On The Surprising Competency Of Wulf The Barbarian #1: 31 Days Of Atlas #31

continued from here; Atlas Comics never seemed to me to have been a well-run venture. Even as a twelve year boy, its titles seemed doomed to failure. Some of them were, briefly enough, captivating, as with The Scorpion’s first issue. Others were faintly alluring in their sheer strangeness, as with the potpouri of exploitation cliches […]

Spider-Man! Kamandi! The X-Men! – 9 Fine Comics From Atlas’ Competitors During Its Underachieving Lifetime: 31 Days Of Atlas #30

An unexpected and unavoidable family responsibility has arrived on my doorstep this morning. Which is absolutely fine, because it’s a privilege to have a family that I’m glad to feel a responsibility towards. As a consequence, I’ll delay finishing my piece about Wulf The Barbarian until tomorrow, on what will also be the last of […]

Wulf The Barbarian #1 & The Fantasy/Adventure Craze That Never Was: 31 Days Of Atlas # 29

It would be wrong to suggest that Atlas Comics was the only company in its day to struggle to come to terms with America’s speedily changing comics marketplace. Yes, Atlas went about its business with such hubris and such incompetence that it had in effect euthanised itself within a year of the announcement of its […]

Archie, Betty & Veronica Survived Where Vicky, Millie & Debbie Faltered: 31 Days Of Atlas #28

continued from here: Vicki was in many ways the most traditional form of comicbook that Atlas ever published. For wasn’t that how the form itself began in America, with thick collections of cheaply acquired pre-existing material sold to young readers with new eye-catching covers? Without access to Seaboard/Atlas’ sales figures – which I would dearly […]

Not Tippy But Vicki: 31 Days Of Atlas #27

Vicki appeared in the second batch of Atlas colour comics to reach the stands, arriving on Tuesday November 19th 1974 in the company of Wulf The Barbarian. Each was patently a grab for a pre-existing audience, Wulf, in the company of the previous week’s Iron Jaw, being aimed squarely at the fan of barbarian heroes […]

Even Loneliness Is Better Than The Cruelty Of Men: 31 Days Of Atlas #26

continued, and concluded, from here: Perhaps the most radical aspect of 1961’s Fantastic Four #1 was the way in which the comic’s super-villain was framed as even more of a victim than a menace. Rejected and mocked by American society for his looks, the Mole Man’s assaults upon the USA carry with them the air […]

Being Trapped At 20 Foot Tall Doesn’t Always Make For A Fascinating Story: 31 Days Of Atlas #25

continued from here: Time and again we can see Marvel’s creators attempting to lend Hank Pym a convincing shtick. But from frustrations in his love-life to insecurity about the degree of power he wielded, nothing ever took. In this, we can see how even the greatest of Marvel’s creators could mistake the surface appeal of […]

Owning The Woe: 31 Days Of Atlas #24

In which the blogger attempts to define the appeal of the earliest Marvel Comics, so as to nail down why Atlas’ attempts to clone that method were so unsuccessful, continued from here: It wasn’t that the Marvel Comics of the key period 1961-8 were consciously designed to identify the universe as meaningless and human beings, […]

Back To The Origins Of Superman & Batman: 31 Days Of Atlas #23

continued from here and its discussion of what was revolutionary about the Marvel Revolution, and why it was that Atlas Comics never seemed to grasp how to productively appropriate the new approach that Lee, Kirby, Ditko et al’s developed during the 60s; This was not how the superhero genre was held to work. Most especially […]

What Actually Was The Marvel Method Then?: 31 Days Of Atlas Comics # 22

continued from here: In an earlier post about Atlas Comics’ Phoenix: The Man Of Tomorrow, I argued – beginning here – that the book’s stories didn’t appear to reflect an informed grasp of the history of the superhero comic on the part of its creators. In particular, I suggested that the narrative traditions used in […]