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 […]

Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, Warlock & E-Man – The SF-Superhero Competition: 31 Days Of Atlas #21

continued from here, although today’s post is, I assure you, largely self-contained: Perhaps I might pause at this point in proceedings to cast a glance at the competition faced by Phoenix: The Man Of Tomorrow #1 on the newsstands of November 1974. Given that the title was Atlas Comics’ opening gambit in its attempt to […]

Or We Might Choose To Study Jim Starlin’s Captain Marvel Instead: 31 Days Of Atlas #20

continued from here: To suggest the creators of Phoenix: The Man Of Tomorrow #1 would have benefitted from the example of DC Comic’s pioneering Silver Age superhero reboots isn’t to say that that alone would have made a bestseller out of Rovin and Amendola’s book. By 1974, DC Comics was itself struggling in the marketplace, […]

Bring On The (Interesting) Bad Guys: 31 Days Of Atlas #19

continued from here: As I’ve been discussing in the past few blog posts, the Phoenix was a profoundly unimpressive comicbook, and the shortfalls in craft that caused that underachievement appear rooted in a lack of control when it came to the narrative traditions of the superhero genre. Yet none of that means that Phoenix couldn’t […]