Atlas at War!

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.