Drowning their sorrows: Newsarama reports that Marvel will cancel "Namor" with February's Issue 12. The series, co-written by Bill Jemas and Andi Watson, was considered the flagship of the Tsunami line (which isn't really a "line," we're told, but that's a discussion for another day).

The cancellation comes as little surprise, and not just because of theories that Marvel is trying to distance itself from the Jemas Era.

Reading between the lines of Watson's Oct. 21 statement to ComiX-Fan, it's fairly clear the fate of "Namor" has been sealed for a while:

"Bill [Jemas] plotted through 12 issues and I've written 12 issues. It's Bill's baby and I've got it eating and walking. I'm not gonna pre-empt any Marvel announcements but the facts are Namor was Bill's baby and Bill is no longer in editorial ..."

UPDATE: In its cancellation coverage, The Pulse gets a fresh (and pretty funny) quote from Watson: "It's no surprise, I have no strong feelings either way. I did my job, got paid, end of story. 'Love Fights' is a really good book from Oni Press, rush out and buy the first five issues of this great ongoing series."

But Watson also poses some questions of his own:

"What does interest me is are the Big Two going to try different ways to reach readers outside the direct market? It's no secret that the DM is shrinking and has been for years, there will come a time (and soon) when it's no longer possible to make money outside of the characters that were created in the last millennium (arguably that's already happened). Are the big guys happy to see that happen (and rake in the licensing deals) or are they interested in making comics?

"With Blankets doing well in bookstores, TOKYOPOP reaching 60% female readers, the Shonen Jump anthology shaming the DM sales, trades in general making inroads in bookstores and getting wider media interest, If western comics as a medium hasn't already reached a point of no return, then it's on the cusp of big changes."