Thrilling Adventure Stories was quite possibly the best black and white comic mag ever published. Published in 1975 by Atlas/Seaboard, the mag was probably created as a
Savage Tales knockoff, but it turned out to be something original. Rather than ripping off Conan (as they did with
Iron Jaw in the color comics), they ripped off
Ka-Zar with Kromag the Killer (a caveman strip drawn by Jack Sparling); in the second issue they had a straight-out sword and sorcery strip by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson, but of course those talented titans can't rip things off, so their s&s strip starred a samurai. That's as close as any real similarities to Savage Tales got.
Rather than a rip-off, editor
Jeff Rovin actually created a comicbook version of
Argosy! We got science fiction/crime ("A Job Well Done"), war ("Lawrence of Arabia", "Escape from Nine by One", and "Town Tamer", crime ("Tough Cop"), and straight-out adventure ("The Sting of Death"). The only strip that seemed to be out of place was the super-hero strip, "Tiger-Man and the Flesh Peddlers", but a super-hero taking down a fat-cat pimp fit into Thrilling Adventure Stories much more snugly than it would have in a color comic, if you catch my drift.
And the talent assembled in these two mags! I already mentioned
Jack Sparling, Archie Goodwin, and Walt Simonson (still hot from their Manhunter strip in Detective Comics), but lemme lay a few more on ya:
Ernie Colon,
John Albano, Leo Summers, Gabe Levy,
Frank Thorne,
Russ Heath, Neal Adams, John Severin, and
Alex Toth! Can you dig it! That's like a "who's who" of pure grooviness, baby!
It's a shame that Thrilling Adventure Stories only lasted two issues (thanks to the short life of publisher
Atlas/Seaboard--oh, yeah, Ol' Groove and friends will be fillin' ya in on that outfit, never fear!). Too bad Marvel or Warren didn't rip it off , 'cause if there was ever something worth ripping off, Thrilling Adventure Stories was
it!
Thrilling Adventure Stories was quite possibly the best black and white comic mag ever published. Published in 1975 by Atlas/Seaboard, the mag was probably created as a Savage Tales knockoff, but it turned out to be something original. Rather than ripping off Conan (as they did with Iron Jaw in the color comics), they ripped off Ka-Zar with Kromag the Killer (a caveman strip drawn by Jack Sparling); in the second issue they had a straight-out sword and sorcery strip by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson, but of course those talented titans can't rip things off, so their s&s strip starred a samurai. That's as close as any real similarities to Savage Tales got.
Rather than a rip-off, editor Jeff Rovin actually created a comicbook version of Argosy! We got science fiction/crime ("A Job Well Done"), war ("Lawrence of Arabia", "Escape from Nine by One", and "Town Tamer", crime ("Tough Cop"), and straight-out adventure ("The Sting of Death"). The only strip that seemed to be out of place was the super-hero strip, "Tiger-Man and the Flesh Peddlers", but a super-hero taking down a fat-cat pimp fit into Thrilling Adventure Stories much more snugly than it would have in a color comic, if you catch my drift.
And the talent assembled in these two mags! I already mentioned Jack Sparling, Archie Goodwin, and Walt Simonson (still hot from their Manhunter strip in Detective Comics), but lemme lay a few more on ya: Ernie Colon, John Albano, Leo Summers, Gabe Levy, Frank Thorne, Russ Heath, Neal Adams, John Severin, and Alex Toth! Can you dig it! That's like a "who's who" of pure grooviness, baby!
It's a shame that Thrilling Adventure Stories only lasted two issues (thanks to the short life of publisher Atlas/Seaboard--oh, yeah, Ol' Groove and friends will be fillin' ya in on that outfit, never fear!). Too bad Marvel or Warren didn't rip it off , 'cause if there was ever something worth ripping off, Thrilling Adventure Stories was it!
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