Adventures in the Marvelous Zone

Published: July, 1962

You don’t need to be much of a comic book fan to know that one of the mortal enemies of the FF is Doctor Doom. If you were paying any attention in 2005, when the Fantastic Four movie came out (you know, the one with that hunky Scottish actor, Ioan Gruffudd), then you would have at least some idea that there is in the world of super-villainy a character named Doctor Doom, and he and the FF don’t get along very well.

Doctor Doom. Isn’t that a great name for a villain? I love the alliteration. In fact, this might be a good time to mention that in the Marvel Universe, a lot of characters’ names are the product of alliteration: Reed Richards, Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, and on the villainous side, in addition to Doctor Doom, we have Mole Man, Green Goblin, and of course, one of my favorites, Paste Pot Pete. It’s good use of language, it makes for melodious monikers, but Russ tells me it also serves another, more practical purpose. Apparently Stan created so many characters, that he sometimes had a hard time keeping track of them all. Using double consonants was one mnemonic device he used to help him remember who’s who in his galaxy of stars.

As we begin our story, we witness another “Stan-ism” that frequently appears in Marvel Comics, and which always gives me a chuckle. Johnny is reading “a great new comic mag,” which is, in fact, The Incredible Hulk! Stan was never above a little bit of self-promotion. And why not? It’s free advertising!

Not only that, though, when Johnny mentions that Hulk reminds him of Thing, it creates an opportunity for all four of them to go into their routine: Johnny and Thing squabble, then fight, Sue reprimands her brother by cooling him off with a spray of water, and Reed steps in as the “Dad” to break it up and lecture the two misbehaving boys.

Okay, enough of that. A nice little reminder of how these four interact with each other, then our story begins. The lights go out! Turns out somebody has dropped a net over their building, and it is conveniently made out of asbestos, the only material capable of foiling the Human Torch. (In FF stories, we will find an unusual number of objects and locations are composed of asbestos.)

From the helicopter hovering above the building, Doctor Doom announces his presence. Reed recognizes his voice, and immediately launches into storytelling.

Two things I want to bring up at this point: one, this is a shortened version of the Doctor Doom origin story. A more detailed account will follow in Fantastic Four Annual #2. Secondly, I want to make mention of the artist device used to separate the “narrative within the narrative” from the original narrative.

You’ll notice that whenever a character begins to tell a story, the first thing we see is a “head shot” next to their spoken words. In addition, the edges of the “story within a story” panels are, for lack of a better word, scalloped. (Well, that’s what I call it, and as Russ points out, that’s what a girl would call it. Is there a more official term? If anyone knows, please clue me in!) These visual clues let the reader know that they are seeing what the speaker is saying. So in some sense, the reader is in a better position than the “actual” audience, the other characters in the story, who can only hear the story.

Reed explains that Victor von Doom was a brilliant college student who dabbled in the Black Arts, attempting to contact the netherworld. After an accident in his scientific laboratory, not only was his face badly disfigured, but he was also expelled from school. Reed knows that “when last heard of, he was prowling the wastelands of Tibet, still seeking forbidden secrets of black magic and sorcery.” Reed also predicts that a run-in with von Doom could be “the most dangerous adventure of our career!”

Of course. But that’s pretty much what he said when they met up with the Miracle Man. I think we’ll find we very often have this proclamation of “What we are about to face is bigger and badder than anything we have ever faced before!” It’s part of that hyperactive hyperbole that is so prevalent, (and I might add, so very effective) in Marvel Comics.

To start things off, Doom demands that Sue be sent to him as a hostage. There is initial reluctance, but in the end it is agreed that this is the only way to bring the villain out into the open.

After he has Sue, Doom demands the others board his “ship” (which is actually a helicopter), and he sucks them up in a dome and takes them to his castle, where he reveals that he has invented a time travel device, and wants them to go back and retrieve Blackbeard’s treasure. (He can’t go, of course, because he has to stay behind to operate the time machine).

Doom sends the three men (well, one man, one boy and one “Thing”) back to pirate times, where they immediately realize they’ll need a change of clothes. Fortunately they find two pirates arguing over a “booty” of laundry. Now, I just have to ask, what kind of pirate steals CLOTHES? This struck me as not only way too convenient, but completely silly.

Nevertheless, Thing scares away the pirates, leaving them with “a whole bundle of suits and boots.” (Thus providing the reader not only with alliteration, but rhyming as well!) They dress up, and even Thing is passable as a pirate.

They go to a pub, where some pirates at another table decide they would like these three to join their crew, and have the waitress —uh, barwench—slip them a mickey. They wake up aboard the pirate ship, and when the scalawags try to give them trouble, our three heroes use their superpowers to win the fight.

This ship comes immediately under attack by another pirate ship, and once again our guys use their powers to win the fight.

To tell the truth, I was kind of disappointed that they didn’t find Blackbeard on the first pirate ship, but as soon as the second ship showed up, I knew they would be meeting Blackbeard soon enough. And of course they do. No surprise there. Storytelling as expected.

But what I never expected was this:

Once the treasure chest is secured, the pirates hail Thing’s power, calling him “the mighty bearded one” and proclaiming “Hooray for Blackbeard!” So. Thing IS Blackbeard. How wild is that? Completely out of left field, totally unexpected. Now, seasoned comic book readers may have seen this one coming. And aficionados of time travel stories may not be as blown away by this development as I was. But for me, that was totally unexpected, and completely cool.

So, since Thing IS Blackbeard, Blackbeard’s treasure actually BELONGS to the Fantastic Four. Which means they are not actually stealing anything…are they? This little plot twist, in addition to being cool, permits our heroes to maintain their law-abiding integrity. Because we couldn’t actually have the FF committing acts of thievery, could we, even if it is for a good cause.

Next, Reed gets a clever idea. He decides that if Doom wants the items in this chest, there must be “some dangerous power” within, which they should never let him have. So, let’s empty the treasure from the chest, split it among the pirates, and fill the chest with chains to bring back to Dr. Doom. “For we never promised to bring the treasure itself,” he says. “We kept our word. We are bringing him Blackbeard’s treasure CHEST.”

Once again, this keeps our heroes’ virtue intact. They fulfill their contract as per the letter of the law, and are NOT providing a dangerous villain with artifacts of evil power. When you look back at their original conversation with Doom, however, he does in fact twice say that he wants “the treasure” but just before he pushes the button to send them into the past, he concludes with “You will have forty eight hours to bring me Blackbeard’s treasure chest.” So which is it…the treasure…or the chest? This whole “letter of the law” thing is a bit weasley, if you ask me.

But we’ll forgive a bit of weaseliness, because we’re about to come up on another fantastic plot twist. Thing decides he LIKES being Blackbeard, and has no intention of going back to the 20th century! Here he is more than just a freak, he’s a leader of men! He has the pirates wrap Reed in a sail, and Johnny is still wet, so neither is a threat to Thing’s dream of pirate domination. He’s ready to send off his two former comrades in a rowboat, when…

A twister comes out of nowhere and destroys the ship!! The three meet up on a deserted island, where Thing apologizes profusely for his recent activities. “I musta got carried away by being accepted—as a normal man—even if it was only by a band of cut-throat pirates!”

As it happens, the chest has washed ashore with them, and at the precise moment they are wondering how Dr. Doom is going to get them back to the present, Doom is pressing the button.

Returned to Doom, they present the treasure chest, and Doom reveals that yes, indeed, the jewels in the chest belonged to “Merlin” and have the power to make their owner invincible. (Of course the name “Merlin” is loaded with magical connotations, no need to explain further.) Doom opens the chest, realizes he’s been duped, and Thing springs into action, meaning to destroy him. But we have another plot twist! Yes, Thing wallops Doom, but it turns out… it is only a robot!

The real Doctor Doom is in a hidden room above them. And he’s pissed. More pissed than usual. He begins to drain the air out of their room. Soon they will be dead. Right? No, wrong. Because while Doom is focused on destroying Reed, Johnny and Thing, he’s forgotten all about Sue. I mean, she’s just some dumb girl, right? Why would he need to pay any attention to her? What danger could she possibly be to his dastardly plan?

Well…lots, actually.

Sue becomes invisible and short-circuits the control panel, which causes an explosion and opens an escape hatch. She saves the others, just before they run out of oxygen. Yea, Sue!

But it’s not over yet! Now they have to get out of Doom’s castle. Reed knots himself around some window bars and pulls down the wall. As they approach the moat, Johnny “boils a section of water away, and fuses it to the ground, turning it into a glass-like substance,” which they can then walk across, much to the dismay of the hungry crocodiles, who were hoping for a hearty mid-afternoon snack (though I doubt they would have found Thing very tasty).

Next, Johnny paints rings of fire around Doom’s castle, in an attempt to smoke him out, but Doom is ready for that. Not only does he welcome the flames (“I hope he burns my fortress to the ground, so none will ever learn my many secrets!”) but he also has a way of escape:

Taking a moment to extol his own virtues, even in this moment of utter defeat, Doom blasts off in his “rocket-powered flying harness.” Johnny pursues, but Doom gets away. Better luck next time, Johnny. And Reed. And Thing. And Sue. Because Dr. Doom lives, to fight another day, in another tale!!

VILLAIN VALUATION
So! Have we finally met a villain worthy of the Fantastic Four’s powers? Someone who can give them a run for their money without wimping out (“We hate being Skrulls!”) or resorting to smoke and mirrors? One thing for sure: by the end of this story, our heroes have not defeated the villain, but he has cleverly escaped them. For that alone, Doom zooms to the top of my list.

Here is an opponent who might be able to cause some problems for them in the future. For one thing, he has a time machine! Or rather, he HAD a Time Machine, because we must assume it was destroyed in the fire. But one of Doom’s attributes is that he is smart, in fact, super-smart, very likely as smart as Reed Richards, and if he built that time machine once, he will probably be able to do it again. In fact, he will probably be able to do that, and a lot more, and a lot worse.

Another one of Doom’s attributes is that he is angry, and desperate. Well, okay, that’s two attributes, but they are two that, when combined, I think we will find the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Now, I happen to know a little bit more about Doctor Doom than what we get in this story here, because I have gone ahead to Fantastic Four Annual #2, where we get a fuller history of this character. If you are a newcomer to the Marvelous Zone, for the moment just take my word for it that we are going to discover a plethora of angsty personality issues as we get to know Doctor Doom better in the issues that lie ahead. Our introduction to this super-villain is merely the tip of the iceberg!

But you know what? I think I just summed up Doctor Doom in my last sentence when I called him a SUPER villain. So far, I think we have only met “villains,” bad guys whose propensity for evil is limited. So far, perhaps, we have only met villains who engage in villainous acts. But in the case of Doctor Doom, I think we would have to say, he doesn’t just DO evil, he IS evil.

But enough about Doom! There is so much going on with our heroes in this story. I think it would behoove us to take a moment to consider what character developments Stan concocts in this latest tale.

THING
Even before we got to this fantastic story of time travel, of our four heroes, I think I would have to say that I find Thing to be the most interesting. He has, by far, the most compelling personal story. We’ve stopped several times now to hear him lament his situation. The others can carry on normal lives, whip out their superpowers when needed, then put them away as if nothing ever happened. But not so for Thing. He’s got to live day in and day out with a superpower that on the face of it, makes him just plain ugly, a social outcast. It’s a sad situation.

So I think his reaction to dressing up like a pirate is entirely believable. Pirates are generally a gnarly looking bunch, and in his disguise, Thing really does fit right in. You’ll notice that the first thing he does as a pirate, when they are in the tavern, is to suggest, “Ahoy matey, let’s see if we can date one of these pretty barmaids.” Think about it. As Thing, I don’t think Ben Grimm has been going out on too many dates. He’s probably lonely. He was not a bad looking guy before, and as a test pilot, he probably had lots of dates, lots of women interested in him. It totally makes sense that as soon as he feels he is acceptable to the society in which he finds himself, he’s looking for attention from the opposite sex.

And then later, after he’s become Blackbeard, he is not only accepted, but also revered by the pirate crew! Sure he wants to stay! As Thing in the 20th century he is a freak. Lots of power over his physical world, but no power in running his personal life. I’m reminded of the scene from the first FF movie, where Thing tries to pick up a cup, and some utensils. He can’t even manage a meal, never mind personal relationships! But here, as the captain of a pirate ship, with men under his command, this is REAL power, much more significant than the power to clobber and smash heads. And it’s also acceptance, on a wide scale.

It’s interesting that it takes an “act of God” (the twister) to shake him up and bring him back to his senses. It’s also interesting that as soon as Thing apologizes, Reed and Johnny immediately forgive and forget. I guess they do understand, on some level at least, what it must be like for him. I thought that was a great moment, the way there really was no moment, in resolving Thing’s temporary lapse.

SUE
Of the four, Sue is next on my list of characters with interesting personal issues. It’s only vaguely stated here, but in future stories I know there will be moments when Sue feels that her contributions to the group are largely under-appreciated. Sometimes, I think, she feels invisible in more than the most obvious way.

As Doom is carrying out his plan, Sue says “He’s forgotten all about me.” Sue doesn’t have the “fun” of going back to pirate times, but of course it would be a bit problematic to have a girl in pirate times. Unless she remained invisible the whole time. But the story didn’t need her there, it needed her in Doom’s castle, where she could be “forgotten.”

And once she’s forgotten, she is empowered to do the things that need to get done, to save the day. Sue’s power may not be big and showy, but when push comes to shove, being invisible and forgotten and not taken seriously end up being the biggest threat of all to our super-villain.

THE TREASURE CHEST
One more thing, and then I’ve got to move on. I’m wondering about gems of Merlin that were in the chest, which the FF distributed among the pirates, only to have a twister sink the ship. One must assume these magical gems are now lying on the ocean floor. In fact, Johnny makes a point of saying that he hopes Sub-Mariner will not get them. But what if Sub-Mariner DID get them at some point, and that accounts, at least in part, for his powers? Is it possible that elements from these two stories could ultimately be woven together in the fabric of the Marvel Universe?

And what about this: okay, we know that the jewels in that chest have the power to make their owner invincible and Thing is Blackbeard and he is the owner. Therefore…he is invincible. Right? I mean, in many ways, Thing IS invincible. How did he get that way? Does the fact that he was Blackbeard in the past and owned these jewels have anything to do with WHY the accident in space happened in the first place? Were the jewels looking to fulfill their destiny by making their owner invincible, and they settled upon bombardments with gamma rays as a way to achieve that end? Is it all part of one giant cosmic puzzle? Talk about stories being tied together! Maybe I’m stretching here (like Reed), but I once you get into the fantastical aspects of the marvelous zone, I think all possibilities are worth considering.

A FEW QUESTIONS
I know I said one more thing, then wrote about two, and I ask you to indulge me just a few moments longer. In a more practical consideration, I have to wonder why the letterer chose to write out words like “forty eight hours” and “twentieth century” rather than using the numerical equivalents, which would have saved space in some already very busy comic panels. Or, is it in fact the letterer who makes these decisions, or Stan, or someone even above Stan? I don’t know, I just know that some panels are already so busy with lettering, that any way to shorten a phrase should be a welcome alternative. I mean, we’re not writing a dissertation here, folks!

At one point, as a pirate, Johnny mentions that he feels like Errol Flynn. What! Errol Flynn? Is this supposed to be a reference to pop culture? Didn’t Errol Flynn do pirate movies in the 40’s and 50’s? If Johnny’s a teenager in 1962, what does he know about Errol Flynn? He would have been in diapers when Errol Flynn movies were all the rage. I think perhaps the writers are showing their age a bit, not Johnny’s, with this reference to Errol Flynn.

I have one more question about time, and again it comes from something Johnny says. At the end of the story, when he boils the water and fuses it to the ground, turning it into a glass-like substance they can walk on, he comments “Here’s something I’ve been wanting to try for months.” This is our fifth FF adventure, and already, apparently, our heroes have had their powers “for months.”

How much time has passed? Have they only had these five adventures so far, or has other stuff been happening between the stories Stan has chosen to chronicle? If there have been other adventures during these “months,” why don’t we get to see them? Or can we assume that these five adventures have kept them more than busy during this time? And if so, what are they doing when they’re NOT having fantastic adventures? Getting haircuts? Going shopping? Watching TV?

I guess we don’t really need to see that stuff. I guess it would behoove us to wait for their next true adventure, before we rush out with our twelve cents to buy the next fantastic issue of the Fantastic Four. But before we do that…we’re going to go back to The Hulk, and find out what happens when he grapples with The Terror of the Toad Men!

Toad Men? It’s actually more exciting than it sounds, so please join me again next week, when I once again travel into The Marvelous Zone of Marvel Comics.

Published: May, 1962

Russ has been setting up the comics in the order I should review them, and I see that we are once again looking at The Fantastic Four. And this time, they have a formidable foe…the Sub-Mariner!! (Pardon me for using the double exclamation point, I guess I’ve been reading too many comics lately!!) Since I’ve already read ahead a bit, I’ve met with Sub-Mariner a few times now, and I’ve got to say I really enjoy his character. Now THIS is what a villian should be! (Not like those pitiful Skrulls, whining “We hate being Skrulls…”) But ironically, the thing I most like about Sub-Mariner is that he’so noble, and mostly, his intentions are good. Sure, he’s a powerful being who spends a good deal of time and energy threatening to obliterate humanity, but in some ways, you really can’t blame him. He’s a powerful leader who’s had some bad breaks. Any good king would do the same.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, and this story is a long one, 24 pages, with LOTS going on, so let’s get started. We find the group has been splintered by a disagreement. Johnny and Thing were fighting (as we will see they often do) and Johnny has gone off in a huff, saying he’s through with all of them. I thought it was touching that Sue, his sister, was concerned, hoping he might be hurt or in trouble. Hey! Sis! Your brother is The Human Torch! I don’t really think you need to be worried about his safety.

They decide to look for Torch, and I found it interesting that even though this is only the fourth issue of this title, so they could not have had many adventures yet, still everyone they meet seems to know who they are. Reed stretches out his arm to pick a guy off a motorcycle, and when the guy realizes who he’s talking to, he says “Wait till I tell the gang! Will I be a big man!” Later on, someone else says “Holy smoke! I read about you guys, but I never dreamt you really existed!”

The Fantastic Four are the first superheroes of the Silver Age. There were superheroes back in the 1940’s, during WWII, but since then, apparently, it’s been pretty quiet, and I guess the people in this comic book have gotten used to living in a world that is relatively void of “the fantastic.” But now, things are changing! I guess that kind of explains why while one person is thrilled to meet Mr. Fantastic, another says “I never dreamt you really existed!” For some people, there may be doubt that this could really be happening again, but others are ready to embrace the new world order.

I think it’s also especially important to note the phrase “I read about you guys.” Apparently the exploits of the Fantastic Four are making the newspapers. They are very PUBLIC superheroes. Later, when we get into Spider-Man, X-Men, the Avengers, we will find that every one of them has a SECRET identity, known to only a select few. But the FF are out there for all the world to see. This makes for a different kind of story. It’s pretty interesting to see how they interact with their world.

REHASH

But before we get into this story, Stan rehashes what happened in the previous issue, why Johnny has gone off in a huff. I guess in case some of the readers had not SEEN the previous issue, it would give them a chance to catch up. I’m thinking: here is a new title, only out a few months, word of mouth is just now getting around, the readership is building. I guess Stan had to assume that not everybody would be caught up on current events. Thus, the rehash.

I think that might also be part of the reason for something else that happens, when Thing finally finds Johnny. For no apparent reason, Thing begins to morph back into Ben Grimm. For a few panels we get to see who Thing “really” is. Personally, I think there are three things going on here: 1. When Thing/Ben is temporarily distracted by his morphing, this gives Johnny a chance to get away. 2. This lets the new readers see who Thing really is, that he wasn’t always a rockman, that deep down inside there is a human being, and 3. That this human being is absolutely distressed by having to live life as “A…thing!”

Johnny goes to “the Bowery” where he thinks nobody will be able to find him, and stays in a “Men’s Hotel” which is a sort of YMCA, with lots of derelict guys sleeping on cots. He reads an old beat-up “comic mag” from the 1940’s. It’s about Sub-Mariner. Johnny thinks “I remember Sis talking about him once! He used to be the world’s most unusual character!”

Now that’s all I personally would know about Sub-Mariner at this point, except that I happen to have a wonderful husband who knows lots about comics and is able to fill me in on his background. It seems that in the 1940’s the Sub-Mariner did indeed appear in Marvel Comics, but at that time, he was more of a hero, rather than a villain. He is the King of the underwater Atlanteans, has super-strength, can breathe air as well as water, and can fly. Also, his skin is somewhat impervious to things like bullets and knives. Well, we’ll learn more about him as we go on, but I thought it was most fascinating that originally he was not one of the bad guys. But now he will be. And we’ll see why. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

There is a certain derelict guy at the “Men’s Hotel” that the others mention is really strong. They try to engage him, but he just gets annoyed and ends up punching everyone and throwing furniture. Johnny says “Hey wait! Let’s find out what’s going on here!” We see the irate bum lamenting that he has no idea who he is, but when Johnny gives him a shave and a haircut (with his flaming finger—I kid you not), who is revealed but…Sub-Mariner himself!!!

Johnny flies him out over the ocean and drops him in, figuring that if he really IS Sub-Mariner, being back in the ocean will return his memory, and return him to his former glory. And that’s exactly what happens. Ahh…but there’s a complication. When Sub-Mariner returns to his undersea kingdom, he discovers that it has been destroyed by “the HUMANS…with their accursed atomic tests!” Now he’s mad. And you don’t want someone like Sub-Mariner mad at you. He vows to take revenge on the entire human race.

I have to pause here for a moment to say…so! Everything that happens from this point on, in this story and in all the other stories where the Sub-Mariner poses a threat to humanity…it’s all Johnny’s fault! Right? He had to go and put him back in the ocean! Of course, he didn’t know when he did it that complications would ensue. But they do. And they will continue to ensue. But it just goes to show you how one innocent act of kindness can be turned on its head to create all sorts of trouble.

So, as Sub-Mariner vows his revenge on the human race, we begin to get a pretty good picture of his personality.

Humility is not one of Namor’s strong points. (Oh, I guess I should mention that Sub-Mariner’s actual name is “Namor.” And by the way, Russ explained to me that in an effort to create a name that sounded as regal as possible, “Namor” was chosen, because it’s actually “Roman,” spelled backwards.)

Anyway, Namor is rather full of himself, overflowing with self-confidence and bravado. He is the antithesis of “wishy-washy.” Everything he does is large and dramatic. He is, after all, a king. With superpowers. No room for “wishy-washy” here.

I guess Johnny figures this out, because he decides to come out of hiding and paints a huge fiery “4” in the sky to alert the others that there is trouble afoot. Stan describes this as “the most dramatic, most exciting secret symbol of all!!” I agree with dramatic and exciting, but I hardly think it’s secret. A huge fiery number in the sky? I think the general population is looking up at this and thinking…”Hmmm… just a stab in the dark here, but … I think SOMETHNG must be up…”

GIGANTOR!

Johnny meets with the others and fills them in on what’s happening. Meanwhile, Namor finds the “trumpet-horn” buried by his ancestors centuries ago which can wake the mighty sleeping Gigantor!! ( I don’t feel compelled to give a description, I think the name says it all.) This creature heads towards New York, and the order is given to evacuate the city, as the army brings their weapons into place.

But it’s not the army that saves the day. It’s…Thing! He gets the idea to strap a nuclear device on to his back, and walks right into the monster’s mouth, like Jonah going into the belly of the whale. (It’s amusing, by the way, that it appears he has strapped the nuclear device to his back with a couple of bed sheets.)

Thing escapes just before Gigantor is destroyed. Now Sub-Mariner is more pissed than ever!

It’s worth noting that this happens to be one of those times when the villain messes things up for himself by spending too much time talking and gloating. Because while he’s extolling the virtues of the horn, invisible Sue is nearby and says “Oh! It is the Horn that does it!! That’s what I was waiting to hear!” And she grabs the horn and begins to run off.

AT LAST, A LITTLE ROMANCE!

That could be the end of our story…but of course it’s not. Namor pursues, and grabs Sue, and she gets visible again. Immediately, Namor is struck by her beauty.

I happen to know, from having read ahead a bit in the Fantastic Four series, that the Sue/Namor issue is not going to live and die in this one issue. We will have many more meetings between these two, and their relationship is one of the things I really enjoy about the FF series. So I want to spend a few moments reviewing what happens here.

After Namor declares that Sue is a prize worth catching, he continues to compliment her, and makes an offer: if she agrees to become his bride, he might show mercy and not destroy the human race. Well, first of all, note that Namor says he MIGHT spare the human race. Even if she marries him, he still might destroy humanity. He’s holding tight to the power, as a King should, which puts Sue in an awful predicament. Decisions, decisions…right? And Sue rightly says, “How can I make such a choice?”

Russ thinks, and rightly so I’m sure, that her hesitation is based on the fact that she’s weighing her own happiness against the survival of the human race. “Well…this is an AWFUL predicament I’m in, but if I don’t agree to marry him, all of humanity will most certainly be destroyed!” Not to be taken lightly. But I think it’s that…AND something more. Remember, earlier, Johnny clued us in that Sue knows a bit about the Sub-Mariner. So she must know that he is a KING, and before he appears in this issue, he’s been a HERO. Not a bad guy, overall. If she’s read about him and talked about him….maybe there’s some attraction there on her part as well.

What does Sue mean when she says “How can I make such a choice?” is she actually considering marrying Namor? Is she attracted to him? Is she attracted to his power? Or perhaps she’s attracted by the ATTENTION he is showing her, the compliments. Yes, she’s Reed’s fiancée, but does Reed ever compliment her like this? Reed is so very no-nonsense and scientific, and in fact it will come out in future issues that Sue is not really sure how he feels about her. But with Namor there’s no doubt. He’s just told her: you’re gorgeous, I want to marry you and make you my princess!

It’s enough to make a girl think…

But before Sue has a chance to think for very long, the others arrive, saying “Sue, you don’t have to do anything he says!” But this makes Namor even MORE pissed off than before. “You fools! “ he declares. “Now I’ll have the girl AND my revenge!!”

Seeing how serious he is, Sue says “No, Prince Namor, you mustn’t! I’ll do anything—I’ll become your bride!” Namor is, of course, insulted that she agrees to marry him only so that she can save the human race. “Don’t you realize what an honor I offer you?”

Reed says “This has gone FAR ENOUGH!” (I was wondering when he was going to get around to that…) And they all begin to attack Namor. Torch creates a tornado, which sucks up Namor and deposits him in deepest part of the ocean. He loses the magic horn in the process, but vows, a la the Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator… “I’ll be back!”

In the last panel, Stan says…”Yes, perhaps he WILL be back.” And I’m thinking…What??? Perhaps?? Are you kidding me? Do you really expect me to believe for one second that a character as strong and dramatic as Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, is not going to be back for further adventures? Please…if that would be the case, then somebody has NO IDEA how to run a comic book.

But of course, Stan and crew do have some excellent ideas about how to run a comic book, so Sub-Mariner will be back. But before we go forward to those next adventures, there is one question I must ask: I’m trying to wrap my mind around how Sub-Mariner is both a real being in the real world, AND the topic of a “comic-mag” within that world. In our world, yes, we have fantastic and non-fantastic characters who inhabit our “comic-mags,” but they are just that, “characters,” not “real,” not flesh and blood. In general, we don’t have narrative “stories” about real people, either in comics, novels, movies, etc.

But in the Marvel Universe, it is accepted that Namor is a real being in the real world, and yet there are “comic mags” written about him. And later I believe we’ll find that the exploits of Spider-Man and others will be chronicled in “comic-mags” even as these individuals are roaming the city, fighting crime and pulling off heroic feats that are ALSO mentioned on the front page of the newspaper. That’s what I find so intriguing: this blending of fact and fiction that has less to do with superpowers than it has to do with storytelling!

Yes, in the Marvel Universe, there are flesh and blood individuals who have powers that do not exist in our world. I get that, I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, I’m glad there are fantastical characters, or comic books would be very boring, wouldn’t they? I mean….if we were stuck with stories about characters who had superpowers like mine (“the uncanny aptitude to determine the exact size container for the dinner leftovers”) or Russ’ (“the unerring ability to turn a traffic light from red to green simply by staring at it”) I don’t think those books would sell very well.

I’m just amazed that that Stan and crew have elected to create a world where…no, wait, I take that back. I was about to write “create a world where comics and newspapers have equal importance” but then I thought about it…Nah. I’m not amazed at all. In fact, it makes perfect sense that the writer of comic books would elevate “comic-mags” to such a high position. It makes perfect sense, and what’s more, it’s a ton of fun.

VILLAIN VALUATION

I should go on to compare Namor to the villains I have met so far. I’ve already dismissed The Miracle Man as a mere magician in need of a good pair of sunglasses. But is Sub-mariner more fearsome than Mole Man? You betcha! Sure, they both command the monsters of their particular kingdom, but with the flying and the breathing both air and water, and the super strength, Namor wins this one hands down. And I hate to say it, but he is certainly a lot more attractive than Mole Man. Even with those eyebrows.

Which brings up another point. Namor remind me quite a lot of Spock on Star Trek. Of course Sub-Mariner existed for decades before the thought of Spock ever crossed Gene Roddenberry’s imaginative mind. But I wonder if in some way, Sub-Mariner was a consideration, either consciously or subconsciously, when Spock was dreamed into existence.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now! This has been a long one, but lots of fun. Join me next time when a Comic Novice looks at the origin of another classic Marvel character…The Incredible Hulk!!