'Atlas at War!' edited by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo with art restoration by Allan Harvey is a collection of war comic reprints from the 1950s.

Atlas Comics eventually became Marvel Comics. Atlas produced more war comics than anyone. Collected here are 50 stories, many of them by artists and writers that would become famous, like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

The stories here are about men at war. Predominately the Korean War, with World War II coming in a close second. There are stories of lonely nights guarding against enemies, or fighting against tanks or snipers. The introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo is an excellent essay on the history of these comics.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Dead Reckoning and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

A comprehensive (and for that reason somewhat stultifying) collection of mid-20th century war comics. If you overlook the racist caricatures of the enemy soldiers, there are some interesting art styles and stories here, but there are some common, repeating themes that soon become a little boring. A very interesting historical document to see how comics simultaneously un-romantizied (by looking at the elements and deny the simple patriotic stories of war) and romanticized war.

Edited by Michael J. Vassallo; Art Restoration by Allan Harvey. From Dead Reckoning and Marvel. Review copy provided by NetGalley.

Presented here are 50 gritty, dirty, honest, time of war stories from Atlas Comics. Atlas later became Marvel and some of your favorite Marvel writers and artists from the early days are here to remind us all that War is Hell. The war comics were very popular 1951 to 1960 and this collection grabs the best of the best reprinted here with all of the respect they deserve.

The only negative I would have, and let's get it out of the way, is the presentation of the enemy. Mostly the evil yellow Japanese. Taking in to context the time and attitudes post war, and this book as an archive makes it easier to accept. This isn't a comic that any kid is going to pick up and form biased views against a country and it's people. The audience for this book are older readers interested in the history of comics.

For that audience this book is incredible. The last "big" war time comics were Marvel's The 'Nam and to a lesser extent, Semper Fi, but those sales numbers pale in comparison to the 50's output. So many of these stories border on madness. The breaking point of a soldier. Time to either rise to the occasion and live to see another day, or face your last. Men who are alone against the enemy and laugh at the danger.

"Atrocity Story" "No Way Out" "Muck!" written and drawn by men that went to war. They bring a realism to every panel that can only come from the pens of those who lived through it. Adding to the history and accuracy is the clean up job Dead Reckoning did, but not too far. These pages are simultaneously crisp and beautiful to look at but still retain the newsprint quality of the times. Nothing is too clean or too polished, but every page looks like it must have when it was brand new on the stands.

The book is a lot to read all in one sitting. With 50 stories it would be more enjoyable to read one or two stories a day and let them stay with the reader for a time. Page after page of death and bullets and explosions gets to be too much. Due to the honesty of the stories there is a bit of reader guilt too. The voice of the Sargent coming through the panels, "you think reading this is hard?! Try being here instead of hiding at home on the other side of the ocean. Why, you couldn't make it one day in any of my boy's shoes. Even the green ones!"

This is officially released September 9, 2020 and would be a great coffee table Christmas present. That family member that loves to study World War II. The comic reader who has everything. The history buff. The veteran. Spending $65 for an oversize hardcover 272 pages that will be cherished and brought back out multiple times is as easy as war is not.

A great collection of old war comics. They really did a bang up job. For comics reprinted from the 50's these look almost new.

Atlas at War! takes me back to when I used to go with my Mom to get taxes done at my cousin's place in the country. One of my cousins there had a whole collection of war comics - Sgt. Rock, Sgt. Fury, Combat, and the like that I got a chance to read upon occasion. This collection is largely Korean War and World War II, land, air and sea actions, with a few World War I and one American Civil War strip. You get commando actions, patrol infiltrations, infantry on infantry fights, tanks, and Marines. Not all actions are heroic, and not all end happily. But this collection does give you a good feel for what Atlas put out in the 1950s. The opening essay puts the collection in context and sets the scene for the reader.

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this volume.

Well, this was definitely not what I was expecting, although to be honest I’m not sure what my expectations were.

This is a collection of comics mostly from the 1950s, published by Atlas Comics. It depicts stories from the Korean War as well as WWII, stories of both everyday challenges the soldiers faced as well as the bigger stories of famous campaigns and weapons. The graphic depictions of war and the racist drawings of the enemies were a bit shocking although not unexpected, given the time period and the political situation. I guess why this collection didn’t capture me was just how boring the stories were – I found myself enjoying the artwork but just flipping page after page when reading the stories – for example, a story about a soldier get more and more despondent because he didn’t get a letter from home, while the letter was following him around. I guess it boosted morale and encouraged people to write letters to their soldiers but looking back now it’s kind of repetitive and heavy handed.

The star is really for the artwork, which was wonderfully reproduced.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Dead Reckoning via NetGalley. Thank you!

Atlas at War! contains 50 war comics that initially ran from 1951 to 1960. The comics are raw and violent—just like the wars they depict. They are definitely not politically correct, especially to the villains of World War II and the Korean War. However, the stories give us an opportunity to see into the American mind circa the 1950s, when “death and life were cheap...as cheap as the pressure of a finger on a trigger!”

War is hell. Humans are not inherently murderers. Therefore, their enemies during war must be portrayed as demons or worse. And there must be an evil goal of the enemy that is even worse than the war itself. World War II was fought to prevent Germany from taking over the entire world. The Korean War was waged to prevent the “commies” from doing the same. Because the US joined WWII at the last possible second, we have been overcompensating at every battle since by trying to stop potential dictators before they have won their first country. Unfortunately, “potential dictator” is not well-defined.

If you understand the underlying psychology in play in these comics that I have described above, the stories make more sense in our times now. Most of the plots martyr murderers. They are also really racist. North Koreans are colored yellow. Both the “commies” and the Nazis look like devils from a horror movie with tiny sharp teeth and wild-looking eyes.

However, despite the flaws I listed earlier, I really enjoyed many of these short tales. Most are narrated by either an unseen omniscient person or by the soldier himself as if describing what happened to his buddies back at camp. There are few dialogues. The artwork was descriptive rather than artistic. But after experiencing what the characters go through, you can see why 1950’s culture was so regimented. Everyone had a role to play. The dad worked while the mom kept the house and raised the kids. Order, after all, is the opposite of the chaos of war.

If you enjoy war stories or want an inside look at the 1950s male mindset, you will adore Atlas at War! 4 stars!

Thanks to Dead Reckoning, Naval Institute Press, and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a great historical review of war comics, produced in the early 1950's, by Atlas Comics. The introduction at the beginning of the book offers a detailed history of the background leading to the surge in comic production in this topic, during the early 1950's. The review was very informative to me, a casual fan of this type of comic, as I had no knowledge of the various individuals and companies involved producing comics in that era. The comic art itself is clearly at the early stages of the artform, which has refined and improved in quality significantly over the following 70 years, but is still compelling even now. It is worth noting that some of the work included was before the implementation of a comic code, so there were content restrictions that took place during the time frame reviewed within this book, so there is a change in the graphic quality of violence and socio-political content (what one might call political correctness, being introduced even then). The comic art focuses on the Korean War and World War II, but there are a couple of comics detailing other military conflicts within this collection as well. I enjoyed the book, but it was a lot of similar comics to digest in one setting. For me, this would be more of a "coffee-table" book, in which you might review a couple of selections, and then resume reading another day. It is worth adding to your collection!

I thought this was such a great graphic novel. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I liked the plot and the art style of the novel. I thought it look like a classic comic book. I highly recommend it.

Compiles comics, primarily from the 1950s and 1960s that depict war in a very realistic manner compared to today's comics. Includes a very good introduction that places the comics in context. If you haven't seen these comics before, you will be surprised over the realism and depth of the these comics.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. 'Atlas at War' is presented in the same format as a short story anthology, with the same results. These graphic stories are written and drawn by a variety of writers and artists of varying ability. The panels are usually quite graphic and lurid. The bad guys, be it communist North Koreans, Nazis, Imperial Germans, or dirty Japs are shown as caracatures just like they were during wartime. These stories are meant to be true retelling of actual wartime incidents but I tend to think there was some exageration and fabrication to make a good story.