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, […]

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 […]

Phoenix: Neither Marvel Nor DC: 31 Days Of Atlas #18

continued from here, where the problematical relationship of The Phoenix with the storytelling tradition established by DC Silver-Age superbooks was discussed; Despite being in so many way an archetypal, if poorly executed, DC Silver-Age Sci-Fi superhero series, Phoenix came complete with what appears to have been a facile Marvelesque makeover. And so, where the likes […]

What Kind Of Superhero Are You Trying To Be?: 31 Days Of Atlas #17

continued from here: The superhero genre is far more difficult to master than so many of its detractors will allow. Sadly, it’s not difficult to find the likes of multiple award-winning film directors, who themselves have spent much of their careers working within once-despised cinematic niches, arguing otherwise. Few storytelling traditions have been regarded with […]

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, […]