Unidentified Atari Force Original Art

[Unknown original art]

This piece of original art was up for auction in late November/early December 1999 on eBay. The starting price was $4.99, but the reserve was not met. (Bidding only went up to $10.50.)

I do not recognize this art from any published Atari Force missions. The description said it was "larger, magazine size art" and assumed it was from page 11 of a graphic novel. The original Atari Force has never, to my knowledge, appeared in a graphic novel other than as shadowy figures in the Star Raiders graphic novel. The description also said "Ross Andru pencils/ Garcia-Lopez? [sic] inks." In fact, the denizens of the rec.arts.comics.* newsgroups identified it as Ross Andru and Dick Giordano, which makes perfect sense.

I theorized that this might be art from an unpublished mini-comic, as Andy Helfer had mentioned there were some in one of his lettercols. My e-mail to the seller went unanswered. I also tried e-mailing Helfer and Giordano, but they have not answered, either. Meanwhile, I'm hoping the reseller will try to auction off the art again.


[Unknown original art #2]

In February, the same seller attempted to sell the above page, also as a page from an Atari Force graphic novel. It was, again, misidentified as being by Ross Andru and Garcia-Lopez (instead of Andru & Giordano). Again, the starting price was $4.99, but bid of over $20 (probably at least $25) did not meet the reserve.

It is obviously the page following the previous one. It appears to be the ATARI director and an ATARI technician or doctor using some sort of device to recreate Atari Force's encounter with the Dark Destroyer in AF1.03 from their memories. I'd guess this might have been the story originally slated to be published as AF1.04.


[Unknown original art #3]

In mid-March, the same seller put up this third page. (Unfortunately, the scan is smaller than the previous two.) This time it's correctly noted as Andru and Giordano artwork. A page number was not given, but I think this page may actually precede the first one (above).

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ATARI FORCE is an expired registered trademark of the original Atari, Inc. Copyright on ATARI FORCE material belongs to either Atari, Inc. (formerly known as Infogrames) or DC Comics, depending on which issue's indica you examine. This web site, its operators, and any content contained on this site relating to ATARI FORCE are not authorized by DC Comics or Atari.

Lee K. Seitz (lkseitz@hiwaay.net)
Created: 16 Dec 1999; Last Modified: 15 Mar 2000