{"id":18278,"date":"2018-04-26T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T08:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=18278"},"modified":"2018-04-24T12:45:36","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T12:45:36","slug":"sub-mariner-marvel-masterworks-volume-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2018\/04\/26\/sub-mariner-marvel-masterworks-volume-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sub-Mariner Marvel Masterworks volume 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Stan Lee<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Raymond Marais<\/strong>, Archie Goodwin<\/strong>, Bill Everett<\/strong>, Dan Adkins<\/strong>, Werner Roth<\/strong>, Marie Severin<\/strong>, Gene Colan<\/strong>, John Buscema<\/strong>, & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-0-7851-2688-1 (HB)<\/p>\n

Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner<\/strong> is the offspring of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer; a hybrid being of immense strength, highly resistant to physical harm, able to fly and exist above and below the waves. Created by young, talented Bill Everett, Namor technically predates Marvel\/Atlas\/Timely Comics.<\/p>\n

He first caught the public’s attention as part of the fire vs. water headlining team in Marvel Comics<\/strong> #1 (October 1939 and soon to become Marvel Mystery Comics<\/strong>) sharing honours and top billing with The Human Torch<\/em>, but he had originally been seen (albeit in a truncated black and white version) in Motion Picture Funnies<\/strong>: a weekly promotional giveaway handed out to moviegoers earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

Quickly becoming one of the company’s biggest draws, Namor gained his own title at the end of 1940 (cover-dated 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 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Big Three\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (the Torch and Captain America<\/strong> being the other two) costumed characters, Everett returned for an extended run of superb fantasy tales, but even so the time wasn’t right and the title sunk again.<\/p>\n

When Stan Lee & Jack Kirby started reinventing comic-books in 1961 with the Fantastic Four<\/strong>, they revived the all-but forgotten awesome amphibian as a troubled, semi-amnesiac, and decidedly more regal and grandiose anti-hero. The returnee despised humanity; embittered at the loss of his sub-sea kingdom (seemingly destroyed by American atomic testing) whilst simultaneously besotted with the FF<\/strong>‘s Sue Storm<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Namor knocked around the budding Marvel universe for a few years, squabbling with other assorted heroes such as the Hulk, Avengers and X-Men, before securing his own series as one half of Tales to Astonish<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This second subsea selection – available in hardback and eBook editions – collects Tales to Astonish<\/strong> #88-101, Iron Man and the Sub-Mariner <\/strong>#1 and The Sub-Mariner <\/strong>#1, circuitously spanning February 1967 to May 1968; opening with a florid and enthusiastic Introduction<\/em> from sometime-scribe and passionate life-long fan Roy Thomas before the undersea action resumes.<\/p>\n

Crafted by Stan Lee & Bill Everett, the Tales to Astonish<\/strong> #88 Sub-Mariner saga saw sub-sea barbarian Attuma<\/em> attack once more, employing a lost extraterrestrial super-robot when ‘A Stranger Strikes from Space!’<\/em>. The tale concluded in ‘The Prince and the Power!’<\/em> as the Marine Marvel turned the tables on his enemies through brains not brawn, after which Namor’s greatest rival returned in ‘To Be Beaten by Byrrah!’<\/em><\/p>\n

Here the Prince’s ruthless cousin (last seen in the short-lived 1950s revival of Sub-Mariner<\/strong> Comics<\/strong>) employed gutter politics and subliminal hypnosis to oust the true ruler, only to receive his comeuppance in ‘Outside the Gates Waits Death!’<\/em>: this latter seeing the inking debut of arch-stylist Dan Adkins.<\/p>\n

Illustrating in a style that owed everything to Wally Wood, Adkins took over the pencilling in #92’s ‘It Walks Like a Man!’<\/em> This tale of atomic pollution and American naval intransigence is a terse foretaste of Sub-Mariner’s later role as eco-warrior, and the concluding part features Roy Thomas’ first script for the aquatic antihero in ‘The Monarch and the Monster!’<\/em> as Namor battles a nuclear golem and aggrieved US submarine commander to curtail imminent war\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Namor was still dragged into a surface tyrant’s armed conflict in ‘Helpless, at the Hands of Dragorr!’<\/em> (Thomas & Everett), and incoming scripter Raymond Marais joined Thomas, Everett & Colletta on ‘The Power of the Plunderer!’<\/em> Here the piratical old Daredevil villain attacks an American civilian experimental undersea city.<\/p>\n

Marais solo-scripted second chapter ‘Somewhere Stands Skull Island!’<\/em> as outraged Namor trails the Plunderer to the antediluvian Savage Land only to be captured and seemingly enslaved.<\/p>\n

TtA<\/strong> #97’s ‘The Sovereign and the Savages’<\/em> came courtesy of Thomas and unsung art star Werner Roth – who had actually taken over the art halfway through the previous episode. Inked by Adkins, the Plunderer’s assault on Atlantis is finally foiled in ‘\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6To Destroy the Realm Eternal!’<\/em> but the vile events precipitated a similar attack on Namor’s homeland by a US atomic submarine in ‘When Falls the Holocaust!’<\/em> (by Archie Goodwin & Dan Adkins) in #99.<\/p>\n

Marvel’s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153split-books\u00e2\u20ac\u009d had been devised as a way to promote their burgeoning stable of stars whilst labouring under a highly restrictive distribution deal which limited the number of titles they could release each month. In 1968 the company escaped this onerous commitment and thereby expanded exponentially.<\/p>\n

In the months leading up to that virtual relaunch a number of bold experiments occurred: the most impressive of which was the first actual meeting of the monstrous stars of Marvel’s antihero title since they had won their own series.<\/p>\n

Tales to Astonish<\/strong> #100, by Lee, Marie Severin & Adkins had Namor’s plan to recruit the Hulk<\/strong> as an ally go spectacularly awry after the Puppet Master<\/em> fomented a near-disaster that almost levelled Miami in ‘Let There Be Battle!’<\/em>, a tale that took 22 pages to unfold.<\/p>\n

The final issue of Astonish <\/strong>then introduced a villain who would alter forever the history and perception of the Sub-Mariner. ‘\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6And Evil Shall Beckon!’ <\/em>by Goodwin, Gene Colan & Adkins saw the aquatic antihero plagued by visions of a bestial foe who threatened his throne and people, drawing Namor to a confrontation in the Polar regions where the first Atlantis had been built\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

For reasons never disclosed (and I shall charitably keep my assumptions private) the Golden Avenger and Prince of Atlantis both had to wait a month before getting their own first issues, necessitating one last split-book. Iron Man and Sub-Mariner<\/strong> #1 (April 1968) carried the middle parts of two epics that each concluded in memorable debut issues, but the amphibian’s contribution ‘Call Him Destiny \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6or Call Him Death!’<\/em> – by Thomas, Colan & Frank Giacoia – did no more than whet the appetite by revealing half an origin before apparently killing the lead character.<\/p>\n

Sub-Mariner<\/strong> #1 (May1968, by Thomas, John Buscema & Giacoia) more than made up for the confusion as Namor’s true origin and the reason for his bouts of amnesia were explained by malign super-telepath Destiny<\/em>, as ‘Years of Glory\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Day of Doom!’<\/em> recapped Sub-Mariner’s gloriously chequered past whilst setting up another epic quest that would prove amongst this venerable character’s very best. That, however, is the subject of another volume.<\/p>\n

Before the end, though, there are bonus benefits in the form of pages of original art and covers by Colan and Everett.<\/p>\n

These tales feature some of Marvel’s very best artists at their visual peak, and although a few of the stories no longer bear a critical scrutiny, the verve and enthusiasm still shine through. Many early Marvel Comics are more exuberant than qualitative, but this volume, especially from an art-lover’s point of view, is a wonderful exception: a historical treasure that fans will find delightful.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1967, 1968, 2018 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Raymond Marais, Archie Goodwin, Bill Everett, Dan Adkins, Werner Roth, Marie Severin, Gene Colan, John Buscema, & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-2688-1 (HB) Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner is the offspring of a water-breathing Atlantean princess and an American polar explorer; a hybrid being of immense strength, highly resistant to physical harm, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sub-Mariner Marvel Masterworks volume 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[72,79,155],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes","category-sub-mariner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-4KO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}