Page 45 Review by Jonathan
"But my power is even greater than that. My reach, farther.
"Don't believe me? Well, listen closely…
"… Because the sea has secrets.
"I've lived a long time, Karris.
"I've experienced great losses… great victories…
"But I've learned from them.
"And now, finally, I have a plan.
"Nobody needs die in battle ever again.
"For why would there be battles if we no longer have enemies?
"Yes, the sea has secrets. And I am the sea…"
Hmm… well, there is a certain way you could take Namor's monologue. I did, and I was wrong!
Chip Zdarsky, currently one volume in to a so far excellent and pleasingly thoughtful run on Daredevil (DAREDEVIL VOL 1: KNOW FEAR S/C) turns his pen to the heroes that battled and battered the original goosesteppers back in the day.
With a story told in two time periods, both in the midst of their World War Two comradeship-in-arms and now firmly set against each other in modern day, well, stroppy pants Namor versus everyone else, it is all about the ghosts of the past haunting the present. And Namor losing the plot, again... However, like he says, he's not just throwing his toys out of the pram and blaming it on a bad migraine as per usual, he does have a plan, and surprisingly dastardly it is too. Actually, I say two time periods, it is in fact three, because what does a young Professor X, cropping up before he'd even assembled any X-Men at all, have to do with Namor's mental maladies…? Lovely bit of Marvel Universe retconning going on there.
Nice, easily distinguishable appropriate art from Butch Guice handling the period material and Carlos Magno handling the modern day matter. The latter is decent enough, but Butch Guice as ever is superb. He did some of Ed Brubaker's DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA run, along with Steve Epting, and it was actually Brubaker and Epting's very enjoyable MARVELS PROJECT that Guice's work here made me think of, for reasons of period and tone.
I'm sure it wouldn't sell, but on the basis of this I'd love to see Zdarsky and Guice tackle an entirely period Invaders run, or at least a mini-series. Or better yet, have a go at something a bit more inventive and imaginative like the MARVELS PROJECT. On that point, the shortly to be offered as a collection SPIDER-MAN: LIFE STORY telling the story of a Peter Parker who actually ages through the decades penned by Zdarsky is really rather good.
