Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1973-04-01 00:02:30 |
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Sub-Mariner #58
Issue(s): Sub-Mariner #58
Cover Date: Feb 73
Title: "Hands across the water, hands across the skies..."
Credits:
Bill Everett - Plot
Steve Gerber - Script
Sam Kweskin - Layouts
Bill Everett - Finished Art
Review/plot:
The Atlanteans recently killed a bunch of amphibious aliens by accident, thinking they were part of an attack by Attuma. Namor blames himself for not being around when it happened, because we all know the Atlanteans are useless without him (I'm amazed they were actually able to kill something).
Well it turns out that there is one survivor. A female named Tamara.
She arrives in Atlantis with thoughts of revenge. She's surprised to learn how sincerely sorry everyone is about the terrible mistake they made, but she decides to go forward with her revenge plan anyway, utilizing a creature called a Haab that seems to be a sub-species of her people that she can control.
Namor stops her, but decides to forgive her and she's invited to live with the Atlanteans.
Tamara will hang around in the background for about five years before being completely forgotten until the 90s when she's briefly brought back in the later issues of the Namor series.
Everett's finished art over Kweskin's pencils - an arrangement due to deadline problems - is actually pretty good. Not Marvel House style at all, but the fact that it's distinctive is a point in its favor.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 3 - first Tamara Rahn
Chronological Placement Considerations: On page two of this issue, Namor says it's been "weeks spent swimming aimlessly" since he was last in Atlantis. That creates a good gap to place Namor's Defenders appearances from Marvel Feature #2 to Defenders #6.
References:
- The Atlanteans accidentally killed all of Tamara's people in Sub-Mariner #56.
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
The title is a reference to the Paul McCartney song "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey".
Sam Kweskin did a lot of stories for Marvel/Atlas in the 1950s, but disappeared afterwards. He didn't stay at Marvel long this time either.
Tamara is a background character who hung around and you had no idea what plans any writer had for her. I can only think "Namor love interest" was in someones plans at some point.
I think she was a love interest back then--it just wasn't a relationship that got fleshed out very much. But there are references sprinkled in here and there about love between them, etc.
Its probably just as well for Tamara's sake that they didn't develop the relationship in greater depth on-panel...she likely would have wound up facing the same fate as Dorma and Marrina.
