The Undead Thread: Pre-Code Horror 21 21

[PovertyRow]

Don't know about scratching but he's about to put the "pinch" on those two!

 

::groan::

[PovertyRow]

This one is pretty ratty. From the not-so famous 'Baggs' pedigree!

 

Hey, how do you think the monster scratches himself?!

 

I think Elvis was related to him (or is it Bruce Campbell?)

 

[precodekeith]

hhhmmmm.... of the two I'd say Bruce Cambell.

 

Ya know, this thread just wouldn't be right without the puns. You wiseacres really crack me up!

[Jayman]

Yep that's Bruce alright!

 

[precodekeith]

Jay, you're a true undiscovered talent...

[precodekeith]

One of the better replies I've ever heard come from a corpse.....

Edited October 28, 2005 by precodekeith

[originalisbest]

Keith, I think that's a good example of what must've sold well for Atlas - thus, they followed that same cover formula again and again (a lot going on plus 3 little lefthand preview boxes.) As opposed to such things as, say, a Weird Mysteries 12 or a Mister Mystery 12, a lot less of an "iconic" cover, but had I seen it at the time of issue on the stands - probably would be OK putting out the dime for it!

[precodekeith]

The Atlas 'formula' must have worked well for them. My opinion: some days I like it just fine, other days I lean toward the single image theme. Today I'm feeling like the three panel formula has a certain charm to it.

[originalisbest]

Come to think of it, I imagine they might have done that in a pseudo-imitation of EC? As compared to the three Ghoulunatics whose circular portraits came to be on the left side of all the EC horror output? Perhaps.

[Scrooge]

Until I actually check dates, I am leaning towards the fact that Atlas side-bar format predates the EC format.

[originalisbest]

You could well be right Scrooge, as the first few Atlas horror books didn't follow the side bar formula, but by 1950 I know for sure they had started in Marvel Tales. So the first few issues of Crypt, Haunt and Vault first had none, then sort of had pseudo-side boxes - such as the singular round Vault-keeper on Vault of Horror #15(4) - and most closely resembled the 3-Atlas boxes formula on Tales from the Crypt #22. Then finally, all the horror mags at EC were on board with 3 circular pictures of the Ghoulunatics.

 

Some other things worth mentioning, on Tales from the Crypt #35, looks like they were experimenting with a meaner Crypt-Keeper, and of course there was the switchover from the early, all-Feldstein roundrels to portraits by Davis, Craig and Ingels of "their" characters. I also noticed that, in looking at the Crypt lineup, from issue 22 through 31, they only alternated between red and blue top cover colors - then for some reason began to mix it up a bit with the green of 32. Towards the end, the cover design got more interesting, with issues 44 and 45 doing away with the box of color behind the title, letting the art extend upwards. With 46, it ended all too soon.

[precodekeith]

..... With 46, it ended all too soon.

 

You got that pegged, brother!

[precodekeith]

The 'Swamp Girl!" cover is cool enough..... gotta wonder what they were thinking about when they titled a story "BONG!".....

 

Maybe they were in cahoots with the gang at Superior!

 

Edited October 28, 2005 by precodekeith

[originalisbest]

Great cover, Keith! Huh! Some friend, ditchin' his buddy that way - !

[precodekeith]

Ever notice how Atlas often used the same title for stories in different books, or at least a play on the name. We have discussed "13th Floor!" already, but notice "They Dive by Night" is a play on "They Crawl by Night" (or vice versa) used in another Atlas title.

 

Guess they went to the well so often that they occasionally came up dry.

[Forbush-Man]

I remember reading there was a one or two year period where Stan was operating Atlas without artists (just using artwork he had stockpiled up.) Don't recall the exact period, definetly before Kirby & Ditko though. Might explain the "going back to the well" title theory.

[Scrooge]

I remember reading there was a one or two year period where Stan was operating Atlas without artists (just using artwork he had stockpiled up.) Don't recall the exact period, definetly before Kirby & Ditko though. Might explain the "going back to the well" title theory.

 

That's the 1957 Implosion period you're referring to and while Stan was not having stories commissioned by artists, he still had enough inventory to run the titles for a while before starting (rather faster than we thought before according to some recent re-investigation of the matter) to commission new stories from a select group of artists. The 1957 Implosion also happened around the time the distribution of Atlas books shrunk due to limitation in number of books hitting newsstands as imposed by INDependent News. But let me retrace the history quickly so you understand better. In the 40's Goodman used Kable News Co. as an independent distributor. Then in the 1950s, Goodman decides to save $$$ by distributing on his own by forming Atlas News Co. and self-distributes. In 1956, the company decides to switch once more and contracts out to American News Co. aka ANC the nation's largest distributor. By May 17th, 1957, ANC closes shop! sending Goodman to scramble for another distributor and has to sign with "Independent News IND , the distribution subsidiary of National Periodicals Publications, publsiher of rival DC Comics." These are the events leading to the implosion you alluded to.

 

This information is from Thomas G. Lammers' Tales of the Implosion - A History of the 1957 Atlas Implosion, Mimeo - Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The mimeo is a revised and expanded version of the Alter Ego vol. 3 # 49 (June 2005) article Atlas Shrugged. Interesting reading both.

[Jayman]

..... gotta wonder what they were thinking about when they titled a story "BONG!".....

 

They just didn't finish the drawing is all!

 

[adamstrange]

I remember reading there was a one or two year period where Stan was operating Atlas without artists (just using artwork he had stockpiled up.) Don't recall the exact period, definetly before Kirby & Ditko though. Might explain the "going back to the well" title theory.

 

That's the 1957 Implosion period you're referring to and while Stan was not having stories commissioned by artists, he still had enough inventory to run the titles for a while before starting (rather faster than we thought before according to some recent re-investigation of the matter) to commission new stories from a select group of artists. The 1957 Implosion also happened around the time the distribution of Atlas books shrunk due to limitation in number of books hitting newsstands as imposed by INDependent News. But let me retrace the history quickly so you understand better. In the 40's Goodman used Kable News Co. as an independent distributor. Then in the 1950s, Goodman decides to save $$$ by distributing on his own by forming Atlas News Co. and self-distributes. In 1956, the company decides to switch once more and contracts out to American News Co. aka ANC the nation's largest distributor. By May 17th, 1957, ANC closes shop! sending Goodman to scramble for another distributor and has to sign with "Independent News IND , the distribution subsidiary of National Periodicals Publications, publsiher of rival DC Comics." These are the events leading to the implosion you alluded to.

 

This information is from Thomas G. Lammers' Tales of the Implosion - A History of the 1957 Atlas Implosion, Mimeo - Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The mimeo is a revised and expanded version of the Alter Ego vol. 3 # 49 (June 2005) article Atlas Shrugged. Interesting reading both.

 

Good info on the 57 implosion, but I've heard reliable reports of an earlier event when the pace of artwork exceed the pace of publishing. I'm thinking it was in 49 or 50. Maybe one of our Atlas experts could join the discussion.

[adamstrange]

The 'Swamp Girl!" cover is cool enough..... gotta wonder what they were thinking about when they titled a story "BONG!".....

 

Maybe they were in cahoots with the gang at Superior!

 

 

That's got a very nice story inside, "Help Wanted", about the dangers of misusing acronyms/abbreviations. The guy isn't all bad, it does show him kicking a cat.