Planet of the Vampires (Atlas)
Larry Hama (w) Pat Broderick (a)
One of my favourite short lived and never to be seen again series was Planet of the Vampires published by the equally short-lived Atlas line of comics from the mid-seventies. I managed to purchase all three issues when this first came out out but on recollecting as an adult number two has thus far eluded me.
Planet of the Vampires is your very basic apocalyptic story set in a future where a crew returning from a space mission return to find not only is Earth in ruins but is now ruled by "Vampires". The twist in this being that the vampires are a techno-creation rather than a supernatural phenomenon.
Unlike most groups of adventurers nearly all of them are dead by #3 and only two remain for the promised #4 that was never to see the light of day. The editors also promised to show us more of the new planet as our remaining astronaut mourning the death of his wife heads off into the distance in a wilderness dominated by blood sucking insects.
A very good series with great potential. I understand that Dynamite Entertainment has purchased the rights to Atlas comics and I sincerely hope this this title is one of their forthcoming projects.
Even when this first came out, I was intrigued by the rapid thinning-out of the cast, who went from a landing party of five to, erm, one by the third issue. If the series had continued, it would have had to re-title itself, "Just Vampires"...
ReplyDelete(Also, 'boo, hiss' on the whitening of two of our Afro-Carribean heroes for the cover of # 3 - were American comics still concerned about 'Sales down South' as comparatively recently as the mid-1970's?)
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know the plot of comic no. 4? I loved this comic series.
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