Under the Sea

Uncanny X-Men #6 - By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Ahhh, yes, the "Special Guest Star" issue. I've already looked at a couple of issues of OTHER comics that X-Men characters have appeared in, but this is the first time we have a marquee character from elsewhere appearing in the X-Men's own book. This was a major part of Marvel's plan in establishing their universe. You had to make it seem to the readers that all of these characters existed in the same time, in the same place, and would interact with each other. Sure, DC had their team-up books like the Brave and the Bold and even the Justice Society which dated all the way back to the 30's, but Marvel set out to have a different feel from the beginning.

Ironically, our guest star this month is Namor, the Sub-Mariner - who first appeared in Marvel Comics #1 in 1939 (published then by Timely comics). So Namor had been around for a while. More recently, he'd been pestering the Fantastic Four over in their book, and certainly makes more then one mention of his ill-fated affections for Sue Storm in this issue (but he does acknowledge that the Scarlet Witch is quite a hottie!). But his appearance here adds a new wrinkle to his history as both Professor Xavier and Magneto ponder the possibility that Namor is a mutant - and of course, both want his allegiance. Both set off for Namor's undersea castle in their astral forms with their own methods of recruitment in mind.

Overall, I found this story pretty interesting. Magneto takes an indirect approach to wooing Namor. He conspires with one of Namor's advisors to lure the sea king away, under the pretense that this nameless Atlantean can take over in Namor's absence. Professor X simply decides to take the back seat to Magneto, and instead rallies the X-Men for a direct raid on Mangeto's island when Namor is visiting.

In the end, Namor concludes that Mutants are just as bad as all other surface-dwellers and "air-breathers" in general are his enemies. The X-Men allow him to leave and head back to Atlantis. I was sort of disappointed that we never saw any more of the coniving Atlantean and his plans to steal the crown. Maybe I should look up some other appearances of Namor and see if this guy ever tried anything.

We do see Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch take another baby step towards leaving the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. In the beginning of the story, Wanda is accidently placed in the line of fire when Mastermind casts an illusion and Magneto fires an experimental magnetic ray. While Pietro saves her, Magneto is more concerned that Mastermind cast an illusion on him then the safety of Wanda. Later in the book, Magneto completely abandons them when Namor is battling the X-Men. Wanda insists on rescuing Pietro, but Magneto leaves to protect himself. In the end, Cyclops questions letting them run back to the escaping Magneto and Professor X tells him they must join of their own free will, or their allegiance will not be true.

Professor X is definitely the aggressor more in these early books then I'd have ever thought. He's regularly sending the team out to attack Magneto, rather then to defend humanity. I find that interesting and I think it will come full-circle well down the line. We see more of the characteristics of the X-Men that we all remember - Beast and his vocabulary, Iceman creating ice slides and platforms, Cyclops being the natural leader.

Even though the "Special Guest Star" issues can be used to increase readers, highlight a character in another more popular book, or simply create a "buzz" in interest level, none of that was needed here. Uncanny X-Men was doing quite well at the time, so it didn't need a boost from Namor. But the idea of the character being a mutant, and what that meant made for a compelling story idea. So compelling, that Marvel never officially answered it for over 40 years!

Note: This issue was reprinted in October, 1994 as X-Men: The Early Years #6. Cover by Matthew Ryan.

Professor Xavier and the X-Men #7 - by Fred Schiller and Nick Gnazzo

This is another example of the retelling really taking the teeth out of the original. In the Lee/Kirby version of this story we have a lot more of Namor and Magneto, whereas here we focus more on the X-Men. Sure, I can see in the 90's the idea was to expose more of the heroes and keep them the center of the story, but so much got left out. For instance, we lose the entire sequence of Magneto working with the Atlantean to usurp Namor's throne. This was really intriguing and spoke to the political nature of a lot of the Sub-Mariner's plots and sub-plots, not to mention the Machiavellian nature of Magneto himself. Now, I SUPPOSE that this could have been cut simply because it would have raised some questions in the readers' minds. But honestly, wouldn't it have been a positive thing to have 90's readers run out to learn more about Namor?

We also lose the entire part of the story in which Mastermind uses his abilities on Magneto. Why not show there's some dissention in the ranks of the Brotherhood? It certainly showed how ruthlessly Magneto handled his own people. These are character moments that are almost entirely missing in this simple rehash.

We also have some very uneven character actions here. In this version, Namor swears off all surface-dwellers early in the story, but later, demands the X-Men return Quicksilver or face his wrath. Sure, he could have been doing that to impress the Scarlet Witch, but here there is no mention of the fact he finds her attractive.

Professor X is another who behaves contrary to character. Part of the narrative throughout the book is Professor Xavier's thoughts as he sort of grades Cyclops performance as leader of the team. He criticizes him pretty harshly at times, pointing out weaknesses and flaws in his actions and at one point, gives Cyclops the clue he needs to overcome one of Mastermind's illusions. At the end of the book, however, he says, "The X-Men have come a long way towards working as a formidable team. Much of that is due to the courage of the one leading them. Scott Summers, you are to be congratulated." Based on what was said previously, I'm not sure Professor X was inclined to give him such high praise.

In another example, Professor X actively lobbies for Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Namor to join the X-Men and speaks out against Magneto directly. There's no subtlety, no "let Magneto show them his true character." In order to achieve the same ending, Schiller has Namor get angry and attack the fortress seeking to kill Magneto. The conversation never reaches a conclusion as Namor just wanders off after destroying the tower, but not finding Magneto. But somehow, in all the chaos, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch apparently DO find Magneto and escape with him. Talk about plot holes...I think this is as big as the one Namor leaves behind. It's simply a terrible ending.

All in all, another rather forgettable retelling. Audiences should just stick to the Marvel Masterpieces!

Up Next: Fantastic Four #28