Menace (Atlas Comics)
Encyclopedia
Menace was a 1953 to 1954 American
crime
/horror
anthology comic book
series published by Atlas Comics
, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics
. It is best known for the first appearance of the supernatural
Marvel character the Zombie
, in a standalone story that became the basis for the 1970s black-and-white comics magazine Tales of the Zombie. As well, a standalone story in the final issue introduced a robot character who was revived decades later as the Human Robot, a.k.a. M-11, the Human Robot.
The 11-issue series (March 1953 - May 1954) is also notable for art by such 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books
creators as Bill Everett
and George Tuska
, and such future industry stars as Gene Colan
, Russ Heath
, Joe Maneely
, John Romita Sr., and Joe Sinnott
. As well, the first eight issues were written completely by Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee
, the future architect of Marvel Comics' rise as a pop-cultural
phenomenon.
's Atlas Comics
, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics
, debuted in 1953 during a cycle of popularity for publisher EC Comics
horror comics
(Tales from the Crypt et al.). It joined such existing Atlas horror/fantasy series as Adventures into Terror and Strange Tales
. Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee
sought to distinguish the title by attempting to replicate EC's specific process, as Atlas historian Michal J. Vassallo describes:
Menace ran 11 issues, cover-dated March 1953 to May 1954. It was published monthly through issue #8, then after a three-month hiatus returned for its final three, bimonthly issues. Lee wrote each issue's four comics stories through #7, and at least two more stories through the end of the title's run.
Issue #12 was in production at the time of cancellation, scheduled for a July 1954 cover date. The contents were held as inventory and soon afterward published in the Atlas title Astonishing #35 (Oct. 1954).
Menace is considered an example of "pre-Code horror", referring to horror comics
published prior to the strictures of the industry's self-censoring Comics Code Authority
, in which comics would bear the postage-stamp-sized Comics Code seal. The series' covers, however, each sport a star reading "Conforms to the Comics Code", with a small rectangular box above that reading "Authorized A.C.M.P." This represents the essentially unenforced precursor sponsored by the trade group the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers
.
, who in 1939 had created the aquatic antihero the Sub-Mariner and who was now an Atlas mainstay. He drew the covers for, and one story each in, issues #1-6, as well as drawing a story for #9 and the cover of #10. The Lee/Everett story "Zombie" in issue #5 (July 1953) introduced the Zombie
, Simon Garth, in a seven-page, standalone story of a zombie
outside New Orleans, Louisiana
, and the ironic comeuppance visited upon his cruel master. The character was revived two decades later as the star of the black-and-white horror-comics magazine Tales of the Zombie that (Aug. 1973 - June 1974), published by the Marvel Comics imprint Curtis Magazines
. The character has continued to make appearances in Marvel comic books into the 2000s.
Another character introduced in a standalone story that was revived decades later as a continuing character was an unnamed robot in the five-page story "I, the Robot", by an unknown writer and artist John Romita Sr., in issue #11 (May 1954). Rechristened the Human Robot, the character appeared in a non-canonical, alternate-universe
story in What If?
#9 (June 1978), as part of a 1950s version of the later-created Marvel superhero
team the Avengers
. The character next appeared in mainstream Marvel Universe
continuity in the six-issue miniseries Agents of Atlas (Oct. 2006 - March 2007) and the subsequent ongoing series Agents of Atlas vol. 2 (April 2009-on). Now dubbed M-11, the Human Robot, it served as a member of a team of artificially or naturally long-lived 1950s superhumans gathered as the globetrotting adventurers the Agents of Atlas
Other series artists included George Tuska
and other 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books
veterans such as single-story contributors Fred Kida
, Sheldon Moldoff
, Bob Powell
, and Syd Shores
. Industry newcomers and future stars included Gene Colan
, Russ Heath
, Joe Maneely
, and John Romita Sr., and Joe Sinnott
. Among other artist contributors were Tony DiPreta
, Al Eadeh, John Forte
, Jack Katz, Ed Winiarski
, Seymour Moskowitz, Paul Reinman
, Werner Roth
, and Robert Q. Sale. The covers of issues #7-8 are tentatively credited to Golden Age great Carl Burgos
. Two standard databases credit the final issue's unsigned cover to artist Harry Anderson.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
crime
Crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity. Crime comics began in 1942 with the publication of Crime Does...
/horror
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
anthology comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series published by Atlas Comics
Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
, the 1950s precursor of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. It is best known for the first appearance of the supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
Marvel character the Zombie
Zombie (comics)
The Zombie is a fictional supernatural character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular starred in the black-and-white, horror-comic magazine series Tales of the Zombie , usually in stories by Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos...
, in a standalone story that became the basis for the 1970s black-and-white comics magazine Tales of the Zombie. As well, a standalone story in the final issue introduced a robot character who was revived decades later as the Human Robot, a.k.a. M-11, the Human Robot.
The 11-issue series (March 1953 - May 1954) is also notable for art by such 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
creators as Bill Everett
Bill Everett
William Blake "Bill" Everett, also known as William Blake and Everett Blake was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner and co-creating Daredevil for Marvel Comics...
and George Tuska
George Tuska
George Tuska , who early in his career used a variety of pen names including Carl Larson, was an American comic book and newspaper comic strip artist best known for his 1940s work on various Captain Marvel titles and the crime fiction series Crime Does Not Pay, for and his 1960s work illustrating...
, and such future industry stars as Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
, Russ Heath
Russ Heath
Russell Heath, Jr. is an American artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and...
, Joe Maneely
Joe Maneely
Joseph "Joe" Maneely is an American comic book artist best known for his work at Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics, where he co-created the Marvel characters the Black Knight, the Ringo Kid, the Yellow Claw, and Jimmy Woo.An exquisite draftsman whose delicate yet solid, fine-line...
, John Romita Sr., and Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best-known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 , initially over the pencils of industry legend Jack Kirby...
. As well, the first eight issues were written completely by Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
, the future architect of Marvel Comics' rise as a pop-cultural
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
phenomenon.
Publication history
Menace, from publisher Martin GoodmanMartin Goodman (publisher)
Martin Goodman born on was an American publisher of pulp magazines, paperback books, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics....
's Atlas Comics
Atlas Comics (1950s)
Atlas Comics is the term used to describe the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic...
, the 1950s forerunner of Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
, debuted in 1953 during a cycle of popularity for publisher EC Comics
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books specializing in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, notably the Tales from the Crypt series...
horror comics
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
(Tales from the Crypt et al.). It joined such existing Atlas horror/fantasy series as Adventures into Terror and Strange Tales
Strange Tales
Strange Tales is the name of several comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the...
. Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee
Stan Lee
Stan Lee is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, producer, publisher, television personality, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics....
sought to distinguish the title by attempting to replicate EC's specific process, as Atlas historian Michal J. Vassallo describes:
Menace ran 11 issues, cover-dated March 1953 to May 1954. It was published monthly through issue #8, then after a three-month hiatus returned for its final three, bimonthly issues. Lee wrote each issue's four comics stories through #7, and at least two more stories through the end of the title's run.
Issue #12 was in production at the time of cancellation, scheduled for a July 1954 cover date. The contents were held as inventory and soon afterward published in the Atlas title Astonishing #35 (Oct. 1954).
Menace is considered an example of "pre-Code horror", referring to horror comics
Horror comics
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...
published prior to the strictures of the industry's self-censoring Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
, in which comics would bear the postage-stamp-sized Comics Code seal. The series' covers, however, each sport a star reading "Conforms to the Comics Code", with a small rectangular box above that reading "Authorized A.C.M.P." This represents the essentially unenforced precursor sponsored by the trade group the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers
Association of Comics Magazine Publishers
The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers was an American industry trade group formed in May 1947 and publicly announced on July 1, 1948, to regulate the content of comic books in the face of public criticism during this time...
.
Creative personnel
The series' primary artist was Bill EverettBill Everett
William Blake "Bill" Everett, also known as William Blake and Everett Blake was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner and co-creating Daredevil for Marvel Comics...
, who in 1939 had created the aquatic antihero the Sub-Mariner and who was now an Atlas mainstay. He drew the covers for, and one story each in, issues #1-6, as well as drawing a story for #9 and the cover of #10. The Lee/Everett story "Zombie" in issue #5 (July 1953) introduced the Zombie
Zombie (comics)
The Zombie is a fictional supernatural character appearing in books published by Marvel Comics, in particular starred in the black-and-white, horror-comic magazine series Tales of the Zombie , usually in stories by Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos...
, Simon Garth, in a seven-page, standalone story of a zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
outside New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, and the ironic comeuppance visited upon his cruel master. The character was revived two decades later as the star of the black-and-white horror-comics magazine Tales of the Zombie that (Aug. 1973 - June 1974), published by the Marvel Comics imprint Curtis Magazines
Curtis Magazines
Curtis Magazines was an imprint of Marvel Comics that existed from 1971 to 1980. The imprint published black-and-white magazines that did not carry the Comics Code Authority seal. Initially, page counts varied between 68,76, and 84 pages....
. The character has continued to make appearances in Marvel comic books into the 2000s.
Another character introduced in a standalone story that was revived decades later as a continuing character was an unnamed robot in the five-page story "I, the Robot", by an unknown writer and artist John Romita Sr., in issue #11 (May 1954). Rechristened the Human Robot, the character appeared in a non-canonical, alternate-universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
story in What If?
What If (comics)
What If, sometimes rendered as What If...?, is the title of several comic book series published by Marvel Comics, exploring "the road not traveled" by its various characters...
#9 (June 1978), as part of a 1950s version of the later-created Marvel superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
team the Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
. The character next appeared in mainstream Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
continuity in the six-issue miniseries Agents of Atlas (Oct. 2006 - March 2007) and the subsequent ongoing series Agents of Atlas vol. 2 (April 2009-on). Now dubbed M-11, the Human Robot, it served as a member of a team of artificially or naturally long-lived 1950s superhumans gathered as the globetrotting adventurers the Agents of Atlas
Agents of Atlas
Agents of Atlas is a fictional superhero team in comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is composed of characters originally appearing in unrelated stories published in the 1950s by Marvel's predecessor company, Atlas Comics....
Other series artists included George Tuska
George Tuska
George Tuska , who early in his career used a variety of pen names including Carl Larson, was an American comic book and newspaper comic strip artist best known for his 1940s work on various Captain Marvel titles and the crime fiction series Crime Does Not Pay, for and his 1960s work illustrating...
and other 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
veterans such as single-story contributors Fred Kida
Fred Kida
Fred Kida is an American comic book and comic strip artist best known for the characters Airboy and Valkyrie.-Early life and career:...
, Sheldon Moldoff
Sheldon Moldoff
Sheldon "Shelly" Moldoff is an American comic book artist best known his early work on the DC Comics characters Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and as one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" on the superhero Batman. He co-created the Batman supervillains Poison Ivy, Mr...
, Bob Powell
Bob Powell
Bob Powell né Stanislav Robert Pawlowski was an American comic book artist known for his work during the 1930-40s Golden Age of comic books, including on the features "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Mr. Mystic". He received a belated credit in 1999 for co-writing the debut of the popular...
, and Syd Shores
Syd Shores
Sydney Shores was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
. Industry newcomers and future stars included Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
, Russ Heath
Russ Heath
Russell Heath, Jr. is an American artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and...
, Joe Maneely
Joe Maneely
Joseph "Joe" Maneely is an American comic book artist best known for his work at Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics, where he co-created the Marvel characters the Black Knight, the Ringo Kid, the Yellow Claw, and Jimmy Woo.An exquisite draftsman whose delicate yet solid, fine-line...
, and John Romita Sr., and Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best-known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 , initially over the pencils of industry legend Jack Kirby...
. Among other artist contributors were Tony DiPreta
Tony DiPreta
Anthony Lewis DiPreta , better known as Tony DiPreta, was an American comic book and comic strip artist active from the 1940s Golden Age of comic books...
, Al Eadeh, John Forte
John Forte
John Forte was an American comic-book artist, active from the early 1940s on, best known as one of the primary pencilers of DC Comics' early Legion of Super-Heroes stories....
, Jack Katz, Ed Winiarski
Ed Winiarski
Ed Winiarski , who sometimes signed his work "Win" or "Winny" and sometimes used the pseudonym Fran Miller, is an American comic book writer-artist known for both adventure stories and funny-animal cartooning in the late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age of comic books.A former animator, Winiarski was one...
, Seymour Moskowitz, Paul Reinman
Paul Reinman
Paul J. Reinman was an American comic book artist best known as one of industry legend's Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during what comics fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books...
, Werner Roth
Werner Roth (comics)
Werner Roth was an American comic book artist, perhaps best known for immediately succeeding Jack Kirby on Marvel Comics' X-Men....
, and Robert Q. Sale. The covers of issues #7-8 are tentatively credited to Golden Age great Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the original Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1 Carl Burgos (né Max Finkelstein, April 18, 1916, New York City, New York; died March 1984) was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating...
. Two standard databases credit the final issue's unsigned cover to artist Harry Anderson.
External links
- Menace (1953-1954) at The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators