'Namor': Jason Aaron Dives into the Secrets of Atlantis with New Series

This summer, the secrets of Atlantis will be laid bare.

In NAMOR, a new eight-issue series from writer Jason Aaron and artists Paul Davidson and Alex Lins, the ancient underwater kingdom has found itself without its king and protector. In that vacuum, several would-be kings vie for the throne, while the mighty Namor languishes in a prison cell on the surface with no intention of returning to the sea ever again. Discover the events that shaped this antihero and how they chart the future of his kingdom with "The Last King of Atlantis" this July!

Speaking to Marvel.com, Aaron revealed the scope of NAMOR, which spans the "intimate portrayal" of Sub-Mariner's past to the great cataclysm that sunk Atlantis. He promised to explore the "various exotic cultures" of Atlantis and compared this story to his previous work on PUNISHER: KING OF KILLERS and THOR: GOD OF THUNDER. He also teased some familiar faces, new friends and foes, and so much more.

MARVEL.COM: Namor is a lot of things: king, mutant, Atlantean, hero, villain—the list goes on. What, in your opinion, is the quintessential element that every Namor story needs in order to be authentic to the character?

JASON AARON: I think a good Namor story needs a little bit of most all that, because he's walked a lot of different paths over the course of his long, violent life. 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. 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.

MARVEL.COM: "Last King of Atlantis" finds Namor as a literal fish out of water. How does this set the stage for what's to come in NAMOR?

JASON AARON: With no king to rule Atlantis, the realms of the deep have fallen into chaos and tribal warfare. Seven would-be kings are now vying for the throne, some of them characters we know, some of them all-new and hailing from corners of the undersea world as yet unexplored.

MARVEL.COM: What interested you the most about exploring the politics of Namor's (former) underwater kingdom?

JASON AARON: 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. 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.

MARVEL.COM: Aside from Namor, what other familiar faces might we encounter in this series?

JASON AARON: You can expect some faces from Namor's past, plus a bunch of new friends and foes.

MARVEL.COM: In a universe that spans cataclysms at the furthest reaches of the galaxy to the most personal battles on the streets of New York, where does "Last King of Atlantis" stand?

JASON AARON: This is the most epic war story in the history of Atlantis, but also a very visceral and intimate portrayal of the darkest events that have shaped Namor over the course of his long, troubled life.

MARVEL.COM: What do Paul Davidson and Alex Lins bring to the series? Tell me a little about working with them.

JASON AARON: Both are stellar artists handling different aspects of the story. Paul is drawing the present day scenes, while Alex tackles flashbacks to various periods from throughout Namor's life. It's the same sort of breakdown we had on my most recent PUNISHER series, which I think worked to great effect. 

I feel like this NAMOR series captures some of the same tone and feel I was going for there. In some ways, I would call NAMOR a combination of both PUNISHER: KING OF KILLERS and my work on THOR: GOD OF THUNDER. I even broke out my old Thor notebook, which I haven't used since I finished KING THOR, to use for notes and ideas for this new NAMOR project.

MARVEL.COM: What are you most excited for readers to see?

JASON AARON: Namor's prison life. The Crimson Swim. The Secret Seas. The War Reef and the Elder Whales. And the true story of the great cataclysm that first sunk Atlantis.

Behold the secrets of Atlantis in NAMOR #1, on sale July 17!

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