Issue(s): Namor #56, Namor #57
Cover Date: Nov-Dec 94
Title: "The Son of Namor part three" / "The Son of Namor finale"
Credits:
Glenn Herdling - Writer
Geof Isherwood - Penciler
Geof Isherwood - Inker
Joe Andreani - Assistant Editor
Mike Rockwtiz - Editor

Review/plot:
The Horn of Proteus is stolen from Atlantis. "Two hours later" we see Warlord Thakos with Llyron and his mother Llyra. Thakos uses a sword to cut Transatlantic communication cables.

Meanwhile, Carrie Alexander gives Namor a tour of the Hydropolis biodome.

That will turn out to be Chekhov's Germicidal Spray, by the way.

Namor then finds out from a news report by Trish Tilby about the wires being cut. The report continues with the news that Llyron is going to the United Nations to seek entry for Atlantis.

He tells the UN that while they've rejected Atlantis in the past due to their warlike nature, he is a merman of peace.

Namor goes to investigate the cut wires and sees Giganto, summoned by the Horn of Proteus.

It heads past him towards the UN. Namor assumes that Llyron has summoned Giganto, but Llyron denies it. So they fight at the UN. When Llyron hits Namor, Giganto turns like it's being driven away. Namor flies out of the UN building and finds more sea monsters roaming New York. He tries to communicate with them, but Llyron just kills them.

Namor does manage to get Giganto back to the sea, and he also confirms that it's Llyra who is blowing the Horn of Proteus.

Meanwhile, Phoebe Marrs goes to visit Leon McKenzie in prison, trying to find out why he's claiming that she seduced him. He maintains that she did, and she realizes that it was Llyra, disguised as her, who really seduced him (which Namor pretty much said in their last meeting in Namor #54). She then seeks out Namor, who is being chased by the police since they assume he's responsible for the monster attacks. She tells him that Llyron is probably Llyra and Leon McKenzie's son. And it's only now that someone has looked into the fact that Leon shares a surname with Namor's father. Phoebe confirms that Leon is related to Namor (Leon is Namor's father's grandson). That explains why a bloodtest confirmed that Llyron's claim was legitimate. Even though Namor's father never sat on the throne of Atlantis, he was royalty by marriage and his bloodline are heirs. So even though Llyron lied about being Namor's son, he really does have a claim to the throne.

The "good" news is that Llyron's "heroism" convinces the UN to induct Atlantis into their ranks. Namor takes Phoebe to Hydropolis...

...but word of Namor's "attack" on New York has reached there, and Ian "Jack" Langstrom
attempts to arrest Namor. Namor resists, but it turns out Captain America, Namor's "parole officer", is there too.

Cap doesn't do so well against Namor...

...but Namor doesn't really want to fight Cap, so he leads him into the biodome and escapes when Cap gets sprayed in the face.

Never show a Germicidal Spray in act one if it's not going to blind a super-soldier by act three.

Meanwhile, Llyron turns in his mother for using the Horn of Proteus.

While she's being carried away, Llyra sees a statue of Vyrra, something that he requested in Namor #54 before she killed him.

Namor goes to confront Llyron about his true lineage during his coronation ceremony, but as Namor already acknowledged, Llyron nonetheless has a legitimate claim to the throne. So even though they fight for a bit, the Atlanteans accept Llyron as their ruler. However, Vashti and Seth join Namor in exile.

As i've been saying, i enjoy Glenn Herdling's "continuity" in the sense of the characters he uses and in the way he's been tying up and expanding on plots from John Byrne and Bob Harras' runs. Unfortunately there do seem to be a few continuity slips, as seen in the References regarding the UN and Giganto. I also think that Geof Isherwood is good in a rough sort of way (and i do love Phoebe Marrs mocking the Hydropolis costumes). I think both Herdling and Isherwood might have had a much better run if they'd done it in the 80s, when more attentive and demanding editors might have forced them to polish themselves up. As it is, the series is interesting for still being a decent and almost entirely under-the-radar run on a book after it had probably lost most of the audience that Bob Harras and Jae Lee - and the post Jae Lee imitators - chased away after Byrne departed.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: See last issue's entry regarding the amount of space between that entry and this one.

Namor is exiled - unwelcome at both Hydropolis and Atlantis and on the outs with Captain America (and therefore the Avengers) - after these issues. New Warriors #57, which has the New Warriors contacting Namor through Phoebe Marrs, therefore has to take place prior to this.

Captain America appears here wearing the armor he begins to wear in Captain America #431. The MCP have Cap appearing here during #431, but i think that's a mistake (they have him here between pages 10-11 of that issue, which would be before he started wearing the armor; it looks more like a gap where they crammed a bunch of pre-armor Cap appearances). Cap could appear here between Captain America #434-435 (having left Free Spirit after #434 to come here and then going back to Mexico to meet her again in #435; when we see them climbing up the ladder to Moonhunter's ship together, maybe that because he got out of the ship to find her and bring her back).

References:

• While he's in the biodome, Namor is reminded of when he was kissing the Invisible Woman on the tropical island in Namor #50.
  
• It's said that Namor tried and failed several times to get Atlantis recognized by the United Nations. The first time was said to be in 1952, and the "most recent was several years ago". I don't know about the former, but i guess the latter was in Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner #1-4. Only problem was that his effort in that series was a success. If the idea is that Atlantis was subsequently kicked out of the UN, i wish Herdling would say so directly, and if that actually did happen somewhere and i've failed to note it, i wish there was a footnote.
  
• Namor is surprised to see Giganto because he thinks that he's dead, with a reference to Fantastic Four #4. Which is weird since (a) Giganto has appeared on two other occasions, and even if they are a species and not an individual, that would just make Namor even less likely to be surprised by seeing one.
  
• Captain America was made Namor's probation officer in Namor #13.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A