Show Us Your Atlas Books - Have A Cigar 26 26

[buttock]

A so-so Heath cover - but it has R.Q. Sale art inside - and though it's not a particularly violent one - I come to enjoy the adventures of Combat Casey and his pal Penny outsmarting the reds as drawn by Sale.

 

 

I agree, very pedestrian. You really don't want that one, go ahead and send it my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(... grumble grumble grumble... )

[Scrooge]

A so-so Heath cover -

 

I agree, very pedestrian. You really don't want that one, go ahead and send it my way.

 

Couldn't agree more. Apart from one, all Combat Casey Heath covers are hum-hum. I bid even lower on those but for once am happy to lose.

[rjpb]

A so-so Heath cover -

 

I agree, very pedestrian. You really don't want that one, go ahead and send it my way.

 

Couldn't agree more. Apart from one, all Combat Casey Heath covers are hum-hum. I bid even lower on those but for once am happy to lose.

 

 

My wallet thanks you - and I'm guessing you are thinking of CC #12?

[AtlasFan]

A so-so Heath cover - but it has R.Q. Sale art inside - and though it's not a particularly violent one - I come to enjoy the adventures of Combat Casey and his pal Penny outsmarting the reds as drawn by Sale.

 

 

I agree, very pedestrian. You really don't want that one, go ahead and send it my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(... grumble grumble grumble... )

 

Hmmm...Dum Dum Dugan prototype?

[Monkeyman]

A so-so Heath cover - but it has R.Q. Sale art inside - and though it's not a particularly violent one - I come to enjoy the adventures of Combat Casey and his pal Penny outsmarting the reds as drawn by Sale.

 

 

I agree, very pedestrian. You really don't want that one, go ahead and send it my way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(... grumble grumble grumble... )

 

Hmmm...Dum Dum Dugan prototype?

 

I guess that Combat Casey and Dum Dum do look alike. I never thought about that before. The only Combat Casey comic I ever owned was so bigoted against Asians that I got rid of it and never bought another. I just didn't feel right owning it.

 

Mike

[Scrooge]

The only Combat Casey comic I ever owned was so bigoted against Asians that I got rid of it and never bought another. I just didn't feel right owning it.

 

Mike

 

... so you don't own any GA books that are similarly "bigoted" against Japanese, Germans, Italians and at times Soviets?

 

Those Combat Caseys, as you know, came out during the Korean War, a conflict who led to:

 

36,516 dead (2,830 non-combat)

92,134 wounded

8,176 MIA

7,245 POW

 

for the US military. So, yes, it's likely that the writing might have been tinged with antagony and animosity in light of the events.

 

[rjpb]

While some racial stereotyping does come through in the Korean War era Atlas war books, and perhaps a bit more so in the Combat Casey strips (mostly in terms of dialect - 'melican instead of american) - which often injected humor into the storyline, I can't think of anything as extreme as the way the Japanese were routinely depicted just a few years earlier.

 

And as Scrooge points out - it's not as if non-asian "Reds" were generally depicted in an unstereotyped manner.

[Monkeyman]

From a historical perspective it is interesting to see what was acceptable in the 50s and is not acceptable today. For some reason, at the time, the issue I read just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm sure I own other comics that I would feel the same way about if I got around to reading them.

 

Sometimes comics have over-the-top characterizations which are obviously used as a story telling devise and you can only laugh at them because they are so stupid, but other times there is stuff that is just vicious and I don't like that.

 

Sorry if my opinion is different from yours.

 

Mike

[AtlasFan]

Hmm...I wonder if the PC "powers that be" now consider making fun of Soviet Communists is bigotted?

[Monkeyman]

Hmm...I wonder if the PC "powers that be" now consider making fun of Soviet Communists is bigotted?

 

My experience is that the Germans and Soviets where treated much better than the Asian. I doubt there are any covers with Germans being impales on bayonettes or incinerated by flamethrowers. That being said, there are many, many Atlas books I haven't read and I could be totally wrong.

 

It is interesting what is considered PC in different eras. Much of what the comics code eliminated (violence) is now OK and much of what was not eliminated would now not be allowed (ethnic comments). The changes the world saw in the 20th century were huge and it makes you wonder what things will be like in 2100.

 

Mike

[Scrooge]

My experience is that the Germans and Soviets where treated much better than the Asian.

 

Mike

 

Mike,

 

it might seem like it but Germans were quite mistreated in the GA.

 

One aspect we need to remember is that the apparent ethnic denigration was really targeted not at an entire race but mainly at an ideology as per the cover of Battle 22 I also received yesterday. It's the "scummies" that are targeted.

 

In other stories, Atlas writers were quick to celebrate the good Asian guys, esp. in stories about the R.O.K. (Soldier of the Republic of Korea) as in Battle 30.

 

I am also attaching the splash of Battle 30 I scanned a while ago too.

 

 

 

[Scrooge]

Battle 22 contains a story titled Conqueror which is a bio of Xerxes which I thought Theagenes would appreciate in particular.

 

I scanned two pages from the story: 1) the battle of the Thermopylae and 2) the naval battle of Salamis. Enjoy -

 

[Monkeyman]

One thing I have noticed in Atlas westerns is that the native Americans are generally treated very well. Often the Europeans are the bad guys versus the noble natives. Quite progressive for the 50s given the negative portrayal in many movies of the time.

 

Mike

Edited July 21, 2009 by Monkeyman

[Scrooge]

One thing I have noticed in Atlas westerns is that the native Americans are generally treated very well. Often the Europeans are the bad guys versus the noble natives. Quite progressive for the 50s given the negative portrayal in many movies of the time.

 

Mike

 

Completely agree. Indeed, very rare were books like Avon's The Savage Raids of Geronimo and Fighting Indians of the Wild West. In fact, they are the exception. The few titles given to native american heroes or heroes of mixed origins were extolling their virtues. They range from Atlas's Apache Kid to Dell's Indian Chief and Fiction House's Indians to Prize's stories of American Eagle in Prize Western Comics to the story of Straight Arrow by ME. All in all, a very fair treatment of the native american culture.

[rjpb]

Certainly racist attitudes still survived in popular culture in the 1950's, though perhaps less so than just a decade earlier. The cartoonishly thick lipped portrayals of African-American's were falling out of favor by then, and Asians were less likely to be depicted as have thick spectacles and fangs or buck teeth, though this stereotype continued well into the 60's. Understandably, these stereotypes can offend modern sensibilities, but it's reasonable to put them in historical context, and a fascination with even the more blatant racist and sexist artifacts from a bygone era is not an endorsement of such attitudes.

 

I would never criticize a collectors right to be personally offended by the contents of a comic, for whatever reason, but I had never thought of Atlas books as being particularly racially insensitive in content.

 

 

 

 

[jimjum12]

I haven't posted these in a while....Atlas Bible Tales for Young Folks. It's kind of unusual seeing all those Horror , War, and Western greats doing bible stories. There are also some non Atla books in this group shot also. Neat books and VERY HARD TO FIND.......GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

 

[Scrooge]

Great group! I have never run across a copy of Bible Tales for Young Folk at a con. How often do they turn on eBay?

[jimjum12]

It took me 5 years to track them all down on eBAY.....I'm still looking for upgrades. Most of mine came from folks who weren't comic dealers. Everett did John the Baptist...and there's a sharp Harry Anderson story in one of them. They were first class efforts...in fact, Stan Lee's file collection contained them in bound volumes. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Scrooge]

Thanks Jimbo. I am still one issue short of the Tales from the Great Book run which I started after you posted your run. Good stuff (thumbs u

[jimjum12]

Thanks Jimbo. I am still one issue short of the Tales from the Great Book run which I started after you posted your run. Good stuff (thumbs u

 

Those are also tough...I snagged a cool paperback off eBAY that has some stuff not in the comics. By the way....is that Xerxes story by Everett ? ....GREAT stuff. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u