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However, the basic question that initiated this thread was, why did the Atlas hero revival fail? The answer is, quite clearly, that the quality was not there to sustain interest.

I totally disagree.

The quality of the Atlas heroes was no better or worse than other comics that were being written at the time. Certainly, they were no worse the the Flash stories in Showcase that are generally credited with reviving the Superhero genre.

The Atlas revival failed for two reasons. Tastes had changed; kids simply prefered the horror comics to the superhero comics.

Second, Martin Goodman was strictly in business to make money. (What a novel concept!) He didn't give two hoots WHAT he published as long as it made money. If he saw that another publisher was successful with a particular genre, he would drop whatever he was publishing and move to that genre. he had no patience for something that MIGHT make money in the future. To him, the future was NOW.

The reality is that had Martin Goodman stuck with the Atlas heroes, they may have succeeded. The initial attempt to simply switch from bashing Nazis to bashing Commies clearly didn't work. Had he been a more patient or insightful man, he may have allowed them to gradually shift focus to a formula that worked. We'll never know.
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A valid point, however I would suggest, firstly, that strong editorial vision was another similarity between EC and Silver Age Marvel -- in the 1950s, Lee was just going through the motions, a young and uneducated man feeling lucky to have a position of responsibility with his uncle's company, but constantly concerned that he doesn't really know what he's doing.

Wha.. huh? Say WHAT???

What universe do you live in??

I don't know what the extent of Lee's formal education was, but I doubt that it was out of the norm for his time. Prior to WWII, many middle-class kids never finished high school. College was something only for the upper-class.

It wasn't until after WWII that the GI Bill put college in the grasp of every day men and women. And it wasn't until the WWII generation had college age children in the 60's and 70's that college became expected of someone in the middle-class.

At any rate, Stan Lee is clearly a highly intelligent, well read and well spoken individual. By the early 50's he was a man in his early 30's, not the 17 year old kid that his uncle had put in charge 15 years earlier. He knew the business inside and out & backwards and forwards. He had served a stint in the army in a position of great responsibility. And let's face it, Stan Lee has never had problems with his ego. He neither felt "lucky to have a job" or was "constantly concerned that he doesn't really know what he's doing." That's absurd. Atlas (Marvel) comics couldn't have run without him and he knew it.

He may have been going through the motions, but it wasn't out of feelings of insecurity. If anything, it was because he had higher aspirations. In fact, by the time FF #1 rolled around, he was seriously considering leaving his uncle's business to get a "real" job and had always wanted to write the "great American Novel."

He was simply grinding out whatever his boss (and uncle) told him too.
ATLAS ERA SUPERHERO REVIVAL OMNIBUS!