Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Sub-Mariner-Al Gabriele-1949

A far cry from the "ahead of their time" Bill Everett Sub-Mariner tales that both preceded and followed it, this may well be the wackiest Subby tale of them all. First you have Namor's old enemy--never seen before to my knowledge--Dr. Dill, a bicycle riding, top hatted fellow who tries to trick our hero into drinking a doctored soft drink. Namor notes the ruse...but decided to drink anyway to see what happens! It makes him grow to gigantic proportions like in a Tex Avery cartoon. Sent back to see, he picks up a boat looking for a doctor. The boat just happens to have the villain on it and he just happens to have the antidote on him. Who wrote this stuff? Stan Lee? Mickey Spillane (who really was at Marvel at the time)? Artwise, Al Gabriele inadvertently makes it look like a Giant Man story from 15 years later. The dorky villain adds to that effect.





4 comments:

john said...

thanks for posting! that was fun...and funny! the villain could have been boris karloff. i like the way the artist draws namor...even in his giant stage. thanks again for posting this!

Tim Smyth said...

Of all the old Namor stories, this one looks like the one Kirby looked at when they revived the Sub Mariner in the Fantastic Four.

Unknown said...

Agree totally with the above! And about the artist. Subby had a real great history in his pre silver age career!

Doc Thompson said...

The Silver Age Prince Man of would have ripped this guy a new asshole,Todd his head off and shit down his neck.