Atlas Publications
Company type | Proprietary company |
---|---|
Industry | Publishing |
Genre |
|
Founded | 1947 |
Founders | |
Defunct | 1958 |
Headquarters | 282 Queen's Parade, , Australia |
Atlas Publications was an Australian publishing company which operated from 1948 until 1958 and was based in Clifton Hill, a suburb of Melbourne. It published magazines and popular fiction, and the genre for which it was best known, adventure comics. It had no relation to the American company Atlas Comics which was active in the same period.
History
The company was founded in 1947 by Jack Bellew and George Warnecke, two former journalists at The Daily Telegraph, and Clive Turnbull, who at the time was a staff writer and art critic for the Melbourne-based Herald. The company was managed by Peter Ryan, who characterised the founders as "a small syndicate of well-off Melbourne lefty journalists". Warnecke himself would later describe the venture to friends as an "Intelligent Young Man's Guide to Capitalism".[1][2][3]
The company achieved a major success with its 1948 series
In 1955, Atlas launched its
Atlas ceased publication in 1958. Jack Bellew had died in 1957. George Warnecke moved to Ireland that same year. Page Publications acquired the rights to some of the Atlas comics such as Sergeant Pat of the Radio Patrol and continued to publish them through the 1960s. Clive Turnbull remained in Melbourne and went on to write a series of biographies, a history of Australia, and a book on Australian art.[12][2][13]
Notes
- ^ The Lone Wolf was a Western comic, whose protagonist Luke Jordan was "known throughout the West as an outlaw, who rides the trail of justice by night as the mysterious lone wolf".[6]
- ^ The Grey Domino character was described on its cover as "Hooded man of mystery - nemesis of crime".[7]
- ^ Atlas's Science Fiction Monthly is not to be confused with the UK magazine Science Fiction Monthly which was published in the 1970s.
References
- ^ Callick, Rowan (17 December 2015). "Peter Allen Ryan: a literary man of action". The Australian. Retrieved 24 September 2016 (subscription required).
- ^ a b c Griffen-Foley, Bridget (2012). "Warnecke, Glen William ('George')". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol. 18. Melbourne University Press. Online version retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ Ryan, Peter (2002). "Turnbull, Stanley Clive", Vol. 12. Australian Dictionary of Biography. Melbourne University Press. Online version retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ISBN 1560246642
- ^ National Library of Australia. Record 38427324. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ National Library of Australia. Record 4728559 Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ^ National Library of Australia. Record 4667047. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
- ISBN 0853237697
- ISBN 0786449845
- ISBN 0522847714
- ^ The Cairns Post (21 August 1954). "Ten Publications Banned by Literature Board", p. 1.
- ISBN 1443835986.
- ISBN 0522857418
Further reading
- Lindesay, V. (1979). The Inked-in Image: A social and historical survey of Australian comic art. Hutchinson. ISBN 0091354609
- Ryan, J. (1979). Panel by Panel: A History of Australian Comics. Cassell. ISBN 0726973769
External links
- Atlas Publications on the comics.org database
- "Flynn of the FBI: Case Closed!", "Profile: Terry Trowell - Comic Book Artist", and "Captain Atom - The First Million!" on Kevin Patrick's blog Comics Down Under