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Marvel Masterworks #81
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 2
Get ready for more and more unusual, exciting, different and terrific adventures on land, in air and on sea! Tales of action, mystery and thrills with death and danger on every page. Marvel proudly presents more Golden Age goodness, collecting issues #5-8 of SUB-MARINER COMICS from 1942. Sub-Mariner faces off against “Piracy at the Ocean’s Bottom." “Smashes an Uprising at Manilla,"and “Fights the Periscope Peril” in more wartime action while the Angel tackles a “Genius for Murder” and “The Firing Squad!” Plus, “Pop’s Whoppers” and “Tubby and Tack.” This hardcover collection remasters and restores these early adventures, some reprinted for the very first time!
268 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2007
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63 people want to read
About the author
Bill Everett
389 books11 followersWilliam Blake Everett, aka Bill Everett, was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was a descendant of the poet William Blake and of Richard Everett, founder of Dedham, Massachusetts.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 5, 2018
This book collects Issues 5-8 of the Golden Age Sub-Mariner series. It includes eight full-length Sub-Mariner stories, four Angel stories, as well as humor strips and back-up features.
The Sub-Mariner stories are not as good as in previous volumes. Creator Bill Everett left the strip to go fight in the war and other artists took over including some who didn't get how the Submariner worked. (One actually wrote that the Submariner had to go on land when it started raining.) There are plenty of Sub-Mariner wartime adventures, fought mostly against Japan in this volume with some good action sequences. He also got into more traditional comic book territory as he fought underwater Zombie pirates. The stories in this collection are not great, but I would say are above average for Golden Age material still, though being World War II, there are a couple of cringy moments.
The Angel reallys hines as he takes on some really bizarre and creepy foes. His one war-related tale has his against a villain who uses people's dreams to get them to commit murder. He also faces another foe who uses skeletons to commit murder, as well as a frustrated writer who turns to murder so he can write about it realistically.
The humor features are mixed. The Pop's Whoppers feature in the first three issues is about a cop who tells lies to impress people. It's a bit repetitive. The Tubby and Tack story in the final issue is really a cute little kids comic strip that was fun to read.
The two page text stories are above average. Two of them are good suspense tales by future Mike Hammer writter Mickey Spillane. In addition, the book features an introduction by the great Roy Thomas, which is always a highlight.
Overall, this is still a good read if you're a fan of the Sub-mariner or Golden Age comics in general.
The Sub-Mariner stories are not as good as in previous volumes. Creator Bill Everett left the strip to go fight in the war and other artists took over including some who didn't get how the Submariner worked. (One actually wrote that the Submariner had to go on land when it started raining.) There are plenty of Sub-Mariner wartime adventures, fought mostly against Japan in this volume with some good action sequences. He also got into more traditional comic book territory as he fought underwater Zombie pirates. The stories in this collection are not great, but I would say are above average for Golden Age material still, though being World War II, there are a couple of cringy moments.
The Angel reallys hines as he takes on some really bizarre and creepy foes. His one war-related tale has his against a villain who uses people's dreams to get them to commit murder. He also faces another foe who uses skeletons to commit murder, as well as a frustrated writer who turns to murder so he can write about it realistically.
The humor features are mixed. The Pop's Whoppers feature in the first three issues is about a cop who tells lies to impress people. It's a bit repetitive. The Tubby and Tack story in the final issue is really a cute little kids comic strip that was fun to read.
The two page text stories are above average. Two of them are good suspense tales by future Mike Hammer writter Mickey Spillane. In addition, the book features an introduction by the great Roy Thomas, which is always a highlight.
Overall, this is still a good read if you're a fan of the Sub-mariner or Golden Age comics in general.
December 25, 2020
The 1940's did NOT mollycoddle their kids. Prince Namor, the the Sub Mariner, is heavily involved in the war, mainly the Pacific theater. (Oh yeah, and don't expect any political correctness.) He gleefully slaughters the enemy troops, through incineration, deliberate drowning, and mass suicide just to name a few. We the readers just barely miss seeing him push a man into a wood chipper. So violent, yet highly entertaining. There is never a dull moment as Sub Mariner goes from one action scene to another. No time to catch your breath.
April 30, 2025
Good times with Namor fighting Nazis and monsters.
May 17, 2025
namor goes from hating america to suddenly being the most patriotic atlantean because... buy war bonds!
January 21, 2016
Good collection of the rare early Golden Age Sub-Mariner stories. It's interesting to read the comics produced during the early war years to see how society viewed things. Recommended
April 24, 2018
Sub-mariner stories in this volume are mostly dull, boring and the art is really bad. The Angel stories are more on par with other Atlas titles and was the only enjoyable thing about this volume. Glad I paid 89 cents for it. If you want to read Golden Age comics, don't start here.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews