TALES TO ASTONISH #70: Disenchantment Under the Sea

Published: August, 1965

“To Live Again!”
Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Mickey Demeo
Letters: Artie Simek

For regular readers of this blog, it’s no secret I’ve always been a big fan of Sub-Mariner. So, when I saw our friend/fiend from under the sea rising up to captain his own title, I was giddy with expectation! This new view of the Marvel Universe will surely take us places we don’t usually get to go.

Unfortunately, in this first issue, it seems that whether by land or by sea, Marvel still insists on visiting so many of the hackneyed romantic tropes of the 1960’s. Sigh…yeah, a bit disappointed. But somehow, when it’s the archaic Atlanteans engaging in this drivel, it feels more…shall we say, epic. Legendary. So, it’s a mixed bag.

Let me explain what I’m talking about.

TOXIC MASCULINITY
Hawkeye’s always been a braggart, but since joining the Avengers, he’s done nothing but beating his chest in a Tarzan-like show of machismo. Later this month, Thor (and I’ll deal with him when I get to the Meanwhile post) goes to Olympus and immediately puts on a tough-guy performance, rather than taking the time to read the room and realize what course of action can best achieve his goal. In a similar vein, Namor starts by spurning lovelorn Dorma’s offer of assistance. And you know what the poet says: Hell hath no fury like a woman spurned. Or scorned? Whatever; you get the idea.

Namor could have prospered with Dorma as an ally, but instead chose to alienate her. And she turns against him, ordering the guards to shackle him and take him to the new despot, Krang. Things go from bad to worse, and…sorry, Namor; it’s your own damn fault.

TWISTED LOVE
Of course, I’m not much understanding Dorma’s behavior, either. “Let me see that he has lost his throne forever,” she declares, “for, only then may I hope to win his heart!” Huh? What kind of twisted love is this?

Does Dorma believe Namor can only be loyal to the “crown,” and it’s only if he loses his crown that he will be free to love her? Does she consider that he might be emotionally mature enough to walk and chew gum at the same time? If she really thinks Namor is such a great guy, why can’t she conceive of a scenario where he loves both her AND his kingdom? A normal, well-adjusted human could pull off both at the same time. And Namor is, after all, half-human. But perhaps Dorma knows him too well. Perhaps she knows that, like Captain Kirk of the Enterprise, Namor is not actually capable of diversifying his affections.

Dorma may know Namor, but I’m not sure she has a similar level of self-awareness. Clearly, the girl has self-esteem issues, but I’m not sure where they’re coming from. Is this what happens when you fall in love with a single-minded sea god? Or is this merely the 1960’s cinematic hogwash that a woman who is hopelessly devoted to a guy that treats her like crap must therefore love more truly and more deeply than any woman who sticks up for herself?

TIME TRAVEL
I feel like I’m having a Back to the Future moment. You remember: movie from the 1980’s about traveling back to the 1950’s (which is just as entertaining today). Sub-Mariner is a tale from the 1940’s, thrust forward into the 1960’s, and now being read by me in the 2020’s. So I’m not surprised, if something gets lost in the translation.

Not only that, but here we are in an ancient fictional world which, of course, no one writing about that world really knows how people talked or acted; it’s all conjecture. Getting back to Star Trek, we laugh at it now, but in the 1960’s, Gene Roddenberry imagined all the cool chicks in the 23rd century wearing mini-skirts and go-go boots. The writers of Sub-Mariner in the 1940’s no doubt employed a different set of standards than the writers of the 1960’s. And not much of it stands the test of time, as we fast forward 50 years.

I’m speaking very generally here of course, but even today, women are still subconsciously instructed to always put others before themselves. (Who gets the whole cookies? Dad and the kids. Who gets the broken cookies? Mom saves those for herself…) For too long, a woman who is “selfish” enough to want the best for herself is looked down on, as not being a good woman, or even a decent human being. As not only an Atlantean woman, but also a fictional character from the 1940’s/1960’s, Dorma does not enjoy the benefit of the Women’s Liberation movement, or any of the advancements made in human interactions in the last half-century.

So maybe it’s not right to fault her. Maybe she’s merely the natural product of her times. I’m just saying that I find the way these characters are treating each other both baffling and distasteful.

DORMA STRONG
And it’s a shame, because I’m sensing so much lost potential. Both Namor and Dorma are clearly strong characters, and if they pooled their resources, think of the power couple they could be! Think of the good they could do for their kingdom! (And that may yet happen, I don’t know, but if you do, please don’t spoil me in the Comments!) At the moment, however, Dorma’s potential is cut short by one thing: the men in her life—including the men writing her. They’re not letting her shine as she ought. If she weren’t as strong as she is, she would simply shrink back into the seaweed and not even approach King Namor. But she does, and she has ideas, she has a plan on how she can help him. In a way, I understand her getting pissed off enough to set the guards on him. I just don’t understand, “Let me bring him as low as he can go, and THEN he’ll learn to love me!” But maybe in the world she lives in, with the man she’s dealing with, that’s the only remaining option.

This new title also features the art of Adam Austin. I was excited to see a new artist’s name, and wanted so much to like his work, but…alas, not so much. My main complaint is that every character has slanted eyes, as if they’re Asian. In these comics of the 1960’s, Asian is a common stereotype for villains, so…just spit-balling here…maybe Austin was instructed to subliminally depict everyone in such a way that, despite the many exotic attractions of the Atlantean world, the readers would always be reminded that these people are not like us, we can’t trust them. And poor Namor fares the worst; of course, he’s always had those arching eyebrows, but it almost looks like Austin is doing a caricature of him.

I also found the art somewhat “muddy,” and suspect the inker of being too heavy-handed. I understand that “Marvel Bullpen” is more than a cute code name. This really is a collaborative effort, and each team member can contribute&mdashor detract—from the quality of the final product. I’ve already identified some inkers I’m not particularly fond of, so it will be interesting to see how Mr. Austin fares, when drafted into a different crew.

NEW AND IMPROVED
Moving on to the Hulk story in the bottom half of this issue, the last time we saw Banner, he was declared dead. This time, Rick Jones steals Banner’s body, douses it with gamma rays, and brings him back to life as Hulk. But…surprise! Apparently now that there is a bullet lodged in the brain, a) Hulk cannot turn back to Banner, and b) even though he’s stuck in Hulk’s body, it’s Banner’s brain in control. I say! What interesting developments! I never could figure out Hulk before. Was he a superhero, villain, or simply anti-social? But with Banner in charge of the big, strong green body, well…now we’re cooking with gas! This is a major development for the title, one that is sure to generate much more interesting, complicated, and heroic storylines.

BITTERSWEET
Of course, the biggest development for the book this month is Sub-Mariner replacing Giant-Man and the Wasp, and I can’t leave without mentioning my bittersweet feelings. In the last issue, Giant-Man spoke of “retirement,” and I didn’t take him seriously. Now, I realize how foolish I was. This month, in addition to giving Hulk an upgrade, Marvel will also replace Torch & Thing with Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD (more on that next time), but up until the new roster of Avengers just a couple of months ago, things have been fairly stable for quite a while in Marvel comics.

I really didn’t think the creators would “retire” Giant-Man and the Wasp. But then, as I pondered further, it occurred to me…well, wait a minute. Maybe it is time for them to, if not retire, at least take an extended vacation. As much as I love the characters, the action has been pretty stale lately. There’s no arc storyline. They just fight villain after villain, Wasp gets captured, Giant-Man rescues her, more villains, more captures, more rescues, and so on. You could read these stories in any particular order; it wouldn’t really matter. I’m exceptionally interested in seeing their relationship progress, but that’s not happening to any great degree, so… why are we here?

You’ll notice I consider this to be “an extended vacation,” because I firmly believe we’ll see Giant-Man and Wasp in the comics again. First, with so much good material to choose from, it’s difficult to imagine the Marvel Cinematic Universe plucked them from the obscurity of only a handful of early 1960’s comics. But mostly, as characters go, there is just too much going on here, too much potential for soap opera and growth—potential that, for the moment, is squandered.

So I hope Hank and Jan are off somewhere, re-charging their batteries, having a few romantic dinners, evaluating their game plan, and will return before you know it, ready to take their relationship, and their superhero antics, to the next level. And when that happens, Namor shouldn’t have to give up his return to the spotlight. The world of Marvel Comics should be big enough for all of them. And many more, my Spidey-sense is telling me, must be on the way.