Review by Ian Keogh

Despite being marketed as tying in with King in Black, the connections are tenuous and limited to an object that must be retrieved. Kurt Busiek is far more interested in supplying a quest more likely to appeal not to fans of the 2020 crossover, but to readers of Namor’s 1960s and 1970s comics. He looks back to Namor’s youth at a time when the subsea denizens aren’t a united population, and some very much resent the thought of them being so.

There’s an initial novelty in seeing a youthful Namor palling about with Dorma and meeting a young Attuma for the first time as an ally, but it quickly wears off. That’s down to artist Benjamin Dewey being technically good, but lacking a talent for imaginative page design and Busiek’s word count being equivalent to those old comics.

The connection to King in Black is that those under the control of dark forces in Atlantis were imprisoned generations previously, and when loosed again rapidly set about old ways, which amount to savage slaughter. The way they’re stopped is well set-up, but there’s little about the story to captivate.

A consistent exception to that is the framing sequences of Namor in the present day, drawn in a moody, shadow-led fashion by Jonas Scharf. There’s something of Jae Lee about them, and they have a visual appeal when the remainder doesn’t. However, they don’t interest Busiek other than as means of a sentimental ending. If you loved Namor and his supporting cast written by Roy Thomas in the 1960s there’s a chance you’ll enjoy this, but anyone whose expectation is of superhero comics as they are now is likely to be disappointed. Namor also features in Atlantis Attacks.

All King in Black tie-ins can also be found in the King in Black Omnibus.