Namor's Silver Age return
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jrnewto
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Namor's Silver Age return
Has anyone ever considered what becomes peculiar about Namor's return in the Silver Age is not so much losing his memory but his regaining it? That is, among other things, did Namor swim all the way to the Antarctic upon regaining his memory? And it had to be quick, because the Torch was waiting for him back at the pier in New York Harbor. Further, did Roy Thomas actually read Fantastic Four #4 given the great pains he went to making Paul Destine/Mentallo/the Serpent Crown responsible for the last destruction of Atlantis and not human nuclear testing? That is, in Fantastic Four #4 Namor explicitly states that the glowing Atlantean ruins was due to radioactivity.
So obviously the type of solution Roy introduced completely flies in the face of what Kirby intended. So what did Jack have in mind for an explanation?
Well, the last time we’d seen Namor prior to the Silver Age was 1955 (Sub Mariner Comics #44).
So when after 1955 and before 1962 did underwater nuclear testing destroy Atlantis (and by whom)? Did Jack have in mind Operation: Argus which occurred in 1958?
This leaves the further question what Jack intended as responsible for Namor's amnesia/hobo state!?
What’s also peculiar is that practically the first thing the de-amnesiated Namor discovers is the Frozen Captain America. Maybe Roy did something somewhere in the Invaders continuity, but what were the original Torch’s, Toro’s and Namor’s reactions to the seeming death of their fellow Invader? Reasonably they might have at least thought of conducting a search, no? But only partly recovered, Namor unconsciously heads for the Arctic, in roughly the area where Cap went down, making it just a little bit less coincidental.
So obviously the type of solution Roy introduced completely flies in the face of what Kirby intended. So what did Jack have in mind for an explanation?
Well, the last time we’d seen Namor prior to the Silver Age was 1955 (Sub Mariner Comics #44).
So when after 1955 and before 1962 did underwater nuclear testing destroy Atlantis (and by whom)? Did Jack have in mind Operation: Argus which occurred in 1958?
This leaves the further question what Jack intended as responsible for Namor's amnesia/hobo state!?
What’s also peculiar is that practically the first thing the de-amnesiated Namor discovers is the Frozen Captain America. Maybe Roy did something somewhere in the Invaders continuity, but what were the original Torch’s, Toro’s and Namor’s reactions to the seeming death of their fellow Invader? Reasonably they might have at least thought of conducting a search, no? But only partly recovered, Namor unconsciously heads for the Arctic, in roughly the area where Cap went down, making it just a little bit less coincidental.
