Atari Force, issues ten to twelve.

ATARI FORCE #10.
COVER TITLE. Blackjak is back…and boy, is he in trouble!
INSIDE TITLE. Home is the Hero.
COVER DATE. October, 1984
COVER PRICE. 75 ¢
COVER ARTIST. José Luis García López
NUMBER OF PAGES. 23
WRITER. Gerry Conway
PENCILLER. José Luis García López
INKER. Eduardo Barreto
LETTERER. Bob Lappan
COLORIST. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer

So, ok, Blackjak is back. He is alive, although we saw him being suck by a blaster propeller from the engines of his starship. Pakrat is not really surprised by the fact that he is alive but…How does he come aboard?

Meanwhile, Tempest, who is being followed by Atary Security and Hunter as his hunter lands in Melissa’s. She reacts poorly, and orders his guards to grab him. Fortunately, he escapes.

Hunter has the probe that would link the renegade Atariforcers and the old crew of the Force.

The Dark Destroyer has found a solid core of anti-matter. Of course, nobody can touch it, because everything will explode.

Well, let’s go to Blackjak’s story. When he was about to die in space, the Dark Destroyer vessel used a tractor beam on him.

As he told Dart, he was held prisoner and he manages to escape when Dart and the crew of the Scanner One where leaving the Dark Destroyer’s ship.

Tempest is now with Lucas Orion, a fellow companion of his parents and he takes medical care of him. And tells him the story of how the first Atari Force faces for the first time the effects of the Dark Destroyer. He was able to change an entire planet of good will aliens into potential killers.


Only the heroic effort of his father, Martin Champion gets rid of the menace. But it didn’t last.

Oh, well, and Tempest is now under arrest… for high treason!


Kevin J. Maroney (Chapel Hill, NC) is a comicbook seller and considers AF a good option for quality comics for children. He puts it side by side with American Flagg!, Cerebus, Nexus, Thriller and Dreadstar. What a poker of aces! Anthony Rapp (Joliet, IL) is glad that he is allowed, being a boy of 12 years old to write to this magazine.

Jeremy Stewart (Louisville, KY) resumes the situation back at issue seven. Ralph Ienco (Ontario, Canada) criticises the colors as being too light instead of brilliant, as he supposes it should be. Jon Freeman (Chicago, IL) praises Villagran inks.

The Phantom Comic wrote a peculiar letter about how comic books made him human (?) and Eric James Baich (Saskatchewan, Canada) praises Pakrat. It is curious to see how many Canadian kids followed DC comics. No wonder there was an Alpha Flight in Marvel.

ATARI FORCE #11.
COVER TITLE. By Blackjak betrayed!
INSIDE TITLE. Betrayal.
COVER DATE. November, 1984
COVER PRICE. 75 ¢
COVER ARTISTS. Hanninan & Giordano
NUMBER OF PAGES. 23
WRITER. Gerry Conway
PENCILLER. José Luis García López
INKER. Bob Smith
LETTERER. Bob Lappan
COLORIST. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer

Undercover of the night, we can see Blackjak heading to the long range comlink…


…to talk to the Dark Destroyer! First Blackjak is punished, as a remainder of the fact that the Dark Destroyer has him. Them, he change the course of the Scanner One, headed to the Dark Destroyer’s vessel. Where they are treating the antimatter source.

Back in New Earth, Tempest is in bad condition an is being comforted by Lucia Venture. Hunter is not ready for many tenderness and reminds her that Tempest is charged with high treason.


After that, Lucia Venture talks with Lucas Orion, the man who sold Tempest (but meaning well, of course) and discorvers why his father hates him so. Martin Champion blames his son for the dead of his wife while giving birth.

In the Scanner One, the crew is noticing that something goes wrong. Sabotage.

Dart has the feeling that Blackjak is behind it all. They fight and Dart wons. But the Dark Destroyer image appears and send a message. He announces that he is about to destroy one of the multiverses. The one where the real Earth is.

Helfer announces that the first arc in AF would be 13 issues long instead of 12. Last chapter, as we will see after this letter section an the next week, is far to long. Keith McLiwain comments that the Conway/García López is a tandem so cool as Claremont/Romita or Wolfman/Perez. A great compliment. Ricky LeGassey (Oakville, CT) praises the series as his favourite comic book and Steve T. Donoghue (Iowa City, IA) guesses about Morphea, as a character and as her powers are.

Kevin T. Brown (Norridge, IL) wants Terry Austin inking the book. Ed Riordan (Bronx, NY) enjoyed the adventures of Babe and Hukka (and Taz, of course). Ron Fortier (Somersworth, NH) comments the great work the artists are putting in and enjoys AF as much as a Luke Skywalker’s intergalactic travel. Bill Behrens (Chicago, IL) praises Babe’s adventure. He noticed that Blackjak wasn’t in the cover of issue one, so he suspected that something would happen to him.

John Migliore (Ontario, Canada) likes Taz and suggest that Dark Destroyer should be resurrected if he falls or he would be as boring as Micronauts’ Baron Karza latest reincarnations. T. M. Maple comments the character of Babe.

ATARI FORCE #12.
COVER TITLE. Who is the Dark Destroyer?
INSIDE TITLE. Revelations.
COVER DATE. December, 1984
COVER PRICE. 75 ¢
COVER ARTISTS. José Luis García López
NUMBER OF PAGES. 16 + 7 (Hukka Solo Story)
PLOT. Gerry Conway
SCRIPT. Andy Helfer
PENCILLER. José Luis García López
INKER. Bob Smith
LETTERER. Bob Lappan
COLORIST. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer

Tempest is being judged severely while Blackjak is being blamed for the betrayal. Martin then notices that Tempest is gone (wow! What a father! He is travelling through multiverse jumps the last six issues and he didn’t notice).

A difficult dialogue between Dart and Blackjak. Blackjak is so in pain for the torture the Dark Destroyer is infighting on him that he would do anything he is asked to do.

Again, they are face to face with the Dark Destroyer forces and land in a desolated planet.

There they can se the anti-matter bomb, capable of destroying a whole universe. They fight the Dark Destroyer’s army to no sensible change of situation. They are again their prisoners and the Dark Destroyer faces Martin Champion.

What a surprise! The Dark Destroyer face is the same as Martin Champion’s.

A FILL IN HISTORY (7 PAGES LONG) by Hukka.
TITLE. Do Unto Others.
STORY AND PENCIL ART. Keith Giffen
INKS. Ernie Colón
LETTERING. Bob Lappan
COLOR. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer

A fun story, the first of many solo stories, where we can see Hukka hunting a little creature. Then a bigger creature tries to catch him…

… and a bigger one catches it. Hukka learns the lesson and goes to find Babe. But then the little creature starts a hunting of an smaller creature…and so it goes!


Helfer announces that García López will leave the AF series. Eduardo Barreto will be the next official penciler. Louis Fulmer (Ashland, OR) didn’t know that S-F stands for Science Fiction. Kevin Hall (Castlewood, VA) liked Taz a lot.