Namor, The Sub-Mariner 014

Wed Nov 9, 2016

Namor, The Sub-Mariner was the first comic for which I ever had a subscription (my subscription was from issue 18-29). I don’t recall all the details about this, but I know that we had some sort of postal issue that prevented me from getting an issue or two initially, so my dad and I called Marvel. It turned out that they were having a Christmas party at the time, and Stan Lee himself picked up the phone. He very kindly took our info to get things sorted out, and I got my twelve issues of Namor and the appropriate annual.

This comic … Namor has always been a super-interesting character to me (Marvel’s first “mutant,” a Golden Age character, a potential voice for ecological issues, the world’s greatest eyebrows, etc.) but I cannot stand John Bryne’s art. Everyone has the same face. Everyone has the same body. (I feel the same way about Mark Bagley’s art, as well.)

The cover for issue 014 shows Namor, a woman, and a small child in a living room or den, from the over-the-shoulder perspective of a creature we only see from the back. It has a golden mane, a spiked collar, large hands with claws, and a pair of wings. There’s broken glass on the floor under Namor et al.’s feet.

So, this issue begins with Phoebe Marrs, jerk CEO, chewing out her board during a meeting and then firing her assistant when said assistant makes an under-the-breath comment about Phoebe being a “lucky girl” when Namor comes to visit her. Not really the best way to win over a reader, since we’re supposed to be interested in Namor’s romantic relationship with Phoebe.

Then Phoebe and Namor go to visit her son, whose existence is a secret and who lives in a house that no one knows about. What the hell, Phoebe?

There’s a quick interlude in Atlantis, where we learn that Namor’s former (and dead) wife, the Lady Dorma, has turned out to be alive! (Spoiler: in a later issue, it turns out she’s actually one of many clones that a crazy Atlantean scientist created.)

Then there’s a scene with Danny Rand (who’s supposedly dead, if I recall, from the end of the Power Man and Iron Fist series) and also Ka-Zar (and Zabu, his sabretooth tiger). They’re up to something obviously sinister–maybe destroying the environment in the Savage Land or something?–but I find myself completely uninterested in this story. (We’re only at the halfway point here, too. Not good.)

Back at Phoebe’s secret house, Phoebe tells Namor about how she came to have a secret son. But then a giant griffin flies in out of the air. (I think it’s actually a manticore.) Apparently, Namor and the griffin have fought before, but I seriously do not remember this character at all.

Anyway, Namor and the griffin tussle, and then Namor domesticates it somehow and Phoebe declares her love for Namor, kissing him.

This issue was a slog. Unfortunately, from what I remember of my subscription to this series, the next dozen or so issues aren’t any better … which is a shame, because Namor the character is fantastic.