Fantagraphics Books has been releasing, over the last two years, several comics series from Atlas Comics. That was the precursor to Marvel. Stan Lee was amongst the employees, and several later Marvel writers and illustrators worked for the company.
Buy Atlas Comics Library No. 5: Police ActionThey were like most comic book and magazine publishers at the time, with a wide array of publications covering any genre that appeared hot. When crime fiction was popular, Police Action was Atlas’s attempt to capitalize on the trend.
In a truncated seven-issue run, from January to November of 1954, Police Action had four comic stories an issue and a two-page text story. These tales instructed their readers on two important lessons. First, crime doesn’t pay. Second, the police are the noble upholders of justice, who will see their way through any criminal’s machinations.
Each issue had four stories, mostly variations of four basic themes: gangsters, prison breaks, beat cops, detective stories. Each issue also had an exotic foreign story.
The exotic foreign story might take place in Victorian London or old Paris or have a globe-trotting detective going around the world to catch a wrong doer. The rest of the stories are set in the mean streets of America, in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. They’re pretty varied, both in the story content and in the artistic style, but they all amount to the same good guys win message.
What makes this, for me, one of the most enjoyable of the Atlas Comics Library releases to date is, frankly, how damn violent the stories are. People get popped, shot, and beaten up. Every story has some fisticuffs or some gunplay. The Comics Code, which ruined all the fun in American comics, was first implemented in September of 1954. After that, Police Action‘s content, even though it was obviously pro-cop and anti-crime, was no longer viable.
Like many of these mid-century comics, the quality of the storytelling was highly variable. In the first issue, “Riot Squad” is a rousing violent tale of gang warfare, with remarkably grotesque artwork for the gangsters faces especially. The next story, “Homicide!” is a detective story so convoluted and ham-fisted I had to read it twice. Not because I didn’t understand it, but because I did, and couldn’t believe the story was so dumb.
One of the best stories is in the second issue, “Hired Hood”, where a pro boxer, after being kicked out of the game for fixing a fight, becomes a mob enforcer. That raises the ire of cop, and boxing fan, Jim Tremont. He’s not only offended by the boxer’s law-breaking, but by bringing ill repute to the sport he loves. The story ends with a fist fight between the two. Spoiler: law and order wins by a knock-out.
While the art in these comics don’t have the weird vistas of the early sci-fi or the terrible creatures of the horror comics, I love the atmosphere the art conveys. It’s mostly dark, mostly at night. There’s a noir feel to it. Many of the artists indulge in giving their criminals grotesque, twisted faces to make them seem something almost unhuman.
There’s an eighth issue from another series included in this collection: Police Badge #479. The editor of the volume admitted he only placed it here because, otherwise, there would likely be no chance of it ever being reprinted. It was from September 1955, and while the stories are fun, the violence is toned down. Criminals turn themselves in or get shot in the hand instead of dying in hails of bullets.
Atlas Comics Library No 5.: Police Action is, as above stated, a reprint collection by Fantagraphics Books. It includes an extensive essay by editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo about their specific publication history and the context of the comics industry at large when these issues were released. It’s a large hardcover reproduction, sourced from old comics and though digitally restored, they have not (to my knowledge) been recolored or reconstructed. These look like old comics, read like old comics. If you don’t like old comics, this probably isn’t for you. It will not blow your mind. But as a fan of such things, I found this to be the most enjoyable read yet from the Atlas Comics reprint series by Fantagraphics.
