 Atlas logo as used on its comic books in 1950 | |
| Company type | Proprietary company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Genre |
|
| Founded | 1947 (1947) |
| Founders | |
| Defunct | 1958 (1958) |
| Headquarters | 282 Queen's Parade,, Australia |
Atlas Publications was an Australian publishing company which operated from 1948 until 1958 and was based inClifton 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 companyAtlas Comics which was active in the same period.
The company was founded in 1947 byJack Bellew andGeorge Warnecke, two former journalists atThe Daily Telegraph, andClive Turnbull, who at the time was a staff writer and art critic for the Melbourne-basedHerald. The company was managed byPeter 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 seriesCaptain Atom drawn byArthur Mather and written largely by Jack Bellew under the pen name "John Welles". Captain Atom (no relation to the later American superheroCaptain Atom) was one of the few original Australian comic heroes to have his own merchandising and fan club. The comic was originally published entirely in colour, but Atlas followed their chief rival,K.G. Murray, and switched to black and white two years later when the cost of colour printing became prohibitive. Despite the switch to black and white, theCaptain Atom series remained successful, running to 64 issues over the next six years.[4][5] The majority of Atlas's comics publications were reprints of British or American comic strips or Australian versions of them, such asSergeant Pat of the Radio Patrol (based on two characters of the American stripRadio Patrol) andBrenda Starr with illustrations byYaroslav Horak, who like Arthur Mather andAndrea Bresciani became a regular artist for Atlas. However, Atlas was best known for its home-grown Australian comics—in addition toCaptain Atom, it publishedKeith Chatto'sThe Lone Wolf[a] and Terry Trowell'sGrey Domino.[b]
In 1955, Atlas launched itsscience fiction magazine,Science Fiction Monthly, which ran for 18 issues and ended in 1957.[c] Although it largely published stories reprinted from foreign magazines, including three byA. Bertram Chandler,Science Fiction Monthly also published some original stories suchWynne Whiteford's "Ancestral Home" and articles on the science fiction genre byForrest J Ackerman.[8][9][10] In the mid-1950s Warnecke and Bellew also bought outFrank Packer's interest in the women's magazineFamily Circle and began publishing it under the Atlas imprint. Atlas's other publications includedMiss Young Romance comics,Heart-Throbphoto novels, novelettes of Western stories, a racing guide, and the men's magazinesZowie,Fun andFrolic.[2] In 1954 all three men's magazines were banned from sale inQueensland by the Queensland Literature Board of Review for featuring sex and nudity.[11] Through its associated imprint, Western & United Publishing, the company published reprints of books aimed at teenage girls such as its 1952How To Get Along With Boys.
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 asSergeant 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]