January 11th, 2012. According to the Ardden/Atlas Facebook Page. That's almost 3 months after NYCC (Atlas Unified #0) and 6 weeks after it's initial on-sale date of November 30th. We last saw an issue of Phoenix in early October and Wulf in early November. The books that Atlas has produced to date have been very entertaining but the constant lateness will do them in. See Dark-Key. All the buzz is gone concerning Atlas Unified. Hopefully, the books will live up to the hype and will be issued on a monthly basis.

When someone starts a thread on the CGC Message Board Is Atlas Comics Still Around? there is cause for concern.

I've waited over 35 years for these characters to return to print. I would like them to stick around for a while. Anybody out there want to tell me I'm wrong and paint a rosy picture for me?

--Phil

_________________
And remember: if it's amazing, astonishing, adventurous - it's ATLAS

Bazinga!

Hiya Phil and New Atlas Fans,

I am not the person to try and paint a rosey picture for you about ATLAS. That job lies squarely with Jason and Brendan and to quote Jason: "I don't need any help. Do you know who I am?" In fact, you might be getting pretty tired of seeing my posts around here lately, but dog-gone-it, this is a cool site and it got me all excited and creatively inspired

I too have been an ATLAS fan from the very beginning. I thought: Kick Butt! Finally a new company with some new characters that I can start collecting from issue number 1! This is everything an 11 year old kid could ask for!

I pretty much got what I asked for from Marvel, too, but ATLAS really knocked it out of the park for me. MARVEL let me create a new character (WAR MACHINE) and assigned an artist and writer to make him cool. Plus, they started putting out a ship load of Number 1 issues... NOVA and OMEGA THE UNKNOWN being among my favorites. But I never had to ask ATLAS. They were just doing it because they were cool and in tune with their fan base.

Forget all this crap about VENGEANCE INCORPORATED (Which is cool in its own right... look it up if ya really want to be an ATLAS head and haven't already.) Phil has posted plenty of links here to get to the whole story. Yes, Marvel screwed Martin Goodman and Chip Goodman. I was there for the whole thing. And yes, it got nasty. They pitted kin against kin, like any good civil war should. They tried to make it look like Stan was the person behind the screwing. And Atlas fired back by placing Stan's brother Larry Lieber as the head of Atlas. Brother against brother... Cain against Able...

In the end Marvel went on to become this giant, soul-less monster that stomped artists under its feet and chewed investors to bloody pieces... both those who invested in the company and the fans who invested in their products. They filed bankruptcy to avoid their financial obligations and eventually just plain sold out to Disney. Although a 4 Billion dollar price tag is nothing to sneeze at. Did they use any of that 4 Billion to pay off any of those past debts? No. Hell, they are spending a bunch of it on lawyers as we speak to insure that they can keep stomping artists below those massive feet. Lord knows how this Kirby vs Marvel lawsuit will turn out, but I know how it should turn out. Poor Gene Colan and his wife died a miserable death scrabbling for money all the way...

And ATLAS went down for a very long count.

At this point I would like to answer a question that was asked to me: "Yes, Jason, I know exactly who you are." You are the guy who is not yet man enough to fill Martin's shoes although you are trying like Hell. As for Chip, he was just along for Martin's ride. Both Martin and Chip are gone now. !@*$ it we lost some good guys there. !@*$ again!

I know who and what Brendan is as well. Brendan is a brilliant writer and a good manager who has stretched himself impossibly thin to try and get everything done on time. Kind of like Mister Fantastic. He is also my favorite Wienie.

ATLAS is not dead. Far from it. They have winners at the helm. They will overcome and we will continue to see some killer comics coming from them. It is just gonna take a whole lot of hard work and fans like they have already. Fans who just won't quit. Fans like Phil and I and a few others who have posted here.

Let us make this new year a great one for comics. For ATLAS and for GSE. The others have messed with the best. They can die like the rest.

Your friend in comic books,

daedjo

I admit I've begun to wonder whether I would ever see Phoenix #5. The titles being late is one thing, but Jason going silent on here made me wonder whether the whole thing had quietly tanked.

I'm encouraged by daedjo's comment that Atlas is not dead, though I'd kind of like to see them display it themselves.

I still love Atlas, but I can't keep up with a company that themselves can't keep up....

Something needs to change, and fast, to stop this from tanking.

My feeling is that they have also let a great opportunity to capture new readers fall by the wayside. They should be producing a book for Free Comic Book Day. Perhaps another issue of Atlas Sampler. A perfect way to get some younger readers on board.

--Phil

_________________
And remember: if it's amazing, astonishing, adventurous - it's ATLAS

Bazinga!

Phoenix #5 and Wulf #5 will ship from the printer very early in the New Year.

--Phil

_________________
And remember: if it's amazing, astonishing, adventurous - it's ATLAS

Bazinga!

I'll believe it when I see it, but at least we know it's still being worked on.

I'd have to agree, you can have great or bad books and still keep publishing. But when you lose your release schedule. That is almost always certain doom.

I agree, a free comic book day comic, or a sampler is a good idea.

What I would probably do is, put the Old issues online, on a site like this. And give the views away, maybe with buying an issue/subscription of the new titles.

And the other problem I see. Is that the new titles, sort of have a feeling. That the stories and art were done by people that never read any of the originals.

Having said that, I still think there is gold in them there hills with Atlas.

I keep having these visions in my head, about what a strong free advertising tool Youtube can be.

Midtown Comics has an Atlas Unified #1 release date of 1/4/2012. Perhaps we'll see it a bit early.

--Phil

_________________
And remember: if it's amazing, astonishing, adventurous - it's ATLAS

Bazinga!