Category: Invaders

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Marvel Two-In-One Epic Collection volume 2: Two Against Hydra (1976-1978)


By Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter, Ron Wilson, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Ernie Chan, Marie Severin, Sam Grainger, Pablo Marcos, George Roussos, John Tartaglione & various (MARVEL)
ISBN 978-1-3029-3176-6 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. That concept of an established star pairing with, or battling – often both – new or less well-selling company characters was already long established when Marvel awarded their most popular hero the same deal DC had with Batman in The Brave and the Bold. Although confident in their new title, they wisely left options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch. In those long-ago days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since super-heroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man’s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up, the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm – the Fantastic Four’s most iconic and popular member – beginning with test runs in Marvel Feature #11-12, before awarding him his own team-up title…

This second eclectic compendium gathers the contents of Marvel Two-In-One #20 & 21-36, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 and Fantastic Four Annual #11, covering October 1976-February 1978. And opens without preamble on a crisis in time.

Devised and delivered by Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Sam Grainger, Fantastic Four Annual #11 featured portentous time-travel saga ‘And Now Then… the Invaders!’ wherein Marvel’s First Family dash back to 1942 to retrieve a cylinder of miracle-metal Vibranium. It had somehow fallen into Nazi hands and had begun to unwrite history as a consequence…

On arrival, the team are embroiled in conflict with WWII super-team The Invaders – comprising rawer, rougher, early incarnations of Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the original, android Human Torch. The time-busting task goes well once the heroes finally unite to assault a Nazi castle where the miracle mineral is secured, but after the quartet return to their own repaired era, only Ben realises the mission isn’t completed yet…

The action carries over and continues in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 as, with the present unravelling around him, Ben blasts back to 1942 again in ‘Their Name is Legion!’ (Thomas, Sal Buscema, Grainger, John Tartaglione & George Roussos), linking up with Home Front Heroes The Liberty Legion (collectively The Patriot, Thin Man, Red Raven, Jack Frost, Blue Diamond, Miss America and The Whizzer) to thwart Nazi raiders Skyshark and Master Man, Japanese agent Slicer and Atlantean traitor U-Man who have united to invade America.

The battle proves so big it spills over and concludes in Marvel Two-In-One #20 (October 1976) in a shattering ‘Showdown at Sea!’: pitting the heroes against diabolical Nazi scientist Brain Drain, courtesy this time of Thomas, Sal B & Grainger.

In many collections the tale would be followed by Marvel Two-In-One #21 (November 1976), which featured a pairing with legendary pulp superman Doc Savage. This isn’t one of them.

For years the tale has been embargoed: unavailable for fans due to Marvel having no access to the Man of Bronze’s proprietary rights. To see it, you’ll want to read Marvel Two-in-One Marvel Masterworks vol. 3.

Here we jump to MTIO #22 as Ben contacts physician Dr. Don Blake, just as the Egyptian death god attacks Thor’s alter ego in ‘Touch Not the Hand of Seth!’ (Bill Mantlo, Ron Wilson & Pablo Marcos): a fantastic cosmic action-extravaganza concluded with the assistance of Jim Shooter & Marie Severin in #23’s ‘Death on the Bridge to Heaven!’…

The Thing then enjoys a far more prosaic time battling beside neophyte hero Black Goliath as a devastated downtown Los Angeles – and creators Mantlo, Shooter, Sal Buscema & Marcos – ask ‘Does Anyone Remember… the Hijacker?’

A new era opens as a much delayed and postponed team-up with Iron Fist, the Living Weapon heralds the start of writer/editor Marv Wolfman’s lengthy run on the title. Illustrated by Wilson & Grainger ‘A Tale of Two Countries!’ sees Ben and the master martial artist shanghaied to the Far East as part of a Machiavellian plan to conquer the island kingdom of Kaiwann. Naturally, they both strenuously object to the abduction…

The innate problem with team-ups was always a lack of continuity – something else Marvel had always prided itself upon – and Wolfman sought to address it by the simple expedient of having stories connected through evolving, overarching plots taking Ben from place to place and guest to guest to guest. Here the tactic begins with bustling bombast in ‘The Fixer and Mentallo are Back and the World will Never be the Same!’ (illustrated by Wilson & Marcos) uniting Ben with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to battle a brace of conniving bad guys trying to steal killer-cyborg-from-an-alternate-future Deathlok.

The good guys spectacularly fail and the artificial assassin is co-featured in #27 as ‘Day of the Demolisher!’ sees the now-reprogrammed killer targeting the inauguration of new US President Jimmy Carter. This time Big Ben has an alien ace up his sleeve and the hit happily fails…

The tempestuous Sub-Mariner shares the watery limelight in #28 as Ben and his blind girlfriend Alicia Masters ferry the deactivated Deathlok to a London-based boffin for further tests. When they are shot down mid-Atlantic by a mutated fish-man, Ben must battle against and beside Namor whilst Alicia languishes ‘In the Power of the Piranha!’ (Tartaglione inks). Master of Kung Fu Shang-Chi then steps in as Ben and Alicia finally land in London. Inked by Grainger, ‘Two Against Hydra’ sees aforementioned expert Professor Kort snatched by the sinister secret society before the Thing can consult him: the savant’s knowledge being crucial to Hydra’s attempts to revive their own living weapon…

As part of Marvel’s compulsive ongoing urge to protect their trademarks, a number of their top male characters had been spun off into female iterations. Thus, at the end of 1976, Ms. Marvel debuted (with a January 1977 cover-date). She-Hulk arrived at the end of 1979 (Savage She-Hulk #1 February 1980) whilst Jessica Drew premiered in Marvel Spotlight #32 as The Spider-Woman a mere month after Ms. Marvel’s launch. Her cameo appearance in Marvel Two-In-One #29 (July 1977) heralded an extended 6-chapter saga designed as a promotional lead-in to her own series.

‘Battle Atop Big Ben!’ (#30 by Wolfman, John Buscema & Marcos) has her meet the Thing as she struggles to be free of her Hydra controllers, even as a petty thieves embroil Ben and Alicia in a complex and arcane robbery scheme involving a strange chest buried beneath Westminster Abbey. Unable to kill Ben, the Arachnid Dark Angel kidnaps Alicia, who becomes ‘My Sweetheart… My Killer!’ (#31, Wilson & Grainger) after Kort and Hydra transform the helpless sculptor into a spidery monster. In #32’s ‘And Only the Invisible Girl Can Save Us Now!’ (inked by Marcos) Sue Storm joins the repentant Spider-Woman and distraught Thing in combat to cure an out-of-control Alicia. In the wings, those two robbers continue their campaign of acquisition, accidentally awakening a quartet of ancient elemental horrors…

It requires the magics of the Arthurian sorcerer Modred the Mystic to help Spider-Woman and Ben triumph over the horrors in the concluding chapter ‘From Stonehenge… With Death!’ before a semblance of normality is restored. Back to business as usual in Marvel Two-In-One #34, Ben and sky-soaring Defender stalwart Nighthawk tackle a revived and cruelly misunderstood alien freed from an antediluvian cocoon in ‘A Monster Walks Among Us!’ (Wolfman, Wilson & Marcos) before Ernie Chan joins Wolfman to illustrate a 2-part wrap-up to one of Marvel’s recently folded series.

Marvel Two-In-One often acted as a clearing-house for unresolved series and plot-lines, and #35 found Ben dispatched by the US Air Force through a Bermuda Triangle time-portal to a fantastic world of dinosaurs, robots, dinosaurs, E.T.’s and more dinosaurs. ‘Enter: Skull the Slayer and Exit: The Thing’ details the short history and imminent deaths of a group of modern Americans trapped in a bizarre time-lost land. Now marooned in the past with them, it takes the intervention of Mister Fantastic to retrieve Ben and his new friends in #36’s ‘A Stretch in Time…’, bringing this compilation to a satisfactory halt.

That yarn ends the narrative thrills and chills for now, but there’s still room for a brief gallery of original art and roughs by Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia, Wilson, Marcos, Tartaglione, George Pérez, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson & John Buscema to delight and astound.

These stories from Marvel’s Middle Period are unarguably of variable quality, but whereas some might feel rushed and ill-considered they are balanced by timeless classics, still as captivating today as they always were.

Even if artistically the work varies from only adequate to superb, most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there’s lots of fun to be found for young and old readers. So why not lower your critical guard and have an honest blast of pure warts ‘n’ all comics craziness? You’ll almost certainly grow to like it…
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Fantastic Four Epic Collection volume 10: Counter-Earth Must Die (1976-1978)


By Roy Thomas, Len Wein, Bill Mantlo, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Jim Shooter, Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Rich Buckler, Ron Wilson, Joe Sinnott, Sam Grainger, John Tartaglione, George Roussos, Dave Hunt, Tony DeZuñiga & various (MARVEL)
ISBN 978-1-3029-5544-1 (TPB/Digital edition)

This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times.

Monolithic modern Marvel truly began with the adventures of a small super-team who were as much squabbling family as coolly capable costumed champions. Everything the company is now stems from the quirky quartet and the groundbreaking, inspired efforts of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby…

Cautiously bi-monthly and cover-dated November 1961, Fantastic Four #1 – by Stan, Jack, George Klein & Christopher Rule – was raw and crude even by the ailing company’s standards: but it seethed with rough, passionate and uncontrolled excitement. Thrill-hungry kids pounced on its dynamic storytelling and caught a wave of change starting to build in America. It and succeeding issues changed comics forever. As seen in the premier issue, maverick scientist Reed Richards, his fiancée Sue Storm, their close friend Ben Grimm and Sue’s bratty teenaged brother Johnny survived an ill-starred private space-shot after Cosmic Rays penetrated their ship’s inadequate shielding.

All four permanently mutated: Richards’ body became elastic, Sue became (even more) invisible, Johnny Storm burst into living flame and tragic Ben shockingly devolved into a shambling, rocky freak. After the initial revulsion and trauma passed, they solemnly agreed to use their abilities to benefit mankind. Thus was born The Fantastic Four.

Throughout the 1960s it was indisputably the key title and most consistently groundbreaking series of Marvel’s ever-unfolding web of cosmic creation: a forge for new concepts and characters. Kirby was approaching his creative peak: unleashing his vast imagination on plot after spectacular plot, whilst Lee scripted some of the most passionate superhero sagas ever seen. Both were on an unstoppable roll, at the height of their powers and full of the confidence only success brings, with The King particularly eager to see how far the genre and the medium could be pushed… which is rather ironic since it was the company’s reticence to give the artist creative freedom which led to Kirby’s moving to National/DC in the 1970s.

Without Kirby’s soaring imagination the rollercoaster of mind-bending High Concepts gave way to more traditional tales of characters in conflict, with soap-opera leanings and super-villain-dominated Fights ‘n’ Tights dramas. This stripped-down, compelling compilation gathers Fantastic Four #168-191 and Annual #11, plus crossover components from Marvel Two in One #20 and that title’s first Annual. Collectively spanning cover-dates March 1976 to February 1978 they cemented a change of pace that would eventually move the title away from the glory days of Kirby even as he enjoyed a partial return as cover artist…

A new direction had kicked off with FF #164, courtesy of Thomas and then-neophyte illustrator George Pérez, backed up by veteran inker Joe Sinnott. Now, after another clash with The Hulk, the team seems forever shattered as Ben – returned to human form by extended exposure to the Jade Juggernaut’s gamma radiation – contemplates life as an ordinary mortal and former superhero…

Returned to the massed ranks of humanity the ex-Thing is less than delighted at achieving his greatest desire as Rich Buckler pencils #168’s ‘Where Have All the Powers Gone?’, wherein Reed is forced by contractual obligation to replace him with Hero for Hire Luke Cage.

However, although human again, happiness still eludes Grimm with events taking a worse turn in #169 as ‘Five Characters in Search of a Madman!’ finds Cage attacking his new teammates thanks to the machinations of a veteran FF foe. Pérez & Sinnott reunite for concluding chapter ‘A Sky-Full of Fear!’ as Ben returns to his team and spectacularly saves the day wearing a Thing exoskeleton suit constructed by Reed. Sadly. although the original and genuine is back at last (sort of), there’s no time to pause for applause as the yarn segues directly into Fantastic Four Annual #11.

Momentous time-travel saga ‘And Now Then… The Invaders!’ by Thomas, John Buscema & Sam Grainger, sees Marvel’s First Family flash back to 1942 to retrieve a cylinder of miracle-metal Vibranium. When it somehow then fell into Nazi hands it had started to unwrite history and on arrival, the FF are attacked by WWII super-team The Invaders – comprising early incarnations of Captain America, Sub-Mariner and the original, android Human Torch. The time-repair task goes far better once all the heroes finally unite to assault a Nazi castle where the Vibranium is held, but after the modern quartet return to their own restored era, Ben realises the mission isn’t over yet…

Thanks to Uatu the Watcher, the action continues in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 as – with the present unravelling around him – Ben blasts back to 1942 yet again. ‘Their Name is Legion!’ (Thomas, Sal Buscema, Grainger, John Tartaglione & George Roussos) finds him linking up with Home Front Heroes the Liberty Legion (collectively The Patriot, Thin Man, Red Raven, Jack Frost, Blue Diamond, Miss America and The Whizzer) to thwart Nazis Skyshark and Master Man, Japanese agent Slicer and Atlantean turncoat U-Man’s invasion of America. The battle proves so big, it spills over to concludes in Marvel Two-In-One #20 (October 1976) in a shattering ‘Showdown at Sea!’ pitting the massed heroes against diabolical Nazi boffin Brain Drain, courtesy this time of Thomas, Sal B & Grainger.

Cover-dated June Fantastic Four #171 reveals ‘Death is a Golden Gorilla!’ (Thomas, Pérez, Buckler & Sinnott) as a giant alien anthropoid rampages through Manhattan until corralled by the FF. Calmed down and physically reduced to standard gorilla proportions, the talking ape delivers a desperate plea for help from the High Evolutionary. Bill Mantlo scripts Thomas’ plot and Pérez & Sinnott excel themselves as ‘Cry, the Bedeviled Planet!’ sees the heroes head for the other side of the Sun to save Counter-Earth from certain annihilation only to meet their nemesis in the depths of space…

Thomas writes and John Buscema steps in as penciller with #173’s ‘Counter-Earth Must Die… At the Hands of Galactus!’ Inexplicably, the world-devourer debates minor deity High Evolutionary: offering hope to his intended repast before despatching the heroes across the universe in search of a planet that will voluntarily sacrifice itself for Counter-Earth…

‘Starquest!’ (Thomas, Buscema & Sinnott) follows each unsavoury search to its logical conclusion, but as the Evolutionary abandons rhetoric for cosmic combat in a desperate delaying tactic, Sue Richards accidentally locates a civilisation willing to make the ultimate gesture…

Returned and augmenting the Evolutionary, a reunited FF attack Galactus ‘When Giants Walk the Sky!’ (drawn & inked by JB), with the Devourer delivering a cruel delayed punishment to Ben before consuming the planetary substitute and realising he has been tricked in a bizarre and wry conclusion that only adds fresh complications to the First Family of the Marvel Universe. Then another new direction begins with #176 and Thomas, Pérez & Sinnott revealing that ‘Improbable as it May Seem… The Impossible Man is Back in Town!’ The mighty manic shapeshifter – having just saved everybody from Galactus – returns to Earth with our heroes and promptly turns the city upside down in his relentless search for amusement and entertainment. The high point of the day is his impromptu visit to the Marvel Bullpen where even more hilarity and hysteria ensue…

By the time the flustered four drag him back to the Baxter Building in #177, it’s straight into an ambush as ‘Look Out for the Frightful Four!’ finds their evil counterparts gaining the upper hand. There are only three – The Wizard, Sandman and Trapster – but with our heroes shackled there’s no better time for a casting call of evil. Soon a succession of potential fourths (like latterday B-Listers Texas Twister and Captain Ultra) are filing through in search of fame and glory…

Also in the queue are a few valiant allies such as Thundra and Tigra – who almost manage a last-minute rescue – until an unstoppable mystery candidate crushes all opposition and hurls the Thing into the antimatter Negative Zone. Inked by Dave Hunt, FF #178 ‘Call My Killer… The Brute!’ sees the devious, deadly monster revealed as the Reed Richards of Counter-Earth, carrying grudges and enacting his own masterplan until Impossible Man – oblivious to everything since discovering television – responds to the horrific home invasion in typical manner. The Fantastic Four, Thundra and Tigra soon rescue Ben and drive off the bad guys, but in the melee the Brute is fittingly lost in the Negative Zone.

At least, one of the Reeds is…

A joint effort by Thomas, Gerry Conway, Ron Wilson & Sinnott, FF #179 shows the good Dr. Richards ‘A Robinson Crusoe in the Negative Zone!’, and – deprived of his stretching powers (a long running plot-thread finally paying off) – struggling to survive in hostile conditions against appalling monsters… until ultimate predator Annihilus finds him…

Back on Earth, everything seems fine and the deadly doppelganger continues to insinuate himself into all aspects of FF life. The power loss works to his advantage and Reed’s oldest friend Ben is distracted by a giant robbing robot and increasingly flirtatious Tigra…

FF #180 was a new Jack Kirby cover on a deadline-busting reprint from issue #101, so only it stands between us and next episode ‘Side by Side with… Annihilus??’ (#181 by Thomas, Wilson & Sinnott) as the zone-marooned supergenius allies with the antimatter monster. Meanwhile, Ben, “Impy”, Tigra and Thundra form an impromptu quartet to sort out that robot and Susan Richards – just starting to suspect something’s wrong with her man – is distracted when former governess and still-current witch Agatha Harkness flamboyantly abducts her old charge Franklin from Sue’s arms.

Fantastic Four #182 reveals nigh-omnipotent Annihilus has a problem he can’t handle: an incredibly adaptable, constantly mutating android recently banished to the Zone after failing to destroy the quirky quartet. Now its creator has regained control and ‘Enter: The Mad Thinker!’ (Mantlo with Len Wein, Jim Shooter, Archie Goodwin, Sal Buscema & Sinnott) sees Reed and Annihilus working together to stop it, even as on Earth evil Reed tricks the Thing and Torch into the Negative Zone too. Sue, meanwhile, rushes to spooky Whisper Hill to confront Harkness, arriving just in time to see the eldritch elder and Franklin spirited away by ghostly beings…

Her return to the Baxter Building is even more traumatic as the now-exposed Brute attempts to murder her, culminating in a spectacular all action conclusion from Mantlo, Sal B & Sinnott as #183’s ‘Battleground: The Baxter Building!’ sees all opposing elements clash and an unexpected turn of events restore the status quo with one last-minute change of heart and tragic sacrifice…

A new era dawned as Wein took became writer/editor and his artist partners Pérez & Sinnott began as they meant to go on. In FF #184, ‘Aftermath: The Eliminator!’ sees romantic rivals Tigra and Thundra go their own ways as the restored First Family searches for Franklin, reaching the Whisper Hill mansion just as a mystic cyborg begins removing all traces of the edifice and its former occupier. Brutal, pointless battle proves useless but science scores again in #185 as Reed tracks the Eliminator to the Colorado Rockies. The team, with Richards using tech to pinch-hit for his lost powers, head incognito for isolated town New Salem and once there discover ‘Here There Be Witches!’… and they be hostile…

Sequel ‘Enter: Salem’s Seven!’ delivers an explanation for Harkness’ actions, Franklin’s abduction and tantalising hints of a hidden town of mystic refugees led by deranged demagogue Nicholas Scratch, whose dark secret doesn’t stop him unleashing a septet of sorcerous sentinels on the cosmic-powered but woefully human heroes. It does, sadly, ultimately lose him the support of his peers and the battle: resulting in #187 depicting the victorious heroes (and “the help”) heading home just in time for ‘Trouble Times Two!’

When “Master of Sound” Klaw and the almighty Molecule Man ambush the FF, the furious fight raises the ire of TV-addicted Impy with the resultant rumble resolved by Molecule Man’s disembodied intellect possessing Reed’s weary body. In #188 ‘The Rampage of Reed Richards!’ sees the city wrecked and events of cosmic import occur, with Uatu the Watcher closely observing as the heroes triumph in the end, but only at the cost of their leader’s confidence.

Weary, devoid of superpowers, Richard makes the only logical decision and calls it a day for the team…

At the time tensions were especially enhanced as the next issue was another reprint (from FF Annual #4 and again represented here only by Keith Pollard’s cover art from #189). Normal service resumed with #190 as incoming writer/editor Marv Wolfman collaborated with Sal Buscema & Tony DeZuñiga to reassess past glories in ‘The Way It Was’. Here, shellshocked Ben and girlfriend Alicia Masters review the glory days leading up to his current unemployment, before #191 closes this compilation’s story component with ‘Four No More’ wherein Wein, Pérez & Sinnott detail the decommissioning of the Baxter Building and track the fond farewells as the team go their separate ways. However, there’s time and space for one last hurrah as the scurrilous Plunderer tries to steal all the FF’s toys and rapidly learns to regret his impertinence…

To Be Continued

This power-packed package also includes house ads, original cover art, pertinent pages by Sinnott from The Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar 1976, and the Kirby/Sinnott Marvel Comics Memory album Calendar 1977 plus the new material from The Fabulous Fantastic Four Marvel Treasury Edition #11 (December 1976). This bombastic oversized tabloid edition featured a bevy of classic yarns and is represented here by front-&-back cover art by Kirby & John Verpoorten, plus a Marie Severin & Frank Giacoia frontispiece/contents page. Also on view is the letters page from FF #176, explaining how the Impossible Man’s visit to the Marvel Bullpen came about, and the Jim Steranko covers from Marvel Index #4: Fantastic Four from 1977 as well as Peter Iro’s monochrome frontispiece and a cover rough by Dave Cockrum.

Although the “World’s Greatest Comics Magazine” never quite returned to the stratospheric heights of the Kirby era, this collection offers a tantalising taste-echo of those heady heights and a promise of change. These extremely capable efforts are probably most welcome to dedicated superhero fans and continuity freaks like me, but will still thrill and enthral the generous and forgiving casual browser looking for an undemanding slice of graphic narrative excitement. Even if artistically the work varies from only adequate to superb, most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there’s lots of fun to be found for young and old readers. So why not lower your critical guard and have an honest blast of pure warts ‘n’ all comics craziness? You’ll almost certainly grow to like it…
© 2024 MARVEL.

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Sub-Mariner & The Original Human Torch


By Roy Thomas, Dann Thomas, Rich Buckler with Bob McLeod, Richardson & Company, Mike Gustovich, Danny Bulanadi, Alfredo Alcala, Romeo Tanghal & various (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-0-7851-9048-6 (TPB)

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the hybrid offspring of a sub-sea Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer; a being of immense strength, highly resistant to physical harm, able to fly and thrive above and below the waves. Created by young Bill Everett, Namor technically predates Marvel/Atlas/Timely Comics.

He first caught the public’s attention as part of an elementally electrifying “Fire vs. Water” headlining team-up clash in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939 and soon to become Marvel Mystery Comics) alongside The Human Torch, but had originally been seen in truncated form via monochrome Motion Picture Funnies: a weekly promotional giveaway handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year.

Rapidly becoming one of the new company’s biggest draws, Namor gained his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-date Spring 1941) and was one of the last super-characters to go at the end of the first heroic age. In 1954, when Atlas (as the company then was) briefly revived its “Big Three” (the Torch and Captain America being the other two), Sub-Mariner resurfaced with Everett returning for an extended run of superb fantasy tales. Even so, the time wasn’t right and the title sank again.

When Stan Lee & Jack Kirby began reinventing comic-books in 1961 with Fantastic Four, they revived and rebooted the near-forgotten amphibian as a troubled, semi-amnesiac, yet decidedly more regal and grandiose anti-hero. He was understandably embittered at the loss of his undersea kingdom, which had seemingly been destroyed by American atomic testing.

He also became a dangerous bad-boy romantic interest: besotted with the FF’s golden-haired Sue Storm…

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel Universe for a few years, squabbling with assorted heroes like Daredevil, The Avengers and X-Men – and villains like The Incredible Hulk and Doctor Doom – before securing his own series as part of “split-book” Tales to Astonish with the aforementioned fellow antisocial antihero…

In 1988, as part of Marvel’s 50th Anniversary celebrations, that phenomenal half-century of comic book history was abridged, amended, updated and generally précised by avowed fan and self-appointed keeper of chronology Roy Thomas and writing partner Dann Thomas who collaboratively commemorated the Avenging Son’s contribution in 12-part Limited Series miniseries The Saga of the Sub-Mariner: rapturously drawn by Golden Age groupie Rich Buckler.

Roy & Rich did the same with The Saga of the Original Human Torch – a 4-part series running April to July 1990 – and both sides of the tempestuous coin are triumphantly tossed together in this splendidly all-encompassing, no-nonsense textbook of historic Fights ‘n’ Tights mythology ideal for celebrating and commemorating the elemental odd couple’s 85th Anniversary…

It all begins thousands of years ago with ‘A Legend a-Borning’ from The Saga of the Sub-Mariner #1 (November 1988) with Buckler inked by Bob McLeod. A short history of the sinking of antediluvian Atlantis and its eventual reoccupation by nomadic tribes of Homo Mermanus follows. The water-breathing wanderers flourish deep in the icy waters, and their story leads to a certain US research vessel sailing into icy waters in 1920…

Its depth-charging and icebreaking has horrendous consequences for the citizens of the deep and in response Emperor Thakorr organises a possibly punitive expedition. Instead, his daughter Princess Fen uses experimental air-breathing serums to infiltrate the ship and forms a brief liaison with Captain Leonard McKenzie. They even marry, but neither is aware the voyage has been arranged by unscrupulous telepath Paul Destine who is drawn to the area by an uncanny device of ancient power and origins…

Whilst Destine is being buried under a catastrophic avalanche trying to excavate the artefact, a raiding party from Atlantis boards the ship and drags Fen back home. She believes her husband has been killed in the attack. Months later a strange, pink-skinned baby is born beneath the deep blue sea…

The story resumes years later with teenaged Namor experiencing prejudice firsthand whilst playing with his blue-skinned chums and royal cousin Prince Byrrah. The passing of his callow years are interspersed with his grandfather’s disdain, his mother’s tales of the fabled “Americans” and the annoying girl Dorma who is always hanging around…

Every day seems to point out another way in which he differs from his people, such as his ever-increasing strength, ability to live unaided on the surface and the wings on his ankles which grant him the power of flight through the air.

Life changes forever when the youngster scavenges a sunken ship and shockingly encounters a brace of clunky mechanical men from the surface world doing the same. Panicked, he attacks, severing control cables connected to a ship far above before proudly hauling them to Atlantis as his prize. For once grandfather is delighted, especially when the face plates are pried open and he sees dead surface-men within.

The Emperor is ever more gleeful when Byrrah suggests Namor should go beard the Surfacers in their own realm to pay them back for the past destruction of Atlantis. Young, feisty and gullible, Namor sets off, ready to live up to his name which means ‘Avenging Son’…

‘A Prince in New York’ spectacularly depicts the fantastic reign of terror and destruction Sub-Mariner wrought upon the city, until distracted and becalmed by plucky blonde policewoman Betty Dean. It then reveals how he learns to despise Nazi Germany’s maritime depredations before ‘A Fire on the Water’ details how New York Special Policeman The (Original) Human Torch is deputised to stop the fish-man at all costs…

He never quite succeeds, but their ongoing clash resulted in some of the most astonishing scraps in comics history. With the city almost wrecked by their battles Betty Dean again steps in to calm the boiling waters and the next chapter – inked by Richardson & Company – introduced the ‘Invaders!’ as Hitler incomprehensibly decides to eradicate Atlantis with depth charges and U-boats. This rash act of wanton hatred merely secures Sub-Mariner’s fanatical aid for the Allied Powers.

With Thakorr wounded, the people elect Namor Emperor by popular acclaim before watching him swim off to crush the Axis and their super-powered servants. The young regent fights with and beside the Torch, Captain America, Bucky, Spitfire and Union Jack. By the time the war is won and Namor returns to his realm, Byrrah and his crony Commander Krang have turned recuperating Thakorr against his interim substitute and Sub-Mariner finds himself banished. Only Lady Dorma’s impassioned intervention prevents the homecoming becoming a bloodbath…

With nowhere else to go Namor rejoins his surface superhero friends to create the post-war All-Winners Squad, before eventually being summoned home by his cousin Namora. Atlantis has been ravaged by air-breathing gangsters…

Seeking vengeance, they team up with Betty for a short-lived crusade against criminals, madmen and monsters until again recalled to the rebuilt underwater kingdom. Namor’s years away had gradually diminished his mighty hybrid abilities, but now-recovered Thakorr orders Atlantis’ greatest scientists to restore them so the Sub-Mariner can renew the Realm’s war against all surface-men…

Instead, Namor attempts diplomacy, but his State Visit to the United Nations results in violent protests and the death of a bystander. He returns to his grandfather a bitter man, but still argues against war, no matter how hard General Krang and Byrrah urge it…

When Atlantis is wracked by seaquakes, Namor leads a patrol to the polar cap above and discovers freshly-exhumed Paul Destine is responsible. The psychic had found a fantastic Helmet of Power which magnified his gifts exponentially, and decided to test his expanded abilities on the closest population centre…

Enraged, Namor’s physical might is useless against the tele-potent madman and Destine wipes his fishy foe’s memories, sending him to live as an amnesiac amongst the dregs of New York, blindly awaiting his future ‘Dark Destiny’ (McLeod inks).

The epic history lesson reaches the dawn of the Marvel Age decades later as ‘Rage and Remembrance’ recaps the epochal events after new Human Torch Johnny Storm restores the memory of a weary derelict and unleashes the rage of the Sub-Mariner once again. With his mind and most of his memories back, Namor instantly heads home to find Atlantis razed and his people gone. Blaming humans, he launches a series of blistering attacks on the Fantastic Four whilst attempting to win the heart of the clearly conflicted Invisible Girl…

As months pass he discovers his people had relocated to rebuild Atlantis. Namor is re-elected Emperor over the protests of Byrrah and betrothed to Lady Dorma, unknowingly earning the eternal enmity of Warlord Krang who has always wanted her…

His war against the surface continues, escalating into a brief invasion of New York, a turbulent alliance with The Hulk and clash with ‘Avengers!’ (Mike Gustovich inks) resulting in the revival of his now-forgotten Invaders comrade Captain America…

Sub-Mariner’s pointless sorties against mankind continue as he forcefully adds The X-Men and Magneto onto his roster of enemies whilst still trying to take Sue Storm away from Reed Richards.

After repelling an invasion by sub-sea barbarian Attuma he softens and again seeks official human recognition for Atlantis. Whilst making this embassage, Krang seizes control of Atlantis and after battling Daredevil, Namor returns to his kingdom, deals with the usurper and more-or-less dials back his campaign against the surface. Sadly, this peace is interrupted as Destine again strikes, inviting the new ruler to a ‘Rendezvous with Destiny!’ (McLeod inks).

Time and events telescope from now on as ‘Losses in Battle’ traces Namor’s showdown with the mental maniac, alliance with the Inhuman Triton and battles Plantman, Dr. Dorcas, Tiger Shark, The Thing and a host of others, as well as enjoying a reunion with Betty Prentiss (nee Dean) and facing the rise of the sinister antediluvian Serpent Cult of Lemuria, which first devised the formidable Helmet of Power in eons past. Also revealed is how Namor’s marriage to Dorma is thwarted by murderous Lemurian Llyra and his subsequent agonising first and last meetings with his long-lost father…

‘Blood Ties’ then details his meeting with and adoption of Namora’s teenaged daughter Namorita, clashes with Doctor Doom and M.O.D.O.K., an alliance of Byrrah and Llyra and origins of The Defenders before ‘Triumphs… and Tragedy!’ (inked by McLeod & Co) brings us to a cameo-packed conclusion, relating Namor’s enforced alliance with Doom, admission into the Mighty Avengers and loss of two of his greatest loves…

Although appearing a tad rushed, the writing is strong and compelling: offering fresh insights for those familiar with the original material whilst presenting these chronicles in an engaging and appetising manner for those coming to the stories for the first time. Moreover, Buckler’s solidly dependable illustration capably handles a wide, wild and capacious cast with great style and verve.

Balancing the watery wonderment is the later and far shorter comics chronology of Sub-Mariner’s arch ally and favourite frenemy, as first seen in The Saga of the Original Human Torch. It starts with ‘The Lighted Torch’ by Thomas, Buckler & Danny Bulanadi, showing how the Flaming Fury first burst into life as a malfunctioning humanoid devised by troubled and acquisitive Professor Phineas Horton. Instantly igniting into an uncontrollable fireball whenever exposed to air, the artificial innocent was consigned to entombment in concrete but escaped to accidentally imperil the metropolis until it/he fell into the hands of a malign mobster named Sardo.

When the crook’s attempts to use the android as a terror weapon dramatically backfired, the hapless newborn was left a misunderstood fugitive – like a modern-day Frankenstein’s monster. Even his creator only saw the fiery Prometheus as a means of making money.

Gradually gaining control of his flammability, the angry, perpetually rejected android decides to make his own way in the world. Instinctively honest, the creature saw crime and wickedness everywhere and resolved to do something about it. Indistinguishable from human when not afire, he joined the police as Jim Hammond: tackling ordinary thugs even as his volcanic alter ego battled such outlandish bandits as Asbestos Lady. The Torch met Betty Dean when New York City Chief of Police John C. Wilson asked him to stop the savage Sub-Mariner destroying everything. The battles are spectacular but inconclusive, only ending when Betty intervenes and brokers a tenuous ceasefire.

Later, a brusque reunion with Horton sets the Torch on the trail of his creator’s former assistant Fred Raymond. Hammond is too late to stop Asbestos Lady murdering the Raymonds in a train wreck, but adopts their little boy Toro, who gains the power to become a human torch as soon as he meets the artificial avenger. The partners in peril become a team who set ‘The World on Fire!’: battling beside Namor in The Invaders for WWII’s duration.

They even play a major role in ending the conflict in 1945, storming a Berlin bunker and incinerating Hitler, before rising ‘Out of the Ashes…’ (Alfredo Alcala inks) to battle Homefront hostiles, exposing Machiavellian android mastermind Adam-II who, with knowledge of the future, attempts to assassinate a group of strangers who would all eventually be Presidents of the USA. The Fiery Furies formed the backbone of the All-Winners Squad, battling maniacs and conquerors from tomorrow, continuing their campaign against crime long after their comrades retired…

When a family crisis benches Toro, the Torch soldiers on with new sidekick Sun Girl until he returns. The reunion is destined to be short and far from sweet…

The hot history lesson concludes in ‘The Flaming Fifties!’ (inked by Romeo Tanghal) as Jim Hammond bursts from a desert grave following a nuclear test explosion: revived from a chemically-induced coma mimicking death. His last memory was of being ambushed by gangsters and sprayed with a chemical inhibiting his flame and knocking him out. Blazing back to the ambush site he attacks his assailants only to discover four years have passed…

When they employ the same solution as before, the compound no longer works on his atomically-charged form and when G-Men burst in the awful truth comes out. The Torch & Toro vanished in 1949 and when pressed, the crooks admit to having got their chemical cosh from the Russians. More chillingly, they paid for it by handing Toro over to the Reds…

After spectacularly rescuing and deprogramming the Soviets’ incendiary secret weapon, the Torch brings Toro home and they continue their anti-crime campaign against weird villains, Commie menaces and an assortment of crooks and gangsters. However, before long tragedy again strikes as the atomic infusion finally reaches critical mass in Jim’s android body.

Realising he is about to flame out in a colossal nova, The Human Torch soars into the desert skies and detonates like a supernova…

The pre-Marvel Age exploits of the Torch end here, but devotees already know how Hammond was resurrected a number of times in the convoluted continuity that underpins the modern House of Ideas…

This substantial primer into the prehistory of the groundbreaking Marvel Universe also includes a quartet of original art covers plus a brace of full-colour, textless cover reproductions. Fast, furious and fabulously action-packed, this is a lovely slice of authentic Marvel mastery to delight all lovers of Costumed dramas.
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