Warning: SPOILERS for Marvels Snapshots: Sub-Mariner
The premiere issue of Marvels Snapshots finds Namor the Sub-Mariner fighting not only a Nazi shark-mercenary, but his own volatile, emotional memories of World War II. Snapshots is a series of one-shots in the style of the landmark Marvels miniseries, emphasizing superhero stories told from the perspective of a "normal" companion or colleague, with a nostalgic ambiance enhanced by Alex Ross's painterly covers.
Snapshots #1 (from writer Alan Brennert and artist Jerry Ordway), titled "Reunion," takes place as the world recovers from World War II. In the Marvel timeline, Namor fought on the European front alongside Allied heroes such as Captain America and Human Torch, comprising the first roster of those we now consider Marvel superheroes. The narrator of "Reunion" is Betty Dean, a police-officer-turned-war-correspondent, sometimes Namor's romantic partner. Betty takes Namor to an oceanside amusement park in New Jersey, for relaxation and an unanticipated Nazi Shark attack.
Namor quickly recognizes Verrill Shark, a villain of comics' Golden Age, not to be confused with frequent foe Tiger Shark or DC's King Shark. Namor grows enraged upon seeing the swastika emblem on Shark's suit. Shark maintains he is merely a mercenary employed by the Nazis, but Namor cares not for that distinction, and makes his feelings known:
The All-Winners Squad soon arrives, among them the classic versions of Miss America, Captain America, and the Human Torch. The Torch sheds light on the wartime memory which triggered Namor's fury. In a piercing flashback, Namor remembers finding the Nazi concentration camp outside of Bitburg, Germany, and seeing the mass graves of those slaughtered there. Uncharacteristically, the Sub-Mariner breaks into tears. "I'd never seen him cry before," says the Human Torch.
The storytelling style in Snapshots errs towards old-fashioned, a purposeful lean into the nostalgic Golden and Silver Age touchstones which distinguished the Busiek/Ross Marvels series. When viewed by "bystanding" narrators like Betty Dean, the superheroes' spectacles gain a sense of immediacy and awe which, ironically, magnifies their internal conflicts for the reader. Namor is a half-human, half-Atlantean mutant who has been unwelcome in both worlds. Typically a macho, imperious superhuman (even by Marvel standards) it is unusual to see him so affected. As ubiquitous as paranormal sharks have become in current pop culture, so the threat of white-supremacist dogma remains ever-present, which again reflects the "timely" relevance that makes Marvels a special part of the Marvel Universe.
Marvels Snapshots #1 is available now at all fine comic book outlets.