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ATOMIC WAR
ATOMIC WAR
1952 Comic - All the stories included take place in the same world, where Russia has started WWIII.
The Sneak Attack - 14 pages
Berlin Powderkeg - 9 pages
Operation Haystack - text story - 2 pages
Counter Attack - 7 pages
1952 Comic - All the stories included take place in the same world, where Russia has started WWIII.
The Sneak Attack - 14 pages
Berlin Powderkeg - 9 pages
Operation Haystack - text story - 2 pages
Counter Attack - 7 pages
Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2024
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 7, 2024
Ace Comics was a popular publisher of comic books during the Golden Era of American Comix. The publication firm was founded in 1939 by Aaron A. Wyn and his wife Rose, and, like many comic book publishers of the day, the earlier series included costumed superheroes. As trends in the comic book market changed, the focus shifted more to other genres, such as crime, horror, and romance. After publication of a flurry of hundreds of comix titles, the company ceased publishing comic books in 1956. All these comix are in the public domain and various publishers and creators have used them since.
One of their most popular series I have been reading is Atomic War. This series lasted four issues and published by Ace Comics between 1952 and 1953. It presented a fictional account of an atomic World War III between Russia and the United States of America, set in the early 1960s, almost decade ahead of the time it was written and published, mostly from the viewpoint of US military participants and officials. This series is a very interesting look at a possible third world war involving atomic warfare and what would have happened if it were not for the Cold War. As Guy Montag says in Fahrenheit 451 (which, by the way, was published around the exact same time as these comix), "We've started and won two atomic wars since 1960!" He was kind of right about the pages of these comix, of course, if it was all true and it really had happened.
According to Bradford W. Wright, in Comic Book Nation, it was published during the time of U.S. participation in the "forgotten war" (you know, the Korean War), it predicts and depicts all the possibilities and outcomes of a third world war; however, despite the series’ stated purpose of warning against the all-out horrors of atomic warfare, it was in fact the whole entire opposite. U.S. forces employing tactical and strategic nuclear weapons triumphed repeatedly over the Communists in these pages.
Scott Shaw of Oddball Comics describes this limited series as “one of many comics that reflected our national paranoia during the Cold War of the 1950s and early 1960s." The cover of the premiere issue depicted the atomic destruction of Manhattan in ruin--a landscape explaining the truth of atomic warfare. He also cites a quote from the issue's first story, "Sneak Attack", which I have here: "Look upon the pictures of our giant cities hundred of years in the building, smashed by the atom-bomb, and say: this shall not come to pass! More than ever today, only a strong America can prevent this from becoming a reality!" Well, he had it right as well, of course, in fact some of the more recent and ongoing conflicts have very obvious parallels to these stories.
If you like comix, old and new, then this is an interesting series that might be well worth looking at. It may seem rather dated, but it still shows some significance and importance with other series from the same publishers.
One of their most popular series I have been reading is Atomic War. This series lasted four issues and published by Ace Comics between 1952 and 1953. It presented a fictional account of an atomic World War III between Russia and the United States of America, set in the early 1960s, almost decade ahead of the time it was written and published, mostly from the viewpoint of US military participants and officials. This series is a very interesting look at a possible third world war involving atomic warfare and what would have happened if it were not for the Cold War. As Guy Montag says in Fahrenheit 451 (which, by the way, was published around the exact same time as these comix), "We've started and won two atomic wars since 1960!" He was kind of right about the pages of these comix, of course, if it was all true and it really had happened.
According to Bradford W. Wright, in Comic Book Nation, it was published during the time of U.S. participation in the "forgotten war" (you know, the Korean War), it predicts and depicts all the possibilities and outcomes of a third world war; however, despite the series’ stated purpose of warning against the all-out horrors of atomic warfare, it was in fact the whole entire opposite. U.S. forces employing tactical and strategic nuclear weapons triumphed repeatedly over the Communists in these pages.
Scott Shaw of Oddball Comics describes this limited series as “one of many comics that reflected our national paranoia during the Cold War of the 1950s and early 1960s." The cover of the premiere issue depicted the atomic destruction of Manhattan in ruin--a landscape explaining the truth of atomic warfare. He also cites a quote from the issue's first story, "Sneak Attack", which I have here: "Look upon the pictures of our giant cities hundred of years in the building, smashed by the atom-bomb, and say: this shall not come to pass! More than ever today, only a strong America can prevent this from becoming a reality!" Well, he had it right as well, of course, in fact some of the more recent and ongoing conflicts have very obvious parallels to these stories.
If you like comix, old and new, then this is an interesting series that might be well worth looking at. It may seem rather dated, but it still shows some significance and importance with other series from the same publishers.
Displaying 1 of 1 review