This story is a reintroduction to the character. His solo book ran for over 70 issues and was never very good, but they keep wanting him to be big. DC’s Aquaman had similar problems, so I’m not sure why Marvel thought this would work out better.
It’s a done-in-one that has absolutely no surprises at all.
The Sub-Mariner is a character whose potential is simply off the scale. He is the world’s very first superhero, unless you consider the appearances of Hercules and Thor in classic Greek and North mythology. Namor’s publishing history can be traced all the way back to 1936, with Marvel’s ( then known as “Timely Publications” ) “Motion Picture Funnies Weekly” #1, a one-shot that was intended to showcase some of Timely’s upcoming projects, including a brand-new character created by a young cartoonist named Bill Everett- Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, a rather inspired and very sophisticated “funnybook” character, especially for his time. Throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s, the Sub-Mariner was actually one of the company’s superstars, but his popularity fizzled out by the end of the Happy Days, and, strangely, he never recovered it. Several years later, Lee and Kirby dusted him off as a very interesting regular adversary for the Fantastic Four in 1962, establishing his status as an anti-hero who could be either a friend or an enemy of Mankind, depending on the needs of his undersea kingdom of Atlantis. In World War II, it was in the best interests of all the good peoples of the world for the Axis to be defeated, so Atlantis joins the Allied effort. When the surface peoples accidentally bomb Atlantis, it seems like a good idea for Atlantis to wage war on Mankind. At least that’s how Namor saw it. So, Namor spends the Sixties grappling with the world in general and the FF in particular, until Marvel awards him with a new solo series that lasts until 1974. What killed the series was Marvel’s inattentiveness to the series, saddling it with lackluster writers and artists. In 1973, Marvel was paying more attention to it’s new magazine line, ( “The Savage Sword of Conan”, “Dracula Lives”, “Vampire Tales”, etc. ) resulting in their backbone product line going into neglect. “The Sub-Mariner” was a casualty of this time of neglect. If Marvel had paid as much attention to their “Sub-Mariner” series as they were paying to their long-defunct magazine line, it would still be in publication. In desperation, Marvel tries a last-ditch “new direction” for the series involving the destruction of Atlantis, a new quest to save the kingdom, and last but certainly not least, a totally awesome and radical new costume for Namor to wear, with a great reason for him to have to wear it. I believe the “new direction” was a great idea, but unfortunately, Marvel was a day late and a dollar short with it. It only lasted six issues. This particular issue of “Marvel Spotlight”, notable more for it’s overview of the character’s checkered history than for the main conflict, ( “The Symbionic Man” ) was apparently commissioned in 1975, shortly before the decision was made to retire the awesome costume in an effort to resuscitate the floundering “Super-Villain Team-Up” series. ( ?!?!?!?!-?? ) I personally believe that if the status quo initiated in ‘Sub-Mariner’#67 had been allowed to remain in effect to this day, the character- and saga- of the Sub-Mariner would still be very much of a going concern on the Marvel scene, which is certainly not the case today. Since the costume was built ( yes, BUILT by Mr. Fantastic- it was actually an extremely super-sophisticated apparatus designed to keep Namor alive, following the tragic events of the aforementioned ‘Sub-Mariner’#67) by Mr. Fantastic, then the routine maintenance that the suit would occasionally require would provide Namor with a reason to stick close to the FF, which would only boost his series’ sales!!! But, nooooooooooooooo!!!! Can’t have that!!! Whatever the purpose of Marvel Spotlight#27’s “Death is the Symbionic Man!!” was supposed to be, it ultimately failed, because only a little over two years later, Namor has been completely written out of his contemporary series, ( he was still appearing in “The Invaders”, a World War II period-piece ) “Super-Villain Team-Up”, a decision which only hastened the demise of that struggling series, his costume was gone, ( abandoned, appropriately enough, in the Baxter Building ) and the Atlanteans were all back from the dead! The result: Namor was back where he was, just five years earlier, in 1973- nowhere!!! One appearance in ‘Marvel Two-In-One’ ( issue #28 ) and a few appearances with the Defenders in time for their centennial issue, a disjointed tour of duty with the Avengers in the mid-Eighties, ( during Roger Stern’s celebrated run ) a BRIEF moment of glory when John Byrne takes a crack at the character in 1990, after which the same fate befalls the new series as the old one, and for the same reason- creative neglect- and that’s it!!! Thirty-two years later, and Prince Namor, the Savage Sub-Mariner- Marvel’s flagship character- continues to languish!!! Maybe, hopefully, some day, Marvel will awaken to the understanding of just exactly what it has- and has always had- with the Sub-Mariner- and get some John Byrne-level talent back on the character, hopefully resulting in returning him to the forefront of the Marvel Comics Pantheon!! The potential is definitely there!! Somebody work on it, already, before I DIE!!!! Thank you for the privilege of your time!!!!!