Featuring: Sub-Mariner
Release: August 19, 1953
Cover: December 1953
10 cents
By: Bill Everett
8 pages
Young Men, there’s no need to feel down…
I can’t find any credit in the story, but it seems to be pretty clearly by Bill Everett.
We last saw Sub-Mariner, or any of the superheroes from the company that tends to be called “Timely”, in 1949. In 1953, the company tends to be called “Atlas”, and they’re ready to give superheroes another try. At least briefly. Sub-Mariner will get new stories for about a year or so. This issue also sees the return of two of Timely’s other most popular superheroes.
The story begins with Betty Dean, described as “an attractive blonde”. I am pretty sure she was not blonde originally, but the old coloring was so inconsistent that it’s hard to say. She lives in New York City with a “pretty roommate”. She notes that a long time ago, she was a “girl cop”. There’s a little bit of sexism somewhere in all that. It stands out, because the portrayal of Betty Dean in 1939 actually seemed somewhat progressive. She came off as a very competent police officer and never self-described as a “girl cop”.
When Betty and Sub-Mariner want to go on an adventure, her roommate Cathy wants to go because Namor is a “hunk of man”, but changes her mind when she learns an airplane will be involved.
Betty gives us a recap of Namor’s history, which is handy. She describes his mother Fen as a “goddess” and the Sub-Mariners as “sea-mammals”. Both odd choices of phrasing. But we get a concise summary of Namor’s history until now: He sought revenge for the destruction of Sub-Mariner cities by declaring war on the surface world. Betty convinced him to reform and help the Allies in World War II. He was rewarded and pardoned, spent some time helping law enforcement on the surface, then left the surface world to rebuild his kingdom.
She is clear on the point that the Sub-Mariner cities were in the Antarctic and the very specific crime of the surface world was antarctic expeditions setting off explosives to free themselves from ice, explosions which also destroyed many cities.
Most of the story is about investigating sinking ships, which turns out to be (spoiler!) the work robots from Venus. We know the goddess Venus also comes from Venus. It’s not clear what connection, if any, she has to the robots.
Rating: ★★½, 41/100
The scans above are taken from a reprint of this story in Marvel Super-Heroes #20.
You can find this story in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes vol. 1.
Or on Kindle.
Characters:
- Namor/Sub-Mariner
- Betty Dean
- Cathy
- Admiral Saybrook
Story notes:
- Six ships sink, each a week apart, near the same island. Commies suspected.
- Cathy notes she hasn’t heard about Sub-Mariner in years.
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