The Barbarians #1
Published and © by Atlas (Seaboard), June 1975
Title: “The Mountain of Mutants”
Synopsis: Ironjaw is captured by mutants, meets a wench, triumphs in the arena and learns a valuable life lesson about tolerance.
Writer: Gary Friedrich
Artist: Pablo Marcos
Review: Beyond the great title, this story doesn’t have much going for it. It’s hard to deliver a high-handed moral with a character as unlikable as Ironjaw, or in a comic where rape is a recurring theme. On the art side, Pablo Marcos, best known as an inker, struggles with anatomy.
•••
Title: “Andrax”
Synopsis: A decathlete is captured and sent 2,000 years into the future as part of a plot to rule the world.
Writer: Uncredited (likely Peter Wiechmann)
Penciler: Uncredited (likely Jordi Bernet)
Review: Just how the mad scientist plans to rule the future world through a decathlete remains unclear. Solid, stylish art, though.
Grade (for the entire issue): C
Cool factor: Hey, it’s at Atlas (Seaboard) comic.
Not-so-cool factor: The kumbaya ending to the Ironjaw tale; it doesn’t fit the rest of the story’s unpleasant blend of cheesy and sleazy.
Notable: Andrax appears to be a European reprint.
Character quotable: “If it is bestiality you seek – you shall receive!” – Unnamed queen of the mutants (and questionable matchmaker)
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on March 3, 2010.
