Show Us Your Atlas Books - Have A Cigar 26 26

[adamstrange]

QUESTION TIME: Why is it that collecting the BIG DC 5 is very popular and rarely a one collects the Atlas War? Is there something historical in comic collecting that I am not aware?

DC published war comics continuously from 1952 - 1987 and, starting in 1960 or so, centered them around major characters like Sgt Rock, Haunted Tank, Unknown Soldier, Enemy Ace etc. So far as I can tell, that has resulted in a more committed fan base.

[Scrooge]

Thanks to you both for the insights :thumbsup:

 

I'd love to hear what Dale or Richie have to say from the dealer's perspective.

[BOOT]

I'm familiar with that story but glad you've shared it here. Everett's style is particularly suited to the Revolutionary War through War of 1812 and there are a few more of the historically based short stories that are similarly enjoyable.

 

Everett really did do some fantastic work on some of those historical stories. It would be nice to see them collected somewhere.

[BOOT]

 

 

Love the way Maneely uses color to set off Ringo against the characters in the background. However, I question whether killers would really tremble at the name of "RINGO."

[jimjum12]

I wouldn't mind seeing some of the advertising work Everett did after the Atlas implosion. The previous historical story shows an obvious passion for the material on that job. Revolutionary period work is certainly not abundant in comics....I always had a great deal of respect for what Frazetta was doing along those lines with White Indian....even though he was still rather young and still "cutting his teeth". GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[Scrooge]

Tonight's Atlas of the Day is War Adventures # 5 with not only a Heath cover but also a Heath story inside about the relevance of the infantry in modernizing warfare as it played out in Korea. The rugged terrain and weather conditions come back to haunt the tanks (stuck in the mud) and the Air Force (unable to fly), making the foot soldiery indispensable still. Great vignette from 60 years ago (June 1952 publication date).

 

The last story is drawn by Sinnott and touches on the POW situation (recall, the war is not over yet at this point though we are getting close to the static phase of the war (?) I'd have to check my timeline to be sure). As is often the case with the Atlas opus on this war, the soldiers asked themselves Why? (It's in fact the issue in the third story) and this POW knows immediately looking in his surroundings why he is fighting, though it cost him his life. This is tragic in the context of this story b/c we first learn that his wife and kid didn't know he was still alive (listed as MIA) until the Koreans released a list of POW to the US press and here, as they rejoice at home in the US, the guy, weak from lack of food supply and feverish from a gangrened leg, sacrifices himself, needlessly one might say, to protect a family similar to his on the other side of the ocean. One can do nothing but feel sadness for his family whose hope will be dashed soon after hearing positive news.

 

Since we can't be all Buttock , my copy is not in great shape.

 

I am attaching a photo taken in a POW at the time during a "political lecture" (a.k.a. brainwashing session) from a portfolio of photos taken by a Korean prison camp soldier.

 

 

 

 

[adamstrange]

War Adventures # 5 with not only a Heath cover

Thanks for the scans and the nice write-up. The cover is almost certainly based on a Burgos layout as Heath complained to me about early on having to follow layouts that were provided to him. He didn't mind them when they came from someone like Harvey Kurtzman but Burgos was not his league.

[rjpb]

That one is on my want list, I keep hoping to find a VG+ to FN+ copy for cheap.

[BangZoom]

 

 

The splash page to that story is especially nice.

 

 

[buttock]

That's definitely a classic ish. The early war stuff was top notch. Dozens of gems in there that will likely go unrecognized forever.

 

... er, I mean... that one is trash. Nobody buy it.

[Scrooge]

BZ,

 

thanks for posting the splash too. Great work by Heath as well. I decided to scan the snow page b/c Heath again succeeded in the difficult task to show the snow lying on top of the equipment. Thanks for the assist. :thumbsup:

[BOOT]

 

Wow!

 

Hank Chapman wrote some great stories and artists like Heath and Everett always gave him their best efforts.

[BOOT]

 

Heath is like the Mozart of comics. How many artists could create that mood?

[Fazybones]

QUESTION TIME: Why is it that collecting the BIG DC 5 is very popular and rarely a one collects the Atlas War? Is there something historical in comic collecting that I am not aware?

DC published war comics continuously from 1952 - 1987 and, starting in 1960 or so, centered them around major characters like Sgt Rock, Haunted Tank, Unknown Soldier, Enemy Ace etc. So far as I can tell, that has resulted in a more committed fan base.

 

I think that is very true and another reason could be the difficulty of finding

HG Atlas War books and with the DC Big Five, a collector with a nice budget

and some patience can find several HG 10 centers. Unfortunately I'm not one

of those collectors.

 

Here's most of mine and I would love to find some more in FN+ or better

condition. Of course I'm a little partial to Russ Heath.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ooops I need to scan this one.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2012 by Fazybones

[BOOT]

Of course I'm a little partial to Russ Heath.

Outstanding! Thanks for posting!

[Fazybones]

Of course I'm a little partial to Russ Heath.

Outstanding! Thanks for posting!

 

Thank you!! Russ Heath Rocks!!

[Scrooge]

Nice set of books

 

Not for the faintest of heart, the final frontier of Atlas comics is the Romance genre. If Boot thinks there are stinkers in the War genre, the Romance genre is mostly a barren field ... but with some resolve, one can plow through one from time to time.

 

Contemporary to the War Adventures, is Love Tales 57 and, boy, did the Atlas writing staff put those girls through the wringer. Yes, there are many later issues where everything ends up well, this one is enough to depress the buyer of this book.

 

Let's recap quickly that behind this promising cover,

 

 

1) this girl, the title sake of Hick Town Gal, has to crawl back to her hometown and accept her penance for falling for the slick city guy (who obviously has no use for her in the city)

 

 

2) this girl, the Campus Queen, realizes that the All-American full-back is nothing but a jerk but Bob, a 5-year war veteran, is not about to take her back after that little fugue - I like how Weiss has half of the last panel pitch dark

 

 

3) this girl, in Stolen Love, is left alone and physically shattered after her new husband, her sister's fiancé whom she stole !!, realizes how conniving and a cheat & liar she is

 

 

and 4) though this is the only story with a happy ending, you can't say that the writer is kind to the main character ... after all, it might not all be her fault she's just a flirt, she never got any daddy love (check the second panel)

 

 

 

[adamstrange]

 

Wow!

 

Hank Chapman wrote some great stories and artists like Heath and Everett always gave him their best efforts.

That's an absolutely brilliant splash. His depiction of the swirling winds spreading the snowflakes around the lower body of the soldiers is not something I've seen depicted with the artistry that Heath applies here. He almost never used whiteout and so had to do the delicate cross-hatching on all of the soldiers. I wish they had just published it without any color.

[adamstrange]

That's a fabulous starter set of Atlas books!

[BangZoom]

...the final frontier of Atlas comics is the Romance genre.

 

 

If a collector wants to take it a step further, there is the interesting subset of the Atlas Western Romances.