I recently picked up a copy of King In Black: Namor #4 at Conquest Comics in Bayville, New Jersey. The amazing variant cover artwork shown above was done by Valerio Giangiordano and Jason Keith. While this issue was written by Kurt Dusiek and drawn by Benjamin Dewey and Jonas Scharf, the original concept for the King In Black series was conceptualized by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. Knull, who is also known as the God-King of the Symbiotes, was imprisoned by the very Symbiotes that he created. For whatever reason, Dark Carnage decided to free him. Now, the father of the Symbiotes is on a mission to destroy Earth.
I received my first knowledge of this Symbiote world through Marvel Comics involving Venom. Their impact on the Marvel Universe has been exploding ever since. This time Knull's reign of terror is forcing the entire Marvel community to become involved with the saving of our planet. Reaching across may Marvel titles beginning with Venom, Tony Stark is trying to take the lead when it comes to approaching this catastrophe. The Celestials, who are responsible for many alien races, are obviously involved. Doctor Doom is trying to gain the trust of Stark in this battle, but can one really trust Doom? I would have consulted with the Fantastic Four on this topic! Sentry may have a chance to redeem himself by assisting the heroes, but that remains to be seen. I guess I will find out as I pick up more issues in the series. No one appears to know where Thor is, but the mutant X-Men are involved.
Namor isn't exactly on good terms with the Avengers, but this issue shows how the Sub-Mariner has crossed paths with Knull not only in the present, but in the past as well. The Swift Tide, a group of warriors from Atlantis, are on the hunt for Knull and his legion of dragons along with Namor, Dorma and Attuma. However, their first mission is to find The Unforgotten Stone. Finding out that all of Attuma's people are dead puts Attuma in a very foul mood. Syzandias was found to be barely alive and he passes on to Dorma a message involving a spell.
All of the Atlantean heroes, including Namor, have been corrupted by Dark Magic that is a result of the aforementioned stone. The fact that Namor is 50% mutant doesn't seem to be any sort of saving grace. This war seems to be, if not equal, more encompassing than the Marvel Universe's dealings with Thanos. It is almost like when wrestlers enter the Elimination Chamber and they don't come out the same. This event could leave some very serious repercussions and a heavy death toll on this entire universe!