"Was Roy Thomas responsible for this, though? Or was he just trying to cope with a difficult situation?"
It always struck me as the difference between someone one creating a series and doing it-- and someone else creating a series, deciding to put it out there, and then after-the-fact, trying to figure out, WHO do we get to do this?
With an existing series that's established a track record, you may have creators who could be intereted in taking it over if a slot opened up. with a brand-new series that hasn't even gotten off the ground yet, it's just absurd for the 2 guys who came up with it to do ONE episode and leave, NEVER to return!
BTW, I'm not sure, but from the still-recent ATLAS issue of COMIC BOOK ARTIST, I believe I discovered that both Larry Hama & Dick Giordano were among those who did work for Martin Goodman & Larry Lieber on their short-lived ABORTION of a comic-book company. Which serves to strengthen the argument that Goodman started Atlas JUST to try and derail Marvel!
