The Atlas Comics Library 1: Adventures into Terror

Atlas holds a special place among aficionados of the genre, producing more horror titles and issues by far, than anyone in the industry. While the quality of E.C.'s six horror/sci-fi titles was unsurpassed with their elite cadre of talent, Atlas was the equivalent of the B-movies studio, churning out anywhere from 8 to 12 different horror titles a month, giving a wider array of artists, including some of the best craftsmen of the era, a chance to show off their talents: in addition to those already mentioned, future volumes will include Bill Everett, John Romita, Bernie Krigstein, Jerry Robinson, Harry Anderson, and Matt Fox. Stories from Marvel’s Atlas line have barely been reprinted. The Fantagraphics Atlas Library is the first attempt to publish a carefully curated line of Atlas titles.

Our first volume Adventures Into Terror includes a treasure trove of stories drawn by many of the most stylistically accomplished artists of the Golden Age including Russ Heath, Gene Colan, George Tuska, Carl Burgos, Don Rico, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Maneely, Basil Wolverton, and Joe Sinnott. Highlights include Russ Heath’s two-part story “The Brain” from issue #4 and “Return of the Brain” from issue #6; Basil Wolverton classic “Where Monsters Dwell” from issue #7; Gene Colan renders the moody “House of Horror” in issue #3; Don Rico’s wild layouts are on display from #4’s “The Torture Room”; and Allen Bellman puts his young daughter into the last panel of #4’s “Vampire Brats.” The stories are written firmly in the tradition of the pulpy, perverse, borderline deranged style that brought Fredric Wertham, the United States Senate Sub-Committee, and public opinion down on like a sledgehammer on comics in the early ‘50s.

Edited by Atlas scholar Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, scanned directly from the published comics, and meticulously restored by Allan Harvey, the first volume of the Fantagraphics Atlas Library is an event among comics lovers, collectors, and historians

Eugene Jules Colan (1926-2011) illustrated many war comics for both Timely/Atlas and DC Comics. He flourished after Atlas became Marvel, with notable stints plotting and drawing on Daredevil and Captain America in the 1960s, before co-authoring Howard The Duck with Steve Gerber and Tomb of Dracula with Marv Wolfman.

Russell Heath Jr. (1926–2018) was an American artist best known for his comic book work, particularly his DC Comics war stories and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's "Little Annie Fanny" feature. Heath was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.

Basil Wolverton was born near Medford, Oregon in 1909 and died in 1978. His Fantagraphics-published books include Basil Wolverton's Culture Corner and The Wolverton Bible, and his work is featured in Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941.

Dr. Michael J. Vassallo is a noted historian on Marvel's early pulp, Timely and Atlas periods. A Manhattan dentist, he spends his free time attempting to bring recognition to artistic creators of the 1940's and 1950's. He has also written introductions to 20 Timely and Atlas Masterworks volumes, dissecting the credits for posterity and providing historical context, as well as writing the detailed captions to the first 210 pages of Taschen's 75 Years of Marvel coffee table book. He lives in Westchester County, New York.