On Phoenix, The Man Of Tomorrow #1: 31 Days Of Atlas #15

Of the three titles in the first wave of Atlas colour comics to be shipped, Phoenix: The Man Of Tomorrow #1 was the closest to a traditional superhero title. (*1) Then as now, that was the comics industry’s dominant genre, and Phoenix was going to have to compete in an intimidatingly crowded marketplace. First impressions, […]

So How Appalling Is Ironjaw?: 31 Days Of Atlas # 13

Trigger warning for a discussion that focuses upon the venomous misogyny, including sexual violence, that featured in mid-70s issues of Ironjaw and Conan. continued from here; One way of discussing the profoundly misogynistic content of Fleisher and Sekowsky’s Ironjaw #1 is to compare it to another characteristically chauvinistic barbarian title of the period, Marvel’s The […]

Oh No, It’s Ironjaw!: 31 Days Of Atlas #12

continued from here: There were more than a few moments in Michael Fleisher’s career as a comicbook writer when it feels as if he was, to use a 21st century term, trolling both his employers and his readers. Never is this a more compelling suspicion than with the enthusiastically inept Ironjaw, a spectacularly ill-conceived and […]

Back To The Golden Age With The Grim Ghost!: 31 Days Of Atlas #7

continued from yesterday’s post If Atlas Comics was indeed the “NEW House Of Ideas”, then what did The Grim Ghost have to say about this brand new direction for comicbooks? Somewhat bewilderingly, the comic suggested the brave new world of Atlas was nothing more or less than a return to the Golden Age and […]

Enter The Grim Ghost (1/3): 31 Days Of Atlas #6

In the second week of November 1975, Atlas shipped its first three colour comics: The Phoenix, a science fiction/superhero title: Ironjaw, a future-era barbarian yarn: The Grim Ghost, a horror-flavoured adventurer. It was an opening salvo that, superficially at least, made a great deal of commercial sense. In the collapsing comicbook marketplace of the mid-70s, […]

First Blood, “Movie Monsters”: 31 Days Of Atlas #3

According to the invaluable Mike’s Newsstand, Movie Monsters #1, the very first release from Seaboard/Atlas, was propelled into the comics marketplace on November 15th 1974. It was, to say the least, an odd choice with which to kick off the Goodman’s new venture. Within its covers, no mention of the company’s coming products awaited the […]

The Creators Of Marvel Comics?: 31 Days Of Atlas #2

Atlas/Seaboard’s publishing schedule began with every appearance of caution. In October 1974, the company debuted two new magazine titles, Movie Monsters and Weird Tales Of The Macabre. Each trod exceptionally well-trodden paths, and, as a consequence, each could have passed, at first glance, as the products of several other companies. (It had always been the […]

The Death Of Atlas Comics: 31 Days Of Atlas: #1

A mere year after the Lilliputian British fan press had picked up on the formation of Seaboard Publishing and its Atlas Comics imprint, the company was, in the worlds of UK fanzine The Panelologist, “stone dead”. In terms of shipping product to the marketplace, Seaboard/Atlas had been active for just 9 months, from October 1974 […]