I.W. Publishing was one of several small-time publishers trying to cash in on the Silver Age of Comics boom by reprinting several Golden Age characters like Phantom Lady. Before they folded in 1964, the company also known as Super Comics added an original character to last issue of their anthology title of Daring Adventures. Atlas was supposedly inspired by the old Charles Atlas comic book ads for how to be a he-man, but I.W. got a hold of the original artwork and reformatted it into their own creation. Instead of a skinny guy getting sand kicked in his face at the beach, the origin story for this supernatural strong man was meek glasses-wearing office employee Jim Randall who strikes out with asking out his hot co-worker after her brother is beat up by thugs. Jim is visited in his dreams by the actual Greek god Atlas who inspires him to spend the next few weeks doing Rocky training montages at his uncle's ranch, which not only molds him into a buff bodybuilder but for some reason fixed his vision so he doesn't need glasses anymore. The new stud gets another visit from Atlas to adopt the name of his mentor as a costumed superhero with enhanced strength. Now as Atlas, he gets revenge on the thugs that thrashed him before, then stops a train heist, and takes down an attacking plane full of mobsters with just his biceps. Why it seems as though Jim got his newfound abilities due to just getting into shape or because of his heavenly encounter is unknown, but it's pretty sure that just using Charles Atlas' dynamic tension training won't make you to literally leap tall buildings or single-handedly crash an airborne assault craft.
I.W. Publishing was one of several small-time publishers trying to cash in on the Silver Age of Comics boom by reprinting several Golden Age characters like Phantom Lady. Before they folded in 1964, the company also known as Super Comics added an original character to last issue of their anthology title of Daring Adventures. Atlas was supposedly inspired by the old Charles Atlas comic book ads for how to be a he-man, but I.W. got a hold of the original artwork and reformatted it into their own creation. Instead of a skinny guy getting sand kicked in his face at the beach, the origin story for this supernatural strong man was meek glasses-wearing office employee Jim Randall who strikes out with asking out his hot co-worker after her brother is beat up by thugs. Jim is visited in his dreams by the actual Greek god Atlas who inspires him to spend the next few weeks doing Rocky training montages at his uncle's ranch, which not only molds him into a buff bodybuilder but for some reason fixed his vision so he doesn't need glasses anymore. The new stud gets another visit from Atlas to adopt the name of his mentor as a costumed superhero with enhanced strength. Now as Atlas, he gets revenge on the thugs that thrashed him before, then stops a train heist, and takes down an attacking plane full of mobsters with just his biceps. Why it seems as though Jim got his newfound abilities due to just getting into shape or because of his heavenly encounter is unknown, but it's pretty sure that just using Charles Atlas' dynamic tension training won't make you to literally leap tall buildings or single-handedly crash an airborne assault craft.
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