Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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It's another month for us and a bumper one for Atlas, as yet more of its magic arrives to fuel our imaginations.
But just what will that seemingly unstoppable juggernaut of a minnow throw at us, this time, to convince us to dump Marvel Comics and pledge our allegiance to the new kid on the block?
Oh. And there may be a water monster involved.
Probably one with tentacles.
My memories of this are also vague but I shall assume she's the one who turned him into an arachnid nightmare in the first place.
Also, I think her name is Nora.
You have to give Atlas credit. You don't get many American comic book characters called Nora.
In this one, mad doctor Karlheinz Speer kidnaps the scientists who rejected him, then turns them into reptile men who can survive a nuclear holocaust.
I think I'm starting to see why they rejected him.
Despite first appearances, it seems the hero of this comic isn't Plastic Man at all - but a man called the Cougar who seems to facing the menacing menace of Baron Krolok the vampire.
I assume he's no relation of Count Orlok.
But, no. It would seem he's contending with a man called Deathgrip who I can say little about but I think we can all guess just what his power is.
For some reason, I'm struggling to recall the plot of this one.
Is this the issue in which our hero kills and eats a small girl and then encounters what are clearly the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, on a train, before eating them?
I know nothing of the stories within this issue, other than its first tale is called ...Taxi 2147 is Missing! while the second is Whatever Happened To Luke Malone?!
But there's more because we also find a back-up strip called Chennault Must Die!! which stars good old Warhawk.
That's followed by a chiller called The Last Train and then one titled Requiem for a Werewolf! These are tales which give Tom Sutton and Jerry Grandenetti the chance to show off their horror skills.
My memories of this one are fuzzy but, beyond our hero's acquisition of a new wardrobe, I do feel I recall his boss not being altogether trustworthy.
I would claim a sensational new hero makes his debut but I do believe he's already appeared in one of Atlas's other books.
Plus, let's be honest, he's not exactly sensational.
And, finally, this month, Vicki is also back, with a string of fun short stories reprinted from the 1960s.
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15 comments:
Some really striking covers - but derivative, as Steve's noted. But, then again, maybe sometimes inspirational, not derivative!
Regarding 'The Destructor # 2', Deathgrip is a villain I know from Captain Marvel # 55/56 ( Deathgrip's helmet was like a Star Wars Tie-fighter! ) But that was in 1978!
Thinking about it, the villain on The Destructor # 2's cover's much more reminiscent of Leroy Tallon (with his bionic hand), from Amazing Spidey # 155! Again, later than '75, so inspirational, not derivative?
Others seem derivative particularly in terms of nicking names from other characters - something previously noted. But - again - maybe, it being 1975, some of these preceded the characters with similar names (?) Tarantula? No, Marvel got dibs on that, in '74. The Brute - oh, I can't be bothered....Wulf the Britain - that must have been earlier!
Phillip
So where would Atlas get materials from the 1960s to reprint? Shirley such works we’re still under copyright protection?
Also, given that these works are basically derivative. It seems to demonstrate that there is more or less a finite supply of origins or ideas for superheroes and bad guys. Marvel and DC and Gold Key had pretty much exhausted that by the early 1970s it would seem.
That said with all the genetic engineering perhaps we can come up with new types of animals and fruits or vegetables, which could serve as the basis for new heroes and villains?
ChArlie
A new publisher can reprint old stuff simply by licencing it from the rights holders, Charlie. Comic publishers do it all the time. Like when Marvel UK reprinted the old British comic strip Wulf the Briton.
Btw Phillip, that Wulf and his attempted Brexit from the Roman empire originally appeared in the late 50s.
https://comiccreatorsuk.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/artist-highlight-ron-embleton/
-sean
Steve, mad Dr Speer in the Brute #2 was the poor man's Anton Arcane. I didn't really understand how turning humans into fish-people was supposed to save the population from World War Three. Wouldn't it have made more sense to campaign against nuclear proliferation?
I do recall a fella in a bowler hat in Morlock 2001 #2, so I think you've got that right about it being the issue with the Clockwork Orangemen.
-sean
PS If the Plastic Man lookalike on the cover of The Cougar isn't the title character, are you sure its not actually the woman in the purple tutu-type get up? Perhaps she's not as young as she looks...
-sean
I had a couple of those. Anyone who's got a Vicki comic has got something special, they just didn't seem to make many. Those were reprinted from Tower Comics Tippy Teen.
Boudicca was the first Brexiteer!
Killraven:
I was lucky enough to buy copies of all 4 issues of VICKI back in the 1990s, before the prices went full-on cuckoo. At that time, pretty much all the other Atlas four-color issues could still be easily found in Dollar Bins everywhere, and since I’d gotten it into my head that I needed to own every single comic Atlas published, I was able to do so without much effort or expense.
The b/w comics mags were usually a bit pricier, but not outrageously so, and copies were relatively easy to find at the various Comic Cons I attended. Word had gotten out that the 4 VICKIs were rarer than the other titles, but I’m pretty sure I got most of them for just a few dollars each. I may have paid as much as $10 for one .
The sad/funny part of all this is that although the VICKIs are worth a lot now, I don’t have any intention to sell them on eBay or to some comics shop. And not because they’re awesome comics or anything (frankly, they’re not) — I just like having them because they complete my Atlas Comics set.
Good thing GOTHIC ROMANCES isn’t considered a comic book — I do wish I’d snagged a copy of it back when it was affordable, but it doesn’t keep me awake at night :D
b.t.
I wasn't aware Vicki was worth a few pennies, I gave mine away (apart from issue 1) a few years ago. Actually I gave most of my Atlas comics and mags away but have picked up a few again from the bargin bins for £1 each. By far the worst of their titles imho was the woeful kung fu comic " The hands of the Dragon" which should appear here soon - saying that the Cougar wasn't braw either (I didn't realise his costume was similar to Plastic Mans as Sean notes)..
"Poor man's Anton Arcane."
I love that phrase.
We may never truly come to understand the thinking behind Atlas/Seaboard, what with the cannibalism. Jesus.
They were worth a quarter a pop I guess, just to see some mind-boggling weirdness.
Speaking of mind-boggling weirdness, I Just reread REH's Red Nails for maybe the first time since I was a kid. Holy $#!! That story is horrific!
I had nightmares.
My God.
Mass slaughter. But of course, our man Conan strolls off with a wench on his arm and a cheerful disposition.
Y'know, according to Sir Richard Burton's (not the actor) translation of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Sinbad the sailor was overcome by a severe case of PTSD.
He was shakin' like a leaf on a tree.
Who could blame him?
Fighting supernatural monsters all the time just plain rattles some folks, but not Conan, I guess,
M.P.
I can't take credit for the Plastic Man observation, Anon (Paul?) - Steve noted the resemblance in his post first.
-sean
So, at a bit of a loose end this afternoon, and inspired by that Cougar cover - which isn't too bad (Frank Thorne, no?) - I decided to check out the comic online.
https://tombrevoort.com/2022/05/14/brand-echh-the-cougar-1/
The Plastic Man costume is particularly odd seeing as there's no explanation for it anywhere in what otherwise obviously isn't a super-hero story (the only references to 'The Cougar' appear in the narrative text - no-one actually calls him that in the dialogue).
My favourite bit is where our hero convinces the female character to act as bait for Baron Krolok - "There's his superhuman strength -- and the fact that bullets don't seem to have any effect on him. But with the police outside, and me next door, you'll be perfectly safe!" Brilliant, eh?
It all seems a bit pointless and - despite the absence of any cannibalism in the story - very Atlas.
-sean
Lotsa Larry Leiber covers this month.
I’m wondering if one of the Goodmans thought that a comic titled POLICE ACTION should feature nothing but cop protagonists. In any case, issue 2 gives us Luke Malone’s origin story from his days as a police detective and it’s not nearly as much fun as the first issue’s P.I. caper.
TALES OF EVIL 2 : “Requiem for a Werewolf” with excellent Tom Sutton art.
SAVAGE COMBAT TALES 2 : “Chennault Must Die” by Goodwin and Toth is good, but not on the same level of their previous Flying Tigers masterpiece “Burma Sky”.
The gag on the cover of VICKI 2 is pretty funny.
b.t.
What else to say about this batch of Atlas comics? The second issues of WEIRD SUSPENSE, MORLOCK 2001 , PLANET OF VAMPIRES and THE DESTRUCTOR don’t represent a huge drop in quality next to their first issues, they’re sort of “More Of The Same”, for better or worse.
IIRC, Larry Hama was dealing with the stress of his mother dying while he was working on WULF 2 so he recruited a bunch of his pals to help draw it. The first issue was definitely better.
TARGITT (now “JOHN TARGITT — MAN-STALKER”) gets the Goodman-mandated Superhero Makeover treatment, but the change is mostly cosmetic. It’s pretty much the same concept as the first issue — Targitt may be wearing long-johns and a helmet now but he’s still a gun-toting, mob-busting vigilante in the Mack Bolan mold. Howard Nostrand’s quirky visuals remain fun to look at.
TIGER MAN — I generally like Ernie Colon’s art but this is far from his best work. The character design is very unappealing and that cover is kinda awful.
THE COUGAR — yeah, it’s a pretty weak head-scratcher of a comic. Why is he dressed like that? Why is he called The Cougar? Who knows?
One general thought : as a measure of how closely the Goodmans were following Marvel’s lead, there’s sure a lot of vampires and other horror tropes here. Ironically, Marvel’s various Monster books were right on the cusp of being phased out at this time.
In other Atlas-related news: out of curiosity, I checked on eBay to see how much the VICKI comics are going for these days. Prices are all over the place. At the lower end, there’s a “G/VG” VICKI 1 with a split spine going for $20 and at the upper end, a CGC slabbed “9.2” VICKI 2 selling for $200. Bottom-line, they’re not exactly “cheap” but I figure selling my set wouldn’t net me all that much. If they end up in a landfill when I’m gone, I’m totally fine with that :)
b.t.
Sounds like someone is going to have to pry Vicki fromBT’s “cold, dead dingers” LOL
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