor the Sub-Mariner
Tsunami Namor
Sub-Mariner the Initiative
Sub-Mariner the Depths*

6 DAYS TO GO!
Looking at all the wonderful cover art, reminded me of the many artists that have drawn Namor. Since the character has been around for so long, more artists than you would think. Here are a few pieces I was surprised to discover the artist.

ADAM HUGHES ================================================== JIM LEE


MIKE MIGNOLA & P CRAIG RUSSELL =================================== JIM STERANKO

 
 But I have to say, my favorite Namor artists are, once again, John Buscema and Jae Lee's Namor from the Inhumans and Fantastic Four 1234. Do you have a favorite Namor artist? Or find someone you didn't expect doing the art chores on a Namor book?
   
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 5 DAYS TO GO!

Enough of the beauty, now for the beast. When Namor first appeared as Bill Everett's 'ultraman of the deep,' he had a certain set of powers. He was super humanly strong and fast, he could breathe air and water, he could fly and he could communicate via telepathy. Over the decades more powers were added. And this was the first.


Yep. Namor had his own personal sprinkler system! I'm not even going to attempt to explain how that might work.




"Possessing the powers of all the creatures who live beneath the sea" also enabled Namor to absorb lethal amounts of electricity, as he did in Daredevil #7 and Fantastic Four #6 (where he also could play leapfrog with meteors and endure the vaccum of space without a space suit.) 

 
 
With this power, Namor outdoes Aquaman twice over! Not only can he command sea animals, but sea PLANTS, too! Plus, Namor can suck the life force from anything living in the sea?! Namor, Ocean Vampire! Of course, one wonders why he didn't use this handy power against Attuma, Krang or Tiger Shark.


Namor has always been a fast swimmer, but here it's beyond human or Atlantean speeds. I always felt that writers (and the VS. fans) didn't translate this amazing speed to his surface encounters accurately. If Namor could move this fast against the thickness of a water atmosphere, he should have lightning quick speed and reflexes in the thinner atmosphere of simply air. Namor could adapt this power, however, by spinning fast enough to become a HUMAN DRILL!

You may notice that most of these panels are by Jack Kirby, and thus came from stories written by Stan Lee. I think he may have gotten a little carried away when he brought Namor into the Silver Age, and most of these new powers were never used again. And I believe, somewhere, they just come out and say Namor lost the aquatic mimicry powers. While I don't recall seeing him use telepathy in modern comics, the power still appears on recent trading card sets.

However, even now, writers keep adding a few here and there. Namor apparently has a healing factor, that not only allows him to heal incredibly quickly, but also not scar. He's been cut up several times by Wolverine, including getting stuck with his claws, but shrugged off the injuries and continued to wear the body flaunting speedo. And recently, in the Torch mini-series, I learned that Namor's skin is fireproof!

Of these, my odd power for Namor is either his Personal Internal Sprinkler System or his amazing Pufferfish impression!  I'm sure I've left out some, so feel free to post your favorite odd power for Namor ... or break my two consecutive posts, please.  Darn annoying feature when you are trying to post daily. :(

wow, you are a big fan.

Why thank you. :)  He's my favorite character, and why I'm into comics.  And thanks for breaking my twofer posts!
 
4 DAYS TO GO!
Just because Namor fans aren't as vocal as some others, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of them out there. Trust me. I've bid against enough of them on eBay to know they are out there. :( And usually, I'm bidding on fan art. I'm always happy to discover an artist who chooses to portray Namor, instead of a certain green and orange clad water breather.

Oddly, I don't see alot of Namor fanfiction. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Most of what I've seen is 2-D pin ups. But on occasion, I'll stumble cross something like humorous, like the action figure fumetti that I posted previous, or this gem by Evan Dorkin, The Haiku of the Ancient Sub-Mariner.

And here's one of several pieces of sculpture I've seen, this one done by Edinho Magha.



But this is my current favorite piece, a commission done by a fellow Namor fan, Mel Uran.
 
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3 DAYS TO GO! 
Some new information about the first issue!  It appears there will be a back up feature in the book!  Keith Garcia will be writing, I believe, stories retelling Namor's life, but from Namora's point of view!  Here's the pertinent part of the article I found in the Brownsville Herald.  So, we'll be getting a little extra for the extra price.

 2 DAYS TO GO!
One of the cool things about Namor is that he can fit a variety of genres and play a variety of roles.  Over the decades he has been:

The Pulp Hero -- Mainly Namor's stories from the 50s, when he was more of a sleuth, investigating the weird staples of the era like giant monsters, space aliens, robots, and ghosts.  And the not so weird staples like gangsters and spies -- all with his Girl Friday, Betty Dean.

The Super-Hero -- Avenger, Defender, Invaders ... generally speaking, Namor usually acts like a typical superhero when he's on a team.  Usually.

The Fantasy Hero -- aka Chosen One.  In some ways, Namor's a sea elf with an attitude.  And a culture that includes Neptune and Hyborean Age roots, is a culture of magic and myth -- despite their scientific advances.  Namor has been the subject prophecy and been chosen by Neptune himself for various tasks, including the Quest for the Sacred Trident, taking on Suma Ket, and fighting the gods themselves.

The Byronic Hero -- Tragedy and Temper!  Passion and Peril!  Emotions to Excess!  Part and parcel of ...

The Ladies Man  -- There's alot of women in Namor's life.

The War Hero -- aka the Patriot.  Namor is just as patriotic as Captain America ... it's just that his country doesn't happen to be the United States, and so arises conflict and his role as ...

The Anti-Hero -- More often than not, Namor is in opposition to most the heroes of the Marvel Universe.  His goals and and reasons are different, but not usually selfish.

The Villain -- often confused with the Anti-Hero, but this is the Namor who tried to kill the FF with his ally Doctor Doom.

The Brawler -- While he has a variety of skills, resources, and superpowers available to him, often it seems Namor prefers to just open up a can of Imperius Rex on his problems and foes.

The Environmentalist -- This is the Namor that really makes us feel bad for being such unreasoning, uncaring, wasteful polluters of the world.  :frown:

The CEO  -- When Namor solves his problems with a ton of cash -- like with his company Oracle or his movie studio.

The Statesman -- I think this is Namor's least favorite role.  Not only when he has to deal with pretenders to his throne and politics of Atlantis, but also when he deals with various surface world nations, like Mazikhandar and the UN.

The Snarkmeister -- aka the Reader's Voice.  Bendis likes to use Namor like this often.  Not only does he say what every other character wishes he could ("Why would you sleep with a woman who looks like Doctor Doom?"), but he is also the one that asks the Reader's questions about plot holes and other odd actions.  It's also the Ugly Truth Namor, which doesn't win him many friends or admirers, but kept him out of World War Hulk.

I'm not sure I could pick a favorite role or genre for Namor.  The variety is what makes him complex and interesting to me.

That's cool.  It's still a back-up of sorts, and I think that will actually be quite helpful for readers not as familiar with Namor, and I'm still looking forward to seeing the story told from Namora's pov.  Thanks for the info!

1 DAY TO GO!
I am often asked "WHY do you like Namor?" I would hope these posts would make it clear. Namor is one of the more complex characters in the Marvel Universe, a character that forces the reader to consider the other side of the story. I don't think I'm exaggerating, when I say he's unique. Even today, he can play both the villain and the hero, as witnessed by his membership in both the Illuminati and the Cabal. He has some real flaws, unlikeable flaws -- that he has not the slightest inclination of changing. I find all of that makes for an interesting character. But on a personal level, Namor is my favorite character because:

1) Sub-Mariner #3 was one of the first comics I read, a long time ago, and what got me into comics.

2) Back then, there was very little in comics for girls like myself. But the first female comic book creator I saw was in Namor's book -- Marie Severin.
And Namor was a character who has been molded by the women in his life. His greatest allies and enemies were women -- strong, proactive, and downright aggressive women. He was raised by a single parent, his mother. He didn't have a male sidekick, like Torch or Cap, but female companions, like Betty Dean and Namora. His greatest enemy was Llyra. In his stories, things happened, because of women. And to this day, I can't recall a comic book like Sub-Mariner #8.



Here, Namor takes his wounded lover, Lady Dorma, to the apartment of Diane Arliss, a woman he shares an attraction with, and confesses his love for an old flame, Betty Dean! No wonder he's volunteering advice to Reed Richards on his relationship with Sue. :)



And this issue ends in great fashion with Beauty, a much older Betty Dean, once again calming the Beast, and saving the day. Still one of the most touching endings I've read.


3) I also identified with Namor, because he was the only comic book character I knew of that had parents from two different races. And unlike Aquaman, Namor couldn't 'pass' in either culture. The problems that caused him very much resonated with me, then and now, as someone who is half Asian and half Caucasian.



4) And of course, there's the Speedo.  
 
And that ends the Countdown to Namor the First Mutant. Thank you for listening to me ramble on and on, and for the folks that replied and broke up my posts, so I could finish this. And I hope everyone at least takes a look at the new ongoing for Marvel's oldest super-hero.