Atlas/Seaboard July 1975.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

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Hold on to your hats, literature lovers, because there's a whole mountain range of comics from Atlas to get through, this month.

With such activity, we can only assume the company's going from strength to strength.

Or is it?

Atlas heroes are not always famed for their staying power but Wulf the Barbarian's no quitter. Unlike some others, he's made it to his third issue and is still battling strong.

This time, he has a run-in with some rat-men and I seem to recall he encounters a sort of techno-mage blessed with a big industrial complex, or something. Is there a vague Wizard of Oz analogy-thing also going on with it all?

There you go. Proof positive that people can never accuse me of being vague about things.

Publisher Martin Goodman once famously told Stan Lee that people wouldn't buy a comic about someone with spider-powers.

And it seems he was right because, after just three missions, the Tarantula finds his adventures coming to a premature end.

But what a way to go, with something or other happening that involves living gargoyles!

But you know who else comes a cropper this month?

None other than John Targitt himself!

And even a new costume and the appearance of all-time great super-villain Professor Death can't save his book from the curse of cancellation!

And yet another Atlas title hits the buffers.

And does so just as it introduces sensational new super-doer the Man-Monster.

I can shed little light on the Man-Monster, as I've never read this one but I do know he's a former champion swimmer and that the villain of the piece is called Hell-Blazer.

But fans of series, "regular," the Bog Beast need not despair. Despite the arrival of that new character, the Bog Beast gets one last outing when, in this issue's back-up strip, he discovers There's a Vampire Killer Still at Large!

Can the Scorpion buck the trend and survive and thrive where others are stung?

No, he can't.

Despite getting a brand new costume and being transplanted from the 1930s to the 1970s, he too comes crashing to an early demise with his third issue.

But how is it possible that he's failed when he's up against villainy as profound as that of the Golden Fuhrer who I'm sure bears no resemblance at all to Marvel's Red Skull.

Is the dedicated Atlas fan to be downhearted by all these cancellations?

No, he isn't - because he's still got Sgt Stryker and his Death Squad to keep his spirits up!

If this wasn't also their final issue.

In this month's thrilling excursion, we encounter Kill Rommel and Dead-Man's Ridge! brought to us by Archie Goodwin, Al McWilliams, and Jack Sparling.

Anybody want to bet any money on whether this will be the final issue of Planet of the Vampires?

I think we can all guess that it shall.

My knowledge of this month's tale is especially clueless but I do know it's called The Blood Plague! and comes from the brains, pencils and typewriters of John Albano and Russ Heath.

And now we encounter Atlas' most radical response yet to the failure of almost all its books.

And that's to kill a central character!

It's true. It's clearly been decided by someone in authority that a child-murdering tree isn't the best lead for a comic. And, so, he's bumped off this issue, with the plan being for him to be replaced in the book by The Midnight Men.

Sadly, that plan won't work and the comic will never be seen again.

And nor will the Midnight Men!

Apart from all that, the most intriguing aspect of this issue is it's drawn by Steve Ditko but inked by Bernie Wrightson which is a combination that should be enough to get any comic flying off the shelves.

The internet informs me that 260,000 copies of this issue were printed, with 15,000 of them for sale in Britain. This would appear to be a typical print-run for the company and its books.

But at least we can rely on Ironjaw to not go down like a sack of potatoes.

And he hasn't. He's managed to make it to his fourth issue!

Which will be his last.

It appears that, before he goes, we encounter the origin of our, "hero," who I vaguely recall having been some sort of happy-go-lucky, chilled-out peacenik entertainer who loses his jaw and turns into a psychotic thug.

It seems that even Satan can't stop the Grim Ghost's newest foe!

Having said that, the villain is dead by the end of the tale. So, he can't be that tough.

Elsewhere, Satan increases the Grim Ghost's powers, but that won't be enough to save him from his real enemy, which is public apathy. Sadly, this will prove to be Grimmy's final issue.

But all these people getting their comics cancelled after just three issues are slackers.

The Cougar manages to get his scrapped after only two!

It's true, the Hollywood stuntman turned mediocre crime-fighter has a run-in with a werewolf - who's killing everyone the Cougar knows - before ascending to the Great Stuntman Social Club in the Sky.

It's hard not to warm to the Brute, a simple soul who just wants to be left alone to eat human flesh, but even that isn't enough to save him and he too hits his final issue this month.

In this sensational thriller, our protagonist is captured by the police but escapes.

However, in another location, mad scientist Rolf Hendrick unleashes his cyborg Doomstalker upon the world!

But forget the Cougar's failure after just two issues, because Blazing Battle Tales has a gauntlet of its own that it wants to throw down - by getting cancelled after just one!

In it, Sgt Hawk encounters The One-Armed Beast  -which doesn't sound very scary. I'd be far more worried about the danger it poses if it had two of them.

That's followed by The Sky Demon in The Sky Demon!

And that's followed by Private William Swanson in The Bronze Star Winner.