atlas / seaboard comics
the entire atlas / seaboard comics line consisted of 23 titles and 61 issues .
comic - book collectors and others began using the term atlas / seaboard to differentiate these 1970s atlas comics from the 1950s' atlas comics, publisher goodman' s predecessor of marvel comics .
comic - book collectors and others began using the term atlas / seaboard to differentiate these 1970s atlas comics from the 1950s' atlas comics, publisher goodman' s predecessor of marvel comics. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]
there is one more month for atlas - seaboard. see you in october .
cba: so, it would seem by appearances that the creation of atlas / seaboard / seaboard periodicals was an act of revenge .
house ad drawn by ernie colón featuring the new heroes (and villains) of atlas comics. © 1975 seaboard periodicals, inc .
april is next... and it' s a big month for atlas - seaboard .
three books from atlas - seaboard in september, and surprisingly, one of them is a debut .
diamond comic distributors, inc. - atlas comics returns in ardden entertainment’s phoenix # 0
devilina # 2 (may 1975), one of atlas / seaboard' s black - and - white comics magazines cover art by george torjussen .
devilina # 2 (may 1975), one of atlas / seaboard' s black - and - white comics magazines cover art by george torjussen .
although my grandfather eventually sold marvel, he insisted on keeping atlas comics in the family, ” the younger goodman told deadline. “as a result of his vision, atlas comics is
comic book artist magazine # 16 - vengeance, inc. : a history of atlas / seaboard - twomorrows publishing
comic book artist # 16 (dec. 2001): themed issue ,
the atlas / seaboard story
recent picture of jeff rovin, onetime editor in chief at atlas comics. courtesy of jeff .
“in the late summer of 1974, the comics press eagerly anticipated the arrival of the upstart atlas / seaboard (a moniker settled on by comic book historians to distinguish it from the 1950s line of martin goodman, though officially it was seaboard periodicals, parent company of the new atlas comics), ” wrote comics historian john b. cooke in comic book artist # 16 .
seaboard periodicals also acquired the men' s magazine swank, which chip goodman continued to publish after the comics line ended .
i' m selling off the # 1 atlas - seaboard registry set of 61 comics and 11 magazines on comic link. the 3rd set of 22 books (12 comics and 10 magazines) are currently in this months october auction -
welcome to the boards! i love the atlas / seaboard books. alas, this is the only one i have so far .
jason goodman — grandson of atlas founder martin goodman, who also founded marvel comics — is relaunching the company .
in 2010, jason goodman, grandson of martin goodman restarted atlas comics .
atlas original
has re - booted its old characters including: grim ghost, pheonix, wulf, iron jaw, and a crossover called atlas unified .
news from me, sept. 23, 2004 :
more on atlas comics
by tom lammers and mark evanier
rt: right. seaboard, a. k. a. atlas. you were one of two editors there - you and jeff rovin .
cba: [ laughs ] what was chip' s position at atlas / seaboard? [ jeff sighs. ] was he officially the publisher ?
atlas / seaboard offered some of the highest rates in the industry, plus return of artwork to artists and author rights to original character creations .
crime cases comics # 24 - 27, 5 - 12 (aug. 1950 - july 1952; continued from timely' s willie comics and li' l willie comics )
although chip goodman was also in charge of the seaboard comics, he was a
lightweight
in making decisions about them, according to rovin .
would eclipse comics or pacific comics have popped up when they did, or later first comics if atlas hadn’t taken the plunge? the creator rights movement practically guaranteed something would have happened sooner or later, but without atlas there’s got be at least a small question of whether it would have happened the way it did .
in 1973, perfect film and chemical corporation changed its name to cadence industries, which in turn renamed magazine management co. as marvel comics group. goodman, now completely disconnected from marvel, created a new company called atlas / seaboard comics in 1974, reviving marvel’s old atlas name, but this project lasted only a year - and - a - half .
marvel comics founder martin goodman, who had sold marvel a few years before, and his son charles, started seaboard periodicals with the hope of rivaling goodman’s old company. to do this, they followed the marvel formula of the day: superhero comics, barbarian comics, and black and white magazines. they even adopted the name atlas, familiar to silver age fans as the name marvel published under after timely and before marvel comics .
seaboard periodicals also acquired the men' s magazine swank, which chip goodman continued to publish after the comics line ended until 1993 when it was sold to another company .
aside from the b & w devilina magazine, this is the whole of the atlas - seaboard may offerings. one more month and the train comes off the rails for good .
it was 1975 and former marvel owner and publisher goodman had sold the company, but he believed the new buyers hadn’t lived up to their end of the deal. so goodman had decided to start over with atlas, the name which he had used for his company after it was called timely and before it was called marvel comics. in his sale of the firm, he had kept the atlas name. collectors refer to it as atlas - seaboard to differentiate it from goodman’s 1950s era atlas .
atlas, comic books, comics, ernie colon, geppi' s entertainment museum, grim ghost, j. c. vaughn, martin goodman, seaboard periodicals, sgt. stryker, tales of evil, tarantula, the destructor, the scorpion, tiger - man
glorious neal adams cover art to ironjaw # 2. courtesy of victor lim. ©1975 seaboard periodicals, inc .
martin and charles goodman got out of comics for good. jeff rovin has worked in the comics field and other media. larry lieber has illustrated a very long run on the amazing spider - man newspaper strip scripted by his brother, stan lee. the various creators employed by atlas went many different directions. some were never heard from in comics again. some went on to become comics superstars .
life with millie # 8 - 20 (dec. 1960 - marvel comics )
hedy of hollywood comics # 36 - 50 (feb, 1950 - sept. 1952; continued from timely' s young allies # 1 - 20, all winners comics # 21, and hedy de vine comics # 22 - 35 )
atlas - seaboard' s big month for sure! the company' s last big stand really before the fragmentation sets in. actually that fragmentation is already evident in the books from this month .
january was a good month for atlas - seaboard. these are all good books, with high concepts and ample evidence that they are set up for long runs. february will yield even more potential .
recently, while poking around digital comics museum, i discovered their list of top rated comics. checking out the list, i realized, the ra ...
the demise of atlas did lead to change across the industry though when marvel and dc began to start returning original art and offering better rates to creators. also, atlas' challenge to the comics code led to the further crumbling of the censorship system .
i first reported in 2012 on the fight between jeffrey stevens and the nemesis group, headed by jason goodman, grandson of marvel comics founder, martin, for the brand name, atlas comics. in summary here’s how it panned out: the name atlas comics was the second name of marvel comics (after timely comics) in the 1950s. in 1974 the name was revived by martin goodman and his son, chip, after they sold marvel comics and founded their own line. the 1974 line, although fondly remembered now and featuring some of the top names of the comic book industry of the time, folded in a heap amidst cries and claims of non - payment and general shenanigans. after that debacle, the name atlas comics remained dormant until a wannabe publisher named jeffrey stevens claimed the name, and resulting trademark, in 2002 .
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 .
cba: i think bob kanigher is one of the best writers comics ever had .
kid colt, outlaw # 3 - 229 (dec. 1948 - marvel comics )
“although my grandfather eventually sold marvel, he insisted on keeping atlas comics in the family, ” jason said. “as a result of his vision, atlas comics is the largest individually - held library of comic book heroes and villains on the planet. we have 28 titles and hundreds of characters imagined by some of the greatest minds in the industry. ”
cba: it seemed to be a lot less arbitrary situation at marvel. you can see a logic, a discernable linear progression put into projects. perhaps the situation at atlas / seaboard was due to that anger .
goodman shut down his self - distributorship on nov. 1, 1956, and began newsstand distribution through american news service. the atlas globe remained, however, through the oct. 1957 issues, when american news went out of business. goodman switched to the distributor independent news, owned by rival dc comics, and dropped the atlas globe at that time. goodman would reuse the name atlas for the next comics company he founded, in the 1970s .
marvel comics founder and magazine management publisher martin goodman left marvel in 1972, having sold the company in 1968. he created seaboard periodicals in june 1974 to compete in a field then dominated by marvel and dc comics. goodman hired warren publishing veteran jeff rovin to edit the color comic - book line, and writer - artist larry lieber, brother of marvel editor - in - chief stan lee, as editor of atlas' black - and - white comics magazines. lieber later became editor of the color comics following rovin' s departure. steve mitchell was the comics' production manager, and john chilly the black - and - white magazines' art director .
the seaboard company was defunct by 1975, with none of its titles lasting more than three or four issues. it is primarily remembered today as a pioneer of creators' rights in the comics industry. [ gst ]
rt: fox obviously had a style that just didn' t translate well into comics .
lieber later became editor of the color comics following rovin' s departure. steve mitchell was the comics' production manager, and john chilly the black - and - white magazines'
the destructor one of the longest - lived atlas - seaboard characters started with the amazing team of archie goodwin (writer), steve ditko (pencils), wally wood (inks) and larry lieber (editing) .
considering how much other less - worth material has been collected, i' d say sure. i' ve got a handful of the atlas / seaboard comics and they' re definitely weird, amateurish and strange, but also kind of appealing in their weird way .
tigerman
is one of my favourites .
marvel comics founder and magazine management publisher martin goodman left marvel in 1972, having sold the company in 1968. he created seaboard periodicals, which opened its office on june 24, 1974 to compete in a field then dominated by marvel and dc comics. goodman hired warren publishing veteran jeff rovin to edit the color comic - book line, and writer - artist larry lieber, brother of marvel editor - in - chief stan lee, as editor of atlas' black - and - white comics magazines .
atlas promised much but their printing schedule and content suffered from ego and creative problems between the managers, editors and creators. eventually the whole thing ceased. only the mens magazine' swank' would survive from seaboard' s titles .
marvel comics founder and magazine management publisher martin goodman left marvel in 1972, having sold the company in 1968. he created seaboard periodicals, which opened its office on june 24, 1974 [ 1 ] to compete in a field then dominated by marvel and dc comics. goodman hired warren publishing veteran jeff rovin to edit the color comic - book line, and writer - artist larry lieber, brother of marvel editor - in - chief stan lee, as editor of atlas' black - and - white comics magazines .
the atlas - seaboard
explosion
continued through the february issues. they all feature the same debut text page (as does the march dated targitt), and they mostly all communicate that same sense of the beginning of something longterm .
goodman began using the globe logo of atlas (see above), the news stand - distribution company he owned, on comics cover - dated november 1951. this united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from animirth comics to zenith publications .
courtesy of the artist, larry hama' s unused cover rough for wulf the barbarian # 1. wulf ©1975 seaboard periodicals, inc .
left marvel in 1972, having sold the company in 1968. he created seaboard periodicals, which opened its office on june 24, 1974
august is a somewhat sad month. there are only two color comics from atlas - seaboard wearing an august date, and one is vicki # 4, the ongoing reprint of the old tippy teen tower material. there is a single b & w magazine too. i' m going to discuss the second color comic, the destructor .
although it never truly lived up to its potential or even the company’s own hype, martin goodman’s ill - fated atlas line of comic books from seaboard periodicals in the mid - 1970s has fascinated collectors and historians in the field for decades. back in 2011, geppi’s entertainment museum hosted “atlas at last! ” a retrospective on the company’s efforts .
larry lieber told roy thomas in alter ego vol. 3, # 2 ,
when i went there, martin put out two kinds of books... color comics and... black - & - white comics like warren and marvel. now, i knew nothing about black - & - white comics, right? my only experience was in the color comics. and jeff rovin came from warren, and he knew nothing about color comics. and martin unfortunately put jeff in charge of all the color comics, and put me in charge of the black - & - white books... . it was an unfortunate thing, and basically what happened was that jeff' s books didn' t turn out so well .
sadly, nor did larry' s books or any atlas / seaboard title .
editorial note: the fantastic atlas archives website notes that vicki is comprised of tower comics' tippy teen with many characters were slightly redrawn to reflect the more contemporary clothing and hair styles of the day .
a total of 23 comics titles and five comics magazines were published before the company folded in late 1975. no title lasted more than four issues. of the characters, chaykin' s scorpion would inspire his
on october 8, 2010, martin goodman' s grandson jason goodman announced a partnership with ardden entertainment to relaunch atlas comics starting with two zero issues featuring the grim ghost and phoenix. [ 14 ] on march 2, 2011, another title, wulf the barbarian, was among the titles published by the new atlas .
for all the hope given to atlas / seaboard upon its birth, the company was very quickly forgotten after its demise. without exception, none of the characters have ever been revived, a sad legacy indeed. but some of us remember... .
quote: originally posted by dick _ pontoon the books may have been hit - or - miss, but they did have quality artists and writers. here’s a great website about atlas / seaboard urltoken thanks for this info @ dick _ pontoon. interesting stuff !
interview with roy thomas
, the comics journal # 61 (winter 1981), p. 87
jeff: no, he wasn' t there. i didn' t meet him until the atlas days .
jeff: that would' ve been from early' 73 to mid -' 74, when atlas started .
that' s july from atlas - seaboard. with this wave of final issues, it' s pretty much all over but the crying. atlas will linger for a few more months, but there will be precious few more comic books from this company that promised so much, but sadly delivered so little in the final analysis. i' ll see you in august .
in 2010 jason goodman relaunched the 1974 version of atlas comics, using the characters that he ‘owned’ from those days, to much fanfare. the only hiccup was that he, nor his company the nemesis group, actually owned the atlas name. they filed suit against stevens but, ultimately lost the proceedings. the upshot of it all was that the relaunched atlas fell silent, stevens owned the trademark and the goodman family was on the outer once again .
martin goodman' s revenge! travel back to 1975 for a look at atlas' s attempt to dethrone marvel .
cba: goodman used the comics as catalogs for his merchandising department, and you had experience with captain company .
which chip goodman continued to publish after the comics line ended until 1993 when it was sold to another company .
girl comics # 1 - 12 (oct. 1949 - jan. 1952) continued as romance title girl confessions
lieber: it wasn' t such a nice thing, but i won' t go into it. i don' t want to go into all the atlas thing, except to tell you this, which was a basic fact: when i went there, martin put out two kinds of books. he was putting out color comics, and he was also going to put out black - & - white comics like warren and marvel. now, i knew nothing about black - & - white comics, right? my only experience was in the color comics. and jeff rovin came from warren, and he knew nothing about color comics. and martin unfortunately put jeff in charge of all the color comics, and put me in charge of the black - & - white books .
here’s few more: the books may have been hit - or - miss, but they did have quality artists and writers. here’s a great website about atlas / seaboard urltoken and finally, no, i wouldn’t look to collecting these titles for investment purposes, just for fun .
les daniels received this picture of martin goodman (for l. d.' s book, marvel, five fabulous decades of the world' s greatest comics) from the publisher' s son, charles
chip
goodman, who himself went on to the lofty profession as publisher of seaboard periodicals. this rare pic is from the earliest days of marvel - then timely - comics .
unpublished cover by howard chaykin for the scorpion # 2, courtesy of another renowned inker, bob wiacek. art ©2001 howard chaykin. the scorpion ©1974 seaboard periodicals .
unused ironjaw # 1 cover by mike sekowsky (pencils) and jack abel (inks). courtesy of rich limacher. ironjaw © 1975 seaboard periodicals, inc .
on march 2, 2011, another title, wulf the barbarian, was among the titles published by the new atlas .
atlas also published a plethora of children' s and teen humor titles, including dan decarlo' s homer, the happy ghost (a la casper the friendly ghost) and homer hooper (a la archie andrews). if newspapers had dennis the menace, atlas had the joe maneely - drawn melvin the monster. tv had sgt. bilko? atlas had the lovably conniving sergeant barney barker — drawn by john severin, one of comics' top war artists, no less .
girl confessions # 13 - 34 (march 1952 - aug. 1954; continued from misc. title girl comics )
flash forward to today. as of mid - august the trademark and name atlas comics was duly handed over to dynamite characters, meaning dynamite will now be the publishers, and owners, of atlas comics. well played, jeffrey stevens, well played indeed. despite the wind and fury of jason goodman' s legal filings, in the end he (goodman) just gave up and stopped fighting, at around the same time that he stopped publishing. stevens, who had never published anything outside of a few ashcans, then entered into negotiations and sold the atlas comics name for an unknown amount (although it' s doubtful if it was a large amount, plus stevens had legal fees to pay for) .
demon - hunter created and plotted by marvel veteran rich buckler, written by david anthony kraft (best known for his run on the defenders), demon hunter was one of the most original titles published by atlas - seaboard (the character would later resurface as in two different incarnations. )
note: the romance title linda carter, student nurse # 1 - 9 (sept. 1961 - jan. 1963), sometimes grouped together with atlas comics, chronologically falls within marvel, and all covers have the
mc
box .
the exact point at which
atlas
began to be considered
marvel
has never been definitively established. goodman had begun moving away from newsstand distributor kable news by branding his comics with the atlas globe on issues cover - dated nov. 1951, even though kable' s
k
logo and north american map symbol remained through the aug. 1952 issues .
the destructor was in many ways, atlas - seaboard' s most accomplished series, but sadly by its finale it has become a bizarre shadow of itself. the hero has been contorted beyond recognition, and the story' s twists and turns are well outside the limits established in the rather intriguing beginnings. i' m not sure the destructor was my favorite atlas book, but its fall was easily the most disappointing .
marvel comics demands $ 17, 000 from broke creator of ghost rider! the shame of marvel... part ii
the threat of talent raids against the big two was also real enough. some contributors recall howard chaykin standing in front of marvel' s 625 madison avenue digs, directing artists to literally go around the corner to the 717 fifth avenue home of atlas comics. mediascene reported ,
despite denials by both marvel and [ dc ], seaboard' s entrance into the comic arena is having a staggering effect on the business. audacious' raids' in the competition' s bullpens have resulted in seaboard' s rapidly assembling a staff of more defectors joining their ranks on almost a daily basis .
i was working for jim warren, running his mail - order division, captain company, and just starting to edit [ the black - and - white horror - comics magazine ] creepy [ and ] i' d edited comics for dc and skywald... . several weeks after answering the ad, i receive a call from martin goodman... . i was one of several people martin interviewed, and i got the job because i' d had experience not only in comics but in mail order, the latter of which was to contribute significantly to seaboard' s cash flow. sharing editorial duties on the comics was writer artist larry lieber, whom martin had long wanted to transplant from under the shadow of larry' s brother... . larry ended up handling about a quarter of atlas' output — primarily the police, western [ and ] war [ comics ], and color anthologies of horror stories .
in 1991, seven hot young artists laboring in the vineyards of comics determined that they had had enough with the industry' s corporate structure, as well as the work - for - hire contracts under which they had been toiling, and - very vocally - split with the established comic publishing houses. these seven intrepid souls then went off on their own, and did what they wanted to do, which was create and own their own line of comics. these seven were the founding fathers of image comics. two years later, in 1993, history - after a fashion - repeated itself; not once, but twice. frank miller, john byrne and friends founded legend, an imprint of creator - owned comics that is distributed through dark horse comics, and malibu comics began a line of creator - owned comics entitled bravura with walt simonson, jim starlin, howard chaykin, and others .
according to rovin, atlas was founded in 1974 by martin goodman, former publisher of marvel .
i went to work at atlas in june of' 74. at the time, martin goodman, who is of course, the founder of marvel comics, wanted to publish five color comics, and two black and white comics. even before we started, it became apparent to him that in order to get the rack space we needed, we had to publish more titles than that. we ended up with 20 - odd monthly magazines. i was doing about six plus black - and - whites, and larry lieber was doing four color books .
weird suspense # 2 gives us another tarantula story, and the witch that first put the curse on count lycosa returns and a battle of the spider - people erupts. more great boyette artwork, and a pretty good fleisher script make this one of the most reliable reads in the atlas - seaboard canon so far .
i was working for [ warren publishing founder ] jim warren, running his mail - order division, captain company, and just starting to edit [ the black - and - white horror - comics magazine ] creepy [ and ] i' d edited comics for dc and skywald... . several weeks after answering the ad, i receive a call from martin goodman... . i was one of several people martin interviewed, and i got the job because i' d had experience not only in comics but in mail order, the latter of which was to contribute significantly to seaboard' s cash flow. sharing editorial duties on the comics was writer artist larry lieber, whom martin had long wanted to transplant from under the shadow of larry' s brother... . larry ended up handling about a quarter of atlas' output—primarily the police, western [ and ] war [ comics ], and color anthologies of horror stories. [ 2 ]
despite this innovative start, atlas / seaboard was soon besieged from within. martin increasingly insisted that the comics line resemble marvel' s in content and design, and some of rovin' s contributors were, according to the editor, shot down by the publisher, among them complaints that two of the line' s artistic stand - outs, chaykin and ernie colón, were ill - suited for their respective books. martin would especially interfere with cover designs and executions .
as it turned out ,
rovin wrote ,
covers proved to be the bloodiest battleground at atlas .
.... several weeks after answering the ad, i receive a call from martin goodman... . i was one of several people martin interviewed, and i got the job because i' d had experience not only in comics but in mail order, the latter of which was to contribute significantly to seaboard' s cash flow. sharing editorial duties on the comics was writer artist larry lieber, whom martin had long wanted to transplant from under the shadow of larry' s brother... . larry ended up handling about a quarter of atlas' output—primarily the
ep. 2: 1957 atlas implosion' s effect on marvel' s silver age; birth of spidey and ff. by alex grand
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 .
there are of course some b & w magazines this month as well as more vicki' s but by and large, the company has reached its zenith. after this month, atlas - seaboard will continue to lose its focus as books are abruptly cancelled and directions are changed. but not all of them, not yet .
i was a teenager when the atlas / seaboard line of comics exploded on the scene with dozens of titles and some incredible covers by some well - known artists. i bought most of the titles, and was disappointed when the company folded after just a few months. many of the titles ended up being one - shots, and i don' t think any title went past issue 4. it was fun while it lasted. here' s a few cover scans .
two new books debut this month. they are very different from each other, but sadly show the fragmentation of the atlas line at this point .
the final comic to bear the atlas globe logo was dippy duck # 1, the company' s only release with an october 1957 cover date .
this is the mother - of - all - months for atlas - seaboard. lots of titles, lots of changes of direction, and sadly lots and lots of cancellations. this month marks the great collapse of the edifice that martin and chip goodman built to spit in the face of their former success story, marvel. let' s begin .
, however, believed ,
chip was supposed to take his place. but that part of it must not have been on paper, because as soon as martin was gone, they got rid of chip. that' s why martin started atlas comics. it was pure revenge
.
the atlas - seaboard company disappears into the comics mist alongside fawcett, fox, tower, centaur, skywald and so many others. the company was an oddball blend of hubris, experience, and striking naivete. i remember wanting more than anything for them to succeed, but by the end i was ready for it to be over. the promise was wasted, and the books had drifted far from their original concepts. thanks to those who have followed me down this particular memory lane .
journey into unknown worlds # 36 - 59 (sept. 1950 - aug. 1957; continued from timely teen - humor series teen comics )
the scorpion probably the atlas title with the most breakout potential was the scorpion, written and illustrated by howard chaykin. at least the first two issues .
the bell tolled for rovin when, the editor later wrote ,
martin became more and more disgruntled as he read more and more of my comics. and what he decided, without having received a single sales report, was that they didn' t look and read enough like marvel comics .
i got the full run of the comics, all 61 issues. really enjoyed whole series. have not seen many of magazines, but pick up a copy of thrilling adventure stories issue 1 not to long ago. of the comics i found the vicki issues to be the hardest to find .
spider - man cover art brings $ 657, 250 in heritage auctions’ world record - shattering $ 10. 47 + million comics and comic art auction
information from atlas tales [ 1 ] and other references. some titles may be arguably timely at the earlier end, or marvel at the later end. note: in titles numbered from or into the various all winners comics, additional clarifying information is supplied. list, in progress, complete through l .
we have reached the end. atlas - seaboard, a fledgling company with veteran publishers, veteran talent, and at least early on a hefty pocketbook, made a big impact in 1975. they offered all kinds of titles in all kinds of genres, but by the end of the year they would be gone. there is only one book with an october date .
lieber later became editor of the color comics following rovin' s departure. steve mitchell was the comics' production manager, and john chilly the black - and - white magazines' art director. goodman offered an editorial position to roy thomas, who had recently stepped down as marvel comics editor - in - chief, but thomas
didn' t have any faith in his lasting it out. the field was too shaky for a new publisher .
i have no idea as to what, if any, role that jason goodman (or jeffrey stevens) will play in the obvious relaunch of atlas comics as he still owns the copyrights to the characters, but it' d not be inconceivable to presume that dynamite have also entered into negotiations with goodman with the view of reuniting the 1974 atlas characters with the brand. no word on if psychic octopus jr was part of the deal, but we can only hope .
it started, as these things do, with a lot of promise. it was 1974 and a brand new comic book publishing company offered creators high pay rates to write and illustrate an entire new universe full of characters. atlas - seaboard offered forms of creator ownership, a venue for trying new things, and a mix of established, seasoned professionals, and hot newcomers .
today, i need your help in deciding - are these the most popular public domain heroes? black terror first appearance exciting comics # 9 ...
captain america # 76 - 77 (may - sept. 1954; continued from timely' s captain america comics and captain america' s weird tales )
“ inside comics # 3 (fall 1974) speculated, ‘seaboard seems to be off on the right foot and, if their plans succeed, we may be in store for a real treat, ” he wrote, noting further advance praise from jim steranko' s mediascene # 11 (january - february 1975) and in the comic reader # 109 (august 1974) .
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 .
announced but never appearing, steve ditko was scheduled to write and draw a super - hero strip called
wrecage .
below is ditko' s rendition featured in mediascene # 11. © 1974 seaboard periodicals, inc .
gothic romances the real oddball of the atlas - seaboard line and probably the rarest they ever published. what red - blooded male teen would possibly buy this magazine in 1974? check out the ads for teeth whitening, convertible nude bras, weight loss miracles, and wig sales! while certainly reminiscent of covers from dc' s romance comics, and maybe even house of mystery, the only redeeming virtue once you get by the overbearing text content is the spot artwork by the likes of howard chaykin, ernie colon, and even neal adams !
a total of 23 comics titles and five comics magazines were published before the company folded in late 1975. no title lasted more than four issues. of the characters, chaykin' s scorpion would inspire his dominic fortune at marvel, and rich buckler' s demon hunter would inspire his devil - slayer at marvel .
from 1952 to late 1956, goodman distributed his comics to newsstands through his self - owned distributor, atlas. he then switched to american news company, the nation’s largest distributor and a virtual monopoly — which shortly afterward lost a justice department lawsuit and discontinued the business. as historian and author gerard jones explains, the company in 1956
in his atlas origin story (and only issue), gideon cross had renounced the demon cult which had granted him incredible powers and now stood opposed to them. their goal was “xenogenisis, ” the rebirth of a demon race on earth. david anthony kraft (comics interview) wrote it and rich buckler plotted and illustrated it .
jeff: yeah. the puzzle books made sense to him, because they were cheap and delivered quick revenue, the confession magazines the same, comics were expensive .
in the wake of dc comics’ success reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the justice league of america, marvel decided to follow suit .
the founder of atlas / timely / marvel, martin goodman set up atlas comics (a division of his seaboard periodicals) to produce comic books as a direct rival to marvel. some speculate it was revenge for his son being removed as marvel eic. however the line folded in mid - 1975 despite drawing in some of the best artists and writers in the business at the time including: neal adams, howard chaykin, alex toth, steve ditko, rich buckler, john severin, michael fleisher, russ heat h, wally wood, walter simonson, larry lieber and mike sekowsky. they where drawn to the new company by generous rates, return of original art, and a host of other creators rights (long before image) .
rt: i don' t know much about it. but atlas was certainly paying great rates, because goodman wanted to get everybody away from marvel if he could, i guess. i' m not asking you to bad - mouth anybody, larry, because atlas was a job like everything else. i do remember that stan appreciated the fact that you came in and told him you' d accepted an editing job at atlas, because you knew there were bad feelings between stan and goodman at that stage .
unable to effect any changes, and unable to produce the kind of comics that he desired to, rovin left the company early in 1975. as for what became of atlas / seaboard - the comic book publisher that could have been a contender - after that; rovin adds this postscript
sometime in 1974, chip bought swank, the sex magazine. that became his primary focus. that is all that survived in 1975. i don' t remember how many years he stayed with that. he has recently been publishing a ufo magazine, and other things .
a total of 23 comics titles and five comics magazines were published before the company folded in late 1975. no title lasted more than four issues. of the characters, chaykin' s scorpion would inspire his dominic fortune at marvel, [ 8 ] and rich buckler' s demon hunter would inspire his devil - slayer at marvel .
what’s potentially intriguing about atlas is that film, tv and video game rights that are available for all the characters. considering that disney paid $ 4 billion to exploit the marvel comics library, the atlas relaunch will reveal soon whether there are any make - able gems in there. phoenix is a sci - fi saga about one man fighting an alien invasion; the grim ghost is a supernatural horror / thriller about a man who arrives on the fringe, the world between life and death that the living can’t see .
from 1952 to late 1956, goodman distributed this torrent of comics to newsstands through his self - owned distributor, atlas. he then switched to american news company, the nation' s largest distributor and a virtual monopoly—which shortly afterward lost a justice department lawsuit and discontinued its business. as historian and author gerard jones explains, the company in 1956
a fine frank thorne cover (sans logo and blurbs) for the cougar # 1, a book created and written by steve mitchell, a comic inspired by the famed tv movie, the night stalker. ©1975 seaboard periodicals, inc .
issue # 1 is a 68 pager, but the oddball of the entire atlas line is probably vicki # 2, the only atlas square bound comic of all the line' s issues! on top of it all, there is nothing even printed on the spine of this, likely the rarest comic atlas ever produced. once again we have cartoon teen hi - jinx set in the high school background of anywhere, u. s. a. enjoyable for just about any pony tailed youngster between the ages of 10 and 15 .
larry was treated well in the end .
they gave me very nice severance pay ,
he told cbm, but some others were not so fortunate, as sadly, a rash of art thefts added insult to injury. superlative comic stories by walter simonson, terry austin and russ heath, as well as covers by neal adams were only a few of the reported missing works. artist terry austin said ,
walt and i walked to the atlas / seaboard offices and asked for our artwork back. my recollection is that the receptionist denied that the company had ever published comics .
features because i was told that they had fallen into public domain. and while the actual issue may have, i suspect i will not be able to post more, as goodman and company will undoubtedly try to enforce trademark authority on their comics. (which is too bad, as the old comics have some great qualities about them. )
in interviews, both miller and simonson have publicly acknowledged their debt and lineage to image, yet there is another company, one no longer in existence, and that is little known by much of today' s comic - buying audience that is an earlier ancestor of all three companies. that company is atlas comics. while the company lasted barely a full year, and none of its books were published for more than four issues, the effects of atlas are still echoing throughout the industry today, some 20 years after its demise .
the final comic to bear the atlas globe logo was dippy duck # 1, the company’s only release with an october 1957 cover date. the first comic book labeled “marvel comics” was the science - fiction anthology amazing adventures # 3, which showed the “mc” box on its cover. cover - dated august 1961, it was published may 9, 1961 .
even with the company’s short lifespan – less than a year – in comic book circles, the name power alone of the creators who were involved with atlas demands attention. if the august 24 - 27, 2015 comics and comic art signature auction at heritage auctions is any indication, maybe others are coming to realize it’s worth a serious look from collectors .
the dynamic cover was made even more appealing with its trade dress, which made it very effectively look like a marvel issue of the day. deceptive, sure, but in hindsight it’s difficult to say that the move didn’t work, at least a little bit. the whole atlas - seaboard line collapsed, though, and that, as they say, was that. ironjaw # 4 was the last issue of the series .
a total of 23 comics titles and five comics magazines were published before the company folded in late 1975. no title lasted more than four issues. of the characters, chaykin' s scorpion would inspire his dominic fortune at marvel, [ 8 ] and rich buckler' s demon hunter would inspire his devil - slayer at marvel. [ 9 ]
atlas / seaboard staffers almost universally complain that chip was an incompetent publisher, out of his league as the official head of seaboard periodicals. even back in his marvel days, people would wonder at his acumen .
the most idiosyncratic situation we ran into in the early' 70s was... when [ chip ] was briefly in charge of the company ,
roy thomas told cba .
it was a western cover and chip sent back word that he wanted all the bad guys in the story inside and on the cover to be wearing animal masks. we asked why and he said,' i don' t know. maybe it' ll sell better.'
lieber later became editor of the color comics following rovin' s departure. steve mitchell was the comics' production manager, and john chilly the black - and - white magazines' art director. goodman offered an editorial position to roy thomas, who had recently stepped down as marvel comics editor - in - chief, but thomas turned it down, recalling in 1981 that ,
[ i ] didn' t have any faith in his lasting it out. the field was too shaky for a new publisher .
[ 3 ]
i first encountered jeff rovin' s name when he served as an assistant editor at dc comics in the early' 70s, and finally met the man himself within moments of also meeting jim warren for the first time in 1998. since his stint as (co - ?) editor - in - chief at atlas comics for a brief period in the' 70s, jeff has done relatively little work in the comics field, but he is a highly successful writer, renowned for genre encyclopedias (e. g. , the encyclopedia of superheroes), and his op - center series scribed for tom clancy. jeff was interviewed by phone on oct. 4 & 11, 2001, and he copyedited the final transcript .
cba: archie goodwin, one of the great editors in comics history, could' ve been available at that time... i wonder why he wasn' t approached .
originally, howard chaykin had created a character named, “scorpion” for the defunct atlas / seaboard comics company—he was the basis for the dominic fortune concept. when asked about the conception of dominic fortune and choice to create the character for marvel, chaykin responded, “i' d been working on another period character who shall remain nameless, for another company which shall remain nameless, and after a problem i had with editorial, i crossed the street and asked the editors at marvel at the time if they' d be at all interested in a variation on that character. they bit, and we were off and running. ”
atlas grew out of timely comics, the company goodman founded in 1939 and whose star characters during the 1930s and' 40s golden age of comic books were the human torch, the sub - mariner, and captain america. the post - war era, however, found superheroes falling out of fashion. television and paperback books now also competed for readers and leisure time .
i' m glad to see the characters getting a revival and hope things go well. what set atlas apart - at least before the third issue switch - was they were just a little bit further' out there' as far as the bounds of comics at the time then anyone else. don' t just take my word for it, read the first issue of the brute. i think jim is wondering like i' m wondering how / if that' vibe' is going to come across in a relaunch. if michael fleisher wants to give writing comics another run they should considering bringing him back if the sells do well. how about all those maybe / maybe not black - listed vet creators i' d like to see their work again a new atlas line could be a good fit. the kinds of comics joshua ortega has written up till now, aren' t the ones that interest me, but i will definitely give both titles a try. other atlas favs i' d like to see again: my favorite targitt, brute, morlock 2001, and the destructor. the only atlas charter that the third issue switch really made more interesting was phoenix (the destructor... maybe too) so glad it will be out again along with the grim ghost .
i' m a lifelong comic fan and on and off again collector. despite growing up in the' 70s and' 80s i never ran across the atlas / seaboard titles until recently. i love the artwork because it reminds me of the time when i first discovered comics as a kid. the storylines are kinda hit or miss, so i can see why the company failed after a short time. just wondering if anyone else on the board has an appreciation for these titles. maybe more importantly, are they collectsble from an investment standpoint, and if so, which titles should i target? thsnks for the feedback!
atlas/seaboard is the term comic book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as atlas comics by the american company seaboard periodicals , to differentiate from the 1950s ' atlas comics , a predecessor of marvel comics . seaboard was located on fifth avenue in manhattan , new york city . 
atlas/seaboard is the term comic book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as atlas comics by the american company seaboard periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' atlas comics, a predecessor of marvel comics. seaboard was located on fifth avenue in manhattan, new york city.
atlas/seaboard is the term comic book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as atlas comics by the american company seaboard periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' atlas comics, a predecessor of marvel comics. seaboard was located on fifth avenue in manhattan, new york city.