During our last visit with the Atari Force they finally explained what “Project: Multiverse” is, a spaceship called Scanner One (shaped like the Atari logo because branding is everything) that can traverse dimensions. The goal is to find resources needed to help their Earth recover after the civil war that tore the planet apart. Without any real training (though how you train someone for something that’s never been done before I admit I couldn’t answer) the team consisting of hero Marvin Champion, his best friend pacifist doctor Lucas Orion, the surprisingly aloof (given her past experience with Marvin) Lydia Perez as pilot, the heavily accented Li San O’Rourke (Chinese and Irish descent), and the engineer Mohandas Singh head out to save the world thanks to Atari. In this continuity Atari isn’t a great video game company that fell apart via mismanagement and is now a shell of its former self but has grown into the Atari Institute and is responsible for keeping what’s left of the United States in some level of functionality. Yeah, somehow THAT’S the part that’s hardest to believe in this paragraph.
Issue #3 was released with the game Star Raiders for the Atari 2600. I barely remember the name and I couldn’t tell you what actually happens in the game. Apparently this was a port of the version for Atari’s computers like the Atari 800, the computer I own, but I’ve never played it. So I’m once again going to the website Atari Age for the scans. You can read along with me on this one.
“I’m telling you we didn’t replace the sky with a floor mat!”
Atari Force #3
DC Comics/Atari (1982)
CREATORS/WRITERS: Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas
VISUAL CONCEPTS: Ross Andru
ARTISTS: Gil Kane, Dick Giordano, & Mike DeCarlo
DESIGN: Neal Pozner
COLORIST: Adrienne Roy
LETTERER: John Costanza
EDITOR: Dick Giordano
