The 1970s obsession with All Things Satanic was in full swing here, with one of the briefly-exisiting line of Atlas comics, Devilina. I guess we can thank Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority for all this kind of material pretty much completely disappearing from mainstream comics. Gee, thanks, Jerry.Devilina was Atlas' version of Vampirella(pretty much all their characters were "Atlas' version of..."), a scantily-dressed vampire woman who starred in stories as well as playing hostess to other horror tales.
The cover, very striking, I will admit, is by Pulojar, whose work I'm not too familiar with. But it does have everything you need for a good satanic cover--weird voodoo guy, implied violence, barely-dressed sexy babe. Done and done.
The first story stars Devilina, "Satan's Domain", story and art by Ric Estrada, whose nice but slightly-cartoony work was an unusual style for this kind of story, but it actually works. All the sordid goings-on(avenging angels, Satan kidnapping people(!), floors filled with writhing naked succubusses) don't seem quite as sordid via Estrada's style, like the way Ernie Colon could draw tremendously violent stories and it make it seem almost funny. This first tale ends with Devilina swearing eternal vengeance against Satan himself! Quite a task she's set out for herself.
Next is "The Lost Tomb of Nefertiri" by Gabe Levy(who seemed to only do work for Atlas before completely disappearing from comics) and Pablo Marcos, a classic tale of treasure hunting and murderous ambition. Plus a sort of sexy mummy!
Third is "Lay of the Sea" by Levy and Leo Duranona, about a mermaid who runs afoul of some wretched, violent seamen, and the one man who tries to rescue her from them. A grim, brutal tale, with a really fine art job by Duranona--more cartoony than I normally associate him with, and very effective.
Fourth is "Midnight Muse" by Michael Cahlin and Ralph Reese, a two-page(!) tale of alien visitors watching two paranoid humans...or are they? Next is "Merchants of Evil!" by John Albano and Jack Sparling, a goofy tale of murder set in the horrifying confines of a pet store.
After that is a text feature, "Filmdom's Vampire Lovers", which covers some fairly obscure films and I think was just an excuse to run this still:
Last is Shakespeare's "The Tempest" via Martin Pasko and Leo Summers, a definitely more horrorific take on the classic story. Maybe Atlas thougt sticking in an adapation of Shakespeare, for Pete's sake, would help mitigate all the violence, sex, and devil-worship in the rest of the issue. It doesn't.
4 comments:
Sounds like my kind of comic!
I wonder what film that still is from.
Looks like a Hammer flick; one of those 70's ones like THE VAMPIRE LOVERS?
Best,
-Craig W.
good eye, Craig! it doesnt say it directly, but thats the film theyre talking about when that still comes up.
It's from "Twins of Evil", kind of a pun really.
I collect Atlas comics, it's one of my favourite obsessions, I need to find this.
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