The Grim Ghost was one of the leading characters of the short lived Atlas Seaboard Publishing. The character was the creation of writer Michael Fleisher and artist Ernie Colon.
The Grim Ghost was one of the few Atlas properties I felt had legs--and may be one of the only ones that could survive the translation to film that they're threatening to do right now. Would love to see you do another one about Atlas' greatest title, The Scorpion!
dunno if anyone cares but if you guys are stoned like me during the covid times then you can watch pretty much all the latest movies and series on InstaFlixxer. I've been streaming with my brother for the last couple of months :)
Matthew Dunsynayne, 'bent' the rules in his deal with the devil. The devil expected Matthew, to take *any souls, he came across!* But Matthew, only took those souls who HE felt deserved it. It was just fortunate for him, that in modern times there were plenty of people who just *worked so hard, to go to hell.*
@@FizzFop1 I'd like to take the opportunity to say something to you (since you read comments). I found your channel a few months ago in a somewhat serendipitous way, not really looking for anything in particular. I stuck around because your content is something that really struck a cord with me. No one covers the Golden Age in a serious manner, and dives head deep into both the comics, characters, and the creators behind it like you do. This fun and crazy age of comics is so much fun, and it's a shame most comic RU-vidrs focus on 60's Marvel and beyond. I've since shared links to all my friends, trying to get the word out. I hope what little attention I've gave you helps out. Your channel is great and deserves more eyes. (Also... Are you going to get into Jungle Heroes later on?)
@@thotslayer9914 Found my dA page? lol Well, I suppose life is fine? I just came back from a Florida vacation last week (it was my birthday), and I started watching Yu Yu Hakusho for the first time. Bought some other 90s anime as well (El-Hazard and Tenchi Muyo) because I'm on a retro kick. Got a Flash Gordon book too. I'm not sure if you care to know about any of that though...
My first exposure to the Grim Ghost was as an entry in an "encyclopedia" of mythological and fantasy creatures and characters that my mom picked up for me in the late 70s or early 80s. It included comic book characters with a tie to magic or the occult. The picture used was the cover of issue three. I never did get a hold of that one. But I was able to find issues 1 and 2 along with a few other Atlas comics at the local flea market. ( Rural Northern Michigan didn't have comic book shops back then. ) I think Atlas might have become something big if the head honchos could have put aside their mad-on for Marvel. Especially if they'd have told the CCA to go take a flying leap like DC did with Swamp Thing a decade later with "Love and Death".
@@FizzFop1 Truth, they had potential and an impressive pool of talent they'd sniped. They just seemed more concerned with sticking it to Marvel than actually becoming their own brand. Admittedly, most of their titles were ludicrous to the point of almost being Golden Age silly. But some had potential, like the Grim Ghost.
The books I really like by them were The first two issues of The Grim Ghost. The first two issues of The Scorpion. I liked Targitt. I think my favorite out of all of them is Demon Hunter.
You inspired me to dig through the obscure comics which can go for cheap! Just because they are in the cheap bin and I’ve never heard of them doesn’t mean they can’t be a good read! Thanks!!
Ah, The Grim Ghost...before anyone asks, no; I have no idea if he grins while he’s the Grim Ghost...bad joke I know, but hey, it’s all in good fun. Also, what’s on the docket for your summer reading, FizzFop? Zorro? Lull of Atlantis? More Conan? Actually, going back to Zorro, could you please do a video on him? I’m only asking because it’s his 100th birthday...and aside from one foreign music video, no one else has talked about him. Thanks -The Ragabond.
Hi Jack of All Claws!!! I've been wanting to get another pool side read video done. As for Zorro, I've been down that rabbit hole for years!!! I found out that Zorro author Johnston McCulley lived in Columbus Ohio (which is where I live) for a brief period. I've been trying to dig up some info on him while he was here...there is zero info on him. It's hard to find even a photo of him until he is an elderly man. I suspect that he lived here around the time that Madam Madcap was getting published. I've been wanting to get my hands on a copy of Alias,The Thunderbolt. That was his hero right after Zorro which was suppose to be Zorro in modern times (1920). I really have to do a video on him.
Perhaps, but there's no denying that behind-the-scenes infighting and shenanigans across the industry continue to generate drama far more pointless and preposterous than the adventures depicted on any comic book page.
Hi Johnny Sizemore! Well, the Grim Ghost isn't public domain, but he is a lost hero. The ownership for the Atlas characters just changed a few weeks ago...I should do a video on that?
YES PLEASE! out of curiosity,who bought 'em? Could do some more Atlas guy's?As i use the Encyclopedia of Super Heroes for NPC ideas,any more intelligence on how they were created would be great(as you do half my work for me,i made your channel a Superhero news outlet)....
I don't think the Gay Ghost was ever actually called the Grim Ghost in a comics story. DC just got cold feet when it came to his entry in their Who's Who manuals and temporarily put him in the closet- not that he was ever Gay Gay- but with his hip boots, flowing hair, puffy selves and sassy saucy attitude, he was close enough
Where did all of these images come from? Were these from some video game? Can't imagine what video game featured Martin Goodman as a main character. Is Julius Schwartz going to be a playable character in the new Injustice game? :D
Hi cboehm24! Thanks for watching! LOL! Sometimes it's impossible to get photos of people. I used a 3-D modeling program called DAZ. It's mostly used in video game creation, but it can also be used for illustration and animation. It's a free download that includes some basic tools and models...they get you with the add-ons. Hmmmm-maybe I should make a video about it?
Atlas tried a comeback in '11. I think Goodman's nephew or grandson was involved. Mike Grell was involved too. But again, short-lived. Kelly Jones did the art for Grim Ghost.
8:22 I remember Devilina and I wish I didn’t, 😂 It basically followed the Goodman style of copying other comics, mainly Warren’s Vampirella and it was pretty uninspired, although it had some good artists. Thanks for the memories.🙂
So the time line would be ?? Casper the friendly ghost(friendliest ghost you know),The Grim Ghost( made a deal with the Devil to save his ass),and then. Ghost Rider. Who to save the life of his father, agreed to give his soul to "Satan" . This is a STRANGE family??
Other stuff like Adam link X men pulp Ancestors from books like odd John slan children of atoms mutant To short story like golden man ( which is become the movie next the nic cage movie ) The Children's Room by raymond f Jones
The x men have a lot pulp acnestors that would a long Episode from odd John slan children atoms Short story like golden man children room Dragon island
Is on syfy dude The Banana Splits is now a horror movie i am not jokeing And is not scary And have joke a Little bit that The Skatebirds is more creepy then bannan Splits And is on syfy again and is tv movie that is rip off some video game ( again i don,t how old you are ) Call five night at Freddy and is chuck e cheese type thing and look it up the Wikipedia is one thing just look it up dude
I really like what you did with this video. The 3-D renders of the real people behind the scenes are cool and they give the video a unique style that could give your channel a distinctive flavor all its own. I would have had the the renders of more recent historical events in color. It would be fairly easy for people to miss that change in the tile from Golden age to Bronze age. Having things going on in the 70's and 80's in Black & White could add to that potential confusion.
Hi Jim Dot Beep!!! Thank you for the compliments. I know what you mean about the color vs. black and white pics. My biggest problem with the 3-D models is that my computer is so old that it can barely handle them. It takes two hours to render a single frame and there's still a lot of drop outs. I do the black and white photos to cover it up. Maybe, someday, I can get a new computer that can handle it.
Great job! My wife & I have about 90% of the Atlas titles & issues from the Bronze Age, as well as the newer books by Atlas. Thanks for the video history. We enjoyed it.
You know, I haven't really tried to do very many talking videos...maybe I'll give it a try. I'll talk about it so everyone can hear about it. It's impressive who they got on it.
i wish these alternate publishers to dc and marvel would have been able to hang on. the world needs more indie publishers. theres only so much bat-cash cow i can take.
I remember seeing Atlas comics being sold in plastic packages of three in the grocery store. Four takeaways from this video: 1. How stupid were the Goodmans that they were mad about getting the likes of Neal Adams and Howard Chaykin? 2. It strikes me as very inappropriate for the head of the Comics Code Authority to tell a publisher who to fire. 3. It seems like the distribution system was incredibly corrupt in the '70s if DC and Marvel could stop the distribution of other publishers by flooding the market with reprints. Shame on the distributors. 4. The year the All-New, All-Different X-Men debuted was the first year Marvel didn't make a profit? Wow! (Of course, 1975 was also the year of the original Clone Saga.)
Hi VonWenk! Thanks for watching! I bought Demon Hunter on a comic rack--I would have been in first grade. The book lost its cover. When I got older, I started asking around about it-no one knew anything. Then, one day I went to a drug store and Demon Hunter was staring me in the face! They had them in plastic bags--3 Comics for 35 cents. I LOADED UP!!! 1. I don't know what to make of the Goodmans. They're both smart and stupid at the same time. 2. The Comics Code Authority was ran out of a lawyer's office. They received their money from the already established comic publishers (Marvel, DC, Archie, Charlton...), so they might not have been too open to a new publisher trying to muscle their way in. 3. The distributor was going to do what was best for them. Atlas was at a disadvantage because they couldn't offer more. 4. Marvel and DC took a huge hit. They were making less than 30% of the cover price. Those deals with distributors lasted until about 1980. That's one of the reasons why comic cover prices keep going up after '75...they go from 25...30...35...40 in a quick succession. It all goes back to Atlas. Atlas drove up their costs with creative talent...and their returns from retailers.
Funny, they locked Stan Lee down to a five year contract at just about the time when he stopped being essential to Marvel's output. Ironic Anyway, you should do a profile of Ernie Colon- very interesting guy with a very unique style and sensibility
Hi hexum7! Just after Lee took over as President of Marvel...he started going out to Hollywood and began pitching Marvel heroes to the studios. The Hulk TV show was the big thing that came from it.
Great Channel. Do you have plans to showcase Warren magazines: Eerie and Creepy, so many of the artists and writers profiled on this channel also went on to do projects at Warren? The iconic Frank Frazetta covers introduced the art style and genre into the mainstream world of publishing found on everything from Conan paperbacks, calenders to the side of Chevy vans. Even as a dedicated Marvel Zombie,( DC was for kids) I always made room in my adolescent budget for Eerie and Creepy and spent to much time looking at the provocative covers.
Saw a few Atlas titles at the used book stores i used to get my used comics at but i was a horrible Marvel snob at the time and didn't know anything about the Goodmans then
Jeff Rovin actually made me a fan of the history of comics with his two books. I used to love checking them out from the library and learning about them and nowadays I have a nice youtube channel to learn more like about Atlas which was a bit before my time but I think I would have really enjoyed.
In a sense, the Goodmans, through Atlas, DID hurt Marvel Comics. By forcing it into the red in 1975, Atlas put Marvel on financially shaky ground for years, culminating in having to sell off the rights to many of its top-tier characters in order to stay afloat, and finally into bankruptcy in the 1990s. Revenge is, indeed, a dish best served cold.
So true Rob, Martin Goodman was a very smart business man who managed to survive when times got tough. He knew exactly what was going to happen at Marvel and DC with the bullpen raids and paying his talent more than four times the going page rate. Both Marvel and DC were rocked by his actions. It would take years for them to recover.
@@FizzFop1 I met George Perez years ago, and he mentioned that even in the Y2K decade, it was harder to get paid by Marvel than by DC. And that's when he worked on the joint JLA/Avengers project. I also once read an article that Stan Lee actually had to sue Marvel to get monies owed to him. I don't know how much of this can be attributed to Atlas & the Goodmans, but Marvel Comics has 'enjoyed' a lousy reputation financially until the Disney acquisition. Such a pity. I've enjoyed Marvel comics for years, well into my adulthood. It's like learning how sausages are made. lol
Good video FizzFop,I always love your channel dealing with unknown comics or people who contributed to the comics industry behind the scene,but I kinda feel bad for both Chip and Roveman they were unsung heroes in the comics industry that didn't get the recognition that they deserved.
Hi Mark! I've read a lot about Chip. There's a whole other story there. At Marvel, he suffered from Boss' Son syndrome. It sounds like Martin went passive/aggressive on him. From the stories, Martin could be quite abusive at times. The employees at Marvel did trust his judgement. He was put in a bad situation. Rovin had a great writing career. He didn't go back into comics--but in many ways he had a much better career than many of his contemporaries that stayed in comics.
Atlas had some great comics but some didn’t last more than 4 issues. My favorite was Demon Hunter, sadly it lasted only one issue. And I did like the Destuctor also.
Hi Jerrod! My favorite was Demon Hunter also...great book-sorry we only got one issue...BUT-the artist/writer Rich Buckler did a second Demon Hunter story in a black and white book he published called Galaxia. It's the same character, but he gave him a green costume for some reason? The sad thing is the story is short and it doesn't pick up where Demon Hunter left off. It's interesting to see, but very unfulfilling.
Grim Ghost sounds as much Ghost Rider as Spawn to me. Also, I read some of Jeff Rovins Nintendo books as a kid. Learning about his time at Atlas only makes me think of how far ahead of his time he was.
I started reading comics with the Harvey kids line. It's always jarring to see Ernie Colon's art on anything else (I expect to find that the Grim Ghost's neighbor is Richie Rich).
I know. This character could have been a contender. I caught your pre-edit comment . You were dead on...the story with Lady Braddock had a lot of potential. Paramount has ownership of these characters and if they were smart, Grim Ghost would be the character they develop.
Feminist/sjw version of candyland You play children of colar that are fat Mouse trap You catch sexist Males ( ok both of the example could have work ) ( really is fucking monpoly again like is not a comic or movie that have a story or video game or some one change some person gender or race ) ( is fucking monpoly is borad game )
The bannan spilt movie is most awful crap i ever seen in my life is cliché and boring And like is start some shit creepypasta and alter is switch to aliens meet the terimator/slashar movie rip off when the mother come Ellen ripley/Sarah conner And again dude if ever review that movie ( and some ask why did you not bring up five night at Freddy ) Ok five night at Freddy is a video game and you know if look up about this chuck e cheese thing and jump scare werid lore Warner Brothers was going to make the film but lost the right and send the script to syfy
Marvel blames Rovis for upping the costs…more like Marvel got caught rehashing stories and reprinting stuff readers already read while alienating artists and writers thanks to Stan stealing all of their credit. DC failed to adapt and git stale, they were struggling but they found new life thanks to investing in a certain red and blue suited character
Other stuff Really ms monopoly thing is must be a joke ( like the Socialism version or generation y version ) is not not who care is fucking monopoly is Literally like porn there are monopoly of everything. What next the feminist version of candyland Feminist version of life Feminist risk Mouse trap the feminist version
Other comic Idea i have A kinda Marshal law story about some random dude killing thing minus superhero. I don,t know video game heros or space opera or fantsay type A the dirty dozen meet the man in the high castle type story A diabolik type character
@@FizzFop1 yes he was! No wonder the 80's style of comics looked the way it did! And quite honestly I'm surprised it didn't stay that way and morphed into this kind of image in the 90's style, complete with magazine paper instead of regular old paper to elevate prices (which made it harder to buy and worse to print).
Here my pitch for the skatebird movie contact me warner Brothers Is meet the feebles meet murder by death Is about the skatebirds my version is like knock knock is now slasher villian Satchel is now drunk Pedophilia And Scooter is like a serial killer ala Hannibal Lecter And scatcat is Dexter he serial killer hunting other serial killers And aslo is have laugh track in movie too ever in the movie is show in show thing too we watch a werid sitcom of the skatebirds
The grim ghost being a criminal going to hell making a deal to return to earth. He than returns to earth years later as an undead servant of hell. This really reminds me of spawn wonder if this was an inspiration for todd mc farlene.
Again Tim Holt Tim Holt is kinda werid is like some make random western comic about a actor that i don.t know about ( i am not big western i more into film noir Guy ) And is unlike morden version of say a pop star become a superhero i more in gag ha ha aha ah ha thing This take serious the red mask take it serious I still wonder what Tim Holt the actor thought about red mask the comic
Hi KingBoxer119! There's a lot in the Atlas library that makes me feel that way. Demon Hunter is great...shame it only had one issue. Targitt is an interesting book. Grim Ghost is full of potential. The first two issues of Wulf the Barbarian are beautiful.
How sad that the Goodmans wanted to take on the Big 2 but failed to differentiate themselves. I wish that Rovin could have been more successful here. Might have kept him out of tabloid misadventures.
Did McFarlane rip off the origin of Spawn from the Grim Ghost? Bad guy goes to Hell, gets recruited to send evil souls there, returns years later from the time he died. Sounds suspiciously familiar...
And ATLAS Comics is featured prominently in the Encyclopedia of Superheroes... so much so as a kid I assumed ATLAS had been as big a company as Marvel or DC.
Hi Morgan, Thanks for watching. I bought the Encyclopedia of Superheroes in the 1980s and never put it together that the author was the same guy who was an editor at Atlas. Atlas should have been bigger, but they were attacked on all sides...and that's a topic for another video!!!
Great coverage/I didn't know this history. Rovin also cranked out a bunch of very thinly -researched, rather meh generic--ish books covering SF and horror movies. Didn't Atlas also turn out a title called PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES? I seem to recall that title as one of theirs. Too bad it wasn't a tie-in with the Bava movie.
I was an avid comics spinner browser back in those days, looking through all the books while my mom shopped. I don’t remember seeing any Atlas books at all. Maybe they were too over the top for south Louisiana. I do remember Harvey for the kiddies and Warren for the teens. I was right in the middle...
Hi David, thanks for watching. Atlas' distribution was awful. They got squeezed by DC and Marvel and most of their books didn't make it to the spinner rack. Years after the company crashed, the distributor wrapped them in 3-packs for resale.
So many books with so much potential. All wasted. I would have loved to have seen more of Planet of Vampires, Grim Ghost, and Morlock. But it was not to be. Alas, alas.
Hi Mark Mark...a few weeks ago Paramount and an outside production house bought majority interest of the Atlas library. These characters could be coming to the big screen.
Trina Robbins if do artist Episode I found werid about her she like feminist ( i gessing she sex positive mom feminist ) and she draw Vampirella costume ( i think she is sex positive becouse no way i can see a sex negative feminist to draw her )
Hi melvin! I've been wanting to do a episode on golden age artist Lilly Renee...she had a very interesting life and Trina Robbins drew a comic book about her.
It’s really tragic that the superheroes and supervillains made by Atlas, Holyoke, and even Archie Comics among many others weren’t given much of a chance by the public and careers either ended or went elsewhere. No matter how fast they ran they could never catch up to Marvel and DC
I agree Noah...there's many reasons for this. I'm working on a What Happened to Atlas video. It's a complicated story. The Archie heroes have failed for totally different reasons. Each incarnation of the Archie heroes fail for different reasons. With the comics industry being in the current state they are in, this might actually be the best time to relaunch these characters...but they have to be smart about it.
