Atomic Comics: Cartoonists Confront the Nuclear World

Chapter 2 The Comics and the Fissioned Atom: The Mid-1930s to August 6, 1945

22 T he 1939 announcement of the splitting of Uranium235 (U-235) by German physical chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann sparked an overwhelming public interest in the promises of the subatomic world. From 1939 until shortly after Pearl Harbor, the nation’s quality press engaged in endless speculation regarding the consequences that might flow from this scientific breakthrough. The nation’s premier daily, the New York Times, devoted numerous articles to the theme. In his February 4, 1939, column, This Week in Science, Times science writer Waldemar Kaempffert excitedly pondered the vast implications of the fissioned atom. In December 1939, the usually restrained Times concluded that the outstanding discovery of the year lay with the possibility of replacing all ordinary fuel sources with nuclear energy.1 After a year of “feverish research” on uranium disintegration , the Reviews of Modern Physics could list almost one hundred scientific articles on the subject. The coverage continued in 1940. That fall, in his essay “The Atom Gives Up” for the Saturday Evening Post, William L. Laurence included large photos of the Westinghouse and Columbia cyclotrons (each described as an “atom-smashing apparatus”). Laurence also speculated that a pound of U-235 could have the same explosive power as fifteen thousand tons of TNT. Laurence’s major concern, however, lay with the “neck-and-neck race” between the Germans and the Americans to develop an endless power source. In a previous essay, he had argued that if Germany discovered the secret of atomic power first, Hitler might well build a huge power plant that would essentially negate the effects of any Allied blockade of the Continent. By December 1940, the T H E C O M I C S A N D T H E F I S S I O N E D AT O M T h e m i d - 1 9 3 0 s T o a u g u s T 6 , 1 9 4 5 2 C O M I C S A N D T H E F I S S I O N E D AT O M ^ 23 Times officially concluded that the research on U-235 constituted the most significant scientific development for many years.2 Virtually every US popular media outlet explored the probable consequences of this discovery. The January 1941 cover story of Popular Mechanics magazine featured an atomic aircraft powered by a small fission reactor. From 1938 through late 1941, however, all media discussion of atomic themes remained wrapped in the realm of “potential .” Still, as one reporter phrased it, the “possibilities are as alluring as anything we ever read in [Edward] Bellamy or [H. G.] Wells.” In a May 1940 front-page story, the Times labeled the potential of endless power as “one of the greatest, if not the greatest, discovery in modern science.”3 Perhaps the most extreme public statement along these lines came from R. M. Langer, a research physicist at the California Institute of Technology. Writing for Colliers (July 6, 1940), Langer postulated a veritable utopia from “the age of U-235.” Uranium power plants the size of a typewriter would allow automobiles to run for five million miles, he predicted. In Langer’s scenario, the splitting of uranium would lead to revolutions in food production and transportation as well as the end of all social privilege. “Despite current headlines,” he assured readers, “we are about to enter a period of unparalleled richness and opportunities.”4 By mid-1940, however, press speculation could reach no further than “possibilities.” The practical problems seemed insurmountable. The isotope U-235 proved so rare that the cost of the electricity needed to produce a pound of it would surpass the entire US federal budget. Thus, the Times found itself focusing on the difficulties of extracting this power; some writers even believed that they might prove insurmountable.5 Since American comic books—as opposed to the newspaper comic strips—emerged at roughly the same time, this medium provided an even more popular outlet for conveying atomic information to the American public. But here, it is necessary to lay a bit of background. The comic books, as we now know them, evolved in the mid-1930s from a merger between the newspaper comic strips and the parallel world of pulp fiction. Comic book writers and artists borrowed the 24 ^ B E F O R E H I R O S H...