Namor: The First Mutant #2

Namor's war with the undersea vampires, the Aqueos, gets even treacherous as a seer reveals that these enemies have ties to Atlantis' royal lineage.
 

The Good

Ever since that one story in the classic Moore/Bissette run on Saga of the Swamp Thing, I've always been intrigued by the notion of undersea vampires who're even more twisted and perverted than their land-based cousins.  So it's interesting to see this archetypal, legendary figure taking on creatures he doesn't quite understand. The bookend scenes of him encouraging the youth to explore his mechanical aspirations in New Atlantis were quite chilling, too. And complement's must be paid to Olivetti for rendering this prince with such characteristic regal dignity.

The Bad

Namor's been established as having bi-polar mood swings depending on how much time he spends under water or one land, but I was really missing the hot-blooded prince who loves to shout "Imperius Rex!" in this. The whole thing, as a consequence feels a little too low-key and restrained. Also, why I love Olivetti's figures, I never felt like they integrated that well into the digital models he used for the settings here.

The Verdict - 3/5

Plus, it's undeniably fun to see so many disparate elements of the Marvel universe - - Atlantis, Dracula, and the X-Men - - colliding here. Considering how Namor's the first in Marvel's long tradition of anti-heroes, I'm glad that he's got his own book, and especially one that's reintrepreted him in the X-Men's larger mythos as the "first mutant." I'm eager to see where this book, but I'm hoping it'll get more in touch with the wild days of Namor's youth soon.