Good afternoon,
I'm winding down a nice weekend with a discussion of the first issue of Marvel's ongoing series Super-Villain Team-Up. The cover showed Prince Namor being restrained by his old rival Tiger Shark, as another foe, Attuma, prepared to strike him. A large vision of Doctor Doom appeared in the background. The first chapter of this story was titled "An Alliance Asunder?" The issue had a cover date of August 1975.
The tale began shortly after the events that occurred in the second giant-sized issue of this title. Namor was starting to doubt the alliance he'd initially wanted with the ruler of Latveria, while the pair were still in Doom's castle. The Sub-Mariner flew off angrily after a brief recap of the previous issues' events.
Victor Von Doom retreated to his headquarters as rain started to fall outside. He looked upon the multiple view screens at his previous bouts with not only the Fantastic Four, but other heroes such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, Thor, Quicksilver, and Daredevil. Doom knew he could destroy a planet by himself, but wondered if he could command it.
Victor then declared that he alone would be sufficient, before striking some of the machinery that sat before him. He needed an ally. Doom decided that Atlantis needed a powerful partner if it were to rise to power again, and dispatched a fish-shaped drone to monitor Namor's activities.
Not far away, Namor returned to the waters near his own home, unaware that he was being followed by Doom's robotic spy. The Sub-Mariner walked onto Hydrobase and unwittingly tripped a security beam. Part two of our saga, entitled "Frenzy on a Floating Fortress" started with Namor's body being shocked relentlessly by a large machine.
Namor struggled with pain, but still continued to advance toward the device before demolishing it with one strong blow. He was weakend yet ready to fight when someone approached him from behind. The stranger was an old friend: Dr. Jennings (from Subby's late, lamented magazine). The Sub-Mariner was warning his comrade of danger when they were attacked by a quintet of blue-skinned humans.
The ruler of Atlantis led the defense, and before very long, all of their attackers were lying unconscious at his feet. Jennings then filled his ally in on what he'd missed. He started with recent scientific experiments that were suddenly interrupted by blasts of ionic rays that took out many in the compound.
Jennings escaped the assault, but ran into large robots known as Octomeks while he fled. Namor was certain that his old nemesis Attuma was behind such dastardly deeds when he was struck from behind by Tiger Shark. He appeared alongside Attuma and Dr. Dorcas.
The trio of villains had joined forces to fulfill their goal of world domination. A battle began on land that carried over into the sea. Namor had finally bested Tiger Shark and was about to get revenge on Attuma when a gun carrying an electrical charge was fired at him by Dorcas. Dorcas instructed his colleagues to take the unconscious Atlantean back with them.
After his revival in the 1960s, the Sub-Mariner co-starred with the Hulk in the Tales to Astonish comic. That book was retitled the Incredible Hulk with issue #102, and Namor was given his own title, which lasted 72 issues. Some of these stories pick up where plots from Sub-Mariner's solo series left off. It was good to see Namor in action against his old enemies, although Doom didn't factor into much of the latter half of this issue.
That's it from me for today. Tomorrow, I'll cover the second issue of this series. We'll find out where Namor was taken after his defeat, what role Dr. Doom played in this escapade, and the return of one of the Sub-Mariner's oldest friends. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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