Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner Release: June 1, 1965 Cover: September 1965 12 cents Superlative story by: Stan Lee! Sensational art by: Adam Austin! Spectacular inking by: Vince Colletta! Sufficient lettering by: Artie Simek! 12 pages
For, no matter how long the quest shall be–no matter how deadly the dangers I face–naught but victory can be mine! I was born to rule!! I was born Namor, the Sub-Mariner!
His second issue and Namor gets the entire cover. Take that, Hulk.
Expected structure continues. Last issue, Namor found the first clue, met a threat, and it was to be continued. This issue, he resolved that threat, found the second clue, met a new threat, and now it’s to be continued.
Featuring: Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner Release: May 4, 1965 Cover: August 1965 12 cents Story by Stan Lee, unchallenged king of the spoken word! Art by Adam Austin, Marvel’s newest prince of pageantry! Inking by Vince Colletta, lordly emperor of embellishment! Lettering by Artie Simek (someone’s gotta carry the spear!) 12 pages
Namor has been flittering through the Marvel Universe as a villain or anti-hero, fighting enough different heroes to help serve as the glue binding the universe together. It has been a decade since his last ongoing series was cancelled. He now makes his triumphant return and will again star in his own title for the next decade before again facing the ignominy of cancellation.
Giant-Man and Wasp just had their regular adventures cancelled. Giant-Man in various guises had been the star of this title since issue 35, sharing it with the Hulk for the last 10 issues. Now the title will be shared by Hulk and Namor. A fitting combo. Neither a hero per se, both acting primarily as villains across different titles for the last couple years, even teaming up once against the Avengers.
A bit of a pattern is taking hold. Tales of Suspense features two of Marvel’s more traditional superheroes, Iron Man and Captain America, the former having long shed any initial horror roots. Journey Into Mystery is entirely Thor’s title now, with the backup features telling stories of Asgard’s past. This series will feature Marvel’s anti-hero characters, Namor and Hulk. Leaving Strange Tales for the not-quite-superhero characters, Marvel’s resident spy and sorcerer, respectively. The combined titles remain a necessity of longstanding distribution difficulties on Marvel’s part, but now there at least seems to be some thematic consistency amongst the titles.
Adam Austin is Gene Colan. He’s learning. Colletta’s inking perhaps doesn’t show Colan at his best. You have to squint or know what you’re looking for to see hints of someone who will soon become one of Marvel’s greatest artists.
The style of layouts will already be different, and reflects a move these comics are slowly making, away from very even grids of pages with 6-9 panels to larger panels of varying shapes and layouts.
Interesting to have a new artist without Kirby to assist. Who is plotting the story? Lee? Colan?
Here’s the plan. They’ve set up a pretty standard adventure here. Namor has lost his crown and needs to go on this quest. There will be various clues. The issue takes him to the first clue.
I guess that seems like a plot Lee could maybe have come up with without Kirby.
We’ll keep reading Namor’s story while this quest is going on. Meanwhile, Hulk is embroiled in the “Leader Saga”. So we’ll read both stories from the next several issues of this title. As will happen often, Hulk’s story will reach a natural breaking point sooner than Namor’s, so we’ll break the comics up and read a little ahead in Namor’s story, and then try to get them back in sync later.
The story opens with the phrase “Imperius Rex!”. What does that mean? Sounds almost Latin. Something like “Imperial King”. I don’t know. I don’t speak Latin. I suspect Stan doesn’t either. Whatever it means, it is now Namor’s official catchphrase and will be for decades to come.
Featuring: Daredevil Release: February 4, 1965 Cover: April 1965 12 cents Written by the master of the spoken word: Stan Lee Drawn by the master of the printed picture: Wally Wood Lettered by the monster of the blurb balloon: Artie Simek 20 pages
Interviewed in London about 7 years back, Stan Lee was asked what his favorite story he ever wrote was. At first he claimed they were all his favorites. But after a moment’s reflection, he began to describe a comic he wrote where Daredevil and Sub-Mariner fought. His description contained some inaccuracies; he was 92 at the time and never renowned for his memory. Yet his description of the ending was pretty much spot on.
And in the end the Sub-Mariner went… back to the ocean and he left Daredevil kind of lying exhausted on the sand, and he said something like, “You were a noble competitor…” I enjoyed the way I think I made them both seem heroic, even though they were fighting each other.
Stan Lee, London Film and Comic Con, 2014
Stan Lee wrote hundreds of superhero comics and in many interviews could barely keep any two characters straight. Yet somehow he spoke with a nostalgic fondness about a single moment at the end of this particular story 50 years later, a single page that he did seem to remember rather clearly.
This is Wally Wood’s third issue of Daredevil. Wood is an artist and storyteller on par with Kirby and Ditko, but won’t be at Marvel long enough to leave the same mark on the characters they did. His greatest contribution to the nascent Marvel Universe will be this issue.
Let’s start with the obvious. Right from the cover, we see Daredevil has a new costume. It’s not really that different from a penciler’s perspective than the one he wore last issue. It’s mostly the color scheme that’s changed. The costume is all red now. Fitting for a devil.
And somehow it makes all the difference in the world. From the worst Marvel costume to an iconic look that will be forever associated with the character. This is the look of Daredevil that endures.
Wood puts more detail into the world than either Kirby or Ditko. We’ve never seen Atlantis quite like this in Kirby’s rendering. Kirby drew beautiful and bold and bizarre shapes in Atlantis, but Wood makes it feel full, like there’s a real city there fading into the background. His cityscapes of New York will be equally impressive.
Namor gets an impressive array of titles.
In next month’s Avengers, which we have already read, Namor turns down a request to join the Avengers because he has vowed to conquer the surface world. This story must take place shortly after that encounter, despite being published earlier.
Featuring: Fantastic Four Release: September 8, 1964 Cover: December 1964 12 cents Script: Smilin’ S. Lee Art: Jolly Jack Kirby Inks: Chucklin’ Chic Stone Lettering: Amiable Art Simek 20 pages
Kirby has used these photo collages a few times now, but this is the first cover that combines art with photographs in a cool collage.
This is the first time Stan’s name has ever been abbreviated in the credits: “S. Lee”. I’m guessing the letterer just ran out of room.
Namor is again the king of Atlantis (the exact same month Aquaman is first named king of Atlantis at the Distinguished Competition). Namor has the most fickle people. They moved the entire kingdom once so he couldn’t find them because of his affection for Sue. But I guess that’s all forgotten now.
Meet Attuma. We’ll be seeing him again.
The story is that Dorma betrayed Namor because he scorned her love, so she helped Attuma’s armies gain entry to Atlantis so Attuma could seize the throne. Women, eh?
Featuring: Sub-Mariner Release: February 25, 1954 Cover: June 1954 10 cents By: Bill Everett 8 pages
If the Nazis were the favorite enemy in the ’40s, by the ’50s it will be the Soviets. They are portrayed as rather silly here, believing their leader without question, constantly insulting capitalism, and generally being blind lemmings praising their fascist state.
That’s exactly how Soviets talked, I imagine.
Now, we read in Sub-Mariner Comics #1 how the Emperor died. Well, now he’s not dead. In truth, I haven’t read very many comics in the intervening 13 years, but I’ve done some internet research, and it doesn’t seem like the comics had explained this discrepancy. As far as I can tell, this is the first time we’ve seen the Emperor since his death. And nobody remarks on how alive he is. Eventually, we will come to a 1980s series called Saga of the Sub-Mariner that attempts to explain the wonky continuity on display.
I read this comic in Marvel Masterpieces Golden Age Marvel Comics vol. 1. My copy of the book is filled with printing errors: pages missing or repeated; and, the copy seems off. The colors and inks seem pretty blurred, compared to scans I’m finding online. The coloring wasn’t great in those days to begin with, so it’s hard to tell without seeing the comic what it actually looks like, as reproductions vary widely. It’s particularly tricky as Everett wanted to make the undersea scenes murky.
This story is the beginning of a serial and doesn’t reach a satisfying conclusion in and of itself. It concerns Namor of the race of Sub-Mariners, recently come of age. He learns from his mother Fen of the ravages done to their people by the experiments of the surface dwellers, (who the comic refers to as the “white men”) and leads a crusade against the surface. His first step is to destroy a lighthouse. We’ll have to tune in next issue to see more.
The surface world will never recover from the destruction of the lighthouse; they may as well surrender now.
It begins in a familiar fashion, from the viewpoints of ordinary sailors, leaving the Sub-Mariner as a mystery in the background. Namor will become the point-of-view character soon, but first we learn who he is in snatches, as the humans do. An undersea diver notices oddities, like evidence that somebody had recently been there, even though they are the only ship in the area. It’s a mystery to investigate, a deadly one as it will turn out. It’s a technique we’ve seen frequently in superhero films (plus many a movie before them). Famously, when Batman first dons the suit in Batman Begins, the movie shifts its point-of-view to that of criminals. They only know something strange is happening, that they see out of the corner of their eye and hear above them– and that their numbers are thinning. This comic gives us a similar scene with divers.
