Apostle Of The Aged!

With both Daredevil and Sub-Mariner hitting the spinner racks in November of 1971--the month that Marvel briefly increased both the size and pricing of a number of their issues before shifting them all back to a regular-sized format the following month--you might think that artist Gene Colan, who pencilled both titles, would be a little frazzled at having to gear up and turn in nearly twice the page count of work for each of those issues that month. Fortunately, Colan caught a break, with the Daredevil story amounting to just nineteen pages while the rest of the issue was supplemented with a Thing/Human Torch reprint from a Strange Tales story from mid-1965--which left Colan free to focus on the additional fourteen pages for Sub-Mariner, his first story in Namor's solo series to begin what would be a seven-issue run.

Yet with the character of Namor floundering a bit following the departure of writer Roy Thomas from the book, it was hard to imagine a 34-page story would amount to much, even with Colan's return to a character he was by this time well familiar with. Thus far, the only direction for Namor was that which Thomas had set him on at the closing of his final scripted issue of Sub-Mariner--his search for his human father, though already sidetracked by tepid encounters with a mutant named Turalla (wrapping up a two-part crossover begun in Daredevil) followed by a rather bizarre mortal foe by the name of, I kid you not, "Aunt Serr," a threat which somehow rated a two-part tale. But while "Mindquake!" virtually spins its wheels and does fairly little except to tie up a loose end from the Turalla story, it nevertheless continues showing us a Sub-Mariner who no longer is buffered by his Atlantean subjects and saddled with a responsibility for his former kingdom's safety and future. Arguably, that may be its only selling point--aside from the issue's extra 14 pages, for which the reader has been assured by the announcement of this new format is quite a bargain.

To get the ball rolling on this issue's villain--Tuval, the "Mind-Master"--Namor is drawn to a lighthouse whose keeper he'll discover has been enthralled by Tuval. But Namor's wrath is for those who have harshly dealt with the keeper in order to carry out their secretive task of dumping radioactive waste into the ocean. You can likely guess Namor's feelings on that subject, and, from there, his response.

The best efforts of the ship's crew come to naught against the Sub-Mariner, who goes on to send their ship to the sea bottom. But when he returns to see to the keeper, he's greeted with a mystery which evokes little more than a shoulder shrug from him--which, if I'm being honest, had the effect of drawing forth a similar response from myself. After all, if the principal character of the issue you're reading has no interest in this development, why should you?

There is also, of course, Namor's continued vendetta with Llyra, the former queen and despot of Lemuria who was responsible for the death of his bride, Dorma. Fortunately, that story will be picked up again in due course, when Llyra forms an alliance with Tiger Shark in order to settle her own vendetta with Namor*--for now, however, the story only touches base with one which waits in the wings.

*You would think that tracking down Llyra would be Namor's #1 priority--a story which promises to be much more interesting and would have better maintained the book's momentum than bogging down Namor in a quest for his father. Perhaps Namor's reckoning with Llyra is the story which should have filled this issue's 34 pages--Tuval could have waited, no?

Meanwhile, Tuval is making his move--consumed with revenge for being unable to return to the city of the Black Sea, and drawing together a group of the socially disenfranchised in order to fuel both his power and his rejuvenation.

For Namor, there is an interlude of sorts. as his search leads him to Boston where he pauses to take in a park concert attended by a crowd of young people--youths who mirror his own alienation, their music a pleasant change that diverts his mind from the near-consuming hatred he's felt since leaving Atlantis. Unfortunately, these youths are precisely the people that Tuval and his followers blame for their situation--people who must now be made an example of.

Despite his apparent immunity to Tuval's method of attack, which for the most part inflicts the ravages of age on his victims (thus giving them a taste of the pain and rejection that Tuval and his followers experience on a daily basis), Namor is hard-pressed to battle his power--until, that is, he decides to deal with its source, which turns out to be close at hand. (Or, in this case, hands.)

The fact that Namor's father is revealed to be unknowingly within reach should appeal to any viewer of The Fugitive, the 1963-67 television series which at times saw the principal character of Dr. Richard Kimble come tantalizingly within proximity of the one-armed murderer of his wife whom he pursued in order to clear his own name as a suspect. And, like Kimble, Namor is also left at loose ends, as his search continues--not only for his father, but for a connection to humanity which seems more and more unlikely.

NEXT:

The PPC continues its roundup of the final three large-format issues from November of '71,

as we take a look at Mr. Colan's Daredevil story!

(Where that extra dime only buys you reprinted material.  Gyp!  Gyp!)

Sub-Mariner #43 Script: Gerry Conway Pencils: Gene Colan Inks: Mike Esposito Letterer: John Costanza (as Jon Costa)