The Secret Origin of Atomik Pop! Part 1

Comics in the Seventies

The roots of Atomik Pop! go back to the early 1970’s when I started reading and collecting many DC comics including SUPERMAN, BATMAN, and Joe Kubert’s excellent TARZAN adaption. Engrossed in the colorful adventures of “The World’s Greatest Super-Heroes” I recall writing letters to the DC editors asking questions about their various stories and art. Memorable tales from this period include “Make Way for Captain Thunder” featuring Shazam and “Who Took the Super Out of Superman?”.

The early Seventies were a great time to get into DC as they were publishing not only an exciting line-up of super-heroes, but many other genres including western, war, and horror comics. WEIRD WESTERN TALES featuring Jonah Hex and OUR ARMY AT WAR featuring Sgt Rock were two of my favorites. DC also published an excellent line of comics featuring pulp-era characters like THE SHADOW, which piqued my interest in classic 1930’s action-adventure stories including DOC SAVAGE and THE AVENGER. This probably was the most vibrant line of titles in DC’s history.

In addition, DC published a great series of reprint comics called “100 Page Super Spectaculars” that featured classic stories from the Thirties to the Sixties. These books exposed me to stories and artwork from the Golden Age of comics including the original JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA. DC’s reprint titles introduced me to characters I had never seen before including The Spectre, Doctor Fate, and the Newsboy Legion. For me, this is one of the most appealing aspects of the DC line — their expansive history of characters and stories that stretch from the late 1930’s to the current day. This allows DC to tell stories set at any time over the last 8o years — from WWII to today.

Many of DC’s classic comics from their amazing history are still available in current reprint editions — including ACTION COMICS 80 YEARS OF SUPERMAN, which features a retrospective of Superman stories through the years.

In the next installment of THE SECRET ORIGIN OF ATOMIK POP! I’ll discuss early 1970’s Marvel Comics, including the Spider-man classic “The Death of Gwen Stacy.”

Thanks for shopping at ATOMIK POP!

Steve

Atomik Pop!