Monday, November 2, 2009

Bring On the Back-ups: Chaykin and Gerber's Tales of Atlantis

For five short issues, Marvel's Sub-Mariner ran an enthralling back-up series called "Tales of Atlantis". Mixing Marvel mythology with a bit of Robert E. Howard, plotter/penciler Howard Chaykin, scripter Steve Gerber, and inker Joe Sinnott gave us the untold story of how mighty Atlantis found its destiny beneath the blue-green waves of the sea. Get ready to groove to "Tales of Atlantis" (from Sub-Mariner #62, March 1973) and "Cataclysm" (from Sub-Mariner #63, April 1973)!

After that, Chaykin, Gerber, and Sinnott continued Atlantis' saga(Sub-Mariner #64, June 1973), filling us in on how the Atlaneans survived and rebuilt. Unfortunately, the Chaykin left the series before it was complete, leaving the plotting solely to Gerber and the penciling chores to Jim Mooney (Sub-Mariner issues 65-66, July-August 1973). The conclusion to the mini-series was satisfying, but ya have'ta wonder what it would have been like had Chaykin stuck with it.

3 comments:

  1. Groove:

    You find the best backups. For some reason, many of these short stories have flown under my radar for years. Good stuff, and it's always great to learn of new things to put on my want list.

    Thanks,
    Andrew

    ReplyDelete
  2. well done, Groove. I've never seen these before. Joe Sinnot inking Howard Chaykin is not something that I would ever have considered, but, stone me, it kinda works. nice one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought Chaykin and Sinnott made a far-out team. Like you, on paper it sounds crazy, but on bristol board it worked like magic!

    ReplyDelete

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