Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner! Release: March 3, 1966 Cover: June 1966 12 cents Story by Smilin’ Stan Lee Pencils by Grinnin’ Gene Colan Inks by Dazzlin’ Dick Ayers Lettering by Snarlin’ Sam Rosen 12 pages
Where were we. Krang and Puppet Master have teamed up to control the Behemoth. Hank Pym and Janet were around at some point. We’ll catch up with them next time in the pages of Avengers.
We’re supposed to believe that because Krang is controlling the Behemoth through the clay puppet, the creature has better reflexes than it would otherwise. That makes little sense to me.
Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner Release: February 3, 1966 Cover: May 1966 12 cents Now this is a story! By: Stan Lee Now this is pencilling! By: Adam Austin Now this is delineation! By: Bill Everett Now this is lettering! By: Artie Simek 12 pages
Without much fanfare, we have Bill Everett inking Gene Colan. Bill Everett is the creator of the Sub-Mariner. Of course, for whatever reason, it’s the publisher and not he that controls the character. So Marvel gets to publish and profit off Sub-Mariner stories, and he only gets paid if he does more work. So here he is inking Colan’s pencils with Stan adding dialogue. Once Everett wrote and drew Namor’s adventures entirely on his own.
He’s slowly coming back to do more work for Marvel. The last thing he did for them was create Daredevil. But his Daredevil comic was drawn with immaculate detail and unfortunately not within deadline. So he got immediately removed from his own character, and only now 2 years later is starting to get regular work with Marvel again.
As of last issue, he’s the regular finisher on the Hulk stories within this title. He’s just filling in on this Namor story, but will be returning to Namor regularly soon.
I was down to two choices for the pull quote at the top of this quote. I went with one that best exhibited Namor’s personality. I could have gone with the more standard Stan Lee heroic purple prose: There is a time to flee– and a time to fight! While life endures–I shall ever choose the latter course!
I’m never quite clear on what the powers of all these characters are. Namor sometimes seems like Superman. But we see here he’s not bulletproof. He gets shot in the shoulder, and is wounded and losing blood.
Featuring: Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner Release: December 2, 1965 Cover: March 1966 12 cents Stan Lee, writer Gene Colan, penciller Vince Colletta, inker Sam Rosen, letterer 12 pages
Supreme is the head that wears the crown! The decision must be Namor’s alone to make! Imperius Rex!
A secret has been revealed! Not to us, because I spoiled it when he first showed up. But this is the first time Gene Colan’s name has shown up in the credits. Yet it’s clearly the same artist as last issue, drawn by “Adam Austin”. So Adam Austin must be Gene Colan!
Just like superheroes have secret identities, artists do too. In this case, it was likely to disguise the fact that he was moonlighting for both DC and Marvel. Some comic artists used pen names so that their lesser comic work wouldn’t get conflated with the great novels or works or art they were one day to create. For many, it may have been to make their names sound less Jewish.
Since Namor got his own series back in issue 70, he’d been on a continuous quest to retake his kingdom from Krang. Last issue was almost a clean ending to that quest, save for the final pages. Namor was now the ruler again, with Lord Vashti his Grand Vizier. But then an earthquake strikes, and Namor suspects atomic tests of the surface world are responsible. He resolves to go to the surface world to sort this.
If Namor is the ruler of Atlantis, why is he Prince Namor? Why not King Namor? The Atlanteans must do it differently.
Vashti sits on Namor’s council and offers the wisdom that the choice of action is Namor’s, as the absolute monarch. Then why even be on the council, Vashti? Namor knows it’s his decision. Advise him!
This next story arc is going to get quite convoluted. The last one was relatively clean. Krang had taken the throne. Namor needed to recover some ancient artifact to reclaim it and followed a series of clues. This story begins with an earthquake and Namor’s plan to go to the surface world to get them to stop the tests. Let’s see where it goes from there.
