Atari Force, issues seven to nine.

ATARI FORCE #7.
INSIDE TITLE. Counter Attack.
COVER DATE. july, 1984
COVER PRICE. 75 ¢
COVER ARTIST. José Luis García López
NUMBER OF PAGES. 23
WRITER. Gerry Conway
PENCILLER. José Luis García López
INKER. Ricardo Villagran
LETTERER. Bob Lappan
COLORIST. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer

Tempest is being tortured by Psyklops, and Dart is in the air conducts. She can’t afford the suffering of his step-brother so she and Pakrat are ready to fight when they must run away as fast as they can. Tempest must wait.

The powerful attack by Psyklops can be felt by Morphea, who almost faints. Martin Champions couldn’t take it anymore. He wants to face the Dark Destroyer, who killed his wife and now is about to kill his son and Dart (well, and Pakrat, but nobody thinks about him except his brother). The Dark Destroyer accepts.

With Martin Champions in the deck of the Dark Destroyer’s vessel, everything seems to be lost, but it is not like it. Dart and Pakrat had defeat enemies as much as they send.

Morphea can’t wait doing nothing, so she gets ready a ship and travels into the frying pan. And Babe, feeling alone comes aboard another spaceship. A complete chapter of Atari Force would be dedicated to him.

Martin Champion is with the Dark Destroyer now. A bomb, hidden in his outfit has being disabled. The two antagonist are facing each other.

Morphea has found Psyklop and they fight a terrible psy-combat. But her powerful mind and her impressive spirit gives her the advantage and the winning stroke. Tempest is now at her charge.

Martin is making the Dark Destroyer very angry and only the providential intervention of Dart saves him from a certain death.

Dart is pointing with his gun at the control panel and smiling. The Dark Destroyer must set them free. The first round is won by our friends. Morphea notices that Babe and his pet, Hukka, are gone.

Ron Frontier (Somerworth, NH) is pleased with issue four and with the opportunity of seeing the old Atari Force. Susan M. Murrie (San Diego, CA) asks about Morphea’s family (we get to know that his race is ant-like, with a queen and everybody else workers) and considering that Martin Champions is not out of his mind. Paul Bushey (Winslow, ME) praises the great work and Mark Waldman (Northridge, CA) considers that Ross Andru is a great penciller, but that Atari Force must be done by José Luis García López.

John Henry Sain (Medford, OR) says that he enjoyed Pakrat and Morphea. Rich Bowen (Tacoma, WA) praises the art of Ross Andru and finds some inconsistencies in the retelling of the first miniseries in issue four. Rick Edwards (Sherwood, AR) and Andrew Logan miss Blackjak. James ask for original art, since he is starting drawing (well, wish not granted, sorry).

ATARI FORCE #8.
COVER TITLE. Babe wanna go home!
INSIDE TITLE. Babe’s Story.
COVER DATE. august, 1984
COVER PRICE. 75 ¢
COVER ARTIST. José Luis García López
NUMBER OF PAGES. 23
WRITER. Gerry Conway & Andy Helfer
PENCILLER. José Luis García López
INKER. Ricardo Villagran
LETTERER. Bob Lappan
COLORIST. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Len Wein and Gerry Conway as Consulting Editors.

Babe and Hukka used a starship to find Morphea, but now they are stranded in a strange planet.

In Scanner One, Tempest feels responsible for all the mess his companions must suffer in the last chapters of Atari Force. Then Dart has a premonition of her kissing Blackjak…but he is dead!

In the strange planet, Babe and Hukka make contact with a native, that is carrying the corpse of a fellow of his race. First Babe gets rid of him easily, but then he pities the short-man, as he called him. Now they are a threesome.
They stay together and some menaces happens to them. But they always survive and remain victorious. When Babe confounds a mountain with his mother and a race of red short monsters attacks him, he gets angry and fights like a lion. Now the Short-Man knows that he can fight his enemies (this red aliens).

After destroying the red aliens’ base, the Short-Man buries his fellow companion.

The Atari Force rescues the stranded Babe and let the new member of their crew in. We’ll learn that his name would be Taz.

Muriel Hykes-Bailey (Allenwood, PA) wants Blackjak back and states that he is similar to a character in Starjammers, from Marvel. Steven Feldman (Providence, RI) also relates this series to X-Men and Micronauts, but considers AF as a better series, close to the New Teen Titans. This is a great era for DC, no doubt about it. He thinks that Dart could channel his powers through Morphea to wipe the Dark Destroyer out of the map.

Dennis K. Catucci (Westbury, NY) praises the beginning of interaction among the good guys and the fight against the Dark Destroyer, something he considers lacks in the first chapters. Kevin Lawson (Getyville, NY) asks some questions about the Multiverse, about how the aliens gather the human race into their planets and about how are the humans going to discover the Old Earth.

Thomas Paoli (University of Iowa) praises the AF creative team for being so good at creating real SF. That’s a great compliment. T.M. Mapple considers that the foundation of the AF Team has taken a lot of chapters. It was over-prolonged and he wants to know if the AF comics would have the same problems as other Team Comics.

ATARI FORCE #9.
COVER TITLE. Shadows of the Past!
INSIDE TITLE. Memory Lane.
COVER DATE. September, 1984
COVER PRICE. 75 ¢
COVER ARTIST. José Luis García López
NUMBER OF PAGES. 23
WRITER. Gerry Conway
PENCILLER. José Luis García López
INKER. Bob Smith
LETTERER. Bob Lappan
COLORIST. Tom Ziuko
EDITOR. Andy Helfer

Professor Lucia Caitlin Venture receives an unexpected visit from Tempest. We are now in Atari Station in New Earth. Conway uses this part as a resume of the first champters.

Captain Hunter notices that Tempest is in the Station and almost caught him. Next jump step, Dart’s Fathers’.

Dart’s Fathers tells the story of the fist encounter with the Dark Destroyer. But it was like a Cthulu-like monster. Again, Captain Hunter is about to caught Tempest.

Well, back at the Scanner One a big surprise…


…Blackjak is back!!





Dennis M. Green (Springfield, MD) asks about the phasing abilities and why he couldn’t escape the Dark Destroyer. Helfer explains that Tempest needs concentration to do that. Bill Tucker (Penacook, NH) thinks about Babe turning into a mountain-like being. Harold J. Farris (Watsonville, CA) praises the great work of AF and points that this series would work great with Micronauts.

John Henry Sain (Medford, OR) concentrates on Pakrat and his brother, Rident, relationship. M. P. Hughes (Santa Maria, CA) praises the character development through relationship and group interaction. Tom Lang (San Bruno, CA) wonders about the scorp of Tempest. T. M. Maple (Weston, ON) sees a parallel with Babe and a friend of him. Eric Jones (West Lafayette, IN) remembers the Star Raiders and compares the Dark Destroyer’s encounter as The Empire Strikes Back.