verygoodplus

I just looked up the one-and-only Tales of the Marines (#4) on the GCD, and it looks like it consists entirely of Devil-Dog Dugan stories, and so remains in the humor format. As you could probably guess by looking at the cover: Meanwhile here's the next issue, to illustrate the change in title and content:

Devil-Dog Dugan and Sailor Sweeney, plus Sgt. Barney Barker*, represented a very short-lived stab at military humor by Atlas in 1956. Each title lasted three issues before converting (or reverting) to more straightforward war fare (bad pun intended ). *Sgt. Barney Barker (1-3) becomes G.I. Tales (4-6).

It's another series which changed titles (in this case, from Spy Thrillers) and then was promptly cancelled, leaving only one issue bearing that particular title. A similar occurrence with another Atlas series: Devil-Dog Dugan changed its title to Tales of the Marines for issue 4, then became Marines at War for the last three issues (5-7). So, there's only one issue of Tales of the Marines, though it wasn't the end of the line for the series.

Love those Heath covers, bigfiver. Here's another: Interior art is all by Robert Q. Sale. Including a nifty Atomic Warfare story:

I just noticed that the publishing histories of the five issues of World of Fantasy that you posted and the five issues of Strange Worlds run perfectly parallel through these months: December 1958 February 1959 April 1959 June 1959 August 1959 Interesting that both of those books were dumped while the "Tales" titles continued.

Nice books, AtlasT. So, you wouldn't count Strange Worlds as a "pre-hero" book? from the GCD: Only ran five issues, but I figure it fits the "pre-hero" mold. Even if, like World of Fantasy, the title didn't last long enough to feature any heros.

I'll bet the title he's looking for is World of Fantasy.

Thanks for the reply, Scrooge. I reread your post on Coo Coo Comics (starring Supermouse), and will be keeping an eye out for an issue or two. One of my LCSs has a couple of FC Porky Pigs that i've been thinking about picking up, and I'll look for an Andy Panda the next time I'm there. BTW, were there no Charlton funny animal books in 1952?

Great book, Pov! I used to have that one. Here's my old copy ('bout the same as yours, Pov):

I've been getting interested in some of the offbeat funny animal titles lately. I know you're a Barks fan, Scrooge, and nothing can compete with that... but have you seen anything you liked in the more oddball animal books you've acquired?

Great idea for a thread. I love Atlas books, used to have quite a few but sold most of them. I figured I'd get some of my low-grade specials out of the way before adamstrange comes in with his books.

Yes, I like the list, too. I've been wanting to put together a list of titles (from all publishers) that made it to 200. Hellblazer is now in the 200 club. Wolverine would be as well if they hadn't relaunched the title. Although I'm sure they'll revert to the old numbering at some point (not sure if that should disqualify it from my list or not). Here's a non-DC book that recently joined the 150 club, which some may find surprising: Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog.