Namor Visionaries by John Byrne Vol. 2

Namor Visionaries #2

by John Byrne

Collects Namor: The Sub-Mariner (1990) #10-18.

Continue the saga of the Sub-Mariner with this second volume chronicling the adventures of Atlantis' Avenging Son, as presented by superstar writer/artist John Byrne! Marvel as Namor reforges alliances with his fellow Invaders, battles long-forgotten foes from World War II, and begins to unravel the mystery of Immortal Iron Fist and current Defender Danny Rand! All while dealing with the most insidious force of all: corporate scheming and subterfuge! Guest starring Captain America, Spitfire, Union Jack, the original Human Torch and more!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 5, 2012

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.

Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.

Reviews

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second volume started off a little slow, but pretty soon Byrne was juggling a romance for Namor, the return of Iron Fist, the Savage Land, and an Invaders reunion. Lots of great continuity, and his Namor continued to be fun.

I'd like to read the rest, but it looks like the reprints sputtered out after this second volume, ten years ago now (and the omnibus from three years ago is out-of-print as such things are).

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another volume that I first read as individual issues, and this time I’ve not read them since they first came out (at least I don’t think I have). Here Namor battles some strange assortment of foes and author/artist John Byrne continues with his very untraditional approach to the Sub-Mariner. There are also guest-stars aplenty as Byrne increases Namor’s involvement with the entire Marvel Universe and not just those things that touch on Atlantis and the planet’s oceans. First off is a great story dealing with Namor’s roots in WWII and those early days with The Invaders. Then the reader is provided a kind of the resolution of Namor’s legal complications begun in the previous volume and some more revelations and build up of subplots and supporting character stories, before Byrne takes us on a trip to the Savage Land and a battle with an unexpected opponent. It’s all well worth the cover price as Byrne delivers his usual energy, excitement and fun.

[Michael Craft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stupendous!

Byrne was at his best in this volume! He puts layer upon layer of characterization and plot line to keep you wanting for more! He brings in characters that had been marginalized and gives them depth. This version of Sub-Mariner is my favorite!

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeez-o-Pete does John Byrne pile subplot on top of subplot. There is so much going on in every issue that your head spins. Byrne is like a waiter juggling several dishes, and all of them make it to their destination intact. It's a lot of fun, and a lot of excitement to see where things are going. I enjoyed Volume 1 so much so that I bumped this to the front of the queue after I bought it. We get to see an Invaders reunion, Master Man, the Griffin, the Super Skrull, and lots more. Byrne clearly loves the Super Skrull, as he has used him several times in his various projects.

There is a dropped line in a word balloon in issue 18, likely the result of a pasted over correction falling off over the years. It sucks, but it happens. I'm sure that Marvel will fix this for an Omnibus hardcover down the road, which my OCD will force me to re-buy.

[Chris Browning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was, for some reason, one of the Marvel comics i picked up regularly back in the early nineties probably because I liked Byrne’s work on Fantastic Four. It’s still very good but an odd attempt to mix classic Marvel action with something akin to American high finance soap opera stuff and the two make an awkward mixture. And much as it’s good that Byrne clearly wants to make his female characters a bit more proactive, he clearly cannot resist them making somewhat absurd cheesecake poses every now and then because he just feels like it. Interesting to note the new Master Man came four years after the Zenith one, and there are a few frames that suggest Byrne was more than aware of that comic in this. It’s almost a Yeowell tribute in places

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first volume back in the waning days of 2023, but had no trouble getting back up to speed with this volume in large part due to how comics were written back in the early 90s. Byrne stuffs these issues with characters and subplots, keeping everything moving with a narrative voice that speaks to the reader and oftentimes structuring his story when you learn a lot through flashbacks. It works. These are fun comics and Byrne's art is quite strong. Sadly, the last 7 issues of his run are not on Marvel Unlimited.

[Fernando Gálvez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se nota que John Byrne disfruta realizando este trabajo y las subtramas del tomo anterior toman cuerpo aquí. Lleva a Namor desde enfrentamientos con neonazis hasta revelaciones de su vida en Atlantis sin dejar de lado sus compromisos como empresario y más de algún interés amoroso a los que ya está habituado. Byrne usa todas las herramientas narrativas que se le conocen para contar historias entretenidas que tanto le hacen falta al universo Marvel actual.

[Nick Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Byrne's run on NAMOR offers long-time Marvel fans some nice treats with guests shots galore, a strong cast of supporting characters, and several reunions and revisions to correct some previously lame Marvel editorial decisions with respect to continuity.

[Joel Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the art and story on this all-too-brief John Byrne Namor run.

[Adam Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects Issues 10-18 of John Byrne's 1990s Namor Series and has four stories therein:

Issues #10-#12: The Invaders Fight Again: West and East Germany are reuniting as the Cold War ends but that leaves Namor (and to an extent) Captain America nervous about a possible resurgence by Nazis. Namor goes to Berlin to investigate and discovers that Masterman is already part of such a contingency and has captured the original Human Torch (Jim Hammond) as part of the scheme. Whe Namor himself is captured, he'll need some help from some old friends. Overall, a great story that serves as a very good reunion for the Invaders with so many wonderful and fun moments.

Issue #13: Trial of the Sub-Mariner: A necessary story that has the Marvel Universe dealing with Namor's behavior during the Silver Age. It rehashes quite a bit as well as cutting to stuff that will be dealt with later, but also helps set things up so that Namor can be used in other ways (such as being an Avenger) without having the absurdity of not dealing with the fact he tried to wipe out New York City.

Issue #14: A Child is Waiting: Phoebe Marrs reveals a lot about herself and her feelings to Namor. It's a well-developed back-story but is hindered by a fight with a griffin that turns out to be superflous.

Issues 15-18: Namor returns to where Atlantis relocated when he receives word that is long-believed-dead wife Dorma is alive. However, before he can be really sure he has to go to the Savage Lands to investigate what's heating Atlantis where he runs into a battle with the apparently resurrected Danny Rand (AKA Iron Fist.) Some problems with this, mainly that they spent too long in the book setting this up and Misty Knight's behavior is hard to understand. Still, this is a pretty good story.

Overall, a big step up from the first volume, with all the issues being well-characterized and the Invaders story being absolutely brilliant. Well-worth reading.

[Devero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Byrne prosegue la serie scavando nel passato, nel glorioso periodo della golden age of comics rivisto nella serie Invaders degli anni '70, disegnata per lo più da Frank Robbins. La sua idea di riunire gli Invasori originali e fargli affrontare anche i vecchi avversari è ottimamente pensata e realizzata.
Segue il processo a Namor, e poi il viaggio nella Terra Selvaggia con la sorpresa di un Iron-Fist redivivo che in realtà non è Daniel Rand, e un lettore esperto capirà subito chi celano quelle fattezze se farà attenzione ai disegni perfetti di Byrne.

[Carles Muñoz Miralles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Byrne da en Namor una magistral lección sobre cómo tratar a los personajes de universos compartidos, y recupera grandes cabos sueltos de sus series anteriores (la Antorcha Humana original, el SuperSkrull, Puño de Hierro...) para dotar de continuidad la serie. Una gran lectura.

[Roger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the stories with the Invaders in it.