Is a "sea monster" a mindless animal...or something more?
That's what this story from Atlas' World of Suspense #7, 1957 asks...
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Showing posts with label Atlas Comics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlas Comics. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "When the Creature Escapes"
Friday, January 5, 2024
Friday Fun HOMER THE HAPPY GHOST "Meet the Neighbors!"
What if Stan (the Man) Lee had written Casper the Friendly Ghost?
Well, he did!
Sort of...
Due to the success of Casper in both animation and comic books in the early 1950s, numerous companies jumped on the friendly phantom bandwagon with clones barely different enough to avoid copyright and trademark infringement lawsuits!
Writer/editor Stan Lee and artist Dan de Carlo presented Atlas Comics' take with this never-reprinted 1955 premiere tale which combines Lee's snarky Catskill vaudeville humor with de Carlo's polished animation-style artwork!
Homer the Happy Ghost ran until 1958 (22 issues, plus a 2-issue spinoff, Adventures of Homer Ghost)!
In 1968, Atlas' successor Marvel (you might have heard of them) signed a new distribution deal freeing them from the sixteen-title per month limit they had during most of the Silver Age under the previous contract.
Lee brought back Homer in reprint form, hoping to run new material if the book sold well.
Whether it was due to poor sales or Harvey Comics (which was at its' peak with over two-dozen Casper titles) finally laying the copyright/trademark law down, this incarnation only lasted four issues without ever getting to run new stories!
Homer hasn't been seen since!
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Casper the Friendly Ghost
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Thursday, December 28, 2023
Best of Reading Room ASTONISHING "The Scientists"
This original version is a page longer and has a couple of rather witty touches which put the lie to the concept "If our meddling with time changed anything, we'd notice!"
This never-reprinted story, penciled by Harry Lazarus and inked by George Klein, from Atlas' Astonishing #9 (1952) is based on one of the basic rules of time-travel; "don't change anything in the past, or you'll alter the future"...which is in direct contradiction to another of the basic rules of time-travel; "no matter what you do, you can't change the future".
Hey, I'm just telling you the rules.
I never said they made sense...
Monday, December 11, 2023
Monday Madness MYSTIC "Help Wanted"
A Christmas tale that begins, weirdly enough, just before Easter...
...proves it didn't pay to be a Scrooge in the 1950s...or today!
Mort Lawrence illustrated this tale of Xmas justice from Atlas' Mystic #19 (1953) including a rather...unusual-looking...demon.
This proved a tad problematic when editor Roy Thomas made the tale the cover feature for an issue of Marvel's 1970s horror reprint anthology Vault of Evil!
Penciller Gil Kane and inker John Romita Sr followed the demon's design perfectly...but someone forgot to tell the cover copywriter what the story was about!
There's no story in #6 (1973) even vaguely-related to insects!
And detail-obsessed Roy Thomas is the last person you'd expect to allow such a mistake!
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Thursday, November 23, 2023
Holiday Reading Room UNCANNY TALES "Executioner"
This may not appear to be a holiday tale...
...but it is...for everyone except the unseen (until the end) victim!
Could you tell that this Myron Fass-illustrated story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #9 (1953) was done during the horror comics craze of the early 1950s?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Reading Room WORLD OF SUSPENSE "Forbidden!"
Here's another never-reprinted tale from the Atlas Comics vault...
...illustrated by longtime comics book artist Ed Winiarski and scripted by a writer whose name is lost to the sands of time, though it may be Ed himself!
This never-reprinted story from Atlas' World of Suspense #8 (1957) is one of Winiarski's last stories in comics before either retiring or switching to other media like advertising after a 20-year career in comics!
Trivia: Ed is one of the creators cited in Stan Lee's book (really a booklet) Secrets of the Comics as shown HERE!
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Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Reading Room WEIRD MEN'S ADVENTURES "I Walked on the Moon"
In the early 1950s, EC Comics set the pace for other companies...
...as this hybrid sci-fi/horror tale from Atlas' Men's Adventures #26 (1954) clearly demonstrates!
You'll note the post's header reads Weird Men's Adventures, but I mentioned earlier the book was just Men's Adventures.
It's not a typo.
The indicia title was Men's Adventures, and from 1-20 it featured war and high adventure tales.
But, with #21, it became a horror title and "Weird" was added in a graphic burst to the logo (but not the indicia).
Six issues later, the brief revival of the Golden Age Human Torch and Toro took over the book for two issues before it was cancelled.
Though the writer for this tale from is unknown, the artist (doing a credible Wally Wood imitation) is Gene Colan!
Trivia: When the story was reprinted in Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales #17 (1976), it was retitled and the splash panel was rewritten (including removing the "Weird Men's Adventure" blurb)...
Considering that, in 1976, it was over five years since the first Moon landing, I'm not certain why the editor made the change...
BTW, note the "originally-presented" caption references the wrong issue!
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Thursday, October 5, 2023
Reading Room AMAZING DETECTIVE CASES "Ghost Story"
Here's a never-reprinted 1950s tale...
... that's both about law enforcement and justice from beyond the grave!
You may note the Joe Maneely-illustrated cover doesn't really match the Bill Everett-rendered tale from Atlas' Amazing Detective Cases #13 (1952)
There are several possible reasons for that.
1) the cover and interior art were done at two different points in time, sometimes months apart!
2) The cover artist didn't have copies of the interior pages as visual reference, only plot descriptions from the editor!
3) the cover was done before the interior art as a "springboard" and the actual writer/artist(s) made changes when they were creating the story!
All three of these reasons could (and did) apply to Atlas Comics' books if the story's artist didn't do the cover...as was the case most of the time!
3) the cover was done before the interior art as a "springboard" and the actual writer/artist(s) made changes when they were creating the story!
All three of these reasons could (and did) apply to Atlas Comics' books if the story's artist didn't do the cover...as was the case most of the time!
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Monday, October 2, 2023
Monday Madness WORLD OF FANTASY "Cry for Help!"
Over the centuries, men have come up with many excuses for deserting their families...
...but I've never heard of "for the advancement of science" as a reason!
Illustrated by Kurt (Lois Lane) Schaffenberger, and likely plotted (if not also scripted) by editor Stan Lee, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956) points out how the family is truly our most important social construct, and how it should not be neglected!
And, you never know when it'll save your life!
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Thursday, September 28, 2023
Reading Room (JOURNEY INTO) UNKNOWN WORLDS "Prisoner of TIme!"
Here's a weird tale, even by the loose standards of 1950s comic book sci-fi...
...and, to top it off, thr tale is told by persons unknown!
Neither the writer nor artist(s) for this never-reprinted story from Atlas' Journey Into Unknown Worlds #36 (1950) have been conclusively identified, though some think longtime Atlas/Marvel production pro Sol Brodsky penciled it.
BTW, though it was numbered #36, it was actually #1 in the Journey into Unknown Worlds series!
BTW, though it was numbered #36, it was actually #1 in the Journey into Unknown Worlds series!
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