Namor #2 (2024) variant cover

For this cover, P. Craig Russell went straight to a favorite issue from his own formative years: Wally Wood's Daredevil #7, which opens with a scene of Namor on his throne, receiving a supplicant. Russell adapted it to his own style, reducing the number of guards in attendance ("Namor needs no protection!"), making some of the characters more fantastical in appearance, and eliminating the whimsical background sight of men riding sharks upright like underwater surfers.

In their place, he added a second submarine and a castle of coral. Now the supplicant brings a chest of treasure rather than a complaint about Namor's inaction. The hair of Namor and Lady Dorma floats in the water like a pair of flags, and an eerie eyeball-octopus looms at the foot of his throne. Russell drew Dorma wearing a two-piece, as Wood did as well, but the green colors cover her more.

Russell is known for his work on Elric, and there's more than a little overlap between that sovereign and this one, lithe and haughty, and not above breaking human rules to get what he thinks he deserves.

I picked this piece up from Russell at Dragon Con 2024. He had not been there for many years and had a lot of catching up to do with writer Don MacGregor, whose Killmonger story was adapted into the first Black Panther film. I was privileged to spend substantial time with both men over the course of the weekend, hearing about their experiences at Bronze Age Marvel.

This page was discussed in my YouTube interview on Ruben Da Collector's channel on October 12, 2025.