Fantastic Four (1961) #4

I am becoming more and more convinced that Marvel is basing its Comixology discounts on my reading habits. After enabling me to load up on some Invaders, Defenders and original Sub-Mariner series issues on the cheap, they now have a Fantastic Four sale for no reason I can determine.

Whatever, I shall not squander the opportunity. I grabbed a few early issues including Namor's first appearance in that book way back in issue #4. I was aware of that story as a kid but not really buying into what a big deal it was supposed to be. Human Torch had found this guy, gave him a shave and it turned out to be the Sub-Mariner. Okay, great.

Having rapid access to information these days makes the "big deal" a bit more clear. Namor's adventures had been published regularly from 1939 to about 1955. This book, cover dated May 1962, was his fist appearance in seven years.

He may not be one of Marvel key characters but considering that he has not gone a whole year since without showing up somewhere (team book, guest-appearance, whatever), that was quite the dry spell for him and therefore a significant comeback.

How does it all happen? With the usual strangeness and leaps of logic of the time, of course, as only Stan Lee and Jack Kirby could provide them.

Johnny Storm has had an argument with The Thing and blown off the Fantastic Four. Wanting to keep a low profile, he decides to spend the night in a homeless shelter, because who hasn't done that? Like most homeless shelters, this one is well-stocked with classic comic books.

That creepy bum at the bottom right sees what Johnny is reading and points out that one of his fellow vagrants is as strong as that Sub-Mariner fella. When the residents try to goad this strong homeless man into displaying feats of strength, he beats the hell out of all of them. So, I suppose he granted them their wish in a roundabout way. Good man.

As they gang up for another round, Johnny recognizes that this mysterious stranger seems to be suffering from memory loss (a common affliction for this character) and tries to be the voice of reason. All right, boys, first things first: Let's give him a shave.

What are the odds???!

Well the only logical thing to do now is to dump him in the ocean.

Sounds good, but...Atlantis is devastated, apparently by atomic testing. That doesn't go over well and so Namor...Are you ready for this?...Swears to take revenge against the human race! Maybe you should have left well enough alone, Johnny!

Namor wakes a giant walking whale creature named Giganto and commands it to attack New York.

The Thing detonates a nuke inside Giganto to kill it (no, really). When Namor promises to unleash all sorts of other sea beasts on New York with his magic trumpet-horn (lol...), Invisible Girl Sue Richards swipes it from him.

Way to go, Namor, you old smoothie. Nowadays that's sexual misconduct though.

He makes Sue a pretty sweet deal: Marry me and I won't destroy mankind. While she's weighing the pluses and minuses of that arrangement, The Human Torch creates some sort of tornado vortex in which he captures Namor and his horn and tosses them both out to sea. Without the ability to call upon giant sea bastards, Namor decides to chill for a bit, but with a promise...

We haven't heard the last of that guy! For a while, he was basically a series regular, appearing every two to four issues, then again in a couple of early issues of The Avengers, completing the comeback.