Atlas-Seaboard Comics - September 1975!

Three books from Atlas-Seaboard in September, and surprisingly, one of them is a debut.

WULF the BARBARIAN #4 was drawn by Jim Craig, and the story continues to plod along. Wulf runs across a trio of thieves who themselves have just come across a rather potent jewel. After significant bloodletting and lots of confusion, Wulf absconds with a horse and the gem itself. We cut to a scene of a monster and a woman fighting, with the monster winning by killing the woman. The monster changes into a man, a former toy maker who as it turns out Wulf knows. Almost immediately Wulf chances upon the scene and in another ironic twist this toymaker/monster is the former of the recently stolen gem. The thieves return, a battle rages, and all die save for Wulf, a lovely thief who runs away. The story ends with Wulf killing the former toymaker and going on to further adventures. We'll never see them as this is the final issue. This issue marks a distinct downfall for this well-crafted fantasy series. This final script was by Mike Friedrich, a talented writer, but it's mostly a mess.

TIGER-MAN #3 gives us some very muscular and inviting Steve Ditko artwork with Al Milgrom inks. The script by Gerry Conway is rambling succession of coincidences, almost all involving mysterious suicides and attempted suicides. Dr. Hill / Tiger-Man investigates and discovers a mad psychiatrist named Dr. Hypnos who compels people to kill themselves. He pulls this trick on Tiger-Man, but ironically our hero is saved by some crooks who attempt to mug him and so save him from immolating himself. He takes a second stab at Hypnos, grabs his monocle, the source of his power, and compels Hypnos to throw himself off a roof. Tiger-Man's adventures have come to an end with this final issue.

And now for the debut...

DEMON HUNTER #1 is a Rich Buckler and David Anthony Kraft offering and introduces Gideon Cross, a disaffected Vietnam vet who seeking meaning in his life after his wife has deserted him finds a cult of demon-worshipers. It's all a tad confusing, but he becomes an agent for them with an ability to cloak his appearance and he goes around collecting blood samples for some unknown purpose. He seems rather unconcerned about this unusual occupation. He's also working as a bodyguard to an apparent crime lord, and these two missions seem to be conjoined somehow. Despite some very interesting Buckler storytelling and typically powerful action sequences, this debut is very compressed and more than a little confusing. We'll never get it clarified at Atlas though as this is the first and last Atlas issue. The story will continue in a fashion at Marvel in the guise of Devil-Slayer.

There is one more month for Atlas-Seaboard. October approaches!

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Atlas-Seaboard Comics - June 1975!

June was a pivotal month for the fledgling comics company known as Atlas. The change made in the editorial direction of the company was seen in the color comics, as Larry Lieber stepped forward and took control of the whole line following the departure of Jeff Rovin. Before this, the two men had split the color books with Leiber focusing on the genre books. Now all the books got some new talent and new directions. The fragmentation of the line is becoming evident.

PHOENIX #3 offers the latest episode in the life of astronaut-turned-messiah/superhero Ed Tyler as he attempts to solve the dilemma of a distant village overcome by Abominable Snowmen. He finds a destroyed village with a single survivor, an old man, and proceeds to find the rest of the missing folks. That brings him into conflict with the Snowmen and their creator and master Lucifer. Lucifer it turns out is something of a rogue Deiei, who resembles the classic image of Satan quite closely, and who is now free to pursue his inclinations since Phoenix has largely destroyed the Deiei bases on Earth. Needless to say, after much hoopla, and one sacrifice, the village is saved, and Lucifer is frustrated. The story is by Gabe Levy with more worthy artwork by Sal Amendola. Frank Thorne does the cover.

The second feature of the book is DARK AVENGER and it's a reasonably well-crafted tale of urban crimefighting and offers splendid Pat Broderick artwork. A young man finds a mysterious metal, is able to transform it into a suit and so finds himself with a wonderful superhero gimmick. That such a fellow with so vivid an imagination and so specific a set of skills is still living with his mother and brother is arguably the strangest thing about this little one-off story. It's a bit like Spider-Man meets The Katzenjammer Kids, but lots of folks really like this story.

DESTRUCTOR #3 gives us another installment in this ongoing Archie Goodwin - Steve Ditko epic saga. Gone this issue is Wally Wood, and the artwork seems to have been inked by Ditko. I don't know about that. The story continues with the Destructor still battling thugs from the Combine, but this time under the direction of Dr. Shroud. He sends the Huntress and her attentive sidekick Lobo to take on the Destructor, and they trap him in an elaborate casino/canyon (you've really got to see this one to understand that). Because the thugs fight among themselves, the Destructor lives to fight another day. One thing about our hero, he's certainly presented as a cool character who is willing to sacrifice others to achieve his goals. The anti-hero is popular with Atlas, but in many respects Jay Hunter is the purest example of the disaffected modern protagonist.

TIGER-MAN #2 is a real change of pace issue. Steve Ditko takes on the hero and gives him a really dynamic energy he was missing in the earlier chapters. Gerry Conway takes the writing helm, and Tiger-Man seems to become a more conflicted hero, more concerned with the lives of his enemies. He encounters the Blue Leopard, a man empowered with the same talents as himself yet set on a revenge mission against Dr.Hill, the Tiger-Man. There's more than a few clues to suggest the Blue Leopard is a Black Panther clone, with several origin details in common with Marvel's kingly hero. Lots of good fight scenes in this one, and a grand Frank Thorne cover.

TARGITT #2 gives us another story in John Targitt's ongoing war on crime. This issue gives more Howard Nostrand artwork, but the story told in flashback, relates how Targitt is transformed into an undercover FBI secret agent and gives him a uniform to perform his missions against the mob. There's lots of action and mayhem, and the story is reasonably diverting if not particular inspiring. Like the Dirty Harry movies that inspired this comic, there's an ongoing fascination with guns that seems to actually drag the storytelling down a bit.

POLICE ACTION #3 gives us two more crime dramas. LOMAX battles a hotdog vendor turned hitman, and eventually gets his man. Mike Sekowsky does another fine job with more McWilliams inks. LUKE MALONE finds himself drawn into a rock star's murder scam and eventually he uncovers the plot of this thinly veiled swipe of Alice Cooper. Despite an energetic Frank Thorne cover (Noticing a trend on cover art?), the comic seems to be losing its steam a bit, and just in time, because this is the last issue.

And now the new stuff...

THE BARBARIANS #1 gives us a new IRONJAW story, and its an okay effort with Pablo Marcos art and Gary Friedrich story. Under Mike Fleisher Ironjaw was a grim realist, but now there seems to be a desire to make him more heroic and sympathetic. It's poorly considered. In this story Ironjaw fights some barbaric mutants, and to my surprise befriends them. Sheesh! The second feature is a real strange one called ANDRAX. This story seems to be an import and offers the beginning of an epic saga of a young Olympic athelete captured by the obligatory mad scientist and sent (by unexplained means) into the future where the scientist is sure the man's will and stamina will make him a king among the weak future-men. All the newly dubbed "Andrax" finds is a wasteland and soon he's fighting for his life. It ends with him seeking other people. It's a well-drawn story, but has a distinct European feel to it.

FRIGHT #1 gives us the beginning of the SON OF DRACULA story by Frank Thorne on art. It's a rambling story, and involves mild incest and more than a bit of coincidence to concoct a complicated situation that finds a young college professor possessed of the curse and the power of Dracula himself. It's not a bad story, just a confusing one as origins can tend to be. The story sets up a man who seems to be both the hero and the villain of the story, despite his better intentions. This book is the only issue of Fright, and the only story about the Son of Dracula I'm familiar with.

HANDS OF THE DRAGON #1 might just be the strangest new addition to the Atlas-Seaboard lineup. This story with Jim Craig artwork gives us a no-holds origin story which has elements of vintage Silver Age Marvel, along with more recent Bronze Age Marvel and a whisper of old Charlton. The book appears to be (and is) a rip-off of Master of Kung-Fu. But the story is really more a clone of the Iron Fist saga with some exploding atomic bombs thrown in to give several folks some superpowers. Two twins survive the blast to be raised by their grandfather in a monastery where one brother grows to become evil (he also was scarred by the blast though he never really looks like it) and the other becomes our hero "Dragon". There's also a villain called Dr.Nhu who corrupts the brother who eventually gets the name Ling the Cobra. It's a complicated story with a few too many elements thrown in. One gets the feeling the script and the art aren't a perfect match, and that the book was drawn with a somewhat different plot. Another detail is that perhaps the Dragon's outfit was originally to have been green. Despite his very MOKF look, one caption describes him as a green figure. I figure that change was made both to take advantage of Shang-Chi's success and avoid too obvious a comparison to Iron Fist. The story ends with an assassination plot foiled and the Dragon vowing to stop his brother. We never find out what happens as this book too ends with its first issue.

And then there's always VICKI #3. 

The wheels are coming off the Atlas-Seaboard machine. The changes are clear attempts to gather market, and much of the line's early character is disappearing to be replaced by less compelling material.

July will see lots of final issues, and even a debut or two. More next month.

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Master Of Kung Fu - Fight Without Pity!

Master of Kung Fu - Fight Without Pity is all about the art of Paul Gulacy. Gulacy had become the regular artist on the series, albeit with many fill-in jobs by other talents since the departure of Jim Starlin. He was a young and rough talent but one could see his Steranko-inspired style cohering with each job he turned in. With this volume he has come of age and his artwork is simply stunning. The stories created by him and Dough Moench are among the most compelling in the long run of the series. 

The new distinctive direction begins with a trio of tales in which Shang-Chi agrees to work officially for Sir Nayland Smith and his secret service. His first mission is to confront a drug trafficker named Velcro. Shang-Chi pursues him to his remote island fortress and battles his agents Razorfist and the whip-wielding Pavane. I want to note that as much as I love and appreciate his work, the Masterof Kung Fu series was hampered by some indifferent Gil Kane covers which only hint at the quality of the work beneath those covers. In general, the covers are much too similar and I'm hard pressed to attach any single memory to most of them. 

Sal Buscema steps in to give Gulacy a hand with a story about secret documents aboard a ship filled with all manner of dangerous folk. 

Gulacy is back in time for a trilogy featuring the menace of Mordillo, an eccentric villain who turns out to be someone close to the organization. Pavane is back and we encounter the peculiar Brynocki, an an artificial man with real feelings. Mordillo has a secret island (don't they all) which is whimsical and filled with threats from nursery rhymes and fables. Most importantly we meet for the first time Leiko Wu, an agent of Smith's outfit and a fetching love interest for Shang-Chi. 

Then we get an offbeat two-part tale from Moench drawn by Keith Pollard about a magical circus of sorts filled with a menagerie of mythical and mysterious creatures, all led by a man named Moon Sun. This is a strange tale which brought to my mind The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles Finney which was made into a movie starring Tony Randall. 

In Master of Kung Fu's one and only annual he meets Iron Fist for the first time and the two martial arts heroes battle a magician named Quan-St'ar in the land of S'hara-Sharn, a land which is the dark opposite of K'un-L'un. Once again Keith Pollard does the artistic honors. Pollard's art is not especially well suited to martial arts action but his storytelling is very concise. 

Then Shang-Chi finds himself going to rescue a damsel in distress who doesn't want his help since she's fallen in love with Shen Kuei, the Cat, the "villain" of the story. Gulacy's artwork continues to get even more refined as Shang-Chi begins to look more and more like movie icon Bruce Lee. 

We encounter the "Murder Agency" in the next issue which sets up a number of plot elements which will play out as the series progresses. Gulacy's artwork is exquisite in this Moench story which introduces us to another cast member, a disgraced former agent named Larner. 

The story is interrupted by a fill-in of sorts drawn by Sal Buscema in which Shang-Chi reflects back four years earlier when he came into conflict with his "brother" Midnight. We get to see these two characters before they come to a death match in the second adventure of the series. 

Gulacy is back in fine form as the story of the Murder Agency unfolds. It turns out it has connections to the other main character in this comic book - Fu Manchu. We get a superior villain in these issues named Shockwave who combines martial arts with high voltage. He gives Shang-Chi a pretty good drubbing, his worst defeat of the series.  Of course Shang-Chi recovers. 

Shang-Chi and Clive Reston come up against the Golden Daggers, an outfit of former Si-Fan who serve Fah Lo Suee. The battle between her and her father is coming to dramatic climax and the world itself is in the balance. There has been much intrigue in the series, and hidden villains are revealed and Sir Nayland Smith himself finds himself facing his mortality. 

Then we are treated to Doug Moench's and Paul Gulacy's masterpiece. Gulacy has had wonderful inkers on the series such as Dan Adkins among others, but when Pablo Marcos steps in the artwork becomes luminescent. Shang-Chi is now in full Bruce Lee mode as he is just one of Nayland Smith's agents working to forestall Fu Manchu's latest threat which will destroy the world by destroying the Moon itself. To make these stories even tastier we get a break from the regular narration from Shang-Chi's point of view and each chapter is related from a different character such as Clive Reston, Sir Nayland Smith, Blackjack Tarr, and Leiko Wu with Fu Manchu himself narrating the final installment. 

Though he had never done a cover before, Gulacy supplies a magnificent portrait of Shang-Chi for the epilogue. Jim Craig takes over the art chores as the team that saved the world from Fu Manchu decides to go their separate ways. Moench is throwing aside the espionage angle for a time, as his partner Paul Gulacy bids a farewell to the series which made his reputation. 

Keith Pollard is back on art in a weird and wild story which see the return of Rufus T. Hackstabber. This is a story set in Morroco and offers the reader more than a few echoes of the Bogie classic. Other familiar faces appear in a story which is actually a sequel to the third issue of the Giant-Size Master of Kung Fu series. 

This volume closes out with the Ernie Chan cover for a reprint of the twentieth issue of Master if Kung Fu. We also get some choice ads, covers and original artwork. A very handsome Epic volume this is indeed. 

Though he was almost never able to do any covers for the series when he was the main artist, Paul Gulacy did return to the series from time to time to gives us another glimpse of his singular vision of Shang-Chi. These covers are not contained in the Epic volume but since this tome bids a farewell to Gulacy I thought it fair to include them. 

There's a little bit more Master of Kung Fu to come as he will team up from time to time with Iron Fist in the pages of The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. The Dojo takes a gander next week. 

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Atlas-Seaboard Month-By-Month - September 1975

Three books from Atlas-Seaboard in September, and surprisingly, one of them is a debut.


WULF #4 was drawn by Jim Craig, and the story continues to plod along. Wulf runs acorss a trio of thieves who themselves have just come across a rather potent jewel. After significant bloodletting and lots of confusion, Wulf absconds with a horse and the gem itself. We cut to a scene of a monster and a woman fighting, with the monster winning by killing the woman. The monster changes into a man, a former toy maker who as it turns out Wulf knows. Almost immediately Wulf chances upon the scene and in another ironic twist this toymaker/monster is the former of the recently stolen gem. The thieves return, a battle rages, and all die save for Wulf, a lovely thief who runs away. The story ends with Wulf killing the former toymaker and going on to further adventures. We'll never see them as this is the final issue. This issue marks a distinct downfall for this well-crafted fantasy series.This final script was by Mike Friedrich, a talented writer, but it's mostly a mess.


TIGER-MAN #3 gives us some very muscular and inviting Steve Ditko artwork with Al Milgrom inks. The script by Gerry Conway is rambling succession of coincidences, almost all involving mysterious suicides and attempted suicides. Dr.Hill/Tiger-Man investigates and discovers a mad psychiatrist named Dr.Hypnos who compels people to kill themselves. He pulls this trick on Tiger-Man, but ironically our hero is saved by some crooks who attempt to mug him and so save him from immolating himself. He takes a second stab at Hypnos, grabs his monocle, the source of his power, and compels Hypnos to throw himself off a roof. Tiger-Man's adventures have come to an end with this final issue.

And now for the debut...


DEMON HUNTER #1 is a Rich Buckler and David Anthony Kraft offering and introduces Gideon Cross, a disaffected Vietnam vet who seeking meaning in his life after his wife has deserted him finds a cult of demon-worshipers. It's all a tad confusing, but he becomes an agent for them with an ability to cloak his appearance and he goes around collecting blood samples for some unknown purpose. He seems rather unconcerned about this unusual occupation. He's also working as a bodyguard to an apparent crime lord, and these two missions seem to be conjoined somehow. Despite some very interesting Buckler storytelling and typically powerful action sequences, this debut is very compressed and more than a little confusing. We'll never get it clarified at Atlas though as this is the first and last Atlas issue. The story will continue in a fashion at Marvel in the guise of Devil-Slayer.

There is one more month for Atlas-Seaboard. October approaches!

Rip Off

Atlas-Seaboard Month-By-Month - June 1975

June was a pivotal month for the fledgling comics company known as Atlas. The change made in the editorial direction of the company was seen in the color comics, as Larry Lieber stepped forward and took control of the whole line following the departure of Jeff Rovin. Before this, the two men had split the color books with Leiber focusing on the genre books. Now all the books got some new talent and new directions. The fragmentation of the line is becoming evident.


PHOENIX #3 offers the latest episode in the life of astronaut-turned-messiah/superhero Ed Tyler as he attempts to solve the dilemma of a distant village overcome by Abominable Snowmen. He finds a destroyed village with a single survivor, an old man, and proceeds to find the rest of the missing folks. That brings him into conflict with the Snowmen and their creator and master Lucifer. Lucifer it turns out is something of a rogue Deiei who is now free to pursue his inclinations since Phoenix has largely destroyed the Deiei bases on Earth. Needless to say after much hooplah and one sacrifice, the village is saved and Lucifer is frustrated. The story is by Gabe Levy with more worthy artwork by Sal Amendola. Frank Thorne does the cover.


The second feature of the book is DARK AVENGER and it's a reasonably well-crafted tale of urban crimefighting and offers splendid Pat Broderick artwork. A young man finds a mysterious metal, is able to transform it into a suit and so finds himself with a wonderful superhero gimmick. That such a fellow with so vivid an imagination and so specific a set of skills is still living with his mother and brother is arguably the strangest thing about this little one-off story. It's a bit like Spider-Man meets The Katzenjammer Kids, but lots of folks really like this story.


DESTRUCTOR #3 gives us another installment in this ongoing Archie Goodwin - Steve Ditko epic saga. Gone this issue is Wally Wood, and the artwork seems to have been inked by Ditko. I don't know about that. The story continues with the Destructor still battling thugs from the Combine, but this time under the direction of Dr.Shroud. He sends the Huntress and her attentive sidekick Lobo to take on the Destructor, and they trap him in an elaborate casino/canyon (you've really got to see this one to understand that). Because the thugs fight among themselves, the Destructor lives to fight another day. One thing about our hero, he's certainly presented as a cool character who is willing to sacrifice others to achieve his goals. The anti-hero is popular with Atlas, but in many respects Jay Hunter is the purest example of the disaffected mdoern protagonist.


TIGER-MAN #2 is a real change of pace issue. Steve Ditko takes on the hero and gives him a really dynamic energy he was missing in the earlier chapters. Gerry Conway takes the writing helm, and Tiger-Man seems to become a more conflicted hero, more concerned with the lives of his enemies. He encounters the Blue Leopard, a man empowered with the same talents as himself yet set on a revenge mission against Dr.Hill, the Tiger-Man. There's more than a few clues to suggest the Blue Leopard is a Black Panther clone, with several origin details in common with Marvel's kingly hero. Lots of good fight scenes in this one, and a grand Frank Thorne cover.


TARGITT #2 gives us another story in John Targitt's ongoing war on crime. This issue gives more Howard Nostrand artwork, but the story told in flashback, relates how Targitt is transformed into an undercover FBI secret agent and gives him a uniform to perform his missions against the mob. There's lots of action and mayhem, and the story is reasonably diverting if not particular inspiring. Like the Dirty Harry movies that inspired this comic, there's an ongoing fascination with guns that seems to actually drag the storytelling down a bit.


POLICE ACTION #3 gives us two more crime dramas. LOMAX battles a hotdog vendor turned hitman, and eventually gets his man. Mike Sekowsky does another fine job with more McWilliams inks. LUKE MALONE finds himself drawn into a rock star's murder scam and eventually he uncovers the plot of this thinly-veiled swipe of Alice Cooper. Despite an energetic Frank Thorne cover (Noticing a trend on cover art?), the comic seems to be losing its steam a bit, and just in time, because this is the last issue.

And now the new stuff...


THE BARBARIANS #1 gives us a new IRONJAW story, and its an okay effort with Pablo Marcos art and Gary Friedrich story. Under Mike Fleisher Ironjaw was a grim realist, but now there seems to be a desire to make him more heroic and sympathetic. It's ill-considered I think. In this story Ironjaw fights some barbaric mutants, and to my surprise befriends them. Sheesh! The second feature is a real strange one called ANDRAX. This story seems to be an import and offers the beginning of an epic saga of a young Olympic athelete captured by the obligatory mad scientist and sent (by unexplained means) into the future where the scientist is sure the man's will and stamina will make him a king among the weak future-men. All the newly dubbed "Andrax" finds is a wasteland and soon he's fighting for his life. It ends with him seeking other people. It's a well drawn story, but has a distinct European feel to it.


FRIGHT #1 gives us the beginning of the SON OF DRACULA story by Frank Thorne on art. It's a rambling story, and involves mild incest and more than a bit of coincidence to concoct a complicated situation that finds a young college professor possessed of the curse and the power of Dracula himself. It's not a bad story, just a confusing one as origins can tend to be. The story sets up a man who seems to be both the hero and the villain of the story, despite his better intentions. This book is the only issue of Fright, and the only story about the Son of Dracula I'm familiar with.


HANDS OF THE DRAGON #1 might just be the strangest new addition to the Atlas-Seaboard lineup. This story with Jim Craig artwork gives us a no-holds origin story which has elements of vintage Silver Age Marvel, along with more recent Bronze Age Marvel and a whisper of old Charlton. The book appears to be (and is) a rip-off of Master of Kung-Fu. But the story is really more a clone of the Iron Fist saga with some exploding atomic bombs thrown in to give several folks some superpowers. Two twins survive the blast to be raised by their grandfather in a monastery where one brother grows to become evil (he also was scarred by the blast though he never really looks like it) and the other becomes our hero "Dragon". There's also a villain called Dr.Nhu who corrupts the brother who eventually gets the name Ling the Cobra. It's a complicated story with a few too many elements thrown in. One gets the feeling the script and the art aren't a perfect match, and that the book was drawn with a somewhat different plot. Another detail is that perhaps the Dragon's outfit was originally to have been green. Despite his very MOKF look, one caption describes him as a green figure. I figure that change was made both to take advantage of Shang-Chi's success and avoid too obvious a comparison to Iron Fist. The story ends with an assassination plot foiled and the Dragon vowing to stop his brother. We never find out what happens as this book too ends with its first issue.

The wheels are coming off the Atlas-Seaboard machine. The changes are clear attempts to gather market, and much of the line's early character is disappearing to be replaced by less compelling material.

July will see lots of final issues, and even a debut or two. More next time.

Rip Off