Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1974-09-01 00:08:30 |
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Sub-Mariner #72
Issue(s): Sub-Mariner #72
Cover Date: Sep 74
Title: "From the void it came..."
Credits:
Steve Skeates - Writer
Dan Adkins - Penciler
Vincent Colletta - Inker
Review/plot:
This final issue of the Sub-Mariner's series is actually an unofficial crossover with Aquaman #56, the last issue of that series, four years earlier. I haven't read that issue, but here is a good recap.
An alien protoplasm lands on a satellite orbiting Earth.
The satellite is then destroyed (by Aquaman)...
...sending the alien down into the ocean...
...where it builds a body for itself from remnants of the satellite as well as the ocean muck. The body looks a little like the Creature that Devoured Detroit from the Aquaman story, although it is much closer to human size. Note that it takes two years or so for the creature to build its body, bridging the gap from the end of the Aquaman story.
Meanwhile, Namor is moping about, and a random guy named Bruce decides to try to beat him up.
The fact that Bruce is able to deliver a flying roundhouse kick to Namor is a bit odd; one of the commenters on the site i linked to suggested that Bruce looks a bit like Aquaman, but i don't think that's what's going on here. The Hitler quote is also odd.
Namor responds with naked aggression, badly injuring Bruce. Namor soon gets into a (deliberately) pointless fight with the alien...
...and it responds by blinding him (lack of sight is also a theme in the Aquaman story).
The alien then leaves its body, cures Bruce, and then returns to space...
...restoring Namor's sight after he realizes he overreacted in attacking the alien.
When Bruce's buddy is taking him home, he delivers one of the strangest lines i've ever read in a comic book, "Let's go back to my pad and have a few drinks. I just bought a new professional wrestling magazine."
A decidedly non-Marvel House style from Dan Adkins...
...and a Strange Tale-ish type of story, although a little heavy handed in message and more than a little weird. And that's how Namor's series ends, although it won't be long before he's the co-star of Super-Villain Team-Up.
The lettercol for this issue says that they felt like quality-wise, the book was turning around, and that most people writing in were agreeing, but there weren't enough people left reading the book for it to have made a difference.
Quality Rating: C
Historical Significance Rating: 2 - unofficial crossover with Aquaman
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
| Previous: Legion of Monsters #1 (Frankenstein) | Up: Main 1974 / Box 9 / EiC: Roy Thomas | Next: Strange Tales #174 |
Comments
Somebody needs to try to explain that "Pro-wrestling magazine" remark.
Any takers?
Skeates said much later that those two guys were supposed to be a gay couple. If you see enough episodes of Monty Python, you will learn that early 1970s gay guys use muscle/wrestling magazines as porn.
Skeates also said that this story got published a year after he wrote it, which would fit the timeline since Aquaman's end in 1971(and the glove should be green).
