The Atlas Comics Library No. 2: Venus Vol. 2

The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library #2

by Bill Everett, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo (Editor)

The Goddess of Love…and SF The eagerly anticipated single volume collecting the 10 rare issues of the overstuffed Venus comics! In the late 1940s, the first half of the Venus series from Marvel Comics predecessors Timely and Atlas Comics was published as a lighthearted romance comic about the goddess Venus taking a job on Earth at a beauty magazine. Never a company to miss a trend, Atlas began introducing more science fiction elements in the 1950s, and eventually turned Venus’ dating adventures into a straight-out horror anthology. Collected here, 70 years later and for the first time ever, is that swift-changing second half of the 19-issue run. Future Marvel stars Bill Everett (seven issues) and Werner Roth (three issues) take Venus to heights of four-color weirdness and pre-Code horror ghastliness. Everett in particular is given free rein and seizes the writing, drawing, and lettering twenty ghoulish and goofy masterpieces, including classics like "Hangman's House," "The Day Venus Vanished," "The House of Terror," "The Sealed Spectors," Tidal Wave of Terror," and the phantasmagorical "Cartoonist's Calamity!"  These stories showcase the brilliant draftsmanship and storytelling of Everett, one of the giants of the 1940s and '50's comic book industry. His slick, fluid line rendered at Timely/Atlas, from his seminal god-child Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, to the atomic age Marvel Boy, is some of the finest pre-Code horror this side of E.C.'s Graham Ingels. Series editor Dr. Michael J. Vassallo assisted in the compilation of the first volume of Venus for Marvel 13 years ago, and Fantagraphics is delighted to publish the horror half as the second title in The Fantagraphics Atlas Comics Library . Full-color illustrations throughout

Genres: Comics

310 pages, Hardcover

Published April 16, 2024

About the author

William Blake Everett, aka Bill Everett, was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was a descendant of the poet William Blake and of Richard Everett, founder of Dedham, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of Fantagraphics' reprints of Timely Comics collects the back half of Venus (issues #10-19) that were published between 1948-1952. Marvel previously collected the first nine issues in Masterworks format, but never followed up with a second volume to finish the series. It is perhaps a bit revealing that the series should be collected so haphazardly between two different publishers in two very different formats given how different a comic Venus is in the two halves. Initially presented as a "girl comic", Venus was notable as an early venture into romance comics for a publishing house that prominently made superhero comics. It was a waning period for superheroes though in 1948 (odd as it may seem from a modern lens), and Timely shifted gears into other forms of speculative fiction in the form of crime, horror, war, action, and of course, romance.

The initial premise of Venus was fairly simple - a space goddess named Venus who lives on the planet Venus arrives on Earth with plans of experiencing love as a human would. She ends up taking a job as an editor for a cosmetics and fashion magazine named Beauty, begins an on and off romance with her boss Whitney "Whit" Hammond while contending with a jealous co-worker, Della. The stories were somewhat formulaic but had a certain charm to them, and any of the sci-fi elements were present but highly muted. Over the course of the first nine issues, more sci-fi aspects do emerge, primarily in the form of the oddball pantheon of gods to which Venus belongs to. Villains like Jupiter and Loki (a prototypical version of the Marvel Comics character) began to play larger roles, but at the end of the day Venus was largely still a romance comic.

But as the series progresses, the supernatural and fantastical bends become more apparent. The romantic subplots are abandoned for a more thriller/horror tone. Venus now tackles foes like the Son of Satan and various monsters, flies in rocket ships, time travels and much more. Format wise, each issue is comprised of 3-5 short stories, so each Venus adventure is really just a few pages long. Fans of EC Comics will recognize the format well, and these later issues of Venus really evoke the spirit of classic horror and thriller strips. Bill Everett serves as the primary artist for a lot of these later issues and utilizes a style reminiscent of the bizarre designs of Basil Wolverton. It's sharp work, and substantial step up from the more milquetoast first half of the series.

The reproduction quality of the comics is nicely done as well. Just as they did with the first volume, Fantagraphics' choice of paper allows for the colors to not come off as too garish - though perhaps a more off-white page color could have been a better choice. The individual stories here aren't really all that riveting compared to other older horror comic collections, but Everett's artwork and the bizarre quality of this series makes it an interesting time overall.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume completes a set of utterly strange comics that Marvel began reprinting way back in 2011. Hurray for Fantagraphics for finishing the job!

VENUS started out as a "girls' comics," featuring the goddess of love on Earth enjoying romantic adventures, but over the time it was published (19 issues from 1948 to 1952) comics underwent a dramatic change. Superheroes gave way to other genres -- especially crime and horror comics -- and Venus went along for the ride. The last few issues of the title were mostly drawn by comic legend Bill Everett and are almost as weird as the works of outsider comic book artists like Fletcher Hanks and Basil Wolverton.

These are definitely horror comics of the time. Plots are secondary and each story unfolds like a nightmare. Venus -- who was an actual goddess in earlier issues -- becomes a mostly hapless reporter facing the walking dead and other monsters. Everett's art is wild and occasionally surreal. He is best known, of course, as the creator of the Submariner for Marvel/Timely and one of the stories here features a sea sorceress who certainly appears to be the Submariner in drag.

Reproduction of these rarities is superb and Fantagraphics deserves acclimation for rescuing these specimens of four-color madness from unjust obscurity.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This second volume of the Atlas Comics Library from Fantagraphics Books features Venus, collects issues #10 through #19 (issues #1-9 were printed in a Marvel Masterworks volume by Marvel a few years back, when they were actively reprinting Atlas stuff on their own). The comic itself is sometimes subtitled “Strange Stories of the Supernatural” on the cover, but Venus goes through a number of genres in this collection, which is primarily drawn by Bill Everett and Werner Roth. It’s original incarnation was a romance book about a goddess with a job on Earth at a magazine. It evolved into more of a science fiction mag around the time this volume begins and finally ends up as straight-up horror; along the way, it even presents the first appearances of Thor and Loki in pre-Marvel comics. Like a lot of these Atlas books, they’re pretty unreadable, but the art is great and the historical information from editor Dr. Michael Vassallo is worth the price of admission.

[Ruz El · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun one. At first I was a bit miffed at this being the "Vol 2" of Venus stories and figured it was the typical chronology mess that Fatagraphics does with other series, but it ends up Marvel published the first batch of these under their "Milestones" banner. So completionists will want to seek that out.

As this stands, it's really fun. The first few issues are weird romance stories with Sci-Fi elements sneaking in and Venus being a pretty useless hero having to call on Jupiter all the time. Once Bill Everette shows up, these get a full on level up by going pretty near full horror. It makes for some fun and clever comics.

I'm not sure how much farther along I'll go with these Atlas reprints after Vol 3, but so far these have been not just gorgeous presentations, but pretty fun reads.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is done a disservice by its strict chronological reprinting, unfortunately, as the worst stories in the book are front loaded. Stick around for Everett to come in 75-100 into the book; definitely worth putting up with the first few stories.

[David Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for the Bill Everett work; it's some of the best of his storied career.

[Egghead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Final three issues
Warps into delirious
comic trash madness.