Good morning, folks!
Hope everyone's been having a great weekend. Time for me to talk about the second giant-sized issue of Super Villain Team-Up. The cover showed Doctor Doom and Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, fighting side-by-side against a score of robots. The first part of this saga was called "The Slaying of a Titan!" The issue had a publication date of June 1975.
After the splash page, the story began with the tanker Typhoeus, pride of the Patagonian Navy, sailing toward its next destination when the crew was alerted to Namor's presence. The regent of Atlantis commanded that the ship turn around immediately, since it was about to enter Atlantean territory.
The Sub-Mariner felt like he had no choice but to attack the vessel after his order was ignored. He was astride a floating chariot, and Namor piloted his craft on a collision course with the tanker. Two large drills emerged from its interior and began cutting massive holes in its hull.
Before long, the supposedly unsinkable boat was about to meet its final destination at the bottom of the icy waters below. Namor announced that he'd radioed nearby rescue ships to save the crew, warning once more that no boats would be allowed in that area ever again. Shortly thereafter, the prince returned to his undersea home.
Namor walked through a chamber that contained the unconscious bodies of many of his loyal citizens, suspended in their own individual glass capsules. The Sub-Mariner was lamenting his inability to cure his subjects of their current predicament (due to events that unfolded in Subby's own mag before its cancellation) when the sounds of explosions could be heard outside Atlantis' transparent dome.
The cause of the disruption was revealed in part two of the story, which was called "When Monarchs Meet!" The Sub-Mariner raced to the source, which was an invading fleet. The Sub-Mariner fought off as many of the strangers as he could, until one of them spoke in a voice that was all too familiar to him. As he peered into the person's visor, he saw the grim visage of Doctor Doom staring back at him.
Namor quickly realized that the image was just an illusion, and learned that the Latverian ruler was on the surface. He admitted that the assault was conducted to draw his attention, an incredibly effective ploy. The Sub-Mariner swam away moments before the invading ship was detonated remotely by Doom.
The leader of Atlantis breached the water's surface and located Doom's ship. He flew inside and met the man who declared himself to be his new partner. Namor was surprised to hear this, after Doom refused to assist him (as shown last issue). Victor Von Doom replied that he'd since had a change of heart, adding that he was glad that Namor had demolished the Typhoeus.
Doom pointed out their similarities, noting that they should more likely be listed as conquerors than villains. Victor then instructed his androids to set a course for his homeland of Latveria. Once there, more would be revealed.
Part three of this plot was entitled "The Armies of Andro!" It began with a battle between two of Doom's androids. One quickly bested the other before Doom showed his guest more of the factory that was used to produce his obedient servants. As the two allies admired the facility, many more androids were gathered in an underground hall, standing before one whom they watched in rapt fascination.
Doom was describing the massive solar battery array he had produced to the Sub-Mariner when the facility was entered by an intruder who called himself Andro and claimed to be leader of the androids. The stranger ordered his lackeys to attack the conquerors, and another battle swiftly began.
During the confrontation, it was revealed that Andro was formerly the very first Doomsman (an artificial entity whose previous exploits were covered in the first three issues of Astonishing Tales). Doom had used the mechanical man as a comrade in his encounter with the Faceless One, and left his robot exiled in a different dimension.
The former Doomsman spotted the Inhuman known as Lockjaw and clung to his body while invisible as the teleporter moved from that particular dimension back to Earth with the Thing. The conflict continued until Victor finally faced off against his creation. Andro teleported away rather than engage in a physical fight with his creator.
Doom and the Sub-Mariner then assessed the damage left by the confrontation. Their plans were delayed but not destroyed. Doom then pushed a secret button on a nearby wall to expose more androids who were far less susceptible to Andro's influences before moving on to continue their work.
The rest of the issue was a reprint of the Living Brain story from the eighth issue of the Amazing Spider-Man. I suppose that this story and several others in the ongoing SVTU series were designed to wrap up some of the loose ends left from the Astonishing Tales and Sub-Mariner titles, respectively. It was good to see Doom and Namor face a common foe, but it still didn't explain just what Doom was going to to do help Namor's subjects just yet.
I'll return this afternoon with a synopsis of the first regular-sized issue of Super Villain Team-Up. It takes place right after the events of this script, including a few characters from Sub-Mariner's recent past. Until then, have a great Sunday and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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