Issue(s): Namor #51
Cover Date: Jun 94
Title: "Let them eat king cake"
Credits:
Hollis Bright - Writer
Aaron Lopresti - Penciler
Ernie Chan - Inker
Joe Andreani - Assistant Editor
Mike Rockwitz - Editor

Review/plot:
This is a fill-in issue by Hollis Bright, who has mostly appeared in this project scripting Steve Ditko stories that wound up in Marvel Comics Presents or Marvel Super Heroes. It definitely has the feel of a Ditko story, but it's not by Ditko.

Some employees of Oracle tell Namor about an emergency on one of Oracle's oil rigs.

Namor gets there too late to stop an explosion, but he's able to quickly repair the damage. The news report on this is read by an "old friend of Namor" in New Orleans named Melanee Carondelet, but then another story attracts her attention.

Carondelet works at the District Attorney's office, and she's supposed to be on this murderer's case, so she's mad to only be reading about the story in the newspaper. She accuses the DA of sexism and she vows to solve the case on her own. Carondelet believes that the pastry stuffed in the murder victim's mouth - a king cake - is a clue that suggests that the killer is someone who was blackballed from a Mardi Gras High Society group.

Later, Namor risks giving Carondelet a heart attack when he shows up to say hello.

WTF, Namor?! Jesus!

It turns out Namor rescued Carondelet when she fell into the sea as a kid, and his nickname for her is Minnow.

Anyway, you get the idea. It's a 1950s style murder mystery. Namor helps Carondelet catch the King Cake Killer. With some Mardi Gras beads.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: "This story takes place before the recent events in Namor's life". That's very specific. We do know that it take place while Namor is running Oracle, and he has his ankle wings. So i've pushed this back to before Namor #6-9.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y

My Reprint: N/A