Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: bill everett, Carl Burgos, jack kirby, joe Sinnott, steve ditko

Kirby, Ditko on the Last Atlas War Comic, Battle #70 up for Auction

Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Joe Sinnott, Don Heck, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and Don Heck end Marvel's Atlas war comic era with Battle #70.

Published Wed, 17 May 2023 12:27:10 -0500

by Mark Seifert

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The Marvel/Atlas war comic era started with War Comics #1, which hit newsstands in early September 1950, a little over a month after the United States entered the Korean War. That war would soon help inspire a wave of war comic books from countless publishers in the early 1950s, but war comics would be a significant category from Marvel/Atlas far beyond that. The publisher would ultimately publish some 500 issues of war comic books across 30+ titles 1950-1960. Pretty much no matter how one defines the end of Marvel's Atlas era (the usage of "MC" on Marvel covers beginning in early 1961 is one way to do it, though there's room for disagreement about that), Battle #70 is the last Atlas war comic book — and it's a fitting send-off for the era. There's a Battle #70 (Atlas, 1960) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white to white pages featuring a Jack Kirby cover and interiors by Kirby, Steve Ditko, Joe Sinnott, Don Heck, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and Don Heck up for auction in the 2023 May 18 The War Comics Showcase Auction #40223 at Heritage Auctions.

Battle was the longest-lived of the Atlas war titles at 70 issues over nine years, and it ends in 1960 with some weighty work by the legendary creators involved. A Tank Knows No Mercy is Kirby with Ditko inks, Dateline – Iwo Jima has Burgos pencils and inks, The Thick of Battle has Kirby inked by Joe Sinnott, Gettysburg! is penciled and inked by Everett, with Face to Face with the Enemy drawn by Don Heck rounding out the issue. It's an impressive assemblage of artistic talent with a Kirby cover as well.

Marvel would not re-enter the war genre until well into the Marvel Universe era with Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1 over three years later. Battle #70 is a fitting end of an era featuring work by a group of many of Marvel's greatest creators. And compared to most Silver Age Marvels, this issue qualifies as tough to get in high grade, with the highest graded on the census at CGC 8.5 and only five entries overall above this Battle #70 (Atlas, 1960) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white to white pages featuring a Jack Kirby cover and interiors by Kirby, Steve Ditko, Joe Sinnott, Don Heck, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and Don Heck up for auction in the 2023 May 18 The War Comics Showcase Auction #40223 at Heritage Auctions.

Battle #70 (Atlas, 1960) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white to white pages. A significant issue here, as it's the very last Atlas war comic! The next war book to be put out by Marvel wouldn't be until three years later when Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos would debut. This is also significant as the last issue of the longest-running Atlas war series, with 70 issues over nine years. We have never seen a high-grade copy, the best we've ever had barely edging this one out at 7.5. Jack Kirby cover and art. Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Bill Everett, and Carl Burgos art. Overstreet 2022 FN 6.0 value = $93; VF 8.0 value = $182. CGC census 5/23: 5 in 7.0, 5 higher.