Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (3 Stars)

I'd heard many of my friends raving about "Wakanda Forever" (to shorten its name). They told me how good it is. This gave me high hopes when I visited the cinema in Birmingham today. I was disappointed. It comes nowhere near the quality of the first Black Panther film. I would have given it an even lower rating if it hadn't improved in the final half hour. The bright colours of the first film have been replaced by mostly drab, murky cinematography. The story isn't exciting. The plot just plods along.

I was particularly disappointed by the portrayal of Prince Namor, shown above at Bill Everett's grave. The character called Namor in the film isn't the same character as the one in the Marvel comics. Not even close. Namor in the film is the ruler of Talokan, a sunken city based on the Aztec myths of Tlalocan. This makes him ethnically central American, and he's played by a Mexican actor. Namor in the comics is the ruler of the sunken city of Atlantis, and he has a western European complexion.

The location of Atlantis is deliberately kept vague in Namor's early comic appearances, but it's obviously somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean between America and Europe, probably closer to Europe. In later comics (Tales To Astonish #96, October 1967) we find that the original Atlantis was in the Antarctic, but after its destruction the Atlanteans relocated to the North Atlantic.

Prince Namor, usually called the Sub-Mariner, first appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 in October 1939, written and drawn by Bill Everett. At first he threatens to destroy the USA, but after falling in love with an American policewoman he's persuaded that his real enemy is Nazi Germany. For the next six years he battles the Nazis. After that his main enemy is Communists. He wasn't an American, but he became a symbol of American patriotism.

After two years of appearing as a B-Story in Marvel Mystery Comics (the main character was the Human Torch), Namor was given his own comic in March 1941. It was cancelled after 42 issues in October 1955. Namor's adventures continued in parallel in the first 91 issues of Marvel Mystery Comics.

All this time, Namor's stories were written and drawn by Bill Everett. This changed in May 1962. Bill Everett's stories were written for Timely and Atlas Comics. The rights to his stories and characters were acquired by Marvel Comics in 1961. After a seven-year absence Namor was re-introduced in Fantastic Four #4, written by Stan Lee.

After appearing in various comics as a villain, Namor was finally given his own story in Tales To Astonish #70 (August 1965).

This was a comic that he shared with the Hulk, who was relegated to the B-Story. At that time Namor was the more popular character with the fans.

Bill Everett returned as the artist in Tales To Astonish #78 (April 1966), after which he drew most of the issues. Stan Lee continued to write most of the stories. In my opinion, these 10-page stories were some of the best comics ever written. But then again, I love everything Stan Lee ever wrote.

In May 1968 Namor was finally given his own full-length comic book. The series was hit or miss. Roy Thomas wrote excellent stories for the first 40 issues. After this he was followed by other writers of lesser quality. The series was salvaged when Bill Everett took over the writing in Sub-Mariner #50 (June 1972), but his health was already failing and he couldn't write or draw on a regular basis. After Bill Everett's death the series fell apart, and it was finally cancelled after 72 issues.

That concludes my brief history of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner in comics. That's where you'll find the real Namor. The character in the film is a sham.