Homo Mermanus? That can't be right
Right off the bat, let me spoil the big surprise of this sequence, because it's the only way I can comment on it. This is from FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL# 1, way back in 1963. Prince Namor has finally found his wandering race of Sub-Mariners and claimed his throne, next step is to declare war on the human race. Mr Fantastic requests a special general assembly of the United Nations to deal with the threat. And a scientist steps up to address all the crooks no-good rabble lying warmongers delegates. However, the venerable-looking marine biologist is none other than Namor himself. (What nerve!)
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Here we are at the UN. There was a famous incident in 1960 where Khruschev supposedly took off his shoe to bang his desk with it because he was mad over criticism of the Soviet Union. If you go by Silver Age comics or TV shows, this was a regular habit of his and Jack Kirby has immortalized the gesture. Next, Dr GW Falton is introduced. I assume the UN had a certain minimal security and background check before allowing someone at the podium. So was there a real Dr Falton that Namor is impersonating or what? Okay, "Homo Mermanus...?" What kind of screwed-up Latin is that? Namor's education obviously did not extend to the classics. My guess is the correct term might be Homo Marius or Homo Marinus. Are those gill slits on a skull? Aren't gills soft tissue that wouldn't fossilize? I love Kirby's idea of what an early whale would look like.
You notice that, unlike whales and dolphins, Homo Mermanus became actual water-breathing creatures. That's quite an evolutionary jump to occur in the short time since humans appeared. But then, this IS Marvel, where mutations include being able to shoot force beams from your eyes or turn your body into living ice, so maybe the appearance of gills is not too big a pill to swallow.
Bottom of the second page, what can I say except War Squid! What a great concept.
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Top of the next page, we see an early Sub-Mariner distillery producing underwater moonshine. I don't get how the land humans could suspect a race of aquatic people and create the Atlantis legend... and as we see in this story, Homo Mermanus themselves call their kingdom Atlantis. Something seems fishy. If I had to explain it, I'd suggest that (despite the caption) there was some brief contact between the two species and the name Atlantis was mentioned.
Now we get into the origin of Namor, first presented by Bill Everett in MARVEL COMICS# 1 in 1939. But it's told here by Namor and he shows his mother Princess Fen in a softened light. She bravely goes to investigate the surface people by herself. (Oh come on. When could a princess of an empire just come and go as she pleased, without guards or servants or chaperones?) And she and Leonard McKenzie fall in love over what seems to be quite an extended period. Weeks, at the very least, before the Emperor starts to worry about her absence. This doesn't speak well of his concern for his daughter. Notice how Namor describes himself as "noble, powerful, dedicated." Modest, no.
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Annnnd the war is on!
Now here, from MARVEL COMICS# 1 is Bill Everett's original version. The Sub-Mariners are much fishier looking than the 1960s version and Princess Fen is specifically chosen because she is "most nearly resembling the the female of the white race." That is, she looks more like Myrna Loy and less like a Red Snapper. And she's explicitly a spy, no doubt of it, reporting back secretly to the emperor even while starting to tumble for McKenzie. I like the way Everett shows everything as less than black & white. McKenzie was himself a good man, but his people were cruel; Princess Fen was a spy but she developed real feelings for the captain; and Namor himself was a classic mixed-up hero with his dual heritage and his strange moody behavior.
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Right off the bat, let me spoil the big surprise of this sequence, because it's the only way I can comment on it. This is from FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL# 1, way back in 1963. Prince Namor has finally found his wandering race of Sub-Mariners and claimed his throne, next step is to declare war on the human race. Mr Fantastic requests a special general assembly of the United Nations to deal with the threat. And a scientist steps up to address all the crooks no-good rabble lying warmongers delegates. However, the venerable-looking marine biologist is none other than Namor himself. (What nerve!)
Here we are at the UN. There was a famous incident in 1960 where Khruschev supposedly took off his shoe to bang his desk with it because he was mad over criticism of the Soviet Union. If you go by Silver Age comics or TV shows, this was a regular habit of his and Jack Kirby has immortalized the gesture. Next, Dr GW Falton is introduced. I assume the UN had a certain minimal security and background check before allowing someone at the podium. So was there a real Dr Falton that Namor is impersonating or what? Okay, "Homo Mermanus...?" What kind of screwed-up Latin is that? Namor's education obviously did not extend to the classics. My guess is the correct term might be Homo Marius or Homo Marinus. Are those gill slits on a skull? Aren't gills soft tissue that wouldn't fossilize? I love Kirby's idea of what an early whale would look like.
You notice that, unlike whales and dolphins, Homo Mermanus became actual water-breathing creatures. That's quite an evolutionary jump to occur in the short time since humans appeared. But then, this IS Marvel, where mutations include being able to shoot force beams from your eyes or turn your body into living ice, so maybe the appearance of gills is not too big a pill to swallow.
Bottom of the second page, what can I say except War Squid! What a great concept.
Collapse
Top of the next page, we see an early Sub-Mariner distillery producing underwater moonshine. I don't get how the land humans could suspect a race of aquatic people and create the Atlantis legend... and as we see in this story, Homo Mermanus themselves call their kingdom Atlantis. Something seems fishy. If I had to explain it, I'd suggest that (despite the caption) there was some brief contact between the two species and the name Atlantis was mentioned.
Now we get into the origin of Namor, first presented by Bill Everett in MARVEL COMICS# 1 in 1939. But it's told here by Namor and he shows his mother Princess Fen in a softened light. She bravely goes to investigate the surface people by herself. (Oh come on. When could a princess of an empire just come and go as she pleased, without guards or servants or chaperones?) And she and Leonard McKenzie fall in love over what seems to be quite an extended period. Weeks, at the very least, before the Emperor starts to worry about her absence. This doesn't speak well of his concern for his daughter. Notice how Namor describes himself as "noble, powerful, dedicated." Modest, no.
Annnnd the war is on!
Now here, from MARVEL COMICS# 1 is Bill Everett's original version. The Sub-Mariners are much fishier looking than the 1960s version and Princess Fen is specifically chosen because she is "most nearly resembling the the female of the white race." That is, she looks more like Myrna Loy and less like a Red Snapper. And she's explicitly a spy, no doubt of it, reporting back secretly to the emperor even while starting to tumble for McKenzie. I like the way Everett shows everything as less than black & white. McKenzie was himself a good man, but his people were cruel; Princess Fen was a spy but she developed real feelings for the captain; and Namor himself was a classic mixed-up hero with his dual heritage and his strange moody behavior.
statistics: Posted by doctorhermes428 — 8:51 PM - 1 day ago — Replies 1 — Views 231