Sub-Mariner 1962-65

PRINCE NAMOR, THE SUB-MARINER was the creation of Bill Everett, and had debuted in 1939. At one point he appeared in 5 books regularly at the same time! Though his series ended in 1952, he returned in 1962, and after 14 appearances in a variety of books, was finally awarded his own series again.

When Jack Kirby's FANTASTIC FOUR debuted in 1961, part of its line-up was a new version of The Human Torch, the character who originally bumped Namor from the cover slot of MARVEL COMICS #1.  It probably seemed a natural step to then bring back another Timely hero.  So it was that Namor returned in FF #4, where it was revealed he'd suffered amnesia, as a way of explaining his disappearance.  But on regaining his memory, he discovered his undersea kingdom had been destroyed, and naturally blamed the entire surface world.  In effect, Kirby returned Namor to the way he'd been when Everett first introduced him in 1939-- a violent hothead out to bring down mankind.  But as had happened before, he fell in love with a surface woman-- in this case, Sue Storm, which set up a love triangle between Sue, Namor & Reed Richards ("Mr. Fantastic", a variation on Jack Cole's Plastic Man) that would not be resolved for some time.

FANTASTIC FOUR 4  /  art by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky   (May 1962)

FANTASTIC FOUR 6  /  art by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers   (September 1962)

FANTASTIC FOUR 9  /  art by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers   (December 1962)  

FANTASTIC FOUR 14  /
art by Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko   (May 1963)

STRANGE TALES 107  / 
art by Jack Kirby & Sol Brodsky   (April 1963)

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 1  /
art by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers   [September 1963]

FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL 1  /
art by Jack Kirby & Dick Ayers   [September 1963]
Fantasy version by Henry Kujawa

THE AVENGERS 3  /  art by Jack Kirby & ??   (January 1964)   (Coming soon!)
THE AVENGERS 4  /  art by Jack Kirby & ??   (March 1964)   (Coming soon!)
FANTASTIC FOUR 27  /  art by Jack Kirby & ??   (June 1964)   (Coming soon!)
X-MEN 6  /  art by Jack Kirby & ??   (July 1964)   (Coming soon!)
STRANGE TALES 125  /
art by Jack Kirby & ??   (October 1964)   (Coming soon!)
FANTASTIC FOUR 33  /  art by Jack Kirby & Chic Stone   (December 1964)   (Coming soon!)
THE AVENGERS 16  /  art by Jack Kirby & ??   (May 1965)   (Coming soon!)

Perhaps the most "obvious" story was to pit 2 of Bill Everett's creations against each other.  Then-current DAREDEVIL writer & artist Wally Wood redesigned DD's costume, giving him the "classic" version that would remain virtually unchanged for the rest of his career!  Below is surely one of Wood's MASTERPIECES.

DAREDEVIL 7  /  art by WALLY WOOD   (April 1965)

(Continued in TALES TO ASTONISH, Part 5)

More as I go!

Artwork (C) Marvel Comics

Raw scans supplied by Barry Pearl
Raw scan of FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #1 from the Heritage Auctions site
Raw scan of DAREDEVIL #7 from Boards Collectors Society website 

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa