Wednesday, October 14, 2020

The Last Box Of Marvel: Marie's Namor ran deep


#24 in a 27-issue limited series

There really is a baffling amount of Namor The Sub-Mariner comics from the 1960s still hanging around, but if these prove anything, it's that Marie Severin's art is so lovely and always so welcome, especially when they give her something other than the funny stuff to do. And the fact she isn't spoken of with equal reverence as almost every other Silver-Age artist is unmistakable testament to the inherent sexism of superhero comics (see also the timelessness of Ramona Fradon's squeaky clean linework).

Because while everyone else drew the Sub-Mariner like he was punching his way through the water, Marie's Namor would always glide through the ocean with supreme grace, and she always managed to give the underwater surroundings real weight. Any affection I have for Namor stops not far beneath the surface, but my love for Marie Severin's art runs very deep.

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