Two important comics events occurred on June 24, 1974.

It was my first day on staff at Marvel.

And it was the day Seaboard Periodicals, run by Martin Goodman—Marvel Comics founder and former Magazine Management publisher—opened its office.

Seaboard launched Atlas Comics, which I told you about five years ago when I shared a snarky memo I wrote in 1975 to Marvel’s publisher because he was worried our company was being plagiarized.

(For those in a TL;DR mood—no, it wasn’t.)

Most fans first learned of Atlas/Seaboard from a blurb in The Comic Reader #109 (August 1974), which quoted an unnamed source as saying that the new company would “change the look of the industry.”

(For those still in a TL;DR mood—no, it didn’t.)

None of the company’s titles lasted more than four issues, with some not even more than one. And though the company published competent work from many of comics top talents, such as Steve Ditko and Wally Wood, the only title upon which people seem to look back lovingly is Howard Chaykin’s pulp-style adventurer The Scorpion.

Perhaps it some alternate universe, people are going to the movies to see the latest installment in the Seabord/Atlas cinematic universe … but alas, it’s not this one.