The Sub-Mariner MEGA Post!

All images are (c)2018 Marvel Comics

Above: I have the A3 version of Steranko's History of Comics  and this as a full page is gorgeous.

Bill Everett was a giant in the world of the US Golden Age of comics. He was on the forefront of the superhero movement in comics and created the Sub-Mariner for Timely's Marvel Comics #1, which appeared in October, 1939, and the Sub-Mariner was a hit and became one of Timely's most popular characters. 

William Blake "Bill" Everett (18th May, 1917 – 27th February, 1973) was a rather "rebellious" young man (sound familiar?) who contracted tuberculosis and moved with his family to Arizona.  However, returning home there was a recurrence.  Everett developed a fondness for alcohol and as is written elsewhere: "began the path to teenage alcoholism. His father enrolling him in art school was a very good idea  because it led to Everett working at Funnies, Inc.  where he created the Sub-Mariner for an aborted project, Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1.  This was a planned promotional comic to be given away in movie theaters, however, when all that changed, Everett used his character instead for Funnies, Inc.'s first client, a pulp magazine publisher by the name of  Martin Goodman.

Everett's original eight-page story was expanded to 12 pages for Marvel Comics #1 which was the first publication of what Goodman would eventually call Timely Comics -the 1940s precursor of Marvel Comics. Everett's anti-hero proved a sudden success as did Burgos' Human Torch and Simon & Kirby's Captain America.  Every other company had to raise the bar...or copy without getting sued.

Namor's (Namor in Atlantean meaning "Avenging Son") mother and her story has changed a few times in details but she was no innocent as these pages show...she was a true Mata Hari!

 

Above: unpublished prelim cover for Marvel Comics #2, circa mid-1939. Note how Subby has reddish hair -this was seen in the original strip also but vanished quickly -Namor's mother hair is red but I can't imagine the Sub-Mariner as a red-head though it might look cool.

Below: the original art to Sub-Mariner water colour for fanzine editor Martin Green, August, 1968.

If you want to learn more about the life and work of Everett then I very strongly recommend you get a copy of Blake Bell's book -Fire And Water, from Fantagraphic Books. In case you are wondering where the title came from...


Yes, that was 1940 and when you had the two titans of Timely squaring up in a cross-over it was a big deal.  Fantasy Masterpieces was where I discovered the Golden Age Captain America, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner stories and I had no problem paying the 9d or 1/- for a bulky book in full colour. I still have a complete set of these books in good condition.

The 1940 cross-over fight I guessed that I would never see...how wrong I was when I walked up to the Stokes Croft newsagents expecting to buy some Plastacine.  No, I did not find this......

I found this!  Took about an hour for the shop-keeper to revive me but I survived and...sigh...I can never explain the sensation of finding and reading this.  Pure magic.





To people at Marvel these reprints may have just been a way to make more money from old inventory but it was gold to us fans.  How else was a working class kid in the UK going to read the legendary battle or the other Sub-Mariner strips?  And in the 1940s there was no Invaders team, that didn't come about until Roy thomas and the 1970s.  No, there was the All Winners Squad featuring....


Oh yeeah! Captain America and Bucky, the Human Torch and Toro (who in another AWS story helped the Sub-Mariner when everyone else doubted him: the mysterious villain used the name "Roman" which...was Namor spelt backwards!!!), the Whizzer and Miss America.  

But you see, back when I was a youngster it was a bit rare to find American monthly comics in the UK. Most arrived over here as ballast on ships -into the 1980s in fact- and much of this ballast was dumped overboard.  It is why Alan Class cornered the UK black and white reprint market.  I had seen a few Golden Age reprints in comics that had turned up in the local newsagents in Stokes Croft or my regular comic hunting shop -Jarman's in Mina Road, St. Werburgh's.  None of this comic book history was known to me.  I don't think that as kids we even realised someone had drawn this stuff!  The name Bill Everett would have meant nothing to me.

In 1967 we saw the weekly b&W reprint comics Fantastic and Terrific appear. It was in this that I saw the troubles, battles and quest of Prince Namor -the Sub-Mariner (I actually owned the Fantastic Four comic in which Johnny Storm found the amnesiac Namor in a flea-pit hovel).  But the adventures in Terrific hooked me and this “Adam Austin” was a great artist. Of course, I got confused because later Gene Colan drew in the exact same style and I only found out when I got older that during the 1960s many artists were in the habit of using pseudonyms in order to not alienate DC editors and continue freelancing for other companies.

Time for some art?

And let's not forget the back cover Power House Pin-Up!

Now back then I had no idea these stories came from Tales To Astonish where Subby first appeared in #70 (1965).  

 Now I am not rich and buying the complete run of Sub-Mariner in this was well beyond my funds. Then Marvel published The Essential Sub-Mariner -all the parts and #1 of his own book: 504 pages of luscious black & white art. Which I wrote about three years ago?  The Essential Sub-Mariner book covers the classic series from Tales To Astonish. If you are not hip here's the summary:

Ten years after the last issue of the Golden Age's Sub-Mariner Comics, the Avenging Son finally claimed a monthly feature in Tales to Astonish, the entire run of which is presented here!

Namor's on an undersea quest, braving the Seaweed Man, the Demon of the Diamonds, and other oceanic oddities for the power to protect his kingdom from his perennial would-be usurpers: Attuma, Byrrah, and Krang! But even if he reclaims his crown, Puppet Master and the Secret Empire want him as their puppet king!

Plus: Namor learns secrets of his past, but does his future lead only to...Destiny? Guest-starring Daredevil, Iron Man, and the Hulk! Collects Daredevil #7, Tales to Astonish #70-101, Tales of Suspense #80, Iron Man & Sub Mariner #1, and Sub-Mariner #1.

This was when Marvel were still slightly respecting fans and realising they were not all rich!  The Essential books filled in a lot of gaps.  Then Di$ney (Marvel) crapped on us.

The first Silver Age Sub-Mariner is currently costing a couple hundred pounds on that wondrous Ebay and so I doubt I'll get this one...

But I wanted the first issue to complete the run so opted for the later reprint. The cover art and story is what interests me not the, uh, "investment" value.

Notice how they reverse-flipped the cover art?

Triton. I knew nothing of The Inhumans but this character I loved straight away. Not sure why but he seemed almost familiar!

Anyway, if I can stop acting childish for five minutes!  The "team-up" with Triton continued into issue #3 and just look at that cover.  sigh

I cannot think of a really bad cover to this Silver Age run of Sub-Mariner. When A Tuna...hang on...Attuma burst onto the cover of #4, battling Namor as his hordes bellowed in the background like the barbarians they were you knew it was going to be good.  Attuma was to become a pain in the bum for the Avengers and Defenders at times and his name is remembered more than that of Warlord Krang these days!  See, Krang -shoulda got a better publicist.

Tiger-Shark. Another one of the iconic Namor enemies and let me tell you that the actual cover looks far, far better than this.  But, still...wow.

"Death to the Vanquished"!  Oh my gods -will Namor survive or die? Spoiler -he lives.

There were a few of these photo covers and when you think they were working with an original image on an overlay sheet and a real photograph this came out well.  I really like this -at the time Kirby was using photographs in comic art, too.  It was still a time when creators were allowed freedom (at Marvel) to try things out.

This was another one I saw in that Stokes Croft newsagents and fer the luvva koi carp did you think I would not buy this??  And literally run home (almost a mile) so that I could hunker down and read and drool and look at it again?

Oh look.   How childish (and fun!)

Yes, this is the Serpent Crown but it's history is rather long and convoluted.....

You Tuber, Kostenbraumstar (you really ought to check out his channel) just looked at the Sub-Mariner run and asked whether this was the first appearance of the Serpent Crown?  No...and yes.

According to the Marvel data base http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Serpent_Crownthe Serpent Crown first appeared in Tales to Astonish #101 March, 1968:

"The Serpent Crown was created in the final days of pre-Cataclysmic Lemuria. Trapped in a pocket dimension since before the time of man, the Elder God Set influenced the Earth through his Serpent Men and the spread of his worship. The famed human alchemist Atra was instructed by the Serpent Men on how to create a vessel for Set's power, which Atra hoped to use to overthrow Deviant emperor Phraug and their totalitarian rule of the humans of Lemuria. Set corrupted Atra's mind over time, however, so he turned to evil and killed his own daughter for standing in his way. When he confronted Phraug, Atra was surprised to learn the Deviant was also a Set-worshipper; they had simply manipulated Atra into creating the Serpent Crown for them. Atra and Phraud fought over the Crown as Lemuria fell before the assault of the Second Host of the Celestials, and the Crown was lost in the Cataclysm.

"The Serpent Crown was lost until six hundred years ago, when it was discovered by Naga. One of the water-breathing people who founded a new Lemuria under the seas, King Naga discovered the Crown in cursed waters and used it to declare himself God-Emperor of Lemuria and representative of Set himself.

Naga had the Crown alchemically treated so that wearing it made his lifespan virtually immortal. "However, a revolt against his tyrannical rule eventually came from a pact of telepathic Lemurians, who stole the Crown in the dead of night and carried it to Antarctica. Establishing a colony eventually known as The Ancients, the rebels encased the Crown in a metal to lessen its hypnotic influence. Over time, however, one of the brothers who founded the colony, Psycatos, succumbed to its influence and was transformed into the almost mirror image of Naga himself. After murdering his returning brother Bekkit, though, Psycatos had a moment of clarity and tossed aside the Crown. He triggered an explosion that destroyed the city of the Ancients and committed suicide before Set could reclaim his mind.

"In the early 20th century, the City of the Ancients was uncovered by Paul Destine and Leonard MacKenzie. Destine turned on MacKenzie and was trapped in the buried city by his own actions, but he discovered the Serpent Crown, still in its disguised shell. Calling it his Helmet of Power, Destine augmented his own natural psychic abilities with the Helmet, and survived for decades in the buried city, passing in and out of suspended animation. It was through his actions (and the Crown's) that old Atlantis fell to a series of explosions and Leonard MacKenzie's son, Prince Namor, lost his memory for several decades. Destine, now calling himself Destiny, eventually escaped from the City of the Ancients with the Helmet of Power, but became completely mad and died while under the Helmet's influence.

"Namor recovered the Helmet of Power, unaware of its true origins. When he brought it back to Atlantis for study, the true Serpent Crown emerged and corrupted the minds of Dorma and the Atlantean people. The strong-willed Namor removed the Crown from Atlantis, but was attacked by Karthon the Quester, a soldier of Lemuria who served the still-living mad-king Naga. The Crown was brought back to Naga, but as he fought the Sub-Mariner, Karthon realized how insane his emperor was and turned against him. The Serpent Crown was buried deep in a crevice after Naga's death"

So it was the Helmet of Power that was really the Serpent Crown so that object's first appearance was in Tales to Astonish #101.  nyah nyah nyah!

Now you begin to see how much of the Marvel Comics Universe had connections with the Sub-Mariner  and things that went on in his own title.  This was before he became "Marvel's first mutant" -in fact, Namor is not a mutant but the off-spring of two races which makes him a hybrid.  Get your terminology right -I'm a comicologist not a terminologist ,dammit!

This is another great cover and, look, is that the man called "Barracuda"??   When it comes to the cover below some are a little sniffy or plain do not like it.  Of course, the fella looking through that periscope was soiling himself.  I like the cover and I think it's full of action.

Oh..My...Cod -look at this.  You do not need a caption for this.  Action in the foreground and in the background the crowded arena.  Face it: you had to buy the comic just to see what the heck this was all about!

ohhhhh. You don't see a Serpent Crown for decades then ...this art bursts out from its black background and the bold yellow title stands out.  I do think "Death, Thou Shalt Die!" is a wee bit daft.  I mean, come on.  Kill death? If...no.  I'll leave that for the Atlantean Philosophy blog.

Well I never.  Who saw that coming? Sub-Mariner versus the Human Torch (but which one?) and I think when I saw this my underpants got ever so slightly wet.

See those force lines burst outward as Sub-Mariner fights none other than the Dragon Man -and I mean the original and not what they turned him into years later.   BOOOOOM!

All right.  This is one of my all time favourite covers.  "The Sea That Time Forgot" and if you watched any of those old British fantasy horror movies such as The Lost Continent (1968) where ships become stranded in the "Super Sargasso" or Sargasso sea you'll love this. Could this cover be any more atmospheric -ghostly blue back-drop, wrecked old galleons, a lone figure approaching bearing a light source and Sub-Mariner trapped in the sea weed.  Beautiful.

Hildegarde Knef was in this one -German singer ("Mackie Messer"/"Für mich soll's rote Rosen regnen").  See? Comics education and cultural all in one little posting. Ain't I great?

Bloody aliens everywhere! The drama and dynamic figure art in this one is another beauty and look at the background and colours!

He had to return.  Yes, Triton was back and, yes, there is drama but this is one of the "Beach covers" with regular people as well as the two main characters and...note the sea pollution?  Very subtle but pulls your eye to it just by the merest hint of red.

As Kostenbraumstar pointed out, the colouring here is subtle but look at Namor's face as Stingray blasts him -it's almost as though you can feel that blast hitting Namor.  These are just g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s covers.

Ahem. Dr. Doom in the house.  Not kidding -look.

As I mentioned in the Avengers Mega Post, Dr. Doom and Sub-Mariner teaming up always ended up bad and began back in Fantastic Four #6 and he caused a few romantic thoughts in the mind of Sue Storm!  I always wondered whether her and Reed's wedding was rushed and...don't Franklin's ears look just a teensy-bit pointy...?

Now, Dr. Doom should have learnt a lesson or two from teaming up with Namor and vice versa but...OH YEAH!!  Look! LOOK!! Dr. Doom.  Sub-Mariner.  Attuma and Tiger Shark all on one cover. Dr. Doom don't like getting jilted in any dalliance....oh. Alliance.

The 1960s Sub-Mariner animated series -I use that term loosely but they are fun- episode in which the duo team up -X-Men, Thor, etc. in this one!

We are only up to Silver Age cover #21 and I have to say it again: look at this! To the foreground the invaders and the Sub-Mariner leaping into action.  In the background the city burns!! And in the mid ground (or mid water) we see the flames reflecting in the river.  If this cover was human I would marry it without hesitation.

Stunning

Hang on because I need to take a deep breath now....need to calm myself because of this next cover. Sweet fish in coconut stew...you read my Avengers post and also the one about where I first saw Dr. Strange wearing that blue mask?  Right, so we have ethereal Dr. Strange in his masked phase approaching the Sub-Mariner...in a creepy graveyard.

Blue Dragon Fish Sauce, man! I'm almost orgasming choking from excitement here.  Dr. Strange.  Sub-Mariner and, for a person who loves creepy old horror movies and comics -a spooky graveyard.   Open window (no, I mean for a gasp of air I've not farted!).

Iiiiiy! Holy baked trout with almonds -how do  you stop a human killer whale?  Uh, are they asking me?

Cover says it all.  What is that thing Subby is chained to?  My guess an unknown to surface dwellers deep sea creature.  Now someone give Big Daddy Kane his chain back before he kicks off!

"Where is my Sunday Best chain?"

This one says it all and do you know what is so sad?  If you've read one of my books or even the AOP blog where I post stuff about the sea/sea creatures (amongst other things) you'll know that a couple years back it was found that chemicals dumped into the sea in the 1970s were leaking out into the sea and then all that plastic...I'm with Subby!

But back to escapism and fun -that's what comics are supposed to be!  In the 1940s there was a short-lived Timely character named Red Raven.  He popped up a few times in the Silver Age including in The X-Men...

It would be so socially rude not to pop in on a fellow Timely chap, right?

No comments about this.  What could I write. Love it.

Hmm. Kostenbraumstar thinks Miley Cyrus may have gotten inspiration for her "Wrecking Ball" video from this.  Youthquake -were they a 60s pop quartet?  And I'm sure I have no idea what Britvic has to do with this?

Put my glasses on....ah. Not Britvic but Brutivac the vaccum cleaner manufacturer (I so wish I was being paid for product placement right now).

Hercules.  Hercules the Prince of Power versus Prince Namor The Sub-Mariner. Mythology and super heroes!  sigh.  And the dreaded Huntsman. If I had a wall that was not covered in shelves it would be decorated with copies of these covers.  Seriously.

Yes, the other great "Beach Cover" -in the 1960s you just could not have a seaside picnic without Atlanteans and super heroes ruining things. Love how, as it is the Kree born Captain Marvel, the artist made the background a starry sky.   Someone better tell those kids that no one "makes out" tonight!

Attuma. Attuma and Sub-Mariner. Attuma and Sub-Mariner having to battle Triton and Stingray.  All hand drawn and coloured.  This is how covers should look.

When I saw this cover the first thought was that this Llyra looked hot! In fact she was a nasty piece of work and hot. LOL!

Oh crap. You get trapped in a giant up-side-down tumbler for one issue and everyone turns on you. And Donald Trump thought he had it bad.

This next one was another -Sal Buscema artwork was my addiction- I had to grab.  Before the Defenders the Sub-Mariner teamed up with none other than the Incredible Hulk and Silver Surfer as....

TITANS THREE !!

And that team up was bound to cause misunderstand and in those days that meant only one thing...AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!   heh heh...beat Thor to that one!

As Namor's main squeeze -Betty was a little too old for Namor now...you do remember Betty the lady cop from the 1940s Sub-Mariner strip? Take a look at those Fire and Water pages again!  Anyway, Dorma betrayed him because she loved him, fought alongside him and, eventually, with Sue Richards out of the picture, the two decided to tie the knot.  What could go wrong?

Forgot.  Super hero + wedding = anarchy and chaos.  And then, yes, "The Most Shocking Saga of All!" again, folks -look at this cover -I have never got the chills from a computer created cover like I get from this.  Look...at...that...face!

When you read all that went on in Tales To Astonish and this series up to #37 and then see this cover  you have to know that the wǔcǎi yúpiàn have gone off!*

Oh, he ain't gone berserk, bro. He is one well and truly peed off chong qing kao yu** and you are seriously going to need to leave him the feck alone. Yeah, the savage Sub-Mariner was back and ready to kick bottom.

Wouldn't you just know it. Another enemy and another arena and Spidey is absolutely going to get it at some point for not helping -no matter what the reason.  Trust me.

Leaping cray-fish (which are not really fish, you know.  They are crustaceans.) be honest now -who actually expected the Rock that walks like a man?  Me neither.

 By the war-like hordes of the blue sea monkeys!  Look at the art and the colours.  I need to look over my old Marvel Comics from this period because I cannot think of one series where the colourist went to swo much trouble to really wow the readers' eyes.

 What??  Tefal -the innovative leader in kitchen and home appliances -how? oh, must clean my glasses if I can find them.  (see what I mean about product placement -did you notice?).  Tuval.  Dig it.

 I am beginning to see why Namor gets so angry.  He appears to have a slightly paranoia prone personality.  I'd suggest risperidone or olanzapine.  Having written that he may well have good reason to be paranoid -and why does the Human Torch (any of them) keep turning up?

 See what I mean about Namor being justifiably paranoid.  Human Torch -fight.  Then...Tiger Shark!  Give the friggin' Atlantean a break.

 Paranoia.  Anger management issues and victim complex. Could he just not just hang out at the beach and chill...oh no.  He always gets attacked there. Of course, some times you want to chill.  Find your long lost father and.....oh crap.

See, if Namor had come to the UK he could have visited Brighton, Weston-Super-Mare (avoid Clevedon!) or even Ramsgate.  No super villains ever sighted there and certainly no Atlantean invasions or attacks by Attuma and his barbarians.  Recently.

Still, sort out all the problems and ignore that people are now calling you the scourge of the seven seas. Just try to meet new people.  Make friends and...me and my big mouth.  Is this Namor-Doom thing some kind of love/hate bromance??

 You know, Doom is really pushing his luck.

No matter.  Sort the Doom problem out and take a stroll and...MODOK?  What? Forget everything I wrote -Namor does not need any medication for paranoia: he is justified in being paranoid.  And anger management issues? He has cause to be angry.

 Cosmic Cube and MODOK sorted.  It's a Friday.  Quiet. Not a super villain in sight. Go for a swim and some sea food.  What could possibly go wr--- oh.

That is a really gorgeous cover.  Another one of my all-time favourites and, again, if I could marry it I would.  It'll happen one day -they will pass the law! Also, it was one of the final Everett issues and, sadly, he passed away while undergoing heart surgery.  Again -Blake Bell's book is a must read.

Another great cover sees Byrrah return.

 If there is one cover artist you cannot go wrong with it was Gil Kane. And talk about arrogance and bad temper -Sunfire is here.  Sunfire really has a bug stuck up his posterior.

 Guess what?

The Sea Devils.  Where are they now. What is there not to like about this cover -look who/what Namor is fighting!

 Torg the Antarctic Abomination and this is another of my all time favourite covers with that Golden Age feel to it.  those seals don't seem to be very happy about all the goings on, do they?

Quest to find the Atlanteans. Quest to become the one true Prince of Atlantis. Fight to save Atlantis.  Leave Atlantis and its throne.  Battle. Fight. Battle. Fight. Return to Atlantis.  I think Namor is suffering traumatic boxer's encephalopathy (he's punch-drunk).  He goes back?!!

Now look at this next cover. This is just luscious in every way.

 Wanna see the pre-colour, inked/paste-up cover of that issue?

Then there is this cover

 Did she really just say "Come on in, Namor...The Dying's Fine"?? A quipping woman. Mysterious and evil like all women -especially the red ones who quip a lot.  The colours here, again, are so vibrant.

Below: this could be a misunderstand or Namor wanting to do something and getting pissy because Thor won't let him or it could be Thor acting all high and mighty...it could turn into a fight, who knows?

 Congratulations!  Today is the 5th anniversary of your having started reading this post -and they said it would never last!

Ah...I think that whole Thor business started off Namor's anger management issues.  And he was doing so well and now it's all "invade the surface world"!

 Now, as an artist, if you have to draw someone trapped in a net it is lines everywhere.  But look how this net has been drawn truly "old school" -the netting is actually just patches of cross-hatching but you look at the image and you would swear it was continuous lines.  Someone who knew how to draw with style.

 Well, "versus Atlantis"? I only see two Atlantean-Human hybrids.  Where's the Atlantean army then? I want a HUGE battle scene dammit!!

 Wooooooooo!

 Virago. What is it about these undersea women?  Really. Bloody feminist agendas!

Right, I am saying nothing because this Virago, in the space of one issue becomes...the She -Devil. This SJW stuff is getting well out of hand.

Another cracking cover.  I think Orka "should've gone to SpecSavers"! (Other opthalmaticians are available but I'm just pushing the whole product placement thing). Does he destroy the Sub-Mariner? Guess!

All of this pulse-pounding action and colour.  Perhaps it is time to interject a little bit of common sense during which you can visit the lavatory or make a cup of tea/coffee?

Possibly not the Atlantean god of war.

A little trivia for you.  Did you know that actor Richard Egan, the original the Spartan king Leonidas in the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans, would have been the first screen Prince Namor?  Yep, in the 1950s, after the success of the Superman TV series there were plans for a Sub-Mariner TV show. So, someone took this original photo of the actor...

...and made a few alterations and came up with this -

This photo has appeared in Roy Thomas's Alter Ego magazine and elsewhere -some unscrupulous folk were trying to sell copies as a rare still from the "abandoned TV show" -do not be conned. 

oh

Back?  Let us continue then with...WAR!  Triton! The Fantastic Four!  And that new costume. To be honest I was unsure about the costume but it was designed to save his life.  Didn't know that? Well, here is the background to it all:

Namor is once again, forced to flee Atlantis, but during his escape he is caught in a nerve gas explosion. Old ally Triton finds him unconscious and so takes him to the Fantastic Four. It seems that the explosion has damaged Namor's ability to breathe air! Now, as is usual, Namor freaks out and attacks the Fantastic Four but is defeated as he begins to suffocate.  Reed Richards (you know -Mr. Fantastic) is able to design and make a costume for Namor that will allow him to breathe air. 

While all of this is going on Orca and Virago claim the throne of Atlantis.  Victory is theirs!! uh, I ought to point out that this victory is very short lived because nerve gas sweeps through Atlantis. 

 I will admit that the outfit does grow on you after a while but my problem was -if you swim and live underwater all the time then clothes are a bind.  Or am I being a little pervy?  Naturist Atlanteans.

Did I not write that Spidey would pay for holding back in that arena?  Word.

 ahh.  Another mighty fine cover.  Even Blondie gets on it again!

 If you do not think that this cover is friggin' cool then why have you spent the last 5 months wading through this post??  Sheeesh!

And then, sadly, came the end of the run. The art had been great and there had been plenty of guest stars as well as old and new friends pop up throughout the series.  The cover art was, maybe daft at times, but fantastic and always vibrant or moody.

There were two King Size Specials -#1, January, 1971 and #2 January, 1972.  These both reprinted the material from Tales To Astonish and since I only had that in black and white who was I to complain -and I had #1 since 1972 when I found it on the magazine rack in Jarman's.

 To Bill Everett, Gene Colan -Stan Lee, Steve Gerber -everyone who worked on the real Sub-Mariner and what it meant to me, personally....

IMPERIOUS REX!

*wǔcǎi yúpiàn -Five Colours Fish-Cake

**   chong qing kao yu -Chongqing Style roast fish