I'm not a big enough fan of the old line to have read everything about them, so I have some questions.
I should have run a disclaimer before I posted, but I think I've actually read more ABOUT Atlas than FROM Atlas, starting with links from Jim Shelley's (Flashback Universe) blog post about a year ago on the Atlas books. I read the Morlock 2001 series, and one or two others. Like yourself, I have a pile in here, but haven't taken the time to go through much of it.
Keep in mind that they may be strongly limited in what they can use. By every account of Atlast that I've read, they attracted talent by giving the character rights (whatever they are beyond trademarks) to the creators. So we may never see an Atlas Scorpion, as the rights could rest with Chakyin.
Might that be part of the reason that the books (for the most part) "changed directions" after a few issues ... in effect, the creators would get to keep their "character rights" while Atlas continued to use (and own) the Trademark on a changed/altered/all-new character they could claim sole ownership to?
I suppose it's possible, though it would seem like an odd choice as they were still trying to find their footing and bring in top talent. While I don't have any experience in the field, obviously, the Goodmans and their staff didn't seem to be much on long-term strategy, just getting the talent (and thus the sales, in theory) as early as possible. So I don't see what good character rights would be when you lose the reader draw of the writer who owns the version you're avoiding.
And on top of that, a good number of the properties are blatant ripoffs of things they wanted to license, but couldn't get the money for. In the more litigious environment of today, "Planet of Vampires" could well be a pretty big risk, for example.
I never heard that said before (ripping-off an idea they wanted to license). What was Planet of Vampires a rip-off of? Again, I haven't read that book yet, so maybe it's obvious, but, to me, it just sounds like a neat concept that's similar to a lot of things and not one single thing specifically.
Oh, it was developed to adapt (and continue) "The Omega Man," the "I Am Legend" adaptation starring Charlton Heston. They modified when they decided not to spend the money, but that's the core. Likewise, the Scorpion was developed as the Spider and the Cougar as Kolchak the Night Stalker. There might have been another on the list (other than the Brute aping the Hulk, I mean--clearly, nobody expected to license a comic book character for another comic book).
Not that they couldn't have (or didn't) develop into something unique, mind you, just that the core concept is a rewrite of someone else's material. And while not illegal in any sense, it would limit the marketplace utility to come back and compete with revivals of those very originals.
