I've always been fond of aquatic characters and Namor, The Sub-Mariner seems to be the greatest earliest of them all. I think Bill Everett was the best artist the various times he worked on his own creation. I think the main Everett eras would be '40s (including Namora #1), '50s (the Atlas run), and '70s (with #57 being possibly the single greatest issue artwise of his career). Next I would rate Marie Severin. In an ideal universe she would've had a long run on Sub-Mariner (and Doctor Strange). Then we have John Buscema who started his solo comic off so well in the '60s (those covers with Tiger-Shark and Triton and the city photograph are up there with his Silver Surfer) followed closely by Adam Austin who became Gene Colan for the great run in '60s Tales To Astonish (I think his style suited the underwater world very well, perhaps only Dracula/Night Force playing to his strengths even more). I guess that leaves Byrne out just because frankly I have never gotten to it... where does one start, Namor #1? P. Craig Russel and Alan Weiss would be good fits with the character if any exist. I did see/read some Mike Mignola... and it was good.

For an 80th anniversary my ideal would include a short run of the complete '50s Everett stories in affordable 'floppies'.