Solar Reflections - A Whitman Sampler!

In the fourth and final Dark Horse Doctor Solar Man of the Atom volume we find a delightful blend of vintage superhero yarns from across many many years as the series winds down and then gets revived a time or two.

Doctor Solar battles King Cybernoid in all the remaining Gold Key issues of the series, the android with the brain of Solar's longtime implacable foe Nuro. The series loses much of its distinctive science fictional flavor in attempting to achieve a purely superhero tone.

Dick Wood is the writer of record as the series tumbles along and Al McWilliams does one issue before giving way to Ernie Colon who gives the series a lighter touch and a bit more zip in terms of action. Jose Delbo steps in to handle the last issue of the 60's run.

Then in 1980 Whitman (formerly Gold Key) attempt to revive the series and publish for the first time the second part of the Wood-Delbo story which had begun a decade before. After that scribe Roger McKenzie is brought in to craft new stories with veteran Dan Spiegle handling the artwork. The tone of the McKenzie-Spiegle issues is completely different, very much in keeping with the slightly darker tone of comics of the late Bronze Age as Solar battles King Cybernoid for a final fatal time and a dour villain called the Sentinel.

The volume closes out with a blast to the Gold Key past with a singular issue of The Occult Files of Dr.Spektor in which Doctor Solar appears as a guest star to help rescue Spektor from a charge of murder. The story by Don Glut and the artwork by Jesse Santos is quite yummy.

And that's a wrap. Doctor Solar Man of the Atom was a product of the Cold War, when the glamour and effects of the atomic bomb were an all-consuming fascination for much of the world. Starting in 1962, the year of the Cuban Missile Crisis and wrapping up in the early 80's when the Cold War was nearing its final years, the character seems to embody that phenomenon in many ways.

And that's a wrap on Doctor Solar. 

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Atlas-Seaboard Magazines - 1975!

Jeff Jones

Boris Vallejo

Ernie Colon

Neal Adams

Pujolar

George Torjussen
In addition to the avalanche of color comics, Atlas-Seaboard rolled out several B&W magazines during that hectic year of 1975. Tales of the Macabre and Devilina were straight up horror books in the tradition of Warren and later Marvel. Thrilling Adventure Stories was a bit different, a book featuring a range of stories as the title suggested of a more broadly adventurous nature. Tiger-Man debuted in TAS before getting his own color comic book. There are good stories by Frank Thorne, Jack Sparling, Jerry Grandenetti, and even a wonderful story by the Manhunter team of Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson.

The covers for the Atlas-Seaboard comic magazines were a pretty scattershot affair. There is the superb Jeff Jones piece for the debut of Tales of the Macabre followed by a solid Boris effort on issue two, in that early part of his career when his textures were still interesting.


Devilina sported a debut cover by some guy named Pujolar which had later did service as a Vampirella cover some years later (an ironic switch for sure) and then for the second issue a George Torjussen effort that really tore up the expectations. That cover is sexy and weird at the same time. Torjussen has expressed a low regard for this cover, but I think it's fabulous.

Ernie Colon's artwork on the first issue of Thrilling Adventure Stories was decent and necessarily muddled, but Neal Adams really showed up strong on the second issue. There sure is no effort to affect a house style with these covers. I had to gather these up years later, as the magazines slipped by me during the summer of 1975 originally. They are worth the effort.

Harryhausen's Cyclops by Greg Theakston

Doctor Zaius by Greg Theakston

Phantom of the Opera by George Torjussen

The Thing by George Torjussen

I gathered these Atlas-Seaboard gems up many years ago. As Famous Monsters of Filmland knockoffs go, these are really good ones. The first issue bears a December date and might well be the first Atlas-Seaboard publication, though that's suspect.

Greg Theakston, he of Pure Imagination Publishing fame and creator of the process of "Theakstonization" for cleaning up smudge and dirty comic pages, turns in two really evocative images for issues one and two. I especially like the Cyclops, the misbegotten but very memorable monster from Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad epic.

George Torjussen though really knocks it out of the park with his two paintings, especially the final one featuring The Thing from Outer Space. That's a fantastic image, and Torjussen has related how he had to watch the movie on late night television to remember what The Thing looked like. He sure did though, giving us a real insight into the shadowing invader.

I'm closing off my current look back at Atlas-Seaboard with these last two publications, neither of which I have nor have ever seen in person.

Above is Gothic Romances a one-time only magazine that hoped to add women to the Atlas-Seaboard reading audience, despite all the content appealing to boys and men they published otherwise. It features a fantastic painted cover by Elaine Duillo, artwork used again on a novel entitled The Conservatory written by Phyllis Hastings.

There are a few bits of spot artwork by Howie Chaykin, Ernie Colon, and Neal Adams in this book, but it's really not a comic book, though a collectible for diehard Atlas-Seaboard fans for sure.

My Secret is another magazine, more recently identified as part of the Atlas-Seaboard cache, but this despite its evocative Marvelesque cover image has no comics content whatsoever according to reports.

And that wraps up my year long look back at the summer of 1975, when a new kid showed up on the block, but who quickly got knocked down because of a combination of poor management and a weak economy. Though the Atlas-Seaboard material shows up in foreign formats sometimes, the rights to it still remain locked up as far as I know.

The stuff is still pretty cheap on the back issue market, save for a few gems like those above. But this material like the stuff from Tower Comics and Skywald Comics would make for some great reprints, and I suspect might well find an audience today.  

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Favorite Covers - The Abominable Snowman!

A cold winter day is a the perfect time to reflect on one of the grand mysteries of the Earth, the Abominable Snowman or Yeti. One of a number of mysteriously mythic creatures said to roam the planet, the Yeti snags the imagination in all manner of ways. Here are some Abominable Snowman comic covers which demonstrate that point.

Above is an exquisite Ken Kelly painting for Creepy magazine. The Yeti pictured there conforms to most of the classic tales about the elusive mountain monster.

Nick Cardy shows an "Abominable Snowman" of a slightly different sort, but one no less dangerous for the Man of Steel.

Jim Aparo creates a typically dramatic confrontation here between the Snowman and the Batman.

Bob Oksner's hilarious Snowman seems quite antic and does for Jerry Lewis what many have imagined themselves doing over the decades.

Daffy seems typically unaware of his surroundings as he misinterprets a cautionary sign.

Scooby and Shaggy find monsters everywhere, so stumbling up against the Yeti was unavoidable.

Bigfoot is the North American cousin of the classic Yeti, and here Ernie Colon shows a clash between that beast and Super Richie.

The Black Panther under the hand of Jack Kirby had some pretty wild adventures for a short time, and the Yeti was just one more of those.

The clash between the Snowman and the the Incredible Hulk is an inevitable outcome. This abominable creature looks like it can hold its own against Jadejaws.

Steve Austin mixed it up with the Yeti, sort of, but as usual with him it turned to be at least a six-million dollar hoax.

Even the Big Boy himself finds the Snowman a nemesis, though I suspect all is well in the end.

Leave it to Scrooge McDuck to find a different kind of Yeti, one with more than a dash more style.

And here's an ABSM suggested by a follower of the blog. Thanks Gene. 

Another ABSM addition thanks to regular McScotty. Thanks for the addition. 

This classic Atlas monster by Jack Kirby cover shows off a giant "Abominable Snowman", who has an incredibly bizarre secret. To know more, see this and then this at Atomic Kommie Comics.
 
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Atlas- Seaboard Comics - March 1975!

March was a lean month for Atlas-Seaboard (don't worry they make up for it next month). There are only four books wearing a March date, and only one of those is a #1 issue debut. I'll go over the the #2 books then take a look at Targitt.

IRONJAW #2 gives us a new artist, a grand Neal Adams cover image, and the second half of his "origin" story. Pablo Marcos takes over the book on both pencils and inks and his work is typically lush. He is a perfect choice for a barbarian book, and he shows his skills here to great effect. Ironjaw it turns out is a lost prince named Roland, who was taken away to die in the wild when his Kingly father was slain by his Queenly mother's lover, who soon becomes king himself. Seen as a threat to the throne the baby is exposed, but his sister remains, and she figures out who he is by a distinctive birthmark. Ironjaw takes the requisite steps to guarantee his revenge, and briefly becomes King Ironjaw. But his barbarian passions are ill-suited to being a civilized leader and he "escapes" from his role and rides off in the final panel astride his unicorn to seek new barbarian adventures. Fleisher seems to want to turn the usual "fairy tale" elements on their heads a bit, and he does so neatly.

PHOENIX #2 continues the saga of Ed Tyler, astronaut and budding "messiah". Empowered with alien technology he mourns the hundreds killed in Rekjavek by the Deiei, and he soon finds out he has been blamed for the destruction. He's even been given a new name..."Phoenix", as he rose out of the ashes of the city. After a personal encounter with an Icelandic family that ends tragically and the death of his alien mentor, Tyler heads to NYC which is under attack by the aliens. A battle rages during which Phoenix is forced to divide the waters between the city and the Statue of Liberty allowing people to escape. The aliens are not so lucky. By the end of the story, the astronaut Ed Tyler has been buried but his mourning wife has a visit from the Phoenix and she takes courage as he flies off to fulfill his new role to bring "salvation" to mankind. Gabriel Levy takes on the scripting while Sal Amendola continues on the artwork. Phoenix remains the book I'd most like to have seen continued somewhere after the fall of Atlas-Seaboard.

GRIM GHOST #2 offers more spiritual mayhem courtesy of Ernie Colon and Mike Fleisher from the ghostly servant of Satan. The story begins aboard a cruise ship where a large-scale robbery of an apparently wildly expensive Buddha is foiled by Grim Ghost. He quickly heads home where he hosts a party as Matthew Dunsinane in his home, the same home he owned when a rogue in the 18th century as it turns out. The party is a big success and introduces the local police chief and more importantly his daughter Jackie who seems to be something of a potential love interest. The story turns as Grim Ghost has to save some folks on a building and his magical vengeance is seen by the Chief much to his dismay. The backstory of the Ghost is well developed by this time.

TARGITT #1 is the sole debut of the month, and it's something of a mixed bag really. The book is advertised in the text page as having Dan Adkins artwork, and I wish it had had it. Howard Nostrand gets the nod over a Ric Meyers script and despite Nostrand's clear skills (from the Eisner school for sure), his light tone seems out of order for this grim saga of mayhem and revenge. John Targitt is an FBI agent who witnessess the murders of his wife and child when their airplane is blown up. The bombing was a mob hit and Targitt then begins to tackle the mob to gain vengeance. Of course, his superiors in the FBI are reluctant and he goes somewhat rogue to accomplish his goals. By the story's end he's gained a measure of revenge, but clearly there is a lot more to do before he can ever be even. There is no costume evident in this crime-saga debut, but the next issue will change that.

April is next...and it's a big month for Atlas-Seaboard.

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Atlas-Seaboard Comics - January 1975!

(Neal Adams)
Atlas-Seaboard Comics appeared all of a sudden on comic bookshelves on the middle of the 70's. The company was started by the Goodman clan which had been behind Marvel for decades before selling off a few years before. Now they wanted to show the world that they had the magic touch and to prove that point, they waved around a lot of money, so much that they enticed all kinds of top talent to give Atlas a try. New comics were wildly exciting to me at the time when only the Big Two really mattered much. But as we know the white-hot Atlas-Seaboard company burned out almost as quickly as they appeared. I want to take this year, fifty years gone since those halcyon days to look back at these comics. We'll do it month-by-month as 2024 rolls along. 

IRONJAW has always seemed to me to be the flagship title of the Atlas-Seaboard line. The book gets the first specific mention on the text page and that Neal Adams cover is almost hypnotic. Talk about making a good first impression. Ironjaw is clearly intended to take advantage of the barbarian bubble that was ongoing in the Bronze Age. Marvel's success with Conan was indisputable, and DC was likewise trying out all sorts of ideas to find one that succeeded. In fact Ironjaw was first proposed as a DC project, but was rejected by Joe Orlando and Fleisher was given permission to shop it around.

(Mike Sekowsky and Jack Abel)

The first Ironjaw issue is a surprise in two ways. Ironjaw, as written by Michael Fleisher is a woman-hating, bloodthirsty thug, in other words a barbarian in more than name only. A descriptive essay on the last page of the comic says that Fleisher is trying to write a "real man" in barbarian setting. Mike Sekowsky does an admirable job under better than average Jack Abel inks. I distinctly remember not liking it so much at the time, but my maturing tastes have given me a fresh appreciation for Sekowsky's storytelling skills.

(Getting the word out.)

All in all, Ironjaw is a pretty good comic. The story of his origin gets underway, as we learn he is the son of the local King and those in power are threatened by inexplicable return; Ironjaw doesn't seem aware of his potentially royal roots. After the usual barbarian battles, and a somewhat disquieting incestuous scene (Ironjaw's sister frees him, but of course he doesn't know who she is...don't worry it remains Code worthy) the story ends midway, with Ironjaw dangling from a prison tower and the promise the story will conclude next issue.

(Sal Amendola and Dick Giordano)
PHOENIX is identified in the text pages as the "Greatest Story Ever Told", a clear reference to Jesus and the Biblical saga of his life, death, and resurrection. Ed Tyler is an astronaut in 1977 (remember the book came out in 1975), and the Skylab is damaged and he's the lone survivor of a crash landing in the Arctic. He's found by the Deiei, a race of tall big-headed somewhat pruny-looking aliens who claim that after God created the Earth and the early creatures that preceded man, they took genetic control and manufactured modern man from those raw elements. The problem is they want to end the experiment totally and start over. After some discussion and histrionics, Tyler gets his hands on some of the alien equipment and becomes super-powered.

Tyler escapes, but the aliens attack Reykjavik, Iceland with a subterranean volcanic assault and Phoenix (not technically called that yet) does what he can to fend them off. Using his vaguely described radiation powers he sends the offending beam back at the aliens destroying their Arctic base in a mushroom cloud. But we find out there are more aliens, and that Ed has a lot more to do before he has saved the Earth from these "demons". The parallels with Christ will continue in the next issue. The story is written by Jeff Rovin (the editor of A-S's color line) and drawn by Sal Amendola, a member of Continuity Associates. With a Neal Adams cover on Ironjaw, a Dick Giordano cover on Phoenix, and Amendola's work, CA seems to have had a big hand in early Atlas-Seaboard.

(Ernie Colon)
GRIM GHOST is a wonderfully wicked book. If The Phoenix is the sci-fi retelling of the Christ story, then Matthew Dunsinane, an 18th Century highwayman turned 20th Century spectral avenger for Satan is something else again. This book is lusciously drawn by Ernie Colon, who also does the gorgeous cover. The script is again by Michael Fleisher. Borrowing from the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh (I love this TV-movie by the by) and the Spectre, along with perhaps the old Gay Ghost from Sensation Comics, Fleisher creates a wicked anti-hero who attacks murderous robbers and sends them to hell.

The Grim Ghost is fully established as a character after this one issue. The story briefly is that a notorious highwayman, Dunsinane, a murderer many times over, is eventually captured by falling for a beautiful woman (ain't it always the way) and then is hanged. He goes literally to Hell, where the Devil makes him his agent on Earth to gather souls, but not in the 18th Century, but forward to the then-modern 1975 setting where things have apparently gone from bad to worse. Armed with an array of powers, this Grim Ghost (more than a name at this point) rides his black steed into trouble and gathers up evildoers.

Like Ironjaw tried to hop on the barbarian craze, this book seems to want to take advantage of the Bronze Age interest in horror, but with a twist. Fleisher had been the writer for DC's Spectre, and he brings that violent bent to this book as well. The story is extremely tight, and unlike the other two January dated books, has something of a satisfying ending.

More Atlas-Seaboard to come next month. 

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