The Brute #2
Published and © by Atlas (Seaboard), April 1975
Title: “Attack of the Reptile Men”
Synopsis: The Brute stows away on a plane, kills some innocent people, then is enslaved by a mad scientist.
Writer: Michael Fleisher
Penciler: Mike Sekowsky
Inker: Pablo Marcos
Review: After a lackluster debut (see review), the Brute’s second outing isn’t much better. Atlas’ blue, prehistoric answer to the Hulk doesn’t bring much unique to the mix beyond writer Michael Fleisher’s penchant for gruesome violence, and even those scenes lack his usual creativity. The mad scientist villain is an off-the-shelf model from B-movie central casting, while the reptile men could have been in any ’50s horror comic. And these generic elements aren’t even remixed in a new or novel way. At least Mike Sekowsky’s art is more consistent this time out.
Grade: C-
Cool factor: One of the mad scientist’s victims is Dr. Fredric Bertham. Heh.
Not-so-cool factor: C’mon. Give us just a spark of something new.
Character quotable: “Destroy him! Destroy the Brute for having the audacity to disobey me!” – Dr. Karlheinz Speer, mad scientist (and aspring savior of the human race)
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on April 22, 2020.
