"Return of the Queen"
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artists: Leonard Kirk(p), Kris Justice(i), Michelle Madsen(c)
Publisher: Marvel
Marvel has had crossovers before, but never has the writing been so bad that the characters behaved diametrically opposite to themselves. Usually it was perhaps just the plot that was stupid, and pleasantly stupid at that. The characters retained their histories and maintained their personalities. Marvel's craptacular Big Stupid Event is so bad that it can only be magicked away or dispelled via time travel; not that this would make sense but at least it would get rid of the stench. Oh, incidentally, I'm not choosing sides. Civil Wart is just a bad, seriously bad, idea that has long-reaching repercussions that will establish some really lousy limits on potentially good writers and immediately handicap any fresh start or new series set in the Marvel Universe. Iron Man will now always be considered a great tin-plated asshat. Reed Richards will never be trusted again. Everybody is going to always know Spider-Man is Peter Parker. Namorita will always be dead.
Like you, I was a little depressed when learning about the snuffing of Namorita's bright candle for the sake of Marvel's crapilicious Big Stupid Event. Marvel's continuity used to be malleable enough to provide numerous loopholes for a clever writer to exploit in order to bring back characters from the dead, but Marvel's continuity no longer has that plasticity. Never the less, Jeff Parker is a clever writer. It's the return of Namora in Agents of Atlas!
Parker uses all sorts of loopholes to resurrect Namora, and he leaves a lot of the burning questions to be answered or rationalized for later. How did Namora get to the point where Jimmy Woo and his team find her? That's a good one. What is it that she sees during Venus' charm? What is Namora, or perhaps Venus, hiding? One thing is for certain this is Namora. Not a mere facsimile.
Parker reinvigorates a character that hasn't been seen since the issue of What If? that introduced the fifties Avengers, and even that was only in cameo. It's also where many a reader first encountered the golden-age character.
Leonard Kirk and Kris Justice capture Parker's plotting in imperious action. Namora exhibits some terrific Atlantean strength against Giant Lobsters! Yow! That is fun. The artists show her moving like a torpedo through the water and pulling a trick that lends credibility to the idea that she's not merely Atlantean but in fact an elemental of the water.
Outside of the action, Kirk and Justice give Namora a very dignified look that's aided by her height. Her presence alters the dynamic of the team in subtle ways--Venus' new hairstyle--and in obvious ways--the idea that she's hiding something from the group. Parker however distinguishes her from other royal figures in that she's willing to be led. She does not take the lead. Although for this issue, she certainly takes the spotlight.
With the team fully formed, Jimmy Woo and company tear into Atlas holdings. These excursions offer the reader more fun. Parker, Kirk and Justice create a montage of stories per page that takes them right to an intriguing moment of combating piracy off the less than good ship Majestic.
Parker uses the economy of the last one page adventure to place the characters in an rest and relaxation situation, but he uses it in just the opposite way. While Venus and Jimmy Woo play in the water--and by the Flying Spaghetti Monster does Venus look gorgeous, rather than ostentatious, in her bikini--Namora stays as hidden as her thoughts. She actively avoids contact. Something's bothering the gal with the winged feet.
Before we can discover any scintilla of information regarding Namora's reticence, the Yellow Claw resurfaces, and once again, Parker makes him classier. The slight tweak to his name is utterly brilliant, and his stereotype nature dissolves into the phrase "history is written by the victors." Perhaps all the stories about the Yellow Claw the readers have perused in the past have been embellished.
Marvel missed an opportunity. John Byrne made Namor and Namorita analogous to Superman and Supergirl. Namor, Namora and Namorita could have been analogous to the Marvel Family. Of course, DC hasn't got one of those any more either. Oh, well. At least readers uninterested in the Civil Wart have a few good comic books left to read. Agents of Atlas is such a book.
Marvel must be commended in the attempt to sabotage any hope this book has of getting noticed. Are the ads placed in Civil Wart books this haphazard and intrusive? For instance, after Namora gloriously swims right through the giant lobsters, Marvel in their infinite wisdom hits the reader with a two-page advertisement for The Incredible Hulk.
After dispensing with the lobsters, Marvel smacks you with a two-page car ad. After a very brief moment where Namora returns to the group, Marvel advertises the ersatz James Bond. After Namora agrees to follow Jimmy Woo, Marvel slaps you with three advertisements in a row.
I'm not calling for the end to advertisements. I understand that advertisements keep the costs of producing whatever you happen to be creating, but how about a little respect for the flow of the story? Stupid, stupid publisher.
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