–––––––––––––– from the ––––––––––––– ARCHIVES PO BOX 173 WALTON-ON-THAMES KT12 1SS ENGLAND TEL: +44 (0)1932 253887 FAX: 01932 247970 E-MAIL: [email protected] This is one of a series of newsletters from MicroColour International. From The Archives is designed to tell you, our customers, about some of the great comics available in our catalogue. If there is a specific title you are interested in, let us know and we'll answer your questions as best we can. Volume 2, Number 2, 1995 Atlas Comics: Timely Moves Into the 50s Evolving from Timely Comics of Across the spectrum of subject Plastic Man, Jack Cole's the Golden Age, Atlas grew into matter and across a breadth of masterpiece of the madcap, is one of the giants of the comics artwork styles, Atlas had a still as unique as it was in the industry in the early 1950s. large number of very fine and Golden Age. With the first 30 Atlas offered a remarkable unusual titles, books which are issues of Police Comics and variety and volume across all very hard to find today. As you the first 10 issues of Plastic the popular genres of the time. can see from our list below, we Man, you can enjoy Plastic Man MicroColour is delighted to offer have deliberately sought to and his pal Woozy Winks as several new vibrance in the bring some of that variety to they fight crime in their own Atlas line of that era. you, including some of the off-centre way. post-World War II era Timely / Atlas in the 50s super-heroes. Absolutely irreverent compared to the serious crime-fighting of A Current MicroColour Listing More than the bridge between his super-suited brethren, We've added these titles to our catalogue: Timely and Marvel, Atlas was Plastic man was a mix of the king of the comics industry fantastic stories and riotous art. Yellow Claw: The ultimate 1950's in the early 1950s. It achieved Jack Cole produced a patented villain, with art by Joe Maneely, popularity that no other blend of lively action and Jack Kirby and John Severin publisher had attained before or imagination mixed together Black Knight: Medieval adventure since. These issues will with large doses of antics visual with art by Joe Maneely and introduce you to what all the gags. the result was fast-paced, scripts by Stan Lee. excitement was about. frenzied and lots of fun, with Captain America: Post-war never a dull moment. adventures Our Special Offer Is Back! The strip was perfectly suited Young Man & Men's Adventures: The books which featured the for Cole's brilliant visual We're able to renew the opportunity imagination. Plastic Man faced return of the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch and Captain for our special offer. Here's the deal: a variety of opponents, some America for the 1950's rather serious and some You can choose either: absolutely wacky, giving Cole Marvel Boy / Astonishing: room for his breadth of style and Super-hero action by Russ his wildly inventive layouts. The Heath and Bill Everett a) 15 Sets (75 issues), or amorphous Plastic Man was Human Torch: The Torch after constantly shape-shifting to WWII b) 6 Sets (30 issues) and a disguise himself in the scenery. All-Select / Blond Phantom: microfiche viewer, Part of the fun was to recognise Featuring Miss America too his red costume on an innocuous either for a total cost of £450.00 chair or fire hydrant which had and presenting: mysteriously appeared between Strange Tales #1 - 50: The flagship The above price represents over panels. Cole had a tremendous title of the Atlas line, horror and 10% discount from our regular instinct for visual humour and suspense from before the prices! This offer expires on in Plastic Man the great artist Comics Code until 1956. 31/Aug/1995. (continued on page 3) Page - 1 From The Archives, Vol.2, No.2 1995 issue Always portrayed as a noble Sub-Mariner in 1949, Atlas THE foe, Namor was pitted against Comics reintroduced him in the Human Torch in several 1953's Young Man #24. Again SUB-MARINER issues of Marvel Mystery and Everett did the honours, now also of course the landmark Human with more polish, closer to the Torch #5 (the second #5 - there style of the 1960s then the The ANGEL were two!). In that issue-long style of the 1940s. Probably ultimate battle between Fire because of Everett's touch, and Water, Namor and the sub-Mariner lasted longer then Torch laid waste to New York either the Human Torch of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner has and several other cities before Captain America during the navigated through almost 60 years joining forces against their 19850s Atlas foray into of comics. He's one of the few common enemy. super-heroes. characters still in print from dawning days of the Golden Age. With World War II We're delighted to return these First presented to the general approaching, the Sub-Mariner vintage tales of Bill Everett's public in Marvel Comics #1, his shed his bad-boy image in water boy to general origin is actually a reprint of a tale favour of beating on the Axis. availability. Help yourselve to in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly He became a more standard the stories which made Namor #1. super-hero. Namor's angry side one of the most memorable quickly submerged and characters of all. In the 1940s, Batman pursued wouldn't surface until Stan Lee The Sub-Mariner Fact File criminals, Superman hated and Jack Kirby brought him injustice, and Captain America into the Silver Age in Fantastic The Sub-Mariner appears in: battled the Axis. But the Four #4. ˆ Sub-Mariner # 1 - 25 (1941 - 1948) Sub-Mariner was different, he ˆ Marvel Comics # 1 fought everyone. A prince of Sub-Mariner's popularity ˆ Marvel Mystery # 2 -20 Atlantis, Namor hated the surface pushed him to the forefront of ˆ Human Torch # 2- 30 people for the damage they did to Timely's heroes. he quickly ˆ Captain America #20 his people's underwater homeland. branched out into his own book ˆ All-Winners # 1-19, 21 (as a member In the earliest stories only the and had frequent appearances of the All-Winners Squad in # 19, 21) intervention of his one human in several anthology books ˆ All-Select # 1-5, 10 friend, policewoman Betty Dean, including All Winners. ˆ Blond Phantom # 13-15 was able to tether Namor's fury, Bill Everett, Namor's creator, seemingly, only by the barest of in the 1950s revival: margin. Sub-Mariner was the first was one of the best artists and ˆ Young Man # 24 - 28 writers of the Golden Age. great anti-hero in comics and ˆ Man's Adventures # 27 - 28 possibly the best developed Writing and illustrating most character of these early days. of the early tales, he endowed The human Torch and the Sub-Mariner his character with a visual and had a running battle against each other in one of the earliest and most memorable Sub-Mariner literary polish which placed super-hero crossovers in all of the comics Namor above the norms of the Issues 1 - 25 ˆ Marvel Mystery # 8 - 10 (#8 is a a partial MinDEX era. His fluid lines and lead-in to the main event in #9 -10 uncluttered style were ˆ Human Torch # 5. 8, 10 ˆ Sub-Mariner # 1 - 25 Namora his combined with very dynamic Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner can be seen in: Atlantean cousin, in 23 - 25 story-telling. Everett's stories are among those which hold up ˆ Marvel Comics # 1 ˆ The Angel # 1 - 21 the best upon reading today, ˆ Marvel Mystery # 2 -31 Paul Gustavson art in # 1, 8 after more then 50 years. ˆ Sub-Mariner # 1-4, 21-24 ˆ Young Allies # 22 In the 1942, Everett left for the ˆ Human Torch # 2- 4, 27-28, 30 ˆ Human Torch # 23 service in WWII. Returning to ˆ All-Winners # 1, 3-4 ˆ The Blond Phantom # 25 comics following the war, ˆ Young man # 24 -28 ˆ Alex Schomburg covers: 1-4, 6, 8-18, 20 Everett illustrated his creation ˆ Man's Adventures # 28 again. After cancelling Only MicroColour publications are listed Page - 2 From The Archives, Vol.2, No.2 1995 issue Strange Tales The Beginnings of the Comic Strange Tales was the Atlas Book Phone Cards centrepiece in horror and mystery. It enjoyed a long run After literally years of searching, Phone cards have become one of in this format, from 1951 until we've located a number of New Fun the hottest collectibles going. 1962, when it was finally and More Fun Comics. Scarce and Together with Telecomm USA, converted into a super-hero title. rarely seen, these issues are among MicroColor is pleased to the first from the publisher which announce phone cards featuring Strange Tales # 1 - 50 features would become DC. the cover graphics from Planet thrillers and horror tales dating The first New Fun (# 1 - 6) and Comics, the leading science- from before the Comic Code More Fun Comics (# 7 on up) fiction comic book of the Golden until 1956. These issues present feature early stories by Siegel Age. Now you can adorn your a kaleidoscope of Atlas artists Shuster, among many other wallet or your collection, with with stories by Bill Everett, pioneering notables. Dr. Occult, their the best space-faring art of the Russ Heath, Bernie Krigsrein, mystical adventurer, begins in #6.