What it is, Groove-ophiles! It's been waaaay too long since we last visited astronaut Ed Tyler--aka Phoenix, so let's take a look at his swingin' second issue (December 1974). Lemme tell ya, man, this is a wild one! As mentioned in Ol' Groove's post about ish 1, Phoenix was a wild, though not totally successful, mish-mash of sci-fi and the Bible, as you'll no doubt glom on to as you peruse the following imperishable pages. It's definitely entertaining (and quite violent by Groovy Age standards), and to say the least, writer Gabe Levy and artist Sal Amendola gave us a rather...unique...superhero experience. Ya wanna see? Then read on...
Ha, "Holy Moses" indeed! :-)
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, or is the role of "Phoenix" being played by Lee Majors here?
very cool....I bought a complete set of Atlas comics about 16 years ago...all of them were there...in doubles and trips...except Pheonix 2 and 3 ..I have 1 and 4...you've just inspired me to find them on ebay. Thank you...this was a great line...Have you visited the Groovy ATLAS ARCHIVES site...some really cool stuff happening there.
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian, I really dig the idea of "Super Hero as Christ." Too bad Atlas never caught on. They had some way ahead of their time stuff.
ReplyDeleteI am a graduate of the Kubert School, and Sal Amendola was one of my teachers. When I told him that the Phoenix was a character I really liked, he drew me a quick sketch of the hero, and then told me how weird things were in the final days of Atlas.
ReplyDeleteHow the publisher wanted the Phoenix to be a Christ-like figure, right down to the cross being emblazoned on his chest.
In fact, Sal was told to make the diamond more and more cross like as the story progressed, with it finally becoming a cross.
Compare the insignia in the first issue, to the insignia in the last few panels of the last page, and you really get an idea of where it was going.
A trip of a strip, to understate. Always dug Sal Amendola's art-- it appeared too rarely, and might pop up anywhere, from BATMAN to WEIRD WORLDS to a JIMMY OLSEN back-up.
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