verygoodplus

I just looked up the one-and-only Tales of the Marines (#4) on the GCD, and it looks like it consists entirely of Devil-Dog Dugan stories, and so remains in the humor format.

As you could probably guess by looking at the cover:

Meanwhile here's the next issue, to illustrate the change in title and content:

Meanwhile Navy Action became Sailor Sweeney for 3 issues before reverting back to Navy Action.

Devil-Dog Dugan and Sailor Sweeney, plus Sgt. Barney Barker*, represented a very short-lived stab at military humor by Atlas in 1956. Each title lasted three issues before converting (or reverting) to more straightforward war fare (bad pun intended ).

*Sgt. Barney Barker (1-3) becomes G.I. Tales (4-6).

It's another series which changed titles (in this case, from Spy Thrillers) and then was promptly cancelled, leaving only one issue bearing that particular title.

A similar occurrence with another Atlas series:

Devil-Dog Dugan changed its title to Tales of the Marines for issue 4, then became Marines at War for the last three issues (5-7).

So, there's only one issue of Tales of the Marines, though it wasn't the end of the line for the series.

Love those Heath covers, bigfiver.

Here's another:

Interior art is all by Robert Q. Sale. Including a nifty Atomic Warfare story:

I just noticed that the publishing histories of the five issues of World of Fantasy that you posted and the five issues of Strange Worlds run perfectly parallel through these months:

December 1958

February 1959

April 1959

June 1959

August 1959

Interesting that both of those books were dumped while the "Tales" titles continued.

And now I have seen (and survived) Xom The Menace from Outer Space and The Gargoyle from the 5th Galaxy! in the process.

Nice books, AtlasT.

So, you wouldn't count Strange Worlds as a "pre-hero" book?

from the GCD:

Only ran five issues, but I figure it fits the "pre-hero" mold.

Even if, like World of Fantasy, the title didn't last long enough to feature any heros.

I'll bet the title he's looking for is World of Fantasy.

So in all:

Happy surprises: Supermouse, Mighty Mouse and Andy Panda

Confirmations: Felix, Scrooge, Donald

On the bubble: Heckle and Jeckle and Happy Rabbit

Thanks for the reply, Scrooge.

I reread your post on Coo Coo Comics (starring Supermouse), and will be keeping an eye out for an issue or two.

One of my LCSs has a couple of FC Porky Pigs that i've been thinking about picking up, and I'll look for an Andy Panda the next time I'm there.

BTW, were there no Charlton funny animal books in 1952?

Great book, Pov! I used to have that one.

Here's my old copy ('bout the same as yours, Pov):

I've been getting interested in some of the offbeat funny animal titles lately.

I know you're a Barks fan, Scrooge, and nothing can compete with that... but have you seen anything you liked in the more oddball animal books you've acquired?

Great idea for a thread. I love Atlas books, used to have quite a few but sold most of them.

I figured I'd get some of my low-grade specials out of the way before adamstrange comes in with his books.

Yes, I like the list, too. I've been wanting to put together a list of titles (from all publishers) that made it to 200.

Hellblazer is now in the 200 club. Wolverine would be as well if they hadn't relaunched the title. Although I'm sure they'll revert to the old numbering at some point (not sure if that should disqualify it from my list or not).

Here's a non-DC book that recently joined the 150 club, which some may find surprising: Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog.

This loud and brash cacophony introduced the slang phrase “coming on like gangbusters” to the American lexicon.

Darn it, Scrooge, I was all ready with this little tidbit but your posts are just too thorough.

I will mention, however, that Universal released a 13-chapter Gang Busters serial in 1942, with Kent Taylor, Robert Armstrong and Ralph Morgan.

Good to see you're back in action, Scrooge.

I love this thread!

I picked this up today, nice Kirby/Ayers cover. If you can overlook the chipping, it presents fairly well.

What's that coming out of the ankle?

Mudflap?

Kudos to Flying Donut for hooking me up with a sweet Marvel horror lot. Plus, he didn't ship the books, he teleported them to my front porch!

Yep, that's a reprint from Sensation 107 -- absolutely fantastic Toth story.

The story was also reprinted in The Greatest 1950s Stories Ever Told TPB.

Cool book!

I love the fact that "Bob Colt" was a totally fabricated B-Western-style hero. Great photos on the front and back covers.

The art is rather different from the EC-era Evans work that I'm primarily used to. However, I wouldn't say for certain that this wasn't Evans using a different, earlier style (I don't know his Fawcett work at all).

As a sidenote on Steve Holland: in addition to starring as Flash Gordon in the West German-produced 50's TV show, he was also the model for Doc Savage during James Bama's great run of Bantam paperback covers.

EDIT: Oops, I see that this fact was mentioned in the blurb for the cover layout, but it's worth repeating. Mr. Holland was in his fifties when posing for these covers(!):

Oh, and are you people reading my posts in between all this? I admit to have tracked the "daily hits" to the thread and my audience seems to be about 20. Thank you for keeping on coming back!

I'm on board, Scrooge, so keep 'em coming! If I have any relevant bon mots, I'll try to chip in. I'm enjoying Adam's contributions, as well, and am basically content (and best qualified) just to spectate.

I like the fifties Colletta work that I've seen, and I'd love to see some more. And I like his inking on Thor, to a certain extent.

But erasing details in Jack's pencils...