Sub-Mariner Comics #7
Piracy on the Ocean's Bottom
Sub-Mariner looks into the mysterious sinking of U.S. naval vessels off the Eastern Coast, each of them carrying a fortune in gold shipments. Investigating the sunken ship he finds that the boat had been flooded from within, the crew slaughtered and the gold stolen. Before he can leave he is attacked by a legion of pirate zombies who knock him out and take him to an underwater city. Feigning unconsciousness, he revives and attacks the pirates when they bring them to his leader a mad scientist who wants to dissect Namor and learn his secrets. While Namor is fighting off the zombies, he is injected with a drug that saps his will and is ordered to accompany the zombies in attacking another ship.
During the attack, Namor is struck on the head causing the drugs effects to wear off. Freed from their control he convinces the crew of the ship to abandon the vessel. With no other choice, Namor lets the pirates sink the ship and follows them back to their master's undersea base. There, Namor binds some of the zombies in roots and forces his way in through the air lock. There he finds the base is powered by steam created by mixing water with an underwater volcano. Smashing the water pumps, Namor then edges a block of wood under a water release valve to ensure that eventually the pressure build up will destroy the hidden base.
Namor then goes back out into the water and attempts to stop the pirate zombies from robbing the sunken ship. He spots the doctor (in a specially made pressure suit) overseeing the operation and attacks. During the attack, he is pulled away by an octopus. Believing Namor killed, the doctor and his slaves continue their work. Namor however breaks free and goes after the doctor once more. However, the doctor is now armed with a powerful torch and Namor is forced to flee into the back of the ship. There the doctor seals Namor in a room with a hammer head shark. Namor battles the shark, snapping its spine and then resumes his chase of the doctor.
Fighting the doctor one-on-one, Namor manages to break open his pressure suit which causes the pressure of the ocean to crush the doctor to death. Just at that moment the island base explodes, destroying the remaining zombies. The force of the explosion causes all the sunken ships in the area to briefly rise out of the water. With his mission accomplished, Namor rushes back to the states to arrange a salvage operation.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner
The Firing Squad
15 years ago, Private Danny Poll grew jealous of his superior officer Lieutenant Callen, due to the fact that he also had interest in his one-true love Marie. Not liking Poll's tone, Callen struck the lower ranking officer. In a fit of anger, Poll attempted to bash out Callen's brains with a rock until he was stopped by other military staff. For attempting to kill a superior officer, Poll was court-martialed. Because there was no war going on, he was saved from the firing squad and sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted manslaughter. Upset at Danny for what he had done, Marie would leave him and eventually marry Callen. Furious over his loss, Danny vowed to get revenge as soon as he was released from prison.
On the day he was released, Danny happened upon a bank robbery and watched as the disorganized crooks just barely avoid getting caught. Deciding he could use these criminals, he jumped on the back of their car and rode it to their secret farmhouse hideout. Finding a tommy-gun left inside, Poll walked in on the mob as they were arguing with their boss over the cut of the stolen goods. Killing the mob leader, Poll offered to train them like a military troop to commit robberies and offered to split the loot evenly among everyone. Liking this idea, the mob accepted Poll as their new leader. Under his training he organized them into a gang of military efficiency which Danny dubbed "The Firing Squad".
The gang committed a grizzly bank robbery that was opposed by the Angel. While making their escape Danny knocked the Angel out. However when the hero came to, he found that Danny had dropped his wallet at the scene of the crime. Paying a visit to his home at the Hotel Regent he confronted Danny. However, his gang got the drop on him and pushed him out of the 10th floor window of their room. The Angel managed to survive the fall by grabbing onto the window washing scaffold. He would then overhear how Danny was now plotting revenge against Callen, now a married man and a Major in the military. He orders his troops to help kidnap Callen's son so that they can hold the boy for ransom and so that Danny can murder Callen.
The Angel rushes to the Callen home, where he opposes the Firing Squad in their attempt to capture the young boy. During the fight, Marie enters the room and realizing the love of his life had married the man he hated most Danny is distracted long enough to be captured. When the police arrive the rest of the gang flee, plotting to free their boss. They manage to succeed later when Danny is brought before a court. With guns blazing, they manage to save their boss despite the intervention of the Angel. They also manage to grab Callen's son and later send a demand for $50,000 ransom to be delivered by Major Callen alone.
The Angel tells Callen to follow through with their demands and follows the soldier to the Firing Squads secret hideout. Attacking the firing squad, the Angel keeps them busy until the authorities arrive and soon a firefight breaks out. As the Angel rescues Callen and his son and sends them off for cover, Marie approaches Danny and tries to talk sense into him by telling him that he and her husband attempted to get him freed from prison but red tape prevented them from doing so. Not believing her, Danny attempts to shoot Callen but Marie steps in the way of the shot and is killed. Horrified by what he had done, Danny then runs into the path of the cross fire and is gunned down as well.
With their boss dead, the Angel easily takes down the rest of of the Firing Squad who are taken into police custody. The Angel departs, leaving Callen and his son to deal with the loss of Marie.
Recurring Characters
Angel
Death 'Round the Bend
The Sub-Mariner is relaxing on the Mississippi River when he suddenly hears cries for help. He witnesses as a man is thrown overboard from a steamship called the Ghost Witch. Taking the man to shore, Namor finds that he has been shot, and the man dies. Taking him to a local plantation house he learns that the man's name was Bill Howard. The plantation owner tells Namor that he made a bet with Bill to board the Ghost Witch as it was a wreck that was said to be haunted.
The plantation owner explains that during the civil war a chest full of gold was shipped aboard the Ghost Witch. When the captain told gambler Rindigo Jones about the gold they conspired to steal it. Shooting the man shipping the gold dead, they were cursed by him to roam the Mississippi forever never achieving their gold. Mocking this they fled in a life boat. At that moment the Ghost Witch was struck by lightning, killing all aboard. Jones and his crew went missing shortly thereafter.
Realizing that the supposed ghost ship was full operation, Namor goes back out into the river to investigate. Finding the Ghost Witch once more partially sunken, he boards the vessel. He falls through a trap door and is greeted by the spitting image of Rindigo Jones himself. However, this man is no mere ghost as he flees when Namor punches him. Following after him, Namor gets his foot caught in a bear trap. Getting it off his foot, he tosses it around Jones' neck and demands some answers. However, when he pulls the bear trap off him, Jones sets off an alarm bringing a bunch of men to attack the Sub-Mariner.
Overpowering Namor, they tie him up on a boat anchor and toss him overboard to drown. Revitalized by the water, Namor shimmies over to the sunken life ship that has the corpses of the real Rindigo Jones and his men and cuts himself free. Namor surfaces and finds that the ship is missing. Going to shore, Namor follows some strange foot prints to a local tobacco house. Inside, Rindingo Jones -- or rather his grandson -- gloats about his means of scaring locals away from the river so he can salvage the long lost gold for himself. When Namor is spotted approaching the house, Rindingo pretends to be a tobacco auctioneer to throw off Namor. However, the Sub-Mariner recognizes the voice and breaks into the warehouse. Not wishing to be stopped, Jones ties a cable from the ship to a support beam of the wear house and pulls forward at full steam, sending the warehouse collapsing on everyone not aboard the ship.
Namor survives this and chases after them. Not wishing to get caught Jones orders his men to put on as much steam as possible, and has them wedge the steam valve that prevents the boiler from exploding. This proves to be their undoing, as they manage to attain a speed faster than Namor can swim, it eventually causes the boiler to explode destroying the ship and killing all aboard. With Jones dead, Namor decides to alert the government about the gold so that it can be salvaged and used toward war bonds.
Recurring Characters
Sub-Mariner
