current / archive / issues / faq / RSS feed / twitter /
Slayers From The Sea!
| < previous | next > |
We're back in the Marvel Universe again for this issue, which provides features a LOT of references to previous stories!
It all kicks off moments after the end of Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #2 with Namor suddenly changing his mind and (quite sensibly) realising that Doctor Doom may not be the best person to ally yourself with. To begin with Doom argues his case, but then Namor points out some of the many times Doom has betrayed him recently, with footnotes linking back to stories in Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1, Fantastic Four #157 and Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #2. As mentioned previously, Roy Thomas has cast doubt on the existence of these index cards, but from the amount of footnotes that keep cropping it there must surely have been some sort of indexing going on.
Namor flies off and initially Doom rails against him, calling him an "ungrateful water-snipe", but then stops and reflects, asking himself whether this problem has been caused by his own pride, in an (unfootnoted) reference to Fantastic Four #116.
Doom retreats to his control room, where he looks at recordings of some of his many defeats. There's more evidence of research having gone here, as Doom looks back at stories told in "over a dozen" encounters with the Fantastic Four, as well as in
Thor #183, The Amazing Spider-Man #5, The Avengers #25 and The Incredible Hulk #144 (with a direct swipe from that issue's cover) and Daredevil #37.
Having just spent a good ten minutes looking all of those up with my own set of index cards I certainly hope Tony Isabella had access to some when he was writing the story!
In a moment of surprising reflection Doom thinks to himself "I'd always thought I could stand against all mankind unaided, but the evidence of my eyes proves those vain thoughts false." This is a long way from the power-crazed megalomaniac who was only recently proclaiming himself as the rightful ruler of the world, and shows again how differently Doom appears when he's a lead character to when he's the villain of the month.
Doom thus decides that he will stand alone no more, and hatches a plan to follow Namor, so that when he's in trouble Doom can prove his worth by stepping in to help.
Doom here acts rather like a creepy/needy ex who believes that Namor just needs to wake up and realise how much they belong each other, and all will be well. He sends a robot fish to chase the Submariner, and thus ends part one of the story. The second part sees Namor returning to his current home of Hyrdrobase, where he is captured by a group of his own villains who, ironically, have decided to band together to fight him. This leads to a good old punch-up and an avalanche of footnotes before the issue ends with Namor defeated, at the mercy of his enemies.
There's been no Doom at all in this second part of the story, which means we need to wait until the next issue to see if he comes charging in on (I assume) a white stallion to save Namor. Before that we're looking at a familiar story in an entirely different media, as the Doom arrives on the radio!
link to information about this issue
posted 31/5/2019 by Mark Hibbett
| < previous | next > |
Comments: