The Scorpion #1 (Feb. 1975). Cover art by Howard Chaykin |
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| Industry | Publishing |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 1974 |
| Defunct | 1975 |
| Headquarters | 717 Fifth Avenue Manhattan, New York City |
| Key people | Martin Goodman Charles Goodman Larry Lieber Jeff Rovin |
| Products | Comic Books |
Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic-book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the American company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. Seaboard was located on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.
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Marvel Comics founder and Magazine Management publisher Martin Goodman left Marvel in 1972, having sold the company in 1968. He created Seaboard Periodicals in June 1974 to compete in a field then dominated by Marvel and DC Comics. Goodman hired Warren Publishing veteran Jeff Rovin to edit the color comic-book line, and writer-artist Larry Lieber, brother of Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, as editor of Atlas' black-and-white comics magazines. Lieber later became editor of the color comics following Rovin's departure. Steve Mitchell was the comics' production manager, and John Chilly the black-and-white magazines' art director. Goodman offered an editorial position to Roy Thomas, who had recently stepped down as Marvel Comics editor-in-chief, but Thomas "didn't have any faith in his lasting it out. The field was too shaky for a new publisher."[1]
As Lieber recalled in a 1999 interview:
When I went there, Martin put out two kinds of books. He was putting out color comics, and he was also going to put out black-and-white comics like Warren and Marvel. Now, I knew nothing about black-and-white comics, right? My only experience was in the color comics. Jeff Rovin came from Warren, and he knew nothing about color comics. Martin unfortunately put Jeff in charge of all the color comics and put me in charge of the black-and-white books. It was an unfortunate thing, and basically what happened was that Jeff's books didn't turn out so well... Martin had to pay high freelance rates, because otherwise nobody would work for a new and unproven company... It didn't work out too well, and Jeff finally left angrily or something, and I had to take over all his books. At this point, business was bad, and I tried to do what I could. One of the things I had to do was to cut rates and tell people they were going to make less money, which was not an enviable position.[2]
Comic-book collectors and others began using the term Atlas/Seaboard to differentiate these 1970s Atlas Comics from the 1950s' Atlas Comics, publisher Goodman's predecessor of Marvel Comics.[3][4]
Atlas/Seaboard offered some of the highest rates in the industry, plus return of artwork to artists and author rights to original character creations.[5] These relatively luxurious conditions attracted such top names as Neal Adams, Steve Ditko, Russ Heath, John Severin, Alex Toth and Wally Wood, as well as such up-and-coming talents as Howard Chaykin and Rich Buckler. More importantly, these benefits helped initiate eventual change in the virtually completely work-for-hire industry, in which artists and writers had no royalties, rights to characters, rights to their artwork and other rights routinely held in similar creative fields, such as book publishing and the music industry.
But when many of the titles emerged toward the end of 1974, most proved derivative and uninspired, according to critics at the time. Wholesale creative changes were implemented, with one observer coining the term "The Third Issue Switch". Chaykin's character the Scorpion, for example, started as a 1930s-style pulp adventurer, then in issue three was changed by a different creative team to a contemporary superhero with minimal relation to Chaykin's work. In issue four of The Phoenix, the protagonist tries to kill himself, only to be stopped by aliens who grant him a new costume and powers to become the Protector.
A total of 23 comics titles and five comics magazines were published before the company folded in late 1975. No title lasted more than four issues. Of the characters, Chaykin's Scorpion would inspire his Dominic Fortune at Marvel,[6] and Rich Buckler's Demon Hunter would inspire his Devil-Slayer at Marvel.[7]
Some reports at the time suggested Goodman was angered that Cadence, the new Marvel owners, had reneged on a promise to keep his son, Charles "Chip" Goodman, as Marvel's editorial director. Marvel and Atlas writer Gary Friedrich recalled: "I never really felt that [Martin] did it for that reason. I think he did it to make money and that he thought with Larry in charge and paying good rates that he could do it. Now, he probably wouldn't have minded if it would have taken a bite out of Marvel's profits, but I don't think it was done out of revenge. I think Martin was too smart for that".[8] Marvel art director John Romita, however, believed, "Chip was supposed to take his place. But that part of it must not have been on paper, because as soon as Martin was gone, they got rid of Chip. That's why Martin started Atlas Comics. It was pure revenge".[9]
Although Chip Goodman was also in charge of the Seaboard comics, he was a "lightweight" in making decisions about them, according to Rovin.[3] Historian and one-time Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas recalled, "One of the problems was just being Martin Goodman's son. I don't think that Martin respected Chip very much — he put Chip in charge but would treat him with less than benign contempt in front of other people. Martin was a little cruel sometimes".[10]
This father-son conflict was fictionalized by a Magazine Management staffer, Ivan Prashker, who wrote a short story with a thinly disguised, unflattering portrait of a character based on Chip Goodman. When this story, "The Boss's Son," was published in the February 1970 issue of Playboy, Prashker expected he might be fired, but instead, wrote comics historian Jon B. Cooke, he "was rewarded with his own editorship of a magazine as Martin was apparently more impressed that one of his staffers was published in the premier men's magazine than with any insult made to his son".[11]
Seaboard Periodicals also acquired the men's magazine Swank, which Chip Goodman continued to publish after the comics line ended.
On October 8, 2010, Martin Goodman's grandson Jason Goodman announced a partnership with Ardden Entertainment to relaunch Atlas Comics starting with two Zero Issues featuring the Grim Ghost and Phoenix.[12] On March 2, 2011, another title, Wulf the Barbarian, was among the titles published by the new Atlas.
Source unless otherwise noted: Seaboard (publisher) at the Grand Comics Database