Tag Archives: basil wolverton

Fantagraphics Rediscovers the Wonders of Marvel’s Atlas Comics

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Fantagraphics has announced the publication of Fantagraphics Presents the Marvel Atlas Comics Library, a series of hardcover volumes reprinting comics from Marvel’s 1950s Atlas Comics line in both facsimile editions of individual titles and compilations of a single artist.

Fantagraphics will publish five volumes a year with the first two volumes releasing in Fall 2023. Sequential reprintings of individual titles will comprise four volumes, with a fifth volume devoted to one of the many first-rate illustrators who worked for Marvel during this period. The collections will run the gamut from colorful, weird, deliciously pulpy stories found in their horror, suspense, and supernatural titles to their surprisingly gritty war titles, to Westerns, and lighter funny animal comics and romance comics. These stories were created by such Marvel legends as Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Jack Kirby, Carl Burgos, Stan Lee, Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, Steve Ditko, Basil Wolverton, John Severin, and many others.

The first two volumes will shine a light on, respectively, Atlas’ luridly captivating Adventures Into Terror title and the work of versatile master Joe Maneely.

Adventures Into Terror shows the finest talents in the comics medium working in the shockingly wild, untrammeled freedom in the days before the industry came under the censorious eye of the Comics Code Authority. Atlas, revered by horror-comics aficionados, produced far more hair-raising titles and issues than any other publisher at that time.

The Maneely volume, the first of a series of oversized coffee table Atlas Artist Editions, presents a cornucopia of his varied genre comics, including Stan Lee’s satire on anti-comics crusader Fredric Wertham, “The Raving Maniac.” Maneely died at a young age and his short but incandescent career is only now being fully appreciated.

Continuing Fantagraphics’ tradition of creating beautiful books, these full-color hardcover collectors’ volumes are elegantly curated as well as stunningly designed. Edited by Atlas scholar Dr. Michael J. Vassalo, these comics were scanned directly from the original printings and meticulously restored with a wealth of detail never seen before.

Upcoming volumes in 2024 will feature the Atlas career of Bill Everett, the archetypal romance comic My Love Story, the best of Atlas’ war and humor titles, the super hero/romance hybrid Venus and much more.

Adventures Into Terror: The Atlas Comics Library is set to release October of 2023 with the second volume The Atlas Artist Edition Volume 1: JOE MANEELY, releasing in November of 2023.

Preview: Haunted Horror #22

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Haunted Horror #22

Ruth Roche, Basil Wolverton, and more (w) • Basil Wolverton, Sid Check, The Iger Shop, and more (a) • Don Heck (c)

Join special guest host Mike “The Howler” Howlett for this sordid selection of Pre-Code Horror screamers! Artwork from Basil Wolverton, Sid Check, the Iger Shop and other horror masters bring you eight envelope-pushing tales of grue and gore from the days of yore. The twist here is that all of these stories were redrawn in the 1970s by the slimy Eerie Publications staff! The publishers of Haunted Horror assume no responsibility if your eyes pop clear out of your skull.

FC • 48 pages • $4.99

HauntedHorror_22-frontCover

SDCC 2012 – MAD Artist’s Edition coming from IDW

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[MAD Artist Edition Image]Before MAD Magazine was read in nearly every household, there was Mad Comics. Written and edited by the brilliant Harvey Kurtzman, and drawn by the best and most creative cartoonists of the time, including Wally Wood, Bill Elder, Jack Davis, and Basil Wolverton, Mad was the most innovative satirical publication ever unleashed upon the youth of America.

The MAD: ARTIST’S EDITION will be approximately 160 pages and measure 15” x 22”. The expected release date is in December. It will include a dozen of the earliest covers and a selection of some of the finest and most memorable stories, including classics such as “Batboy and Rubin” by Wally Wood and “Howdy Dooit” by Elder. In the Artist’s Edition style, these covers and stories will be reproduced as very few people have ever seen them before.

What is an Artist’s Edition? Artist’s Editions are printed the same size as the original art. While appearing to be in black & white, each page has been scanned in COLOR to mimic as closely as possible the experience of viewing the actual original art—for example, you are able to clearly see paste-overs, blue pencils in the art, editorial notes, art corrections. Each page is printed the same size as drawn, and the paper selected is as close as possible to the original art board.

Truly beautiful books, perfect for any collector.