In contrast, Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner-- who debuted alongside the Torch in the same 1939 issue of MARVEL COMICS-- always seemed to have a lot of unused potential, whether the character was handled by his creator or by latter-day talents.
For one thing, the Sub-Mariner (a,k.a. "Prince Namor") has a great visual design. With his triangularar head and pointed ears, he seems to me like a less hirsute version of the Greek god Pan.
And that's not even taking into account the ingenious (if improbable) attribution of his power of flight to the tiny wings on his heels, obviously derivative from Hermes/Mercury's winged sandals.
The Sub-Mariner's origin-story is extremely promising, pitting the youthful hero against the surface world due to an attack on his people, also called "sub-mariners" (and not called "Atlanteans" until the 1960s reboot).
However, with a real World War threatening to engulf America, there was no possibility that the Sub-Mariner's storyline could have continued to focus on a war between sub-mariners and surface dwellers. Namor quickly dropped his grievances against Americans and became a crusader against the Nazi menace for most of his Golden Age career. Yet his best-remembered stories are those when he was still somewhat on the side of the devils, as when he battled the not-so-human protector of surface dwellers, the Human Torch.
Indeed, one of these encounters even involved Namor hurling a tidal wave against New York City, though he repented of his warlike acts and went back to being a good guy, without anyone raising a stink about the death and destruction he had caused.
The 1960s reboot heightened Namor's role as a decent guy embittered by the way nuclear testing had dispersed the people of his Atlantean empire. (Later continuity rewrote this story to exculpate Americans once again.) Namor was most frequently opposed to the Fantastic Four, though he was made more sympathetic due to his rather goatish lust for Sue "Invisible Girl" Storm. The character didn't get his own series until 1965, in TALES TO ASTONISH #70. Unfortunately, Stan Lee and Gene Colan got off to a poor start with a soggy quest-story that couldn't compete with similar tales from Lee and Kirby in the THOR title.
Things looked up somewhat when Sub-Mariner got his own title, written for several years by Roy Thomas.For a time, artist John Buscema also gave the series an epic feel somewhat reminiscent of Hal Foster's PRINCE VALIANT. However, no single story or set of stories used the hero to best effect. The closest Namor came to glory during his own magazine's run was when Thomas and Buscema had him encounter the denizens of another sunken city, Lemuria. This was the most ambitious serial in the history of the Silver Age comic, but though it introduced the artifact known as "the Serpent Crown"-- a major trinket in Marvel continuity-- the Lemurian tale lacked cohesion. The character's mythos also suffered from a mediocre set of villains who failed to challenge the hero on a deeper conceptual level, as the Fantastic Four's foes did for that group.
For the most part, later series starring Namor also failed to use his mythic potential. However, I finally re-read one particular stand-alone story that meets my mythcomic criteria-- and interestingly enough, it's by Namor's creator Bill Everett, who was allowed to write and draw several issues of the Silver Age title the artist passed away. The story even manages to play into the element usually neglected in Namor stories: i.e., his relationship to the Greek deities, as well as commenting on the character's intrinsic connection to humankind's practice of the art of war. More on this story anon.
CORRECTION (8/29/18): I credited the Lemuria sequence (SUB-MARINER #9-13) to artist John Busceme. Evidently I was only remembering the big Sub-Mariner/Thing battle that precedes the sequence proper, in issue #8, for the artists in #9-13 are Marie Severin (issues 9, 12 and 13) and Gene Colan (issues 10 and 11).
13 comments:
I believe that Lemuria episode was drawn by Marie Severin, not John Buscema.
Thanks for the info; have added a correction.
thanks for this. sub-mariner has long been my favorite marvel character. in the 60's as a little kid i knew all of the major dc characters and watched all of the h-b super-hero cartoons on cbs. however i only knew of 9 marvel characters and 4 of them belonged to the same title: the fantastic four (though i didn't know at the time there were two human torches, jim hammond and johnny storm) , sub-mariner, spider-man, captain america, hulk and dr. strange ... and i didn't like dr. strange at that time in my life. i don't remember how i discovered sub-mariner. i have just always known of him and he was always my favorite marvel character. even at a very young age i thought of sub-mariner as NOT being merely a water based character, but rather a character who came from an undersea world; sort of like superman coming from krypton, but living on earth. i always saw aquaman as a water based hero however. looking back over marvel's post-FF #4 re-introduction of sub-mariner it is easy to see and very obvious that marvel has NEVER known just what exactly to do with him. probably the best things marvel has ever done with sub-mariner are (sadly) this 72 issue run and the first 13 issues of super-villain team-up (and that title's first 2 giant sized issues). when one does an over view of this 72 issue run you can tell when it comes to sub-mariner, marvel is just in a dark room blindly feeling the wall for a light switch. you bring up some very valid points about this run. during it's run some times sub-mariner was in games of thrones type situations under sea/cut off from the rest of the marvel universe. often he was engaged with the rest of the marvel universe to various degrees of success. there was even sort of an almost sword and sorcery aspect to some of the issues. since the 70's sub-mariner has taken a back seat to many, many other marvel characters. marvel's mistreatment of him since the mid-70's has led many younger readers not aware of his importance in the history of comics to dislike or even hate him. perhaps he is just too complex for mainstream readers or too complex for marvel writers. perhaps what marvel should have done since 1961 is merely make him stand for atlantis in every instance; even when atlantis is possibly in the wrong thus putting him at odds with the surface dwelling heroes, but still allowing him to be heroic in his intent. thanks again.
You're welcome, and I appreciate your comments.
It's also occurred to me that the various Marvel writers didn't build up Namor's support cast during the sixties. Lady Dorma was the only constant presence, with much more minor action from Old Man Vulko and the somewhat later Lord Seth. It was OK for the Golden Age Namor to bounce around with only occasional support from a girlfriend, but in the Silver Age, most features needed more character conflict to get by.
that is a good point. a regular supporting cast from both the undersea and surface worlds could have grounded namor to BOTH worlds. i was in a comic book shop back in 86 and some how the character came up in a conversation that i did not initiate. they made the statement EVERYBODY dies in sub-mariner. i got to thinking, well...tiger shark did kill namor's father leonard McKenzie, Llyra murdered lady dorma, they introduce namorita by presenting the seemingly dead body of namora. later in s-v t-up betty dean got killed saving namor. i do not recall namor ever having a relationship with his surface dwelling father. looking back, killing him off wiped out a LOT of potential storylines such as having a surface dwelling father how would that influence namor's interactions with the surface world? they never go beyond the literal surface with namor's personality either. i always thought being the born leader of a race of blue skinned people while he was biracial and caucasian in his appearance MUST have caused namor to actually have feelings of self-loathing and thus he over compensated with the arrogance, etc. also, it always seems like marvel has the point of view that namor is too powerful. we MUST give him an achilles's heel something to bring him down a level or 3. john byrne's entire run on namor's 90's title seemed dedicated to this very perspective. i even wrote a letter in complaining how instead of giving namor upgrades to make up for the 'lost time' he didn't have his own title they were de-powering every chance he got. in my letter i said 'what's next? take away his ankle wings so he can't fly?' a few issues later he lost them! byrne even had namor admitting to himself that the griffin was more powerful...the boastful namor admitting a short coming??? i mean marvel NEVER has any problem with hulk, thor, herc, blue marvel, the sentry, wonder man and countless other characters being more power with their every appearance. all they really do is de-power namor ... and kill him off. how many times in the mainstream universe or in a possible future have they killed namor off? the writers have had namor doing some really questionable stuff for the last ... i don't know how many decades. they have messed the character up so badly i wish they would just start over with him. just say hey! the stories you have been reading about namor since 1961 were not really him. it was an imposter. it was the golden age teen character subbie PRETENDING to be namor. here's the REAL namor...he's been away and just now got back to the mainstream universe!
Back in the day, while I wasn't crazy about killing Lady Dorma, I had to admit the writers couldn't go anywhere interesting with her: either Namor had to marry her, or she had to leave-- pretty much like Spider-Man with Gwen Stacy once he realized she was "the one." Marriage improved the Aquaman feature, but that was partly because his wife Mera retained her own appeal, even apart from her super-powers, while Dorma was Just Another Romantic Interest, even if she occasionally showed moments of gumption.
But I hated the writer (Gerry Conway I believe) who revived Leonard McKenzie only to kill him off, for cheap sensationalism. That showed how clueless Marvel had become regarding Sub-Mariner.
I did leave out a couple of support characters. Roy Thomas introduced Diane Arliss, sister of Tiger Shark, who kept making very tentative moves on Namor and engendering jealousy in Dorma. But she too was Just Another Romantic Interest, with no character of her own. Considerably later, after Bill Everett intro'd Nita-- who was the best support-character ever introduced in the Marvel Comics version of Subby-- Steve Gerber intro'd the red-skinned alien Tamara. She had potential, because she wasn't a clinging vine like Dorma, but no one could figure out what to do with her either. What if (just speculating) some good-looking Atlantean nobleman had romanced Tamara, while Namor was all wrapped up in politics? What might it have been like, if Namor had to get over his lingering feelings for the late Dorma and actually COMPETE for a lady fair?
There's an early fifties Sub-Mariner story that reinforces what you said about creators not knowing what to do with Namor. I may get around to reviewing it some day, but the story had Namor get his original super-powers charged up again, the implication being that some writers had started de-powering him for convenience, like having the hero be vulnerable to bullets and such. The 50s title didn't last long enough for the power-upgrade to make any difference to sales, though.
thank you for the reply. i have read that during the time of the 50's run there was talk of a sub-mariner tv series. however, they wanted a de-powered namor and wanted him to be basically an underwater tarzan as opposed to an under sea superman thus his powers were briefly removed in the comics. then when the possible tv series fell apart in the planning stages they gave him an upgrade, but it was too little too late.
Allegedly NBC's MAN FROM ATLANTIS started out as a take on Sub-Mariner. Then the company just decided to do a generic ocean-hero, which supposedly pissed off Stan Lee, who'd been pushing Namor to NBC. But in retrospect he should have been happy, because the show they came up with was, at best, aggressively ordinary. The relative cheapness of the project would have nullified the possibility of pageantry or even decent action-scenes, and calling NBC's characrer "Sub-Mariner" would have done exactly zero to promote Sub-Mariner specifically or Marvel generally.
i do remember around 1978 that in stan's soapbox column he announced many marvel heroes were coming to the small screen; sub-mariner among them. i have read that marvel was planning for sub-mariner to return to his own title around this time, but when man from atlantis hit the air waves they scrapped sub-mariner's return in favor for their man from atlantis title. i bought the first issue because it was a number one. then i wrote in a scathing letter chastising marvel for giving namor the judas kiss off in favor for this watered down, generic, bland, personality-less version. i am sure the letter never got printed. i ended it by saying 'what would bill everett think?' marvel has passed many, many times on returning sub-mariner to his own title. in the early 80's they used the title 'tales to astonish' to reprint the first the first 14 issues of namor's '68 - '72 series. it sold well enough for marvel to officially announce his return to his own solo title. in the back of i believe it was issue 14 they presented a lay out for the cover of the new sub-mariner title #1 which had namor engaged in battle with spider-man. this title never arrived. however, around this same time sub-mariner appeared in 3 issues of amazing spider-man. i am sure one of those issues was the intended first issue that was announced. yeah, i hate to admit it, but i watched man from atlantis. i had sort of a i don't have anything else to work with attitude about it. it was just boring ... and cheap. then it got cancelled, but the filmed and yet to be aired episodes some time a little later finally made their way to the airwaves. they were silly and cheap and yeah, boring. i remember one contained a 2 headed sea horse. these 'ash can' episodes were a lot more goofy than the initial episodes had been, but they still were not fun or exciting. if this was the best network could do with an underwater character, like you, i am glad it wasn't the sub-mariner. i couldn't get through the incredible hulk pilot! i never watched the show again until my nephew came along. spider-man was another dull and cheap affair. i didn't bother with dr. strange. i think the best way to do a sub-mariner movie would be to go old style animated with it. frank miller's the spirit is a lousy film, but when i saw the underwater scenes i was like they ought to do this with sub-mariner. i haven't bothered with dc's 2 aquaman films, but even with huge budgets you can tell it is green screen and cgi. they look cheap. they basically took arthur curry and made him more like namor or perhaps Poseidon/neptune. sadly, dc has always treated aquaman with more care and respect than marvel has for sub-mariner. i actually liked aquaman's 70 run in adventure comics with jim aparo doing the art.
you are probably all ready aware of this : aquaman's last issue (for the time being) crossed over into sub-mariner 72 (his last issue) + one other comic from warren. How Aquaman's Final Issue Showed Up At Two Different Comic Companies https://www.cbr.com/aquaman-namor-eerie-steve-skeates-final-issue/
Hmm, now I must admit I don't remember where I read the story of Stan Lee being pissed when MAN FROM ATLANTIS stole Marvel's thunder. Though I don't doubt that I did read such a comment, it may have been mere coincidence that NBC did the ATLANTIS project while talk of a SUB-MARINER project was still ongoing. Here"s what CBR said about the matter:
"As I noted earlier, Man From Atlantis had already been basically canceled in December 1977, and yet in April 1978, there was still hopes for a Namor TV special. I don't know why the project fell apart, but projects fall apart for SO MANY reasons. I just don't think that there is any evidence that Man From Atlantis actually had an impact on the series, as it was developed while that other show was on the air and continued to be promoted after that other show was canceled, so whatever reason the Namor TV show didn't come to be, I don't think that there is any reason to tie Man From Atlantis into it at all."
The only exception I'd make is that sometimes, thanks to industry gossip, an executive of one company may get the news that another company has an interest in Franchise X, and then the first company tries to steal a march on the second, just in case the second company might be on to something. But that seems to be the only way ATLANTIS might have been influenced by a prospective NAMOR project. It's also a little vague as to what production company may have been considering Namor, since that's the sort of thing a hype-announcement would not mention until a deal has been made.
Yep, I've seen Skeates write about that faux crossover. And one might add that the two AQUAMAN movies borrowed from the Namor mythology for the first time. From the Silver Age onward, I saw intermittent references to Aquaman having superlative strength-- but it was never on the level of Namor's. Then the first solo movie comes out, and we're seeing the Aqua-dude acting like Namor in combat, tossing huge boulders and shrugging off ray-blasts. Maybe that was fair compensation, since the cinematic Ant Man had started acting like DC's Atom, bounding around from foe to foe and using his human strength much more effectively.
BTW, one of my newest posts addresses the 1950s "re-powering" Namor story I mentioned above.
hey! thanks for the heads up. i will search for it.
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