The Sub-Mariner

This cool 60's-style cartoon based on Bill Everett's anti-hero Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner is among my favorites. The animation is limited, but the stories & characterization are Marvelous (pun intended) to view. Namor is ruler of Atlantis but is not without human weaknesses such as arrogance. In the typical Marvel Comics fashion, Namor goes through adventures which are larger than life, but all have lessons that apply to us as regular ole humans. I recommend that if you are viewing this for the first time that you should look at the cartoon as a moving comic book rather than typical animation. You may be disappointed if you are expecting much in the animation department. However the sound effects, voices, narration, still art, backgrounds, scripts, & fun value are off the charts! Oh how I long for a release of the complete set of Marvel Super Heroes on DVD. The opening song is also classic for those who grew up with it.

Namor, a Royal Prince of Atlantis, yet a half-cast Man; having one foot in the surface World and the other set in the unseen Undersea realm of legend, has proved to be one of the most perplexing of the Great Comic Book Heroes. He is a sort of Jekyll & Hyde character; sometimes kindly, benevolent and helpful toward the surface land-lubber civilizations; other times being hateful, vindictive and downright dangerous toward the air-breathers.

Much better known for years under the name of The Sub-Mariner; the Royal Antlantian is among the oldest of the Comic Book Super Heroes. With a couple of "cease publications" in his On-News Stand History, he has proved himself to have great "Box Office" appeal and staying power in the Comics Magazine Business. Following his triumphant return to the 4 Color Main Stage in Fantastic Four # 4, Sub-Mariner has been a constant source of Comics' Acton; first as a traveling guest-star & bad boy, and then as the Star of his own feature; ultimately leading to his own Comic Mag.* As for his own Genesis, the Good Prince was created in early 1939 by Artist & Writer, Bill Everett. The Sub-Mariner feature was intended to be a part of a Give-away Premium Comic Book. It was designed for distribution via the Country's Movie Houses in a prototypical and tentatively named failed title of "Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly".

With the failure of "Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly" to get successfully off of the Launch Pad, the company, Funnies, Inc., a contractor sent Bill Everett, Prince Namor and the rights to the Sub-Mariner feature to Timely Publications; all for Ca$h Con$ideration$.

So The Sub-Mariner went to Timely (later changed name to Atlas and ultimately to our more familiar moniker of Marvel). There he made his debut, along with Carl Burgos' The Human Torch, in Marvel Comics # 1, dated October, 1939. With Batman having bowed in Detective Comics # 27, dated May, 1939 five months earlier; that makes our Prince Namor about 5 months younger, hence the 4th oldest major Super-Hero Character around; behind Superman, Captain Marvel and Batman.** As previously stated above; after an absence of some 10 years or so, the Marvel Comics creative team of Stan Lee & Jack Kirby brought The Sub-Mariner back to the comics pages. Mr. Lee used that tongue-in-cheek humorous approach that had become identified with the Marvel method; but is missing in all but the opening and closing songs of the Marvel Show.*** And that would be that in Fantastic Four # 4, dated May, 1962, the Super Foursome found Sub-Mariner in a Bowery dive, living as Tramp/Vagrant/Bum/Poor, Unfortunate Homeless Person! The Human Torch/Johnny Storm correctly reasoned that returning him to the Atlantic Ocean would restore his memory.

Official'S TECHNICAL TIME OUT! As far as Sub-Mariner goes, there is a widespread sort of collective propensity to pronounce Sub-Mariner as suhb-mare-een-er, instead of the proper suhb-mare-in-er. Whereas the former may be an appropriate term for the brave men and women of our United States Navy's "Silent Service" or those serving on Submarines; the Creator, Mr. Bill Everett and the Publisher, Timely/Atlas/Marvel has always maintained that the latter was the proper pronunciation.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN AND CHILDREN OF ALL AGES, NOW FOR THE MAIN EVENT OF THE EVENING, we present the Sub-Mariner made-for-TV Cartoons! Someone once said that Chester Gould's DICK TRACY was the "best plotted and worst drawn adventure Comic Strip in the Newspapers!" So too, all of the components of the "MARVEL SUPER HEROES" TV Show (Famous Studios/Grantray-Lawrence/Marvel, 1966) have a somewhat similar such of a distinction. "THE SUB-MARINER" had perhaps as beautiful artwork as any; yet displayed "Clutch Cargo-like" animation as its accompaniment.

Given that its animation is not on par with any FANTASIA or the likes, the production crew compensated by making use of great incidental music & sound effects and with the talents of fine voice actors. John Vernon brought his rich tones to the show as Prince Namor, himself! As for the stories used in the series, they were direct and nearly flawless transference from printed page to celluloid comic book. They were that close and with original artwork done by the likes of Mr. Everett and Gene Colan, were no more than 2-3 years of age. They were quite contemporary.

"THE SUB-MARINER", as well as the 4 other series within the umbrella series of "THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES" is unique, memorable and high quality that holds up very well today; and would do well to be in one's video library, filed under "S" for , well, you know! Oh, yeah and by the way; does anyone out there realize that "Namor" is "Roman" spelled backwards! So does this make "Old Fish Head" Polish or Italian? NOTE: * As Jules Pfeiffer stated in his breakthrough book, THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES (1965), "With the U.S. entering the War, Sub-Mariner went from hating all humans to hating Nazis, Imperial Japanese and Fascist Italians." NOTE: ** We can only determine which character is older by the date of his first appearance & publication. Though a Feature may be around and completed, but lacking a publisher for several years even, we must consider that as part of the gestation period.

NOTE: *** Whereas the Marvel prided itself in its "Don't Take Ourselves Too Seriously" tongue-in-cheek humor, the episodes of "THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES" seemed to be given a dead serious treatment; certainly a far cry from ABC's "BATMAN" (Greenway Productions/20th Century-Fox, 1966-68) with its "Camp" approach.

Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner is a fantastic character within the Marvel universe and this series was brilliant.

Like other 60's Marvel cartoons the animation was rather simplistic but the stories were always entertaining.

Namor was an interesting character. He could probably be best described as an anti-hero. In the comic book, he originally hated the human race for their mistreatment of Earth's oceans; this brought him into conflict with the likes of the Hulk, Fantastic Four and the Avengers. Eventually, he mellowed and became a trusted hero by the other heroes.

This cartoon was great. As I said, Namor was a fantastic character and he had some great adventures in this classic Marvel cartoon.

The storylines and artwork for this cartoon were taken straight from the Marvel classics, "Sub-Mariner" and "Tales to Astonish" comics.

The animation is sparse like in the other 1966 Marvel Superheroes cartoons. The story is what shines in these 1966 Marvel cartoons and Sub-mariner is no different. Most of the early Sub-mariner comics dealt with his hatred of surface dwellers caused by their mistreatment of the oceans. It has a catchy classic theme song like all the other Marvel Superheroes cartoons. Sub-mariner and countless other Marvel heroes are long overdue to get a new cartoon series. Maybe one day that will happen if Marvel will look past the X-men, Spiderman, or the Hulk. I know Spiderman is popular but how many Spiderman cartoons can one make and not be repetitive. Submariner has plenty of potential and would be at least unique. Anyway Submariner is worth checking out.

I wish there were clear copies of Sub-Mariner, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man Series