Battle #46
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBattle #46 is a representative entry in Atlas Comics' longest-running war anthology, a title that endured through the seismic disruptions of the Comics Code Authority, the mid-decade Atlas implosion, and the collapse of the company's self-owned distribution arm — all of which were occurring in early 1956, the very moment this issue reached newsstands. As a purely post-Code war anthology, it illustrates how Atlas editor Stan Lee and the bullpen retooled the war genre after Fredric Wertham's crusade forced the industry to sanitize its content, producing tighter, more procedural combat stories in place of the visceral Korean War imagery that had defined the line's pre-Code peak. The issue also represents the tail end of Robert Q. Sale's prodigious Atlas war output, one of the most prolific contributors the genre ever saw.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Battle launched in 1951 and became Atlas's most durable war title, running 70 issues through June 1960 — outlasting every other war book the company published. By the time issue #46 was produced (on sale January 1956, cover-dated May 1956), Atlas was operating under the newly enacted Comics Code and was on the verge of shuttering its self-owned Atlas News Company distribution arm, a transition that would soon trigger the catastrophic 'Atlas Implosion' of 1957. The issue was assembled under the editorial infrastructure Stan Lee maintained at the Empire State Building bullpen, drawing on a stable of freelance war artists who rotated across Atlas's many concurrent war anthologies.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Atlas Comics (the pre-Marvel incarnation of Martin Goodman's company); cover date May 1956, on-sale date January 16, 1956.
- Battle was Atlas's longest-running war title, lasting 70 issues from 1951 through June 1960 — the last surviving Atlas war book.
- Issue #46 is a 32-page, full-color anthology with no recurring character features; Battle remained a purely anthology title for virtually its entire run.
- Confirmed interior stories include 'Guerilla Pursuit,' 'Assault Command' (art by Bob Forgione), 'Counter-Attack!,' 'The Reluctant Warrior,' and 'Divide and Conquer' (art by Robert Q. Sale), plus the text story 'Fugitive Army.'
- Robert Q. Sale, who contributed 'Divide and Conquer,' drew nearly 140 Atlas war stories between 1951 and 1956, making him one of the most prolific contributors to the entire Atlas war line.
- The issue falls squarely within the post-Comics Code era (the Code was adopted in late 1954); all Atlas war books from 1956 onward operated under those content restrictions.
- During 1956–1957, Atlas ran a post-Code anthology sub-feature called 'The Fight For Freedom' across seven of its war titles including Battle; whether issue #46 contains one of those installments is not confirmed in available sources.
- No first appearances of any character or creative milestone have been documented for this issue in any key-issue database or comics history source.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Combat Kelly #6 (1956), Journey into Danger #7 (1965), Journey into Danger #8 (1965), Gunsmoke Western Picture Library #2 (1970), Six Gun Western Library #2 (1972)
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