As I've likely mentioned before, my childhood LCS (Queen's Comics in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood) always had a rack outside on the sidewalk with 10 cent books. This was circa 1980, so it was crammed with Atlas Seaboards and Devil Dinosaurs. This is how I came to purchase my first 'monster' book. As a young child, I never really read the creator credits, but I always knew that I had seen the artistic styles in this book somewhere before. Of course I had - we're talking Kirby and Ditko here, folks. I read and re-read this one to bits as a kid, but it was lost somwhere along the way. It took quite a while, but I finally tracked down another copy and I enjoy it just as much today as I did 25 years ago.
The lead story is one of those great Lee/Ditko morality plays that feeds on Cold War fear. The next tale is the classic 'perils of trying to catch a mermaid' story. Looking at the Atlas Tales site - Andru & Esposito are credited (from the original Astonishg #46 enty), but I've always thought it was Don Heck. I'll have to dig out my copy and take another look. The next one is about a man who invents a duplicator ray and learns that it pays to be careful what you wish for - very, very nice John Tartaglione art. Finally, we have a Kirby masterpiece involving a Transatlantic Tunnel and the importance of not disturbing paradise. It's just great, great stuff. I'm trying to pick up as many of these 70s reprint books as I can because the original Atlas books are getting priced out of reach. The sad thing is, the 70s books certainly aren't going for a dime anymore!
As I've likely mentioned before, my childhood LCS (Queen's Comics in Toronto's Beach neighbourhood) always had a rack outside on the sidewalk with 10 cent books. This was circa 1980, so it was crammed with Atlas Seaboards and Devil Dinosaurs. This is how I came to purchase my first 'monster' book. As a young child, I never really read the creator credits, but I always knew that I had seen the artistic styles in this book somewhere before. Of course I had - we're talking Kirby and Ditko here, folks. I read and re-read this one to bits as a kid, but it was lost somwhere along the way. It took quite a while, but I finally tracked down another copy and I enjoy it just as much today as I did 25 years ago.
The lead story is one of those great Lee/Ditko morality plays that feeds on Cold War fear. The next tale is the classic 'perils of trying to catch a mermaid' story. Looking at the Atlas Tales site - Andru & Esposito are credited (from the original Astonishg #46 enty), but I've always thought it was Don Heck. I'll have to dig out my copy and take another look. The next one is about a man who invents a duplicator ray and learns that it pays to be careful what you wish for - very, very nice John Tartaglione art. Finally, we have a Kirby masterpiece involving a Transatlantic Tunnel and the importance of not disturbing paradise. It's just great, great stuff. I'm trying to pick up as many of these 70s reprint books as I can because the original Atlas books are getting priced out of reach. The sad thing is, the 70s books certainly aren't going for a dime anymore!
1 comment:
I'd love to see a copy of this reprinted, or collected in a nice format.
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