Remember 2005, when Atari was the only thing standing between the world and total disaster?
Well, maybe this graphic reminder will jog your somewhat foggy memories...
You may well ask; "what the hell is going on?"
In 1982
Atari was one the biggest video game producers in the world.
Their home console titles, mostly ported versions of successful video arcade games, were doing well, but competition from other console producers was starting to erode
Atari's share of the market.
It was decided that
Atari's game cartridges would include mini-comic books with a plotline that would tie the previously-unrelated games together into a cohesive universe, though the comic's plots and characters
weren't incorporated into the video game!
It was believed that the comics would give fans a reason to collect
other games they might not have purchased otherwise, plus open up a
new market of comic book fans and collectors who would, hopefully, become
Atari game users.
Atari's fellow
Time/Warner company
DC Comics created and produced the mini-comics.
The first comic,
Atari Force #1, shipped with the videogame
Defender.
Plotted by Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway with Conway doing the script, this first "issue" introduces us to the devastated Earth of 2005 and the group that will eventually become "Atari Force", with flashbacks about most of them.
Illustrated by Ross Andru (pencils) and Dick Giordano & Mike DeCarlo (inks), the premiere had a slick, clean, highly-professional look.
Join us next week as we probe further into both the fictional and real-life worlds of
Atari Force!
