Issue(s): Young Men Comics #25 (Sub-Mariner story only)
Cover Date: Feb 54
Title: "Sub-Mariner"
Credits:
Bill Everett - Writer
Bill Everett - Penciler
Bill Everett - Inker

Review/plot:
This was reprinted in Giant-Size Defenders #2 and with it was a note that pointed out that this time for whatever reason the Sub-Mariner didn't have his ankle wings:

Off-Beat Epic Time! Here's a tale of Prince Namor, sometime Defender, from the fabulous 1950's, when he was a wise-cracking youth with considerably less super strength -- and minus those nutty wings on his feet!

Enjoy, nostalgia buff!

And in fact Namor swims around in boots for part of this issue.

The story is indeed offbeat, featuring what i can only describe as alien weresharks.

I love that Namor is already so jaded by 1954 that when he hears about aliens he just yawns and asks if they're going to try to take over the world too.

Namor is friends with the authorities at this point in his career...

...so to defeat the alien weresharks he arranges for a mass slaughter, beaching "thousands and thousands" of Great White sharks.

Since the aliens were really just mentally projecting themselves into actual sharks, it's no wonder that Great Whites are now endangered species. It's left open whether the aliens actually died or transferred their minds back to their home planets.

One final thing to note is "ex-policewoman, ex-newspaper reporter Betty Dean", lounging around the house with Namor in her bathing suit? Underwear? Definitely one of the few times Namor is wearing more clothes than the people around him.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Giant-Size Defenders #2