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Silly Marvel, Freyja =/= Frigga. #originalsin

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The Off-Screen Relationship Development of Jimmy Woo & Namora

Perhaps it's just me, but the Jimmy Woo/Namora relationship currently portrayed in the Fear Itself: Home Front series seems odd and out of left field. No where in the previous Agents of Atlas series was there any indication that there may be feelings beyond platonic appreciation for one another. It also doesn't help that the last time we saw Namora display any romantic feelings it was towards fellow Atlantian Namor. It seems contrived to suddenly have the two Agents of Atlas members together with no hints of such a relationship ever developing, but that could be because it happened all "off-screen."

I find developing a relationship between characters off-screen is a hit-or-miss situation. One couple I think this approach worked well for is Todd Rice (Obsidian) and Damon Matthews. There was no direct lead up to Todd being homosexual (though there was a scene in JLA that seemed to suggest he was at least accepting of the idea of a homosexual relationship), but his sexual ambiguity worked well enough to not make the sudden couple seem odd. It also helped that Damon was a new character and there was no previous interaction in comics that would affect how the sudden relationship was viewed.

Obviously, this is the problem with Jimmy Woo and Namora. They do have this previous interaction that affects the view a reader would have on the relationship. In a situation like this, the writer should either chose a couple that have had previous attraction hinted at or, even better, find a way to make this relationship seem like a natural progression for the characters. In the case of Jimmy Woo and Namora, there was nothing in the initial introduction of the characters' relationship that showed how they got to that point. No brief dialogue to indicate when this change occurred, nothing. It just was, which is jarring for a person that has been following the characters for a few years now.

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