Or so Sub-Mariner #33 seemed at the time.
Much as I disliked Atlantean noblewoman Lady Dorma when Stan Lee was writing the book —
— Roy Thomas taking over Sub-Mariner has made her … acceptable. She’s still primarily The Girlfriend, but being a high-born Atlantean and Namor’s right-hand she plays a limited leadership role in a number of stories. Like most love interests of that era, though, her personality consists of little besides loving Namor and worrying about him.
Then came #33, “Come the Cataclysm,” by Thomas and Sal Buscema. This is one of the rare comic books I somehow acquired during the three years I wasn’t buying them. I’ve no idea why I got it or if someone gave it to me but the story didn’t work for me at all. Encountering it again as part of my Silver Age reread, I like it a lot more.
In the previous issue Namor traveled to Lemuria, the Pacific counterpart to Atlantis, in hopes of striking an alliance. He wound up battling Llyra, a half-human, half-Lemurian woman who’d taken over the kingdom and whose powers included Aquaman-like control of sea creatures. Defeating her and freeing the Lemurians sealed the deal on the alliance.
While he was gone, however, one of the surface nations bombs Atlantis. In lieu of Namor, everyone turns to Byrrah, his evil cousin — sure, evil, but he’s royalty, right? By the time Namor returns, Atlantis is all in for Byrrah and ready to follow him in yet another war against the air breathers above. Byrrah generously gives Namor 24 hours to prove there’s no casus belli, confident he’ll fail — and once Byrrah is king, Dorma will be his bride (he makes clear her consent is not an issue).
As Namor swims off, he thinks of the women he’s known …
I do like that Buscema page.
Suffice to say, Namor exposes the bombing as a false flag attack by Byrrah’s allies Dr. Dorcas and Krang. Byrrah’s bid for the crown collapses but Namor realizes if he’d had a queen, someone who truly shared his rulership, Byrrah could have been stopped cold before he started. So, Dorma, what would you say to becoming first lady of Atlantis?
Why does it work better now? Even though this is technically a done-in-one story, it’s heavily dependent on backstory. Namor’s tangled love life. Byrrah, a foe who goes back to the Golden Age (but appeared in one Silver Age story already). Two more old foes in Krang and Dorcas. It’s still not a stellar story but it does have more heft now that I’m familiar with all that.
The issue was quite controversial at the time. A lot of letters complained that being unattached was part of Namor’s appeal, at least to female readers, and being tied down to a woman would kill that. As it turned out, that was a moot point, as Namor wound up a widower four issues later. I’m sure I’ll get to that before long.
