I found this note in with my Atlas-Seaboard folder. Evidently it came
in a torrent.
I'm thinking of doing a "short lived publishers" flood of
Atlas-Seaboard, Skywald (both from the 70s) and maybe Atlas-Ardden
(Atlas-Seaboard reboot circa 2010-2011). I remember buying some Atlas
comics at a used bookstore in the later 70s. Unsurprisingly they looked
a lot like the Marvel comics I was buying then, but definitely
off-kilter.
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Notes on Atlas-Seaboard Publications
More properly this is Atlas Comics, a short lived (didn't last a full
year) comic book and comic magazine company from 1975. Among comic
collectors, historians, and the like Atlas comics is commonly referred
to as Atlas-Seaboard to distinguish it from the Atlas company that was
the precursor to Marvel comics, sometimes called Timely or
Atlas-Timely. Seaboard was the name of the publisher and Atlas was the
imprint name.
In this Torrent you will find every comic Atlas did, 61 in all spread
among 23 titles and (narrowly) a majority of their Magazines. That is 6
of the 11 issues published, or 3 of the 5 titles they published.
Unfortunately I could not locate any scans of the 4 Movie Monster
magazine issues, nor the single issue of Gothic Romance magazine Atlas
produced.
Reading Atlas comics is like watching Planet 9 from Outer Space.
Atlas comics are quite possibly the worst line of comics that ever made
it to print, just as Planet 9 is the popular contender for worst movie
ever made. Reading them is much like watching a train wreck in slow
motion, there is something utterly fascinating in discovering, in
excruciating detail, all the ways a comic publisher can foul it up,
leading to the company's inevitable demise.
A Brief History/Commentary
Atlas was founded by Martin Goodman, previously the publisher of
Marvel comics until he sold his interest to Cadence Industries in 1970.
Apparently there was, or at the very least Mr. Goodman thought there
was, an agreement to keep Martin’s son on at Marvel with a job for
life. When Marvel fired Charles 'Chip" Goodman, Martin decided to take
Marvel down by starting Atlas and scooping all of Marvels clientele.
It sounds ambitious, because it was, but not actually a completely
outrageous idea. Mr. Goodman was an experienced comics publisher and,
unlike many start-up companies, Atlas was well funded with the millions
Goodman received from the sale of Marvel. Don't forget that Martin
Goodman was the publisher that created Marvel comics from a little
comic company with the comic book monsters nitch. A little harder to
access is the market, but I believe the market was ripe for a third
comic publisher. When atlas was announced industry publications wrote
articles avidly looking forward to Atlas's coming, and I personally
remember looking forward to a 3rd option on the racks other than DC and
Marvel.
To start out 2 experienced editors were hired, Larry Lieber (Stan
Lee's Brother) and Jeff Rovin, and a premium on the regular Artist
fee's to lure the best from the other companies. A successful strategy
attracting the best of the time; people like Neal Adams, Alex Toth,
Steve Ditko, John Severin, Russ Heath, Wally Wood, Mike Sekowsky, Gene
Colan, Walter Simonson, and Howard Chaykin, among others. Nor were
writers ignored, Archie Goodwin, Larry Hama and Howard Chaykin all
contributed.
So, with this array of talent how does it all go so terribly wrong,
oh so many ways.
1) Goodman was a good publisher, but a lousy editor. He should have
continued to look at the bottom line, ensure printing times, cement
distribution, sales and advertising. He had no ability to deal with the
talent and should have stayed away from it. Bringing Chip along, whom
had no knack for comics and who's authority was constantly undermined
by dear ol' dad just exasperated things.
2) Goodman fixated on Marvel, wanting the line to be a clone of
Marvel's hit's, to look and feel like a Marvel mag, to hire only people
taken from Marvel, etc. etc. Leads to opportunities missed when other
talent was ignored, and original ideas quashed.
3) It seems that initially Jeff Rovin was the dominant editor, and
had grand plans to make a mark with an all new envisioning of comics.
Jeff Rovin's only experience was with Warren's horror books, among
other things never dealing with the CCA people. The experienced comics
man, Larry Lieber, was relegated to the anthology books (westerns,
crime, romance) and one of the mainline comics (The Destructor). First
Rovin wanted to license a few known properties to give the company a
running start with some recognized characters but Martin (so lavish
elsewhere) nixed this and said just use knock-offs, hence Omega Man
becomes Planet of the Vampires, etc.. Next Rovin hires Michael Fleisher
as his chief writer, evidently a serial killer whom never got up the
nerve to actually commit a crime, but was fortunate enough to be able
to vent via comics stories. Substituting gore for plot, character
development, consistency, decent dialog and good writing didn't seem to
work out for some reason.
4) Rovin fired/quit in and of itself might not be a bad thing but
dumping all his work on Lieber and not getting him any help was not too
bright.
5) Just in case any talent manages to work it's way through this
minefield and get printed, be sure the books are released irregularly
so any build up of an audience is discouraged, and in case interest
persists, radically revamp all your characters after 2 books into
something entirely unrecognisable even with the clue of the same name.
A masterstroke that looses readers almost as fast as it pisses off and
alienates creators.
For more detail on Atlas I highly
recommend the site
http://www.atlasarchives.com/index.html
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