Sunday, April 19, 2009

Random Comic Book Splash Page #17


Like all Atlas/Seaboard comics, THE GRIM GHOST lasted only a handful of issues, as the company folded after a little more than a year of weak sales. Despite an amazing roster of talent that included Neal Adams, Rich Buckler, Gary Friedrich, Larry Hama, Howard Chaykin, Larry Lieber, and many, many other notable comic-book writers, artists, and editors of the mid-1970s, Atlas couldn't stay afloat for many reasons (you can read them for yourself here.

The Grim Ghost was created by artist Ernie Colon and, I believe, writer Michael Fleisher, who gave us this splash page to THE GRIM GHOST #1. In a premise similar to the current TV series REAPER, the Grim Ghost was a Civil War vet who made a deal with Satan to stay alive by providing him with evil souls to populate Hell. Ol' Scratch transplanted the Ghost into 1975, where he captured evildoers and sent them downstairs.

THE GRIM GHOST lasted just three issues, but was certainly one of Atlas/Seaboard's finest titles. Colon provided the art for all three issues, which may have been a record for that company, which was notorious for turning over creative teams--and even premises--from one issue to the next.

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