[Astaldo711]

I have a book called Encyclopedia of Super-Heroes. It's from 1985 so not the most recent thing. Looking at the pictures and reading about the characters is what really got me interested in GA comics. Anyway, one of the entries listed for each character is a quote. Some I'd read and wonder what the context was because it sounded so odd. I found one myself while reading Captain Wizard #1 from 1946:
"I was confused the day I saw it literally raining cats and dogs! As though that wasn't bad enough...it rained frogs too! But that was nothing compared with what I saw later...for I saw Adolf Hitler peacefully painting a landscape and most peculiar of all, he hated war and loved peace."
Can't wait to read that story...
One quote that stands out in my mind from that book is from Skate Man "We're making a union jerk hole! My foot and your face!"

[Yoc]

Skate Man!  OMG!
One of the Ed Wood level bad comics of the 80s from Neil Adams' Continuity.
Wow was that a bad one.
Likely found in the 'we'll pay you to just take these away bin.'

-Yoc

[Astaldo711]

It's fun flipping through the book just to find some of those old "gems".
Like The Brute - a caveman that was unfrozen, or Morlock, the plant man...and let's not forget Howard the Duck.

[narfstar]

I remember eagerly awaiting the coming of the new comic book company that would give Marvel and DC a run for their money. It had to be great and successful using all the top talents of the day. Then they had the magazine editor do their color comics and the color comics editor do their magazines. The rest is history. I still have most of them. I think Vicky is the hardest to find. I do not know if anyone actually bought any off the stands.

[Ed Love]

Have to be careful with Rovin's Encyclopedia. There are a few errors in there. Most are minor but I learned to try to verify from independent sources the info I got from there.

The early issues of Atlas Comics were fun, I really liked the Phoenix and both versions of the Scorpion. I keep hoping somebody will scoop them up and do them justice. Kind of surprised DC hasn't with all of their acquisitions lately.

Skateman definitely won't go down as one of Adams' greats. In the '90s I got into buying comics from the Continuity line. Their publishing was sporadic, but they were still a bright spot in the overall morass that made up DC and Marvel at the time. DC was busy killing off characters in order to bring them back as kewl versions (Eclipso #13, Death of Superman, Knightfall, Zero Hour, Hawk as Monarch) while Marvel was in Image mode. And, everywhere was bagged comics with cards and such. Continuity was almost a breath of fresh air with consistent art. Pity it died while trying to do one of those event driven crossover things. Luckily, those foolish days are behind us...

[JVJ]

I remember eagerly awaiting the coming of the new comic book company that would give Marvel and DC a run for their money. It had to be great and successful using all the top talents of the day. Then they had the magazine editor do their color comics and the color comics editor do their magazines. The rest is history. I still have most of them. I think Vicky is the hardest to find. I do not know if anyone actually bought any off the stands.

Let me tell you an interesting Atlas/Seaboard story, narf,
Long before anyone really knew that the company was even GOING to exist, let alone what it would be called, I received a phone call from Chip Goodman. He evidently got my name and address out of my Doug Wildey: The Movie Cowboy book and called information. I wasn't hard to find. He introduced himself and said he wanted to get in touch with Doug. I didn't know why.

Now, I wasn't prepared to give out Doug's phone number without his permission, so I told Chip to call me back in a couple of days. I called Doug, got his okay, and waited for the call back. As I waited, I thought about all the questions I would like to ask Martin Goodman about Timely/Atlas, the bullpen, the implosion, etc., since that was the focus of my collecting in those days. So, the call comes back and it's BOTH Chip and Martin Goodman on the line. I guess they were trying to show that they were legit and serious. I was convinced.

I chatted very briefly with them about the Doug and the Movie Cowboy book, gave them Doug's phone number, and then asked politely if I could ask Martin a question or two. He said yes, and I said that I wanted to talk to him about ATLAS.

There was a deafening silence on the line for at least 30 seconds. NO one was supposed to know the name of the new company or even that there WAS a new company and here this bozo from California was blurting those secrets out over an unsecure phone line! At the time, I couldn't understand what the problem was or why the Goodmans said "not now" and hung up on me. I never heard from them again and about nine months later, when the first Atlas/Seaboard issues hit the stands, I suddenly understood their reactions. I suppose I never would have heard from them if they hadn't wanted Doug for their new company, but I keep thinking of all the direct questions I COULD have gotten answers to if ONLY they hadn't chosen ATLAS as the name of that company. My one chance and fate thwarted me. Sigh...

At least I tried. And I also can honestly say that I scared Martin Goodman. For a few minutes there he was positive that something had leaked.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[John C]

Regarding the rights, I was once told that tracking the ins and outs of the estates was next to impossible.  Granted, that was from someone who I wouldn't trust to understand the legal issues, but seemed to be familiar with the people.  So it may be that nobody knows who owns what, which would explain why the concepts have just sat.

Also, I need to mention that Jim's story reminds me of the number of times I've been on calls with technical support at various companies and gotten the "...Who told you that?" response to something I've said.  People get far too paranoid about projects and end up jumping any time remotely similar terms get used.  But your story is probably the best of them.

[Ed Love]

Last I heard, the Atlas stuff was owned by the publisher of Hustler. Although, copies of Demon Hunter and Chaykin's Scorpion ended up at Marvel as Devil-Slayer and Dominic Fortune.

I did hear tell from someone on a comics board say they were in the process of purchasing the characters from Hustler for a publishing venture but backed out when they ended up going through a nasty divorce. Afterwards, it was no longer economically feasible for them. A shame.

[Yoc]

Thanks for that fun story Jim!

I collected as much of the Atlas-Seaboard stuff as I could easily find from the 3 for a dollar bin at my first regular comic shop.  I'd have a little cash in hand and that Chaykin Scorpion book looked damn good to my eyes.  I also enjoyed my first look at Pat Boyette on his Vampire Planet and The Phoenix had a promising start.

Here's is a GREAT site devoted to all things Atlas-Seaboard including articles pulled from various sources -
http://www.atlasarchives.com/

Enjoy,
-Yoc

[Ed Love]

Ah, it's Swank not Hustler...

Interesting articles and looks at the characters and books.

[narfstar]

If only you had asked about early Marvel hey Jim. Is Swank still around? I do not know how I found out but there was to be a comic book article in Swank. So I had to go buy a porno mag because comic book stuff was not around much back then. I would assume that those early issues would be hardly more than R rated now.

[Yoc]

I seeing an article on EC in a 1980s mens magazine shown to me by a buddy but damned if I can recall which.
It might have even been a British one as I recall the size being larger than a normal American magazine.

-Yoc