The Many Faces of Namor

Following last year's big 70^th birthday party for Superman, the seven-decade celebrations just keep on coming for the superheroes who followed his 1938 debut. Of course, the most high profile member of the "Class of '39" would be the other half of DC's opening act: The Batman...but just behind him were the "Big Two" of Marvel precursor Timely Comics: The Human Torch and the Namor, the Sub-Mariner.

Making their debut as separate features in Marvel Comics #1 (spring of 1939), the unconventional approach that would one day define Marvel Comics was already in play, as the Torch and Namor were portrayed more as freaks and dangerous forces of nature than DC's costumed crimefighters (though, to be fair, the early Superman and Batman had a bit of an edge to them as well).

In fact, right from the very beginning, Namor was comics' first anti-hero, whose arrogance and constant, rage-fueled attacks on the surface world (and the Human Torch) made him very much the dark flip-side of Superman's stoic benevolence. Later, once America entered World War II, Namor abandoned his war on humanity and joined with other Timely heroes (including Captain America) to "kick some Axis"...yet his hatred for humanity has continued to ebb and flow like the tide.

However, Namor's loyalties weren't the only thing to shift over the years. More than any other superhero, the Sub-Mariner's physical appearance has varied so dramatically, has been so consistently INconsistent (or, as we say in the biz, "off-model"), it truly has to be seen to be believed....which is where I come in.

First of all, here's Subby as those of us in the "modern era" know him. Taken from two of my favorite covers, we've got Namor's green Speedo look alongside the regal dark-blue jumpsuit he currently wears. Both looks are consistent in their general look (wrist bands, ankle wings, arrogant body language), yet there is enough variation in his eyebrow arch, hairline and head shape to hint at the eye-popping permutations of earlier times.

In this snippet from his first cover appearance (Marvel Mystery Comics #4, 1940), Namor's facial features and head shape look fairly normal, with his pointed ears and angular eyebrows the only sign of his exotic heritage. Ah...but check out that funky light brown hair...an odd look for a character better known for a steely-black head of hair.

By 1941, Namor's face begins to take on a much more exaggerated, almost elfish appearance, as seen here on the second issue of All-Winners Comics. Topping it off (literally) is a crop of firey red hair (must have been from all those fights with the Human Torch)!

Four years later, on the cover of All-Winners Comics #17, Namor's face had become so elongated...so harshly angled, that it looked more like an African Fang Mask than the regal undersea scion we met back in 1939.

Incredibly, like some sort of "Golden Age Michael Jackson", Subby's already bizarre face became even more crazy and extreme by 1946. As you can see in these excerpts from All-Winners Comics #19, Namor's head became an eerie, utterly inhuman abstraction.

Forget about his human/Atlantean heritage...by this point, Namor looked like a cross between an alien, Dick Tracy villain Flattop, and Charles Burns' Big Baby character!

Mercifully, the post-WWII collapse of the superhero craze banished this rather demented version of Namor. After a several year hiatus, the Sub-Mariner briefly resurfaced during the mid 1950's...this time with a much less cartoonish cranium and a major league hatred for Commies.

Following this brief return, Namor once again vanished from the newsstands... and wouldn't return until Stan Lee and Jack Kirby reintroduced him in Fantastic Four #4 (1962). So...with his transition to the more refined Silver Age of comics, Namor's bizarre facial distortions became a thing of the past, right? 

Eh....not quite.

Comments

[Pat Curley]

The top of his head in those last few pictures reminds me of that ridiculous Spiderman villain, Hammerhead. It also seems like a very poor evolutionary adaptation for a race of swimmers.

One of Marvel's interesting qualities was that they did things by the seat of their pants (referring here more to the Silver Age than the Golden), and thus Stan was willing to change things if the fan reaction indicated a need to do so, whereas DC's characters were fully realized the moment they stepped onto the stage, but they then stagnated.

[David Morefield]

I'm glad you posted something about this. One of the things that always kept me from getting into Namor was his inconsistent nature, visual and otherwise. I don't think I'll ever understand how it could seem like a good idea to make the hero of a book look like a carnival freak, especially when you have to deliberately evolve him in that direction from a fairly normal beginning.

Considering the lengths Roy Thomas went to to explain much more trivial inconsistencies in old comics, I'm surprised he never offered an explanation for Namor's transformations (exposure to radiation? Genetic instability due to his mixed heritage? Skrull imposter?). Or did he?

[Mark Engblom]

"One of the things that always kept me from getting into Namor was his inconsistent nature, visual and otherwise. "

I recall John Byrne exploring the Sub-Mariner's erratic behavior in his 1990's Namor series.

Byrne attributed the crazy mood swings to Namor's status as a genetic hybrid. In other words, due to his half-human, half-Atlantean blood chemistry, Namor wasn't fully suited to life underwater or the surface world. If he spent too much time in either environment, it would result in a severe oxygen imbalance... which would then trigger one of his fabled hissy-fits and/or bouts of villainous behavior.

An interesting theory, and one that works for me. As for the visual changes, I don't think anyone (not even Roy Thomas) has addressed those. Essentially, it can just be chalked up to "artistic license", but considering the extremes Namor's head was subjected to, maybe a few of those licenses needed to be revoked!

[Dan Lietha]

He looks pretty "Vulcanish" to me. Could Namor be the original Vulcan? Could HE be Spock's real father? Hmmmmmm. Can Spock swim?

[Shar]

Great pictures and test, Mark--LMAO!

Have you seen Alex Maleev's take on Namor, in the revent Secret Invasion: Dark Reign? Namor looks like a cross between kevin Pollak and David Paymer--middle-aged, balding, with less than regal features. Unrecogizable--well, except for the costume.

May I post a link so you can see for yourself?

http://media.comics.ign.com/media/142/14294964/img_6246795.html

[Shar]

Oh--I meant "text", obviously--not "test"!

[Mark Engblom]

LOL! That is HORRIBLE, Shar! Good LORD! How can they publish that garbage! He looks more like Pete Townsend than Namor! Geez....I'd prefer the alien-head Namor over that. Thanks for the link...which just proves that Marvel STILL doesn't have a visual handle on the Sub-Mariner.

[suedenim]

IIRC, when that comic first came out, people figured out that the Namor visual was based on photos of actor Jean Reno.

[booksteve]

LOL. I visited this topic a few times myself:

http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2007/06/many-faces-of-prince-namor.html

and my favorite, http://booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2007/10/namor-is-that-you.html

[WM]

Wasn't his hair brown during WWII because they didn't want to make him look Japanese? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember reading that somewhere.

[Ice Saber]

The problem here is that everyone insists that the Sub-Mariner act as if he were an American super hero. Namor is not American, nor is he human. His "fits of rage" are completely understandable from his people's viewpoint- if some nation was dumping toxic waste on your shores, and depth-charge bombing your people, wouldnt you be enraged? And if you had the power of the Sub-Mariner wouldnt you retaliate? Namor is not erratic. As for his different appearances, different artists are going to draw him in different ways. Some of them just get sloppy.