Prince Namor, The Sub-Mariner (1968) #5

Unimaginatively, I attempted to post something more or less Valentine's related yesterday involving one of the ladies in Namor's life.

We recently saw some flirting with Emma Frost and we know he's been pining for Susan Richards for some time but neither relationship seemed appropriate (particularly not the one with the married woman).

He's been married twice that I know of, to Dorma, and to Marrina of Alpha Flight. In the case of the latter, much of the relationship was off panel so difficult to share here so Dorma it is.

I figured the issue below might feature some good lady-in-distress stuff so that's what I settled on. Plus I dig Tiger Shark so I cheated a bit.

Roy Thomas and John Buscema are on the case. And we open with Namor experiencing...memory loss! Again!!

That's twice in just the few books I've read and I know it's part of his history. Dude needs to be checked into concussion protocol.

So you wander into some coastal cave and naturally the first thing that happens is that you get attacked by...

Of course, no tomato can will stop the Avenging Son, scrambled brains or not. He destroys it but the ensuing blast knocks him out. When he wakes up, he's wearing a metallic vest and some lady is about to serve him a pork chop on rice. When he threatens to kick her ass, this guy reveals himself.

Ha ha ha ha ha! Great name, jackass!

Meanwhile, Dorma knows something is up and she seeks to find her missing prince with some encouraging words from her entourage.

While Dorma navigates her way around a giant squid, Dorcas prepares to transfer Namor's powers, and that of a shark (lol...), to a former Olympic swimmer named Todd who lost the ability to swim and would do anything to restore it. End result? Classic Sub-Mariner villain, y'all.

Tiger Shark loses his shit, messes up Dorcas and bails just as Dorma arrives. He threatens Dorma's safety and that's not going to fly. Namor could probably give a shit or two about Todd normally, but don't be threatening his lady love, my bro.

The whole power transfer thing wore out Namor so Shark does ultimately get the upper hand, however. And so we have a good ol' cliffhanger to lead us into issue #6.

Boy, an awful lot of stuff went on here. It was goofy entertaining and while the original plan was to jump around between eras with this character, I may need to conclude this one sooner rather than later.

By the way, I thought this Dorcas guy was a throwaway mad scientist but damned if he didn't appear in future issues of this book and as recently as the Thunderbolts in 2012. Waste not want not, Marvel!