I tracked down that issue of Sub-Mariner so we can see how this goes. I don’t know what that 1/- is in the corner box. Let’s see how Subby’s living in his own book these days. You may be surprised to learn this comic is by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan. Yeah, the same people who did the preceding DD issue! Sam Grainger inks Colan here, as Namor & Spider-Man fall through a featureless void with the lady from the thing, who tells Namor there’s nothing to fear. I mean… Falling through nothing feels bad to me. Namor and Spidey tell each other what happened in DD 77 in case you weren’t there and then we can get moving. Spidey guesses maybe they’re falling into the teardrop thing from last issue, and she says they might find the truth even more shocking, but that’s it. They just keep on fallin’ like Alicia Keys.
“You got that wand hooked up to a squid, ma’am?” As the trio is bathed in darkness, the lady says she’s from “The People of The Black Sea,” expecting Namor to know what that means, but he chooses to remain silent. Spidey wonders if they’re going crazy (One of his signature moves under Conway), but Namor sez no.
Spidey is getting really annoyed that no one will tell him what’s going on. A fair feeling, I’d say. The woman reveals The City in the distance. Namor implies “The Black Sea” is a myth in Atlantis, and we’re told he’s very troubled. Then we cutaway to an old guy called Mr. Tuvall in a nursing home, saying he doesn’t want anything to eat, and he has a lot of thinking to do. Ok. Is this a Namor subplot, I guess? It doesn’t seem like it? Then it’s back to “The City.”
While Spidey contemplates his own troubles, the woman, Princess Tuvia, leads a mob to this Turalla guy’s places. As she tries to rile up the people for a revolution, Turalla comes out, saying she seems to care more for Namor than him even though they’re betrothed (Ain’t they always in a story like this?). She says he can’t marry her until he’s fought her champion, as is the law, so Namor is summoned to Turalla’s citadel to get it crackin’.
Colan has Spidey doing a lot of hand acting. As they head out to the fight, Tuvia says the law totally allows for 2 champions to fight Turalla, which seems deeply unfair, but he doesn’t seem to care. He’s warned he can’t use his “vicious mindblasts,” that he can only rassle these boys, and then it’s on.
Namor flips Turalla into the ground, but he’s still awake, and he grabs Spider-Man by the head and smashes him into some rocks. Spidey’s not doing so well, so Namor hits the floor, collapsing the ground beneath Turalla and letting Spider-Man get free.
Wh… what? Talk about a deus ex machina! Seriously?? The random old guy in New England shot a mental zap all the way to wherever-this-is out of nowhere? Good grief. What a weird issue. Spidey leaves this wacky duel of honor to go appear in ASM 98 now, I think. Cap 138, the 2nd half of his guest spot in that book, came out the same month as DD 77, and this came out 2 months later. This could’ve happened before ASM 95, but I think it has to take place before 98, so I’m saying all 4 of these guest spots took place between ASM 97 and 98. So it shall be!