THEN CAME ATLAS/SEABOARD Part 2: Pissing away what made you special

DEATH KNELL, THE THIRD ISSUE SWITCH

The thing that gets the Atlas/Seaboard line the most talk was it's deciding to abandon it's own push the envelope path set out by Jeff Rovin in favor of being more like Marvel at Goodman's whim. What this actually entailed was as abrupt a change of direction as you could ever find in comics.  It's called The Third Issue Switch because that's the issue the change most often went down in. The most obvious loss was the Michael Fleisher quality of anything can happen to anyone -at any time. Reading a Fleisher comic (along with most of the other early writers) you can never be sure a character is safe, even if it's the title character. Well deserving villains didn't die for keeps in Marvel or DC in the 70s, in the early days of Atlas villains were killed, children were killed, it was grist for the more dangerous -therefore more realistic- comic universe of Atlas. Marvel did kill off Gwen Stacy, but Atlas went 'there' and then a few steps beyond.

The classic Atlas style anti-hero was before it's time. In the mid-70s Marvel's Punisher was -at best-  a gray villain because he killed the 'bad guys' out right. In Atlas killing the 'bad guys' was the standard operating procedure of the heroes at first, laying waste to some bystanders happened a fair amount of time too.  Then the 'Marvelization' started and you had conscience's developing, along with Peter Parker style guilt trips breaking out all over the place.A great example of this is one of my favorite Atlas titles Targitt written by Ric Meyers -with co-writers after issue 1- and drawn by Howard Nostrand. He started off as a cross between Dirty Harry and the Punisher mixed in with a nice dose of bat shit crazy. The differences being Targitt was with the F.B.I. which broadened his base of operations, and in the first issue had no costume. The appeal to me is seeing someone lose everything but there life snap, and get through it by turning to there work with a vengeance. In issue #2 he got a costume, and a new title John Targitt... Man-Stalker. but still shot the bad guys deader than hell. In issue #3 with the other Marvellizer Gerry Conway (ironically the co-creator of the Punisher, and writer of the Gwen Stacey death) as co-writer, Targitt lost the guns for good, got super powers in a convoluted way, and became just another fancy underwear jockey.

BEFORE AND AFTER

The letter pages in third and fouth Atlas issues tell the tale: "...What I object to is not that it was "stolen" from the movies, but that it was so brutal. It seems you have given John Targitt tacit approval to take the law into his own hands. As such, the mag is a paean to lynch law. Really the hero is to be pitied instead of glorified. The worst thing I can say about Targitt is that it is unconstitutional; it is an abuse of the comic art, and goes against all the rules of the comics code." [Larry A. Miller, John Targitt... Man-Stalker #3]

Well, cry me a river of bullshit. If Larry was still reading comics in the 80s and 90s it probably gave him a complex. What got me about that letter was invoking the U.S. constitution and championing the mind-killer censorship of the comics code. I love the First Amendment especially the part about freedom of speech, and freedom of the press,  -but I guess neo-fascists book burning types don't go in for that sort of thing. Raising the specter of lynch mobs, never mind all the other vigilantes in comics bouncing around in there underwear... I'm a fairly mellow fellow, but all these decades later Miller's comments and mind-set that is still around today, sicken me.
Atlas's response: "This may come as a complete surprise to you (a pleasant one too we think), but we feel, as Targitt learns this issue, that the gun is not the answer. However, we cannot disregard the events in John Targitt's life, which have shaped his personality. He was burnt once too often by the inhumanity that sometimes plagues government institutions; and by the brutal, vicious deaths of his wife and daughter at the hands of the mob. Because of this, he understandably trusts no one. And so, Targitt had to find the superhero in himself -with a little help from Gerry Conway and ye olde editor, Larry." [Letters page, John Targitt... Man-Stalker]
The only thing it cost the title (along with most of the rest of the Atlas line) was the edge that made Targitt stand apart from all the multitude of other superheroes that had already found themselves.

Not every Atlas title got the Third Issue Switch treatment to purge away the Anti-hero tone of the early issues.The Scorpion suffered the switch for a even more short-sighted and eat up with stupid reason. The Scorpion title is generally hailed as one of the best Atlas put out, but that only goes for the first two issues. Howard Chaykin was the artist/writer/creator of a 1930s era old fashioned pulp style adventurer. This homage to the pulp magazines made the title unique compared to the rest of the Atlas line. There where other pulp characters brought to comics but there treatment seems half-hearted compared to Chaykin's work. Wither it was facing down saboteurs in issue 1, or black magic killings in issue 2, Chaykin made the themes and moods of those old stories work in his title.  Most pulp hero types who made it into comics ended up time traveling to modern times, and this title sadly was no exception. Chaykin left because he said he lost creative control (one of those pesky promises Atlas made back at the start) and ending up taking his idea to marvel in the form of Dominic Fortune. Scorpion got turned into a Daredevil rip off in issue 3 who swung around New York like Spider-Man thanks to his grappling hook wrist blasters. The editorial explanation: "Levy and Craig thought a mood piece of the thirties would get monotonous after a few issues." [Letters page, Scorpion #3] Lieber was referring to Gabe Levy and Jim Craig who took over from Chaykin. Being a "mood piece" was what gave the title a spark, but I guess Martin Goodman didn't think a D-list version of Daredevil would get monotonous? Did no one think that if a kid wanted to read Daredevil he/she would buy the actual title from Marvel, instead of the Scorpion?

No surprise, pulling those kind of re-write stunts almost company wide finished off Atlas/Seaboard when people chose to accept no imitation, and go back to buying Marvel.

Note: I had just planned to do a 2 part post on Atlas/Seaboard but I've enjoyed writing about it even more than I thought I would, so get ready for part 3!  I also intend to do a review/commentary on each of the comics titles over the months ahead -except Vicki- so please let me know what titles you would like me to take a stab at first. Right now I'm leaning towards Targitt, The Destructor, and Phoenix -but I also take requests! As always I welcome any readers ideas, suggestions, and -if need be- complaints. :)