Atari Force DC Comic
Who remembers Atari Force? This comic first appeared in 1982 as a small booklet (or mini-comic), about the size of an Atari games catalog. Each issue was about 50 full-color pages.
I actually don't recall reading this as a kid, but I do remember seeing the comics around. It seems these comics were included as a pack-in with certain games, which explains their small size. These became the first Atari Force series and there were a total of five issues.
I have Atari Force Volume 1, Issue 3, which was in a group of Atari-related stuff from my Dad.
Who were the Atari Force? From this issue:
MARTIN CHAMPION--MISSION COMMANDER.
MOHANDAS SINGH--FLIGHT ENGINEER.
LUCAS ORION-- MEDICAL OFFICER
LISAN O’ROURKE-- SECURITY OFFICER.
LYDIA PEREZ--PILOT, EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
Atari should bring back those uniforms for some fun Comicon Cosplaying!
This issue has several chapters:
Chapter 1: Enter — The Dark Destroyer!
Chapter 2: Planet of the Doomed!
Chapter 3: Star Raiders!
The comic concludes with:
The Atari Force will return in “Phoenix”, coming this fall!
The final two pages show the bio of Commander Mark Champion and an ad to receive a free 1-year membership in the Atari Club. This would give you 6 free issues of Atari Age magazine and some other perks.
The back cover had an ad for Swordquest, a highly promoted Atari 2600 game series that was never fully released.
There was also a second series of Atari Force released in 1984 in the more standard comic book size. This series contained 20 issues, but I’ve never seen it.
The entire Atari Force comic collection can be downloaded from the Internet Archive, but you’ll need a comic reader app to view them.
Atari Force on the Internet Archive
Here is Atari Force Volume 1, Number 3 from above in PDF format for easier reading:
I’ve never been much of a comic person myself, so I don’t have much to say about these. I’d love to hear what comic aficionados think about them!
I have vague memories of the comics coming with the 2600 games. Later on I discovered the DC full size 20 issue run. I think I have all but 2 of those. The comics were surprisingly good, I thought. I am not a big comics fan myself but I enjoyed them.
I was interested to see the new Atari continuing this tradition of comics. They released a small series based on Centipede and they had a comic for Yars Rising that fleshed out the story and world a little more.
I have Vol. 1, No. 1 stowed away somewhere. Thanks for the reminder to dig it out.