Nick Peron

View Original

Sub-Mariner Comics #36

The Hidden World

A supposed new moon that orbits around Earth undetected suddenly eclipses the sun, then much of the water on Earth begins to be pulled into space, threatening to put the planet through a drought of global proportions. Among those are the people of Atlantis who find their kingdom drained of water and only have hours before they will suffocate. During a meeting of the United Nations, the world governments accuse the Sub-Mariner for such an attack.

Hearing the reports in the news Betty Dean warns Namor and convinces him to do something about the problem, however Namor is furious at being wrongly accused for the crisis. Knowing only the surface water of the planet had been taken and knowing that there is an cistern of water under Betty's property, digs a hole in the yard to reach it. As soon as the water is exposed the same force pulls the water, and Namor into space and to the second moon. He finds himself on the surface and meets the alien inhabitants of the moon. They explain to him that when their moon passes the Earth they use the device to pull sucks Earth's water to it for a short period, allowing them to keep a relatively small amount of water for their people when the water is eventually returned to Earth. Furious with the people on the surface of the Earth for accusing him of the situation tells the aliens that they must keep the water away from the Earth.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Namora has come to the home of Betty Dean to try and find Namor to solve the crisis in Atlantis. Learning that Namor was pulled into space, Namora returns home to tell Princess Fen what happened. Fen then attempts to communicate with her son telepathically. The message is received by Namor who realizes that in getting revenge against the surface world he will doom his own people as well. Namor orders the aliens to return the water, but they refuse. Namor fights through them and reverses their devices sending all the water and himself back to Earth. Back on Earth, Namor returns to Atlantis where he is welcomed back home with open arms. He is informed by Namora that the surface dwellers still blame him for the episodes and he decides to leaves to show the surface dwellers that he means revenge.

Recurring Characters

  • Sub-Mariner

  • Namora

  • Princess Fen

  • Betty Dean

Courage

At the age of ten, Namor is goaded into going up to the surface to brave a blizzard by his step-cousin Byrrah. Namor takes Byrrah up on the challenge and goes exploring the Antarctic wastes in the blizzard. However he soon begins to succumb to the cold and passes out. He is woken up by the approach of huskies that were left away behind during the last scientific exploration.

The huskies attack Namor, but the boy surprises himself by being able to fight them off with his bare hands. Namor then returns to Atlantis to tell his mother about his enhanced strength.

Recurring Characters

  • Sub-Mariner

  • Princess Fen

  • Byrrah

Continuity Notes

  • This story is revisited and expanded upon in Saga of the Sub-Mariner #2

War of the Poles

Byrrah confronts his step-cousin Namor demanding to know why, when he professes to hate the surface dwellers he does not take aggressive acts against them. Namor reminds Byrrah that it is useless to go to war against the surface dwellers. A week later, Namor runs into his cousin Namora and learns that Byrrah had left with armed troops on an expedition.

Another week passes and Byrrah and his forces reach the North Pole where they blast a glacier and presses it across North America, forcing mass evacuations of Alaska and Canada as the glacier heads for the United States. With the authorities unsure how to handle this new crisis, Betty Dean uses her radio transmitter to contact the Sub-Mariner and Namora to inform them of what happened. Although Namora questions why Namor would help the surface dwellers, Namor had properly deduced that the moving glacier is really the work of Byrrah and he is threatening to cause a war between their people and the surface dwellers.

Needing to stop Byrrah, Namor decides to fight fire with fire by gathering his own troops and blasting loose an ice berg from the South Pole. He then pilots the glacier to the Gulf of Mexico where Byrrah's ice burg has just passed and collides with it destroying both ice bergs. With Byrrah's ice berg destroyed, the displaced surface dwellers return to their homes and Namor returns to Atlantis. There he gets a note from Byrrah who concedes this round but vows to attack again.

Recurring Characters

  • Sub-Mariner

  • Namora

  • Betty Dean

  • Byrrah