The Return of Atlas Comics

Some years ago, in the pre-Ultraverse of Malibu Comics the company had a chance to acquire the old Atlas/Seaboard comic book characters from two guys who claimed to have the rights.

It was very tempting at the time to pursue it – Atlas had a bunch of great characters created by folks like Howard Chaykin, Steve Ditko, Pat Broderick, Gary Friedrich, Mike Ploog, Larry Hama, Michael Fleisher, Ernie Colon, Neal Adams, Alex Toth, John Severin, Russ Heath, Wally Wood, and Mike Sekowsky and many others.

At the time, it would’ve been quite a boost to the company to acquire the characters: they had a certain brand recognition, a lot of sentimental fanboy attachment, and had only been out of the marketplace for less than 15 years or so at the time.

Once acquired, the plan would’ve been to try to round up the original creators – as many as possible - and launch a new Atlas universe that would be separate from the company’s other titles.

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Weekend Reading: Atlas/Seaboard, Gene Deitch and Jonny Quest

Lots of great stuff all over the internet this week, including a nice piece on Martin Goodman’s Atlas/Seaboard comics of the mid-1970s, a lost cartoon by Gene Deitch and a little piece of Jonny Quest/James Bond trivia. Let’s click:

Atlas/Seaboard: If you remember Howard Chaykin’s The Scorpion, Larry Hama’s Wulf The Barbarian or Steve Ditko’s Tarantula, then you’re old. And that means you remember the Atlas/Seaboard comics that Martin Goodman published after Cadence bought him out from Marvel back in the 1970s. What you may not know is that their comics were also published in Australia. Oh Danny Boy has a detailed and well-illustrated account of their adventure down under.

Gene Deitch: Over at Cartoon Brew, Jerry Beck posts a note from acclaimed animation director Gene Deitch about his first (and lost) animated cartoon. It starred Howdy Doody, and the cartoon so enraged Buffalo Bob Smith that he had it destroyed.

John Kricfalusi: Over at John K Stuff, the animator has a hilarious post about amateur artwork and some ideas about how not-yet-professionals can still find outlets for their art.

Tom Richmond: The great MAD Magazine artist and caricaturist recently remodeled his studio and put up before and after pictures. We should all work in such a great environment. Warning: safe-for-work shelf porn ahead.

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