Issue(s): New Warriors #44
Cover Date: Feb 94
Title: "Underwater fire"
Credits:
Fabian Nicieza - Writer
Darick Robertson - Penciler
Larry Mahlstedt - Inker
Paula Foye - Assistant Editor
Rob Tokar - Editor

Review/plot:
Last issue we saw that Namorita had turned blue and busted out of Atlantis. This issue focuses on that. It's said that Namorita suffered from the same kind of oxygen-balance based instability that was revealed about the Sub-Mariner in Namor #1, but due to her clone status the instability manifests itself in a physical as well as mental way. The mental instability is said to be behind her recent emotional problems (nothing is specifically cited, but i assume this is going back to New Warriors #29-30, when she killed someone in Trans-Sabal, leading to her drunken night out in New Warriors #35 which resulted in the New Warriors' secret IDs getting stolen. Since then, she's been feeling guilt over the consequences of those IDs being exposed.). The physical instability is of course what has caused her to turn blue, a result of the process used in the creation of the clone. The Atlantean geneticist, Vyrra, who created Namorita, spliced in the DNA of ancient Atlantean warriors with Namora's DNA, in an attempt to circumvent the oxygen-imbalance problem. One of those warriors might have been Katha Takkoll - Namorita raids her tomb for bits of armor and a knife.

Namorita also takes on the name Kymaera. She's initially unsure of her new place in the world, but the Sub-Mariner convinces her that the New Warriors will still accept her, and she goes to Nova in the end.

It's a little surprising to see the normally confident Namorita meekly asking if her changes are "ok" with Nova, and i hope it's not the start of a trend.

Also in this issue, Night Thrasher reveals that Justice's decision to go with Shinobi Shaw was part of an undercover operation that Thrasher and Justice worked out to infiltrate the Upstarts.

Justice later contacts Night Thrasher, confirming their suspicions that the Upstarts are planning to target the surviving members of the New Mutants and the Hellions (continuing the set-up for the Child's Play crossover with X-Force).

Using a photo on a cover was nothing new at this point, but there's a brief Making Of at the end of this issue. I just think it's funny that someone was thanked for the use of their computer.

Sales are down significantly from last year, which i note in the context of the recent decision to launch Night Thrasher and Nova solo books.

Statement of Ownership Total Paid Circulation: Average of Past 12 months = 162,258. Single issue closest to filing date = 122,500.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: It's said to have been a "week" since Justice left with Shinobi Shaw last issue. Justice's appearance in Quasar #60 causes last issue to get placed fairly far back in my project, but that just means a lot was happening that "week" (including all of Punisher's Suicide Run) so it's not quite as bad as it looks (temporal references are always taken with a grain of salt anyway). X-Force #32, which begins the Child's Play crossover, takes place before next issue. Next issue will refer to the same "week" since Justice left with Shinobi, so next issue shouldn't be placed too far from this one.

References:

• We learned that Namorita was a clone of Namora in Namor #19-20. That story also gave us a little Atlantean history regarding clones and the scientist Vyrra.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The "mental instability" seems like a copout to explain away Nita's revealing the Warriors' identities and getting Rage's grandmother killed.

I've only seen this cover on the back of a trading card. Since the image was so small I never realized it was a photo cover! Pretty cool.

Interesting they didn't even try to make her look blond on cover.

Not sure if you noted when it first debuted in the credits, but the name "Darick McKinney" is an alias for Darick Robertson with Brandon McKinney.

Thanks AF. McKinney is actually not on this issue. That was a copy & paste error.