Atlas Comics Library HC (2023 Fantagraphics) comic books

Volume 1 - 1st printing. "Adventures into Terror: November 1950-February 1952!" Collects Adventures into Terror (1951-1954) #43-44 and #3-8. Written by Hank Chapman, Don Rico, and Michael Dean. Art by Russ Heath, Ed Winiarski, Mike Sekowsky, Christopher Rule, George Klein, Allen Bellman, Chic Stone, Gene Colan, Marty Nodell, Hank Chapman, Jay Scott Pike, Don Rico, Sol Brodsky, Paul Reinman, Bill Molno, Vince Alascia, Harry Lazarus, Joe Maneely, Basil Wolverton, Carl Burgos, Hy Rosen, Bill Walton, Manny Stallman, Bill LaCava, and Joe Sinnott. Cover by Russ Heath. Back Cover by Harry Lazarus and Christopher Rule. Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. Fantagraphics is embarking on a project to reprint Marvel Comics' 1950s genre titles - war, crime, supernatural, funny animal, Western - under its new Atlas series with the first eight issues of the pre-Code horror series 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 works by 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 Comics 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 George Tuska, Carl Burgos, 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's classic "Where Monsters Dwell" from issue #7; Gene Colan's moody "House of Horror" in issue #3; and Don Rico's wild layouts are on display from #4's"The Torture Room." 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 like a sledgehammer on comics in the early '50s. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 180 pages, full color. Cover price $34.99.

Volume 2 - 1st printing. "Venus: Strange Stories of the Supernatural!" Collects Venus (1948-1952 Marvel) #1-19. Art by Werner Roth, Christopher Rule, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Maneely, Bob Powell, Vince Alascia, Lin Streeter, Syd Shores, Russ Heath, Hy Rosen, Mike Esposito, Don Rico, Gene Colan, Bill Everett, Dave Berg, John Tartaglione, Sol Brodsky, Allen Bellman, Manny Stallman, John Giunta, and Pete Morisi. Cover by Jim Mooney. Back Cover by Bill Everett. Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. The Goddess of Love...and SF horror: The eagerly anticipated single volume collecting the 10 rare issues of the overstuffed Venus comics! In the late 1940s, the first half of the Venus series from Marvel Comics predecessors Timely and Atlas Comics was published as a lighthearted romance comic about the goddess Venus taking a job on Earth at a beauty magazine. Never a company to miss a trend, Atlas began introducing more science fiction elements in the 1950s, and eventually turned Venus' dating adventures into a straight-out horror anthology. Collected here, 70 years later and for the first time ever, is that swift-changing second half of the 19-issue run. Future Marvel stars Bill Everett (seven issues) and Werner Roth (three issues) take Venus to heights of four-color weirdness and pre-Code horror ghastliness. Everett is given free rein and seizes the opportunity: writing, drawing, and lettering twenty ghoul is hand goofy masterpieces, including classics like "Hangman's House," "The Day Venus Vanished," "The House of Terror," "The Sealed Spectors," Tidal Wave of Terror," and the phantasmagorical "Cartoonist's Calamity!" These stories showcase the brilliant draftsmanship and storytelling of Everett, one of the giants of the 1940s and '50scomic book industry. His slick, fluid line rendered at Timely/Atlas, from his seminal god-child Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, to the atomic age Marvel Boy, is some of the finest pre-Code horror this side of E.C.'s Graham Ingels. Series editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo assisted in the compilation of Venus for Marvel 13 years ago, and Fantagraphics is delighted to publish the horror half as the second title in The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library. Hardcover, 8-in. x 11-in., 280 pages, full color. Cover price $49.99.