If you thought Jason Aaron’s time at Marvel was over when his exclusivity ended, think again. The writer of Thor, Avengers and Punisher will work with Paul Davidson and Alex Lins on an eight-issue miniseries starring one of Marvel’s first characters, Namor the Sub-Mariner.
“The Last King of Atlantis” will start with the antihero in prison, never intending to return to the sea. Meanwhile, seven would-be kings vie for the throne of Atlantis.
“He’s always been a guy who has wavered back and forth between outright hero and outright villain, while spending a lot of time floating around somewhere in the middle,” Aaron told Marvel.com about Namor. “And all of that has left him in a very dark place, locked in a surface world prison, praying he never has to set foot in the seas again. That’s where our story begins.”
Here’s the description from Marvel’s solicitations for July:
War rages beneath the waves, from the lost cities of the Secret Seas to the fathomless depths where the Elder Whales reign. Seven kings, old and new, fight to rule the watery realm. But where is Namor, the once mighty Sub-Mariner? He’s sitting behind bars on the surface, with no intention of ever setting foot in the seas again. So begins an oversized Atlantean event that will forever reshape the landscape of the undersea world while at last laying bare the dark history of Atlantis and its fiercest, most infamous defender.
And here’s a look at Davidson and Lins’ interior artwork:
“For a long time now, I’ve wanted to do a Namor story like this, something that’s very much a dark exploration of one of truest antiheroes, while also serving as a roadmap and a redefinition of the entire undersea world,” Aaron said. “In the same way I used The War of the Realms to explore the various lands and denizens of Thor’s particular corner of the Marvel landscape, this book is meant to guide us through the various exotic cultures and wondrous locales of the deep sea kingdoms in a way we’ve never seen before.”
The first issue will arrive in stores July 17.