Atlas- Seaboard Written by Gabriel Levy and illustrated by
Jim Craig July 1975
The third and final issue of The Scorpion, like most of the
Atlas line many of characters had revamp to make them more (Marvel) superheroes. Chaykin left the title and a new creative
team took over the title. – Now I had intended to cover all the stories in
publication order but I thought that certain stories are better being talked
about together, so all the Scorpion stories together and then the initial three
Dominic Fortune stories. Interestingly,
the first Fortune story was published in between issues 2 & 3 of the Scorpion.
The story opens in 1943 with Moro Frost fighting in World
War Two, his plane is shot down and explodes leaving no body and only his dog
tags. And as we all know, if there’s no
body they’re not dead.
The story then opens in 1975 (the present) and there is a
new Scorpion fighting crime. He is David
Harper editor of the Daily Times who wears a spandex suit with a lovely blue
and orange colour scheme. A mixture of
The Green Hornet and Spiderman or Daredevil. It’s
left in the air if Harper is a new identity for Moro Frost or just the bearer
of the Scorpion legacy. (I have my own
theories on that but that’s for my concluding article/timeline. There is a line that this Scorpion had heard
Nazi rhetoric 30 years earlier and didn’t buy it then)
The adventure proper opens with Rabbi Akibah and his
daughter Sara attacked by neo-Nazis lead by the Golden Fuhrer – a Nazi in a
gold mask.
The Nazis leave Sara behind warning her to keep her mouth
shut. She immediately calls the police
and tells her employer David Harper.
Harper sends her home so he can investigate as The Scorpion.
There’s an odd bit where The Scorpion climbs out the window
only to discover that there is no ledge and he has to use his wrist grappling
hook.
Sara returns home so the Nazi can kidnap her for leverage on
her father. (Seriously Nazis take the
girl in the first place – she can’t call the police if you had taken her in the
first place and her father would have been more cooperative)
We discover that the Rabbi is a Jewish Mystic who in World
War Two summoned the Golem of Prague to fight against the Nazis. These neo Nazis think he can resurrect their
dead leaders from World War Two but he summons the Golem that he kept in his
basement (it is suggested that he built a new golem in the opening). The Golem bursts out of the Akibah house as
the Scorpion arrives. The Scorpion
fights the Golem but the Golem creates a psychic link to show where the Rabbi
and his daughter are being kept.
The Scorpion then follows the Golem and the pair attack the
Nazis. The Scorpion ties up several of
the henchmen as the Golem attacks the Golden Fuhrer. The Scorpion tries to save the Fuhrer but is
unsuccessful and the Golem smashes a sewerage tank flooding the building and
only The Scorpion, Sara and her father escape (that we know of).
It’s not a bad story and after the first two stories is a
change of pace. It’s an action packed
story but The Scorpion is now fighting intolerance in all its forms – it comes
across a little preachy. If it was
published today some would call it woke or SJW but that part of the story isn’t
overpowering.
The redesign of the Scorpion’s costume is okay but what is
the point of that colour scheme?
Maybe with more stories, I would have warmed to this version
of the character more but that was not to be.
Atlas folded soon after and we pick up our story over in Marvel.
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