FANTAGRAPHIC COMICS SEPTEMBER 2023 SOLICITATIONS

September 2023 Releases:

The Atlas Comics Library No. 1: Adventures Into Terror Vol. 1 by Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Basil Wolverton, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, and more

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 EC’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 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, 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.

Edited by Atlas scholar Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, scanned directly from the published comics, and meticulously restored by Allan Harvey, the first volume of the new Fantagraphics Atlas Library series is an event among comics lovers, collectors, and historians.

Totem by Laura Pérez

Two young women road trip through the Arizona desert in search of a spiritual awakening. Crowds gather to see the village wise woman commune with the dead. Strange bright lights flash across the night sky, provoking all manner of interpretations.

A mosaic of experiences, Totem offers tantalizing glimpses of characters on their own journeys connected by some ethereal thread. The narrative slips through time and space, delicately drifting from reality to different states of consciousness. Like a vivid dream, this story is rendered through eerie settings and potent symbols, a spiritual puzzle inviting the reader to piece together.

With Totem, this self-assured graphic novel by Spanish illustrator and comics artist Laura Pérez is presented in English for the first time. Pérez presents an entrancing, contemporary vision of magic and mystery, aptly rendered through her wispy, atmospheric pencil lines.

Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck in Les Misérables and War and Peace by Giovan Battista Carpi

It’s Victor Hugo… duckified! When French gendarme Javert thinks that poor Jean McJean (Scrooge McDuck) stole two candlesticks, he swears to run him down—even years later, when McJean has become town mayor and guardian of Daisette (Daisy Duck). Are the candlesticks the key to a fabulous treasure lost in Paris? And do the freres Beagle and Peg Leg Thénardier want it? (Silly question!) Then, in our version of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” Count Donald Dukzukov of ancient Russia loves Ducktasha Roastov (Daisy)—but Prince Scrooge McDukzukov wants to force him into an arranged marriage… or punish him in the McDukzukov Metalworks, where cannon balls are so pricey that you have to return them after the battle!

Dauntless Dames: High-Heeled Heroes of the Comics edited by Trina Robbins and Peter Maresca

In the 1920s they were socialites and flappers. In the 1960s they were homemakers and heartthrobs. But from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, female stars of the newspaper comic strips were detectives, spies, soldiers of fortune, even superheroes. Accomplishing everything the male comics stars of the time achieved, except they did it in high-heels and flowing skirts. Follow the daring exploits of these smart, tough, independent AND sexy Dauntless Dames.

Both a product of their era and ahead of their time, the women in these stories gave their audience just what they needed. Through the Sunday Comics readers could escape from the woes of the Depression, travel to exotic foreign lands, feel the glamor and gangsters of the entertainment world, and support the Allied efforts in World War II.

Presented in an extra-large format, here are the colorful, pulse-pounding tales of ten incredible women, both known and unknown to comics fans — and most are reprinted here for the first time in three-quarters of a century! The book also includes a special bonus insert: a fold-out section with a dozen paper doll cutouts starring the most popular women comic strip characters of the day.