Attention Bill Everett fans – this one is for you! Twenty classic early 1950s far out and fantastic Atomic Age comics tales of science fiction and horror, all lushly illustrated by the legendary Bill Everett and all featuring the quasi-Superherione, Venus! Plus there's another twenty or so short comics tales drawn by the likes of Werner Roth, Russ Heath, Joe Maneely, Gene Colan, John Tartaglione, Mike Sekowsky, Pete Morisi, Sol Brodsky, Carl Burgos, David Berg (yes, that David Berg), Allen Bellman, Hy Rosen & Manny Stallman. Whew, those were the days! All reproduced in full color on flat white stock.
Fanta sez:
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 in particular is given free rein and seizes the opportunity: writing, drawing, and lettering twenty ghoulish and 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 '50's comic 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 the first volume 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.
Deets:Pages: 310 | Format: Hardback | Color: Full-color | Dimensions: 8.8" × 11.7" | ISBN-13: 9781683969198
Here they are: the first twenty-nine issues of The X-Men from way back in 1963-66.
Excellent full color reproduction of the complete stories plus covers (and a few bonuses).
The first eleven issues are all drawn by The King, Jack Kirby! Jack continued to do the layouts for the subsequent handful of issues (one of which was then pencilled by Alex Toth – the only Kirby/Toth collaboration that we know of!), and was then followed by Wener Roth (initially working under the pseudonym, Jay Gavin).
656 pages in all! Classic Marvel Comics – for less!
FROM THE ARCHIVES
ALLL NEW COPIES
–––––––––––––––––––––––––
Mighty Marvel Masterworks This series of books present the classic, foundational Marvel Comics in a highly readable, very affordable form. Each volume in the series collects ten complete issues (or the rough equivalent, in those volumes where the stories being collected are less than standard-issue length – or, sometimes, more, as in the case of an annual). All are high quality, full color reproductions of the original issues, including covers. These volumes are just slightly smaller (6" x 9") than the original comics (7" x 10 1/4"). They are also, by a considerable margin, the least expensive way to purchase these classic comics. The Mighty Marvel Masterworks are a great way to discover – or revisit – the classic comics that formed the original Marvel Comics canon. They're also the very best way to introduce younger readers to Marvel Comics. The comic books that are collected in these volumes were created in the 1960s and are suitable for all ages.
