ATLAS COMICS LIBRARY Volume 7 Girl Comics

A monster of a book, 397 pages of -- surprise -- adventure, crime and mystery! Girl Comics quickly evolved from love stories into hair-raising thrill rides like "The Death Plunge!," "The House of Shadows!," "I was a Murderer’s Daughter!," "They Called me a Spy!," "The Dead Hands at the Controls," and "The Dark Hallway." In 1950, Timely/Atlas/Marvel made Girl Comics a sister companion to their successful men’s-adventure comics: an empowering girls’ adventure comic! And by a stellar artistic line-up: John Buscema, Mike Sekowsky, Bill Everett, Joe Maneely, Russ Heath, and Bernard Krigstein. This volume also features the story behind the stories, with editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo’s profusely illustrated 24-page essay on Marvel publisher Martin Goodman’s enthusiastic relationship with romance pulps, magazines and finally comics. Dozens of vintage and rare magazine and comics covers are included, along with Vassallo's always fascinating look at the entire line of Atlas Adventure and Romance titles. I've been a comics fan for most of my life. I've collected Atlas comics for much of that time. And like a growing number of collectors, I slowly came to appreciate their "romance" titles, boasting work by some of their best artists. And it was just in the last couple of years I discovered this hybrid title. Remember Atlas's title Venus, which began as a romance book with a slight mythical twist? Then it evolved into sci-fi and finally into a horror title, boasting amazing Bill Everett art and now among the keys of the entire Atlas era. Girl Comics was also an evolving title that quickly became an adventure, suspense and even crime title, starring strong women and obviously aimed at older girls...and maybe some of the hipper male readers of the 50s. It's an interesting title, with stories that could have easily appeared in Atlas' Crime and Mystery titles. Worth a look! - Bud