i'm pretty certain we're saying the same thing in a slightly different way.

We are absolutely not.

I'm relaying a statement from a Marvel head-honcho that, unless outright contradicted, the Golden and Atlas Age stories HAPPENED IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. Full stop.

You're saying, that because you don't happen to agree with the silly tone of some Golden Age tales, they must therefore be "fictionalized retellings" of themselves.

Feh.


in the real account the Sub Mariner would be grimly attacking

The "real account" by your definition, of course. Because you, some fan, know exactly how the Sub-Mariner would react in any given situation. Any other reaction than the one you happen to be thinking of, MUST be non-canon.


According to Marvel canon, the Patriot and the Whizzer wore the outfits you'll find them wearing in any version of Marvel Universe so any stories where Bob Frank was running around bare armed with a cape and a stereotypical 'yassuh, landsakes massah' saying Black youth, must logically be a fiction.

I'm sorry -- did I miss the issue where it was stated definitively, using charts and graphs, that the Whizzer never once wore a bare-armed costume with a cape? No, because that issue doesn't exist. You're really stretching here.

And are you seriously trying to say that because the Phantom reporter was wearing red and blue, not violet and purple, and that because his hair is different, that the story "didn't really happen"? Land sakes, man, people are allowed to change their outfits! And yes, they sometimes go bald over a 5-year period.

It's comics. The 1940s stories come from the 1940s and are products of their times -- but that's the real Cap, Namor and Bucky running around. Marvel says so. I'm sorry if you think they're acting out-of-character, but that was 50 years ago for them too. Maybe the Sub-Mariner changed a little bit between 1941 and the 21st century. Lord knows a lot of other folks that age have.

I really don't think you need to spend so much energy trying to hammer the Marvel Universe into a rigid framework that adheres to your specific ideas about how it "should" work. Just read and enjoy.

-Jeph!

bitches don't know 'bout my Squeakworth Williams
Last Edited By: jephyork Sep 16 08 4:09 AM. Edited 2 times.