Si Spurrier says: THE SUB-MARINER
We’re going to do something a bit different here. Rather than taking an idea or golden-age character and reinventing them as a Modern! Day! Super! Hero!, we’re going to take an ages-old superhero, throw away 90% of the background, and get Conceptual. This is important, pay attention:
You will not be redesigning Namor The Sub-mariner. Namor the Sub-mariner is an extant Marvel property and, hahaha, jiggering about with those isn’t what we do here, is it? No sir it is not. No no no. No, what you’ll be doing is taking a couple of notable niblets from his Origin Story – niblets which frankly aren’t even unique to him – and evolving them upwards into a Brand New Character. Which is a brilliant and inventive process which totally respects and pays homage to the original character, yes indeed, and won’t get us shot in the digital face by a C&D order. FUN.
For what it’s worth: Namor the Sub-Mariner is a fictional comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe, and one of the first superheroes, debuting in Spring 1939. The character was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for Funnies Inc. The child of a human sea captain and of a princess of the mythical undersea kingdom of Atlantis, Namor possesses the super-strength and aquatic abilities of the “Homo mermanus” race, as well as the mutant ability of flight, along with other superhuman powers. Now forget you read that. Most of it, anyway. For the purposes of this challenge, there are just 18 words we’re interested in:
“The child of a human sea captain and of a princess of the mythical undersea kingdom of Atlantis.”
That’s your mission, my swampy loves. Make me believe that the character I’m looking at is half human, and half… other. Really and genuinely Of The Ocean. A briny being of bubbly brilliance, a nautical numpty, and similar alliterative bumsoup. Truly, a “mer/man”. Or maid, if you like. Or slut. Or spinster. Whatever.
Forget the Crime Fighting. Forget the spandex shtick. Definitely forget the brachycepahlic forehead and fruity ankle wings, which – as awesome as they may be – don’t shriek “oceanic life” to me.
Build me a mythical marvel.
Me: Sorry, don’t have mythical marvel in stock. Got this, though:
And it got me an entry at Bleeding Cool
Brian le Golem 