Issue(s): ROM #34, ROM #35
Cover Date: Sep-Oct 82
Title: "Some day my prince will come, or... Enter: the Sub-Mariner!" / "Agony in Atlantis!"
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Ian Akin & Brian Garvey / Dan Bulanadi - Inker
Ann Nocenti - Editor

Review/plot:
ROM has rescued a child named Sybil from the Dire Wraiths. She's blind, but has special oracle-like insight. ROM restores her sight with his Neutralizer.

Carrying her, he then takes flight over the ocean. He's soon attacked by strange sea monsters.

Prince Namor is also investigating the sea monsters, and after rescuing Sybil with a giant fish-bubble (which takes her to Wraith-infested Atlantis)...

...he and ROM team-up to fight the creatures, which are being created by the Dire Wraiths. They even awaken an old foe of Namor's.

He was called the Seaweed Man in his original appearances but Mantlo has the decency to rename him the Ancient Sleeper here. Although, to be fair, it is a giant man made of seaweed.

ROM and the Sub-Mariner chase away all the Wraiths...

...and Sybil is somehow converted into an Atlantean and left to stay in Atlantis.

I stumbled across a fun review of these issues and thought i should link to it.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Must take place after the Sub-Mariner returns to this dimension after Defenders #115. Here he is clearly surveying his kingdom after a long time away in another dimension.

References:

• ROM is still anguished over having lost half his physical body in ROM #26.
  
• The Ancient Sleeper appeared previously in Tales To Astonish #71-72.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The panels with Sybil being placed in the Bubble Fish are repeated twice.

(Y'know, weird fish are sort of Namor's utility belt. He has one for every occasion.)

Thanks Gary.

I don't know if there's a connection, but back in Marvel Mystery Comics #12, Namor's people devised a machine to transform a human into one of them.

I like that there was no misunderstanding fight - Namor and Rom naturally started working together. Craziest part though was that Namor and Rom stood around yakking about what to do while the monster walked all the way to Atlantis and fought with the Atlanteans for a few pages before Rom and Namor decided to come save them.

@Jake That's something I expected when I first bought these issues nearly 35 years ago (Can't believe it's been that long, I was 12 with 13 in the headlights!): the obligatory misunderstanding tussle, expected since Namor can be so volatile and wary of strange, non-aquatic beings. Was glad to see Mantlo, of all writers, going against the grain there. Also notable that Rom and Subby both spoke in the Shakespearian style, eschewing "Yes" for "Aye". Also showing the diversity of the Wraiths in searching out non-surface-based targets.