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Atomic Comics: Cartoonists Confront the Nuclear World
The advent of the Atomic Age challenged purveyors of popular culture to explain to the general public the complex scientific and social issues of atomic power. Atomic Comics examines how comic books, comic strips, and other cartoon media represented the Atomic Age from the early 1920s to the present. Through the exploits of superhero figures such as Atomic Man and Spiderman, as well as an array of nuclear adversaries and atomic-themed adventures, the public acquired a new scientific vocabulary and discovered the major controversies surrounding nuclear science. Ferenc Morton Szasz’s thoughtful analysis of the themes, content, and imagery of scores of comics that appeared largely in the United States and Japan offers a fascinating perspective on the way popular culture shaped American comprehension of the fissioned atom for more than three generations.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 24, 2014
The late author was a historian specializing in the history of the WWII atom bomb project, and owned one of the largest collections of atomic-themed comics in the world. His knowledge of the subject seemed to have been encyclopedic, and he's written a very readable survey. I rather wish it had been more in depth. Apparently Szasz passed away shortly after finishing the manuscript, and sadly he may have felt the clock ticking as he wrote. An interesting and worthwhile overview of the influence of comics (and other pop media) on the American public's perception of atomic energy and atomic weapons. Very readable, as well, not overly freighted with academic language.
August 4, 2015
Atomic Comics functions as a relatively brief overview of the history of atomic-themed comics and the sociological forces behind their creation and popularity (or lack thereof). If anything, I wish this volume had been longer, with more attention paid to actual comics pages and how atomicity influenced the storytelling and artwork on a deeper level. Still, the book contained plenty of good information and not a few worthwhile insights. The only thing it really lacked was visual references. I'm not sure if this was an issue of copyright, or a decision by the author, but I found myself more rewarded when I was able to find images from the referenced works online.
April 14, 2025
Unfortunately, the author passed away while the manuscript was still in preparation, so we have 2/3 of a book--the last part is pretty skeletal in terms of argument and more or less lists more recent phenomena. But the opening sections are fascinating, and also saddening--he starts with popularization of physics research in the 1920s/30s, which features cosmopolitan newspaper writers who saw their job as actually explaining complex new discoveries to the people. They were informed and plugged in, and their papers sent them to conferences regularly so they could stay connected. One was even chosen by Leslie Groves to breaks news of the Trinity test.
This is old-style cultural history, with no theory, just a really deep acquaintance with the source material, and it's actually quite refreshing to read. Szasz has a soft spot for early Buck Rogers, whose stories he admits aren't as good or inventive as the ripoff Flash Gordon stories were (like, we've heard of Ming the Merciless, but I had to look up Buck's antagonist, Killer Kane--though, amusingly, the New York Dolls' bassist, Arthur Kane, went by "Killer"; by all accounts he was a sweetheart), but which started accustoming the kids of America to the potentialities of the split atom in the 1930s--in 1946, Groves semi-jokingly remarked that only American adults were surprised by the atom bomb. He finds a good deal of ambivalence and complication in 1940s depictions of what atomic power meant: fantasies about atomic trains and cars and ray guns and household tech, all rendered super-powerful by tiny bits, and some attempts to mint heroes, none of which stuck (all of the lasting atomic superheroes date to the early 1960s--Spiderman, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four), and some funny-animal bits (Donald Duck tries to make a bomb in one, for some reason) that mostly didn't take either, as well as a bunch of stories where bad guys steal atomic weapons and are foiled. Plus a whole bunch of cartoons, by Herblock and others, worrying that the earth was tipping into its end.
He likes the later stuff less, because it's one-sided, with a lot of power fantasies, and he offers good discussions of the 90s wave of manga that told this story from the other side, even if Americans didn't always get the point. (Astro-Boy! Always seemed like one of those cheerily empty animated bits, but he makes the case here that it's actually a biting critique of American brutality and indifference.) The end does kind of trail off, for reasons already mentioned, but a fascinating trip into the rules and assumptions of an earlier day that made me want to buy and read some of those old classic popular intros. I controlled myself for now, but maybe I'll re-enter that tradition and reread Daniel Lang's Early Tales of the Atomic Age a 1948 collection of his New Yorker pieces that I remember really liking, or the expanded version From Hiroshima to the Moon, in an excellent Dell pb from 1961 (misidentified on here as "David Lang") that cost all of 75 cents--worth $7.94 today, a quick visit to amortization.com tells me, so still a comparative bargain.
This is old-style cultural history, with no theory, just a really deep acquaintance with the source material, and it's actually quite refreshing to read. Szasz has a soft spot for early Buck Rogers, whose stories he admits aren't as good or inventive as the ripoff Flash Gordon stories were (like, we've heard of Ming the Merciless, but I had to look up Buck's antagonist, Killer Kane--though, amusingly, the New York Dolls' bassist, Arthur Kane, went by "Killer"; by all accounts he was a sweetheart), but which started accustoming the kids of America to the potentialities of the split atom in the 1930s--in 1946, Groves semi-jokingly remarked that only American adults were surprised by the atom bomb. He finds a good deal of ambivalence and complication in 1940s depictions of what atomic power meant: fantasies about atomic trains and cars and ray guns and household tech, all rendered super-powerful by tiny bits, and some attempts to mint heroes, none of which stuck (all of the lasting atomic superheroes date to the early 1960s--Spiderman, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four), and some funny-animal bits (Donald Duck tries to make a bomb in one, for some reason) that mostly didn't take either, as well as a bunch of stories where bad guys steal atomic weapons and are foiled. Plus a whole bunch of cartoons, by Herblock and others, worrying that the earth was tipping into its end.
He likes the later stuff less, because it's one-sided, with a lot of power fantasies, and he offers good discussions of the 90s wave of manga that told this story from the other side, even if Americans didn't always get the point. (Astro-Boy! Always seemed like one of those cheerily empty animated bits, but he makes the case here that it's actually a biting critique of American brutality and indifference.) The end does kind of trail off, for reasons already mentioned, but a fascinating trip into the rules and assumptions of an earlier day that made me want to buy and read some of those old classic popular intros. I controlled myself for now, but maybe I'll re-enter that tradition and reread Daniel Lang's Early Tales of the Atomic Age a 1948 collection of his New Yorker pieces that I remember really liking, or the expanded version From Hiroshima to the Moon, in an excellent Dell pb from 1961 (misidentified on here as "David Lang") that cost all of 75 cents--worth $7.94 today, a quick visit to amortization.com tells me, so still a comparative bargain.
June 23, 2013
This is a short, easy to read survey of atomic-themed comics. Szasz's approach is predominantly chronological. The biggest revelation for me was how the U.S. government successfully squelched any press about nuclear research during the Manhattan project (ca. 1942-1945). Comics and science fiction, therefore, became the main sources where the public got ideas and information about atomic energy and its potential benefits and dangers.
Unfortunately, the editors of this book didn't have much familiarity with the history of science fiction, so some errors slipped in. For example, Cleve Cartmill has been re-christened "Steve" Cartmill (Cartmill wrote a story about atomic weaponry that appeared in Astounding SF in 1944. It alarmed military intelligence to such a degree that it sent officers to editor John W. Campbell's office to find out where Cartmill got his information).
Another editorial mistake regards Philip Nowlan, the science fiction author who created the character "Buck Rogers." Nowlan is at one point identified as a comic book artist (probably confused with Dick Calkins).
One of the most interesting parts of "Atomic Comics" is the section on Japanese, atomic-themed comics. We all know something about the bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and what a deep impact these events had and still must have on Japanese culture and the Japanese perspective on nuclear power and nuclear weapons. But how many Americans know that the U.S. censored the expression of A-bomb survivors in Japan until 1951? Or about Lucky Dragon # 5, the tuna boat that was exposed to radiation from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test in 1954, at the Bikini atoll? Szasz relates that this incident sparked intense outrage in Japan, and that it was the inspiration for the film Godzilla, which is essentially an anti-nuclear fable.
But for Szasz, the ultimate Japanese atomic comic is "Barefoot Gen," by Keiji Nakazawa. Nakazawa was a six year old schoolboy in Hiroshima when the bomb fell in 1945. He lost most of his family to the bomb, and his mother ultimately died of radiation sickness in 1966. As Szasz describes it,"Barefoot Gen" is really the first Japanese comic to fully explore the experiences of the hibakusha (survivors) and their families.
Szasz's description of "Barefoot Gen" is quite inspiring. I think I had come across the title somewhere before, but I had no idea what it was about. Now I think I'll add it to my reading list!
About 20 black and white reproductions of interesting comic book covers grace the pages of "Atomic Comics," which definitely enhances the reader's experience.
A final note: I was delighted to learn through "Atomic Comics" that, in 1949, King Features distributed a free, educational comic book which featured Blondie, Dagwood, and Mandrake the Magician. It's called "Dagwood Splits the Atom," and you can read it here).
Unfortunately, the editors of this book didn't have much familiarity with the history of science fiction, so some errors slipped in. For example, Cleve Cartmill has been re-christened "Steve" Cartmill (Cartmill wrote a story about atomic weaponry that appeared in Astounding SF in 1944. It alarmed military intelligence to such a degree that it sent officers to editor John W. Campbell's office to find out where Cartmill got his information).
Another editorial mistake regards Philip Nowlan, the science fiction author who created the character "Buck Rogers." Nowlan is at one point identified as a comic book artist (probably confused with Dick Calkins).
One of the most interesting parts of "Atomic Comics" is the section on Japanese, atomic-themed comics. We all know something about the bombs the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, and what a deep impact these events had and still must have on Japanese culture and the Japanese perspective on nuclear power and nuclear weapons. But how many Americans know that the U.S. censored the expression of A-bomb survivors in Japan until 1951? Or about Lucky Dragon # 5, the tuna boat that was exposed to radiation from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test in 1954, at the Bikini atoll? Szasz relates that this incident sparked intense outrage in Japan, and that it was the inspiration for the film Godzilla, which is essentially an anti-nuclear fable.
But for Szasz, the ultimate Japanese atomic comic is "Barefoot Gen," by Keiji Nakazawa. Nakazawa was a six year old schoolboy in Hiroshima when the bomb fell in 1945. He lost most of his family to the bomb, and his mother ultimately died of radiation sickness in 1966. As Szasz describes it,"Barefoot Gen" is really the first Japanese comic to fully explore the experiences of the hibakusha (survivors) and their families.
Szasz's description of "Barefoot Gen" is quite inspiring. I think I had come across the title somewhere before, but I had no idea what it was about. Now I think I'll add it to my reading list!
About 20 black and white reproductions of interesting comic book covers grace the pages of "Atomic Comics," which definitely enhances the reader's experience.
A final note: I was delighted to learn through "Atomic Comics" that, in 1949, King Features distributed a free, educational comic book which featured Blondie, Dagwood, and Mandrake the Magician. It's called "Dagwood Splits the Atom," and you can read it here).
November 9, 2014
I loved this book! How the author packed so much information onto so few pages is beyond me, but I'm glad he did. This book is another reason for readers not to automatically disregard titles coming from university presses. My review: http://bookinwithsunny.com/atomic-com...
April 24, 2017
An interesting survey of comics as commentary on nuclear weapons. I wish there were color reproductions of the highlighted comics.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews