Atomic Comics: Cartoonists Confront the Nuclear World

Preface

xiii a s atomic-themed comic books are a somewhat unusual theme for academic analysis, I should probably start with a word of explanation. I came of reading age in the late 1940s, a period when comic books were still at the height of their popularity. We lived in Minneapolis at the time, and a thick stack of comics provided many a welcome winter evening’s entertainment. My mother, who was a high school English teacher, despaired at my choice of reading material . In every way imaginable, she tried to entice me into the likes of Little Lord Fauntleroy and Wuthering Heights. But nothing worked. How could the story of Little Lord Fauntleroy (who was a complete prig) match the adventures of Batman, green Arrow, Sub-Mariner, or Uncle Scrooge and his nephews? Eventually my mother threw in the towel, but with a final plea that I at least add classics comics to my growing obsession (which eventually I did). My interest in graphic art continued when we moved to ohio, and in 1953 I purchased my first Mad magazine from the newsstand. This turned out to be (I think) issue number four, but I soon traded with friends to complete the collection. Even though Mad’s humor has followed national trends toward banality and vulgarity, I continue to subscribe in hopes of catching an occasional glimpse of the hilarious satire provided by artists Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, Wally Wood, and Jack Davis in the 1950s. My interests in comics faded with college, graduate school, and eventual employment in the Department of History at the University of New Mexico. Because of Albuquerque’s proximity to Los Alamos, however, I soon found myself enticed into the history of the early Manhattan Project. The opportunity to interview many project veterP R E FA C E xiv  P R E FA C E ans eventually led me to write two books on atomic history, as well as a number of shorter essays. Somewhere along the line, my earlier interest in comics was reawakened, and around 1995 I decided to compile a collection of every comic book I could find that treated atomic themes. After more than a decade, I have assembled what I believe to be one of the nation’s larger private collections of nuclear-themed comics. This rather unusual interest once caught the attention of Hedy Dunn, director of the Los Alamos Historical Society, and she asked if she could borrow the books for a museum display. The exhibit, “zap! zing!! zowie!!! Six Decades of Atomic Comics,” remained at the Los Alamos Historical Society Museum for more than a year and drew hundreds of youthful visitors. An abbreviated version later moved to the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque for eight months, and a few covers still grace its various displays. Professor William Cronon of the University of Wisconsin–Madison toured the National Atomic Museum exhibit of atomic comics with his family and correctly guessed its origins. Later he encouraged me to write a book on the theme. Finally, after far too many twists and turns, here is the final result.1 Atomic Comics marks the final volume in what has evolved into my personal atomic trilogy. The Day the Sun Rose Twice: The Story of the Trinity Site Nuclear Explosion, July 16, 1945 (1984; pbk. 1995) began the process . It was followed by British Scientists and the Manhattan Project: The Los Alamos Years (1992), in which I explored the relatively unknown saga of the approximately two dozen British scientists who served at site Y (as Los Alamos was then termed) during the Second World War. Both were based on extensive interviews. Atomic Comics, the final volume , analyzes how comic strips, comic books, and assorted newspaper cartoonists have influenced the popular understanding of the fissioned atom. overall, it has been a fascinating journey. Many people have aided me in this work. My colleague Paul Hutton regularly astounded me with his encyclopedic knowledge of Western comics. graduate students Shawn Wiemann, Meg Frisbee, and Jason Strykowski also shared their expertise. Former graduate student Issei Takechi, now pursuing a doctoral degree in Japan, did yeoman work on our joint atomic comics essay, which is excerpted in chapter 5. Futoshi Saito also aided me with translations from Japanese. Cartoon- P R E FA C E  xv ist Leonard Rifas graciously shared his knowledge of early comic art, and Robert Del Tredici his expertise on...