Atlas Artist Edition HC (2023 Fantagraphics) comic books 1990 or later

Volume 1 - 1st printing. "Featuring Joe Maneely: The Raving Maniac and Other Stories!" Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo. The first book in Fantagraphics' new Atlas Artist Edition series collects the best work of Marvel's top artist of the 1950s in a lush, lavish, full-color, oversize collector's volume, scanned directly from the original printings and meticulously restored and presented in a wealth of detail never seen before. Joe Maneely was known for his draftsmanship, his versatility, and his speed. He could draw horror, science fiction, war, crime, Mad style humor, Westerns, and funny animals with equal dexterity. His tactile, chiaroscuro graphic approach to storytelling has made him a legend among the comics cognoscenti, but because he never drew superheroes and his life ended tragically at age 32, he has never been given the attention his short but incandescent career deserves. Until now. As Geoffrey C. Ward wrote in American Heritage, "Maneely's knowledge of 19thcentury artifacts was encyclopedic, his rumpled, unshaven cowboys all wore the right hats, swung the right lariats, sat in the right saddles, fired the right model Colts - with every screwhead and trigger guard and notched handle precisely rendered." And that's only his Westerns. That tightly focused attention to detail pervades his work in every genre. The Atlas Artist Edition Vol. 1: Joe Maneely, presents a cornucopia of Maneely's work for Marvel (then called Atlas) including Westerns (Kid Colt, Black Rider, Ringo Kid, Wyatt Earp, Two-Gun Kid), pre-Code horror ("Haunted!", "The Raving Maniac", and the classic "Your Name Is Frankenstein"), space opera (Speed Carter), war (Combat Kelly), Mad-style parodies from the pages of Crazy and Riot, cold-war intrigue and paranoia (Yellow Claw), and Maneely's pride and joy - his Arthurian champion, The Black Knight. Series editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo provides expert contextual and historical commentary in a special essay for this volume. Dr. Michael J. Vassallo is the pre-eminent expert on the Timely/Atlas period of Marvel's history. He co-wrote The Secret History of Marvel Comics (Fantagraphics Books,2013) and edited Atlas at War (2020) and Timely Confidential: When the Golden Age of Comic Books Was Young (2017). He has written extensively for the Marvel Masterworks series and maintains his own Timely/Atlas Comics blog. He lives in New York. Hardcover, 256 pages, full color. Cover price $75.00.

Title Becomes Atlas Creator Collection HC (2026 FB) for Vol. 3

Volume 2 - 1st printing. "Al Williamson: The City that Time Forgot and Other Stories!" Art and cover by Al Williamson. After becoming a professional comics artist in 1948 at the age of 17, by 21 Al Williamson was well-regarded enough as a Western and science-fiction illustrator to be recruited for the EC Comics staff roster - the absolute peak of the field in the 1950s, and a team rarely challenged since. After the Comics Code forced EC to reduce their business, Williamson found himself at the door of Atlas Comics, the largest employer of freelancers in the field. From 1955-60, Williamson would draw 99 stories for Atlas (both solo and with help by Fleagle Gang studio cohorts Angelo Torres and Roy Krenkel, plus Gray Morrow and Ralph Mayo) in mostly western and fantasy genres, with a smattering of war, romance and jungle girl adventure. He flourished on Westerns, freely and loosely rendered four-page morality plays, many scripted economically by Stan Lee. With his extensive oeuvre subsequently based mostly in newspaper strips (including Flash Gordon, Secret Agent Corrigan, and the syndicated Star Wars, at George Lucas' own request), or working largely as an inker, his Atlas stories collectively are the largest single body of work Williamson would ever do as a primary creator for one company. Fantagraphics is proud to present this Al Williamson Artist Edition to finally showcase this distinct period of his remarkable career. Hardcover, 448 pages, full color. Cover price $125.00.