Atlas Comics Library HC (2023 Fantagraphics) comic books 1990 or later

Add to cart Near Mint $24.95

Volume 1 - 1st printing. "Adventures into Terror: November 1950-February 1952!" Collects Adventures into Terror (1951-1954) #43-44 and #3-8. Written by Hank Chapman, Don Rico, and Michael Dean. Art by Russ Heath, Ed Winiarski, Mike Sekowsky, Christopher Rule, George Klein, Allen Bellman, Chic Stone, Gene Colan, Marty Nodell, Hank Chapman, Jay Scott Pike, Don Rico, Sol Brodsky, Paul Reinman, Bill Molno, Vince Alascia, Harry Lazarus, Joe Maneely, Basil Wolverton, Carl Burgos, Hy Rosen, Bill Walton, Manny Stallman, Bill LaCava, and Joe Sinnott. Cover by Russ Heath. Back Cover by Harry Lazarus and Christopher Rule. Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. Fantagraphics is embarking on a project to reprint Marvel Comics' 1950s genre titles - war, crime, supernatural, funny animal, Western - under its new Atlas series with the first eight issues of the pre-Code horror series Adventures Into Terror. Atlas holds a special place among aficionados of the genre, producing more horror titles and issues by far, than anyone in the industry. While the quality of E.C.'s six horror/sci-fi titles was unsurpassed with their elite cadre of talent, Atlas was the equivalent of the B-movies studio, churning out anywhere from 8 to 12 different horror titles a month, giving a wider array of artists, including some of the best craftsmen of the era, a chance to show off their talents: in addition to those already mentioned, future volumes will include works by Bill Everett, John Romita, Bernie Krigstein, Jerry Robinson, Harry Anderson, and Matt Fox. Stories from Marvel's Atlas line have barely been reprinted. The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library is the first attempt to publish a carefully curated line of Atlas titles. Our first volume, Adventures Into Terror, includes a treasure trove of stories drawn by many of the most stylistically accomplished artists of the Golden Age including George Tuska, Carl Burgos, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Maneely, Basil Wolverton, and Joe Sinnott. Highlights include Russ Heath's two part story "The Brain" from issue #4 and "Return of the Brain" from issue #6; Basil Wolverton's classic "Where Monsters Dwell" from issue #7; Gene Colan's moody "House of Horror" in issue #3; and Don Rico's wild layouts are on display from #4's"The Torture Room." The stories are written firmly in the tradition of the pulpy, perverse, borderline deranged style that brought Fredric Wertham, the United States Senate Sub-Committee, and public opinion down like a sledgehammer on comics in the early '50s. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 180 pages, full color. Cover price $34.99.

Add to cart Near Mint $34.95

Add to cart Near Mint $34.95

Volume 2 - 1st printing. "Venus: Strange Stories of the Supernatural!" Collects Venus (1948-1952 Marvel) #1-19. Art by Werner Roth, Christopher Rule, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Maneely, Bob Powell, Vince Alascia, Lin Streeter, Syd Shores, Russ Heath, Hy Rosen, Mike Esposito, Don Rico, Gene Colan, Bill Everett, Dave Berg, John Tartaglione, Sol Brodsky, Allen Bellman, Manny Stallman, John Giunta, and Pete Morisi. Cover by Jim Mooney. Back Cover by Bill Everett. Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. The Goddess of Love...and SF horror: The eagerly anticipated single volume collecting the 10 rare issues of the overstuffed Venus comics! In the late 1940s, the first half of the Venus series from Marvel Comics predecessors Timely and Atlas Comics was published as a lighthearted romance comic about the goddess Venus taking a job on Earth at a beauty magazine. Never a company to miss a trend, Atlas began introducing more science fiction elements in the 1950s, and eventually turned Venus' dating adventures into a straight-out horror anthology. Collected here, 70 years later and for the first time ever, is that swift-changing second half of the 19-issue run. Future Marvel stars Bill Everett (seven issues) and Werner Roth (three issues) take Venus to heights of four-color weirdness and pre-Code horror ghastliness. Everett is given free rein and seizes the opportunity: writing, drawing, and lettering twenty ghoul is hand goofy masterpieces, including classics like "Hangman's House," "The Day Venus Vanished," "The House of Terror," "The Sealed Spectors," Tidal Wave of Terror," and the phantasmagorical "Cartoonist's Calamity!" These stories showcase the brilliant draftsmanship and storytelling of Everett, one of the giants of the 1940s and '50scomic book industry. His slick, fluid line rendered at Timely/Atlas, from his seminal god-child Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, to the atomic age Marvel Boy, is some of the finest pre-Code horror this side of E.C.'s Graham Ingels. Series editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo assisted in the compilation of Venus for Marvel 13 years ago, and Fantagraphics is delighted to publish the horror half as the second title in The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 280 pages, full color. Cover price $49.99.

Volume 3 - 1st printing. "In the Days of the Rocket: Starring Jet Dixon and Speed Carter!" Written by Joe Maneely, Hank Chapman, Mike Sekowsky, and Mike Dean. Art by George Tuska, Christopher Rule, Joe Maneely, Werner Roth, Carl Burgos, Sol Brodsky, George Klein, Allen Bellman, John Romita Sr., Vern Henkel, Bill Benulis, Jack Abel, Al Eadeh, Mike Sekowsky, Vic Carrabotta, Bill Savage, and Bob Forgione. Cover by Bill Everett and Carl Burgos. Back Cover by Werner Roth. Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. Expanding Fantagraphics' project to reprint Marvel Comics' 1950s genre titles, this volume blasts off to space opera adventure. In the vein of earlier comics-to-multimedia stars Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, Atlas Comics launched their own pulp hero in 1951, looking ahead to the futuristic year 2000. Across five issues of Space Squadron (and one of Space Worlds), headline talents including George Tuska, Werner Roth and Allen Bellman (with back-up features by Joe Maneely, Christopher Rule, George Klein and Vern Henkel) showed Captain Jet Dixon and his Space Squadron blasting into action, facing cosmic threats like "The Armada of Death," "The Space Demons," "Terror from the Deep," "The Temptress of Jupiter," and "The Midnight Horror." Come 1953, Hank Chapman and Joe Maneely gazed further into the future, envisioning the distant year 2075 and the adventures of Speed Carter, Spaceman. Scripted throughout by Chapman, Maneely launched and drew the first three issues before handing off to one issue each by Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska and Bob Forgione, with back-up features by John Romita, Maneely, and Bill Savage. As other aspects of the Atlas line leaned into the peak of pre-Code horror, the Captain of the Space Sentinels and young cadet Johnny Day battled monstrous aliens with stories including "The Space Trap," "A Slaughter in Space," "Die, Spaceman, Die," and "The Thing in Outer Space." Unseen in 70 years, scanned in high resolution, restored to perfection, and packaged as one extra-sized, beautiful hardcover volume, In the Days of the Rockets will open a wormhole to the early cold-war four-color era of futuristic science fantasy. HANK CHAPMAN (1915-1973) wrote steadily for a variety of comics publishers between 1940 and 1967, usually uncredited, but he has been identified as the author of several hundred stories. He is most known for his war stories while on staff at Atlas in the 1950s and at DC in the '50s and '60s. JOE MANEELY (1926-1958) landed at Timely in 1949 following the Street & Smith line's collapse and freelanced for Timely/Atlas for the next eight years, becoming one of the most prolific and important artists of the Atlas period. MIKE SEKOWSKY (1923-1989) was a prolific workman of the Silver Age of comics, notably co-creating the Justice League of America for DC in 1960 and having a run as writer/artist on Wonder Woman. But he began at Timely, drawing everything from Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal to The Human Torch and The Sub-Mariner. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 336 pages, full color. Cover price $49.99.

Volume 4 - 1st printing. "War Comics!" Continuing Fantagraphics' project to reprint Marvel Comics' 1950s genre titles, this volume compiles the first of what became the industry's largest line of war books. Produced by veterans of WWII, the eight issues here feature future mainstream comics stalwarts such as Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, and more. Forged in the crucible of the Korean War, and produced by veterans of the Second World War, this volume's eight issues present the brutality and grimness of armed combat by some of Atlas' most notable war artists and future comics stars including Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Dave Berg, Jay Scott Pike, Mike Sekowsky, Vern Henkel, Allen Bellman, Pete Morisi and Norman Steinberg. Propaganda abounds from the very first story, published in War Comics #1 in September 1950: "Peril in Korea," a primer explaining why the U.S. joined the conflict. Other highlights include Colan's "The Chips are Down" and "Victory," Heath's "Alone" and "No Survivors," Maneely's "Stormy Weather," Henkel's "Total Destruction," and Berg's "The Infantry's War." Originally a trial spun off from the publisher's "Men's Adventure" publications, in the nine years to follow Atlas went on to produce 533 comic book issues with war content, across 34 different titles. War Comics is where it all began, unseen in decades, scanned from the original books, restored, and packaged as one large, beautiful hardcover volume. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 180 pages, full color. Cover price $34.99.