Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner, Vol. 3

Marvel Masterworks #128

by Carl Pfeufer, Gustav Schrotter, Al Gabriele

Collects Sub-Mariner Comics #9-12.

From the heart of comics' Golden Age, come the adventures of the original anti-hero-Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner! A brash, proud and quick-tempered figure who bowed before the authority of no man, when the pall of fascism covered the world the Sub-Mariner responded with an unchained fury. Tearing down the Axis powers one battleship at a time, he embodied the fantasy of an America confronted by enemies on two fronts and with ample motivation to smash them both! Backed by the super-hero adventures of The Angel and comedy short-features by the likes of comic genius, Basil Wolverton, you'll find no other Golden Age hero with the wild, powerful and truly anarchic energy of the Sub-Mariner.

Genres: Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels

240 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Carl Waluconis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The issues reprinted here were after Bill Everett's departure from his creation. It is still classified as Golden Age, but by 1943 the books had lost some of the wild dynamism and creative energy of the early Golden Age comics. Still you have nice reprints of comics that would damage most bank accounts to purchase. Carl Pfeuffer did most of the Sub-Mariner stories here. Pfeuffer's work features highly stylized drawings of Namor with almost grotesquely large shoulders and a pointy triangle face. Some of the early stories look like they have some Everett drawings patched in. The covers and splash pages depict Sub-Mariner as a giant. None of the stories do. Every issue has a back-up story with the original Angel. No relation to the later winged X-man, this Angel's logo on his chest is a air of wings. He is more like kind of another Batman, a non-powered adventurer with no special super powers. However he's not above picking up a machine gun as he tells German sailors , "Surrender Fools or be annihilated." He wears no mask at all, so has no secret identity to worry about. His only power seems to be that when he throws a shadow, it is in the form of an angel with wings - well, maybe not the most useful power. but at least original. The stories for both characters are raucous and "campy". The smash-bang action covers by Alex Schomberg are his usual great portrayals of complicated and often depraved violence, with over 20 different characters or a monster, in other words - total delights

[L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

In today's dangerous age of cancel culture, I fear these World War II era comics will be tossed onto a bonfire when they really should be studied. No, Sub-Mariner isn't politically correct. Far from it! Namor and his oddly-shaped head fight the Axis powers, mainly the Japanese. He calls them all sorts of racists names, proves how the American concentration camps were a good thing, and portrays the Japanese as having claw-like nails and buck teeth. But this is war propaganda. This is how the Americans thought and felt about the enemy. We can look back and see how wrong they were but at the time they believed they were in the right.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. The usual action plot you'd expect, but I mainly read these for the history and the artwork because the script is pretty much nonexistent and repetitive at best.

[Adam Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collects Issues 9-12 of Sub-mariner as we get into the thick of the War. Sub-mariner creator Bill Everett is long-gone from the book, so this book is a bit below the standards of the first two volumes.

Still, this book does have some interesting war stories including some centered around the neutrality of Ireland, which isn't typically covered in comics. The art is passable and Namor delivers some great two-fisted war action.

Each issue of the Sub-mariner includes an Angel story and the first three were pretty good including two non-War crime stories. The last one was kind of weak

Overall, this is okay, but not nearly as good as the first couple volumes.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this has a steep decline in quality from the earlier Bill Everett written and drawn issues. Everett was away serving Uncle Sam during the time that these issues were made. The stories starring the series back-up feature, The Angel (by Gustav Schrotter) are a better read than the Sub-Mariner during this era. In "The Battle of Kwangto" (Sub-Mariner #12), Namor deals with a Captain Stark at Naval Headquarters. Now, I'm going to go all Roy Thomas and retroactively insert him into continuity as a relative of Tony Stark (Iron Man). It doesn't fly in the face of Marvel continuity (1961-on) and therefore, by his definition, BECOMES a part of the continuity. Retroactively, of course.

Sub-Mariner's primary enemy during this time are the Japanese, and he refers to them in any number of unfavorable ways. This WAS wartime, and they WERE the enemy. I look forward to future volumes, as I know that Everett returns down the road. His '50s Sub-Mariner ranks among some of the finest comic books of that decade; go check out the Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes volumes and see for yourself.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection of the Golden Age of comics Sub-Mariner issues. Recommended