The Atlas Comics Library No. 3: In the Days of the Rockets!

The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library #3

by Joe Maneely, Hank Chapman, Mike Sekowsky

Genres: Comics

336 pages, Hardcover

Published August 6, 2024

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Days of the Rockets! is the third volume of Atlas Comics reprints published by Fantagraphics under their "Atlas Comics Library" line. Collecting six issues of Space Squadron (sixth issue was retitled as Space World) and six issues of Speed Carter, Spaceman, this volume highlights some of the highs and lows of early sci-fi comics. The Space Squadron section boasts a decent amount of variety spearheaded by artists like George Tuska, Werner Roth and Allen Bellman. Perhaps it's my more contemporary perspective that colors my opinion of these stories, but I have a hard time imagining these comics having any kind of influence on the readership. Though these comics do borrow from more popular genres of the time like horror and war comics, Space Squadron is comes off as extremely pedestrian sci-fi comics storytelling with little to no subversion or originality. Tuska is the artist primarily setting the tone here as he does the artwork for the first three issues, and unfortunately it's all quite bland. My exposure to Tuska has been as a fill-in artist for The Avengers and Iron Man, but even in a more liberated setting I found his work to be rather safe. The alien designs are often stiff and bland variations of humans, making a lot of the first half of this book a tiresome read.

But the Spaceman section is undoubtedly more entertaining. Hank Chapman and Joe Maneely are much more playful with their sci-fi fare, crafting an electric set of issues that are action packed and violent. Maneely's artwork borders on the unhinged at times - an intriguing blend of Jack Kirby's sense of scale and the zaniness of Basil Wolverton is what I would best describe it as. The Spaceman stories are much more readable as well, and coupled to the fantastically horrifying alien designs here, these comics are definitely worth checking out.

I do wish the choice of paper wasn't so white in these editions. The contrasts do look odd at times which only hurts some of the work from artists like Tuska, Sekowsky, Romita and Forgione. Give how stark white the word balloons are, some pages have an overwhelming amount of white to the pages to really detract from the otherwise solid color restoration work. It's been three volumes like this so I doubt Fantagraphics will change tact, but this is the first volume where the blindingly white pages really impacted the reading experience for me.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful collection of Atlas Comics from the 1950s. As you can see from the cover, the emphasis here is on space monsters and they're plentiful inside. The stories aren't very good though they're often funny, clumsily sprinkled with science and full of sentences like "I'll space-park my ship." There are good aliens, very bad aliens, a few dinosaurs, and several things with tentacles. The reprinted titles are SPACE SQUADRON/SPACE WORLDS and SPEED CARTER, SPACEMAN. The characters across the two series are mostly interchangeable and the stories surprising in their detail if not their plots. The war between the Scorpions and the winged centaurs is especially striking as a piece of space opera.

Atlas didn't have the artistic pool that EC comics enjoyed but there's still tons of amusing panel art here. Joe Maneely is well represented, reminding us once again of what the 1960s Bullpen might have been had he lived. He was the Brian Jones of the Marvel Age of Comics.

[Egghead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blast bug-eyed monsters
with American rayguns
Space is a boys' club

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m still digging Fantagraphics Books Atlas Comics Library series, which reprints some of the old Atlas (Marvel) books of the 1950s. Publisher Martin Goodman put out a ton of comics in that era, before the Comics Code crashed everything (including almost his entire company), and though he wasn’t fond of science fiction, the world was. Goodman copied trends and at that point on that new-fangled TV thingie making its way into everyone’s homes, sci-fi was king. This volume, edited and compiled once again by Atlas expert Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, collects two Atlas sci-fi series: Space Squadron 1-6 (it became Space Worlds with the final issue), and Speed Carter, Spaceman 1-6. Vassallo’s introduction goes through each book and its artists which include the great Joe Maneely, Mike Sekowsky, George Tuska, Christopher Rule, Werner Roth, George Klein, and even a story by a very young John Romita. The stories are largely unreadable, but the art is great. FB is going to add to their Marvel reprint line with a new series called Lost Marvels, debuting next spring with its first volume featuring a complete reprint of Tower of Shadows (issues 1-9) from the late 1960s.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

Another gorgeous collection from Fantagraphics, reproducing issues of some brief sci-fi comics. The presentation is top notch, the stories for the most part are goofy fun and the essay in the front does a good job of providing context. All that said, this will probably be the last of my Atlas journey in regards to these collections. They're fun, but they're not earth shattering entertainment by any means, and they never come close to the glories of the better work out there from this period, and that's if you ignore EC's line. They are simply fun, meat & potatoes space comics. I'm happy they are getting the reissue treatment, but I think I'm good.