Atari Force - Publication History

Publication History

The first Atari Force comics, which only counted 5 issues, were published in 1982 and were created mainly to illustrate story lines for home console games being released by fellow Warner Communications subsidiary Atari, Inc. The comics were packed in with the games Defender, Berzerk, Star Raiders, Phoenix, and Galaxian. The comics were written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas and the artists included Ross Andru, Gil Kane, Dick Giordano, and Mike DeCarlo.

An Atari Force special insert appeared in two comic books cover dated January 1983 and served as a prequel to the ongoing series launched a year later. The insert was the story previously published in the Phoenix comic, but the story title was changed to "Code Name: Liberator" and featured ship's name became Liberator. In addition, the art for the aliens showed them as more frog-like. Atari released a Liberator arcade game featuring Commander Martin Champion and the Atari Force name.

The second series (jan. 1984 - aug. 1985) was released monthly, in conventional comic-book format, and lasted for 20 issues. Gerry Conway returned as writer while José Luis García-López became the main pencil artist. However, original series concept artist Ross Andru did draw issues 4-5. In issue #13, Eduardo Barreto took over as penciler and, in #14, Mike Baron became the regular writer through the final issue, #20. Issues 12-20 also featured backup stories by different writers and artists. In 1986, a "Special" issue was released with work by different creators, some of whom had done backup stories for volume 2.