Reading Room WORLD WAR III "Unleashed" Part 1

We travel to another potential near future (the 1960s as seen in 1952)...

 ...as we see a different version of how World War III could start...from the same publisher as Atomic War!

We pause to catch our breaths and take in the sheer devastation.
Be here tomorrow for the conclusion of "Unleashed" along with background about how this series differs from it's "brother" title from the same publisher, Atomic War!

Visit the Atomic PX...

 ...for all your radiation-proof 
uniform and equipment needs!

Reading Room ATOMIC WAR! "Sneak Attack" Conclusion

We have already seen...

On a quiet night in 1960, the Soviet Union launched a treacherous attack on the United States utilizing nuclear weaponry.
Though caught off-guard due to Commie sleeper agents disabling most of NORAD's Distant Early Warning System, America's armed forces swing into action...

In reality, a mid-air burst would be as effective, if not more so, than a nuclear bomb hitting the ground, with the electro-magnetic pulse effectively destroying all electronics and a shock wave unobstructed by buildings or geographic features.

From the New York Journal-American Archive at the University of Texas

This 1952 tale launched the short-lived Atomic War comic book series, which presented a remarkably-consistent "future" world of 1960 with it's own continuity.
Illustrated by Ken Rice, this premiere tale from Ace's Atomic War! #1 (1952) establishes the premise and leaves the reader shell-shocked.
You can read even more Atomic War tales HERE!

Visit the Atomic PX...

 ...for all your radiation-proof 
uniform and equipment needs!

Reading Room ATOMIC WAR! "Sneak Attack" Part 1

With all the talk of potential war between the US and Russia over the Ukraine...

 ...let's look at a potential near future (the 1960s as seen from 1952)...when Commies were everywhere, ready to strike against the complacent Democracies of the world, and the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn!

 We pause to take in the sheer devastation and assure you that
America WILL Strike Back...
TOMORROW!
 Don't Miss It!

Visit the Atomic PX...

 ...for all your radiation-proof
uniform and equipment needs!

Reading Room JIM SOLAR: SPACE SHERIFF "Defeats the Moon Missile Men" Conclusion

When Last We Left the Space Sheriff...

To stop a group of outlaws hitting frontier settlements, a disguised Sheriff Solar joins a supply caravan and is captured by the criminals...

Buy, if there was ever proof that "space opera" was just "horse opera" with ray guns instead of six-shooters, this was it!

Veteran pulp and comics writer Walter Gibson (The Shadow) also wrote the space western series Spurs Jackson and His Space Vigilantes.

Artist E.C. Stoner (Blue Beetle) had a long career in both pulps and comics from the 1930s to the early 1960s.

Though he had illustrated both Doc Savage and Ajax the Sun Man for Street & Smith (which also published The Shadow), he didn't work with Walter Gibson until they teamed up on Blackstone the Magician for Vital Publications.

(Gibson was a close friend of Harry Blackstone, as well as being a a tlented amateur magician, and wrote all the comic stories based on the celebrity magician at the various publishers who licensed his character as well as scripts for the radio show and "how to do magic" books under Blackstone's name.)

Even after Blackstone moved to Atlas (later Marvel) Comics, and other artists took over, Gibson and  Stoner worked on other projects including these promo booklets for Vital.

Reading Room JIM SOLAR: SPACE SHERIFF "Defeats the Moon Missile Men" Part 1

From the 1950s comes this weirdly-formatted, never-reprinted strip...

...that was available only as a giveaway inside various products!

Be here tomorrow for the thrillling conclusion!

Created by writer Walter (The Shadow) Gibson and artist E.C. Stoner (Blue Beetle), this 7" x 3.5" comic was part of the Vital Publications line of promotional giveaways distributed by a variety of merchants inside their products' packaging.

This particular one was included in packages of Rodeo All-Meat Wieners...

Back cover

There were apparently eight other Jim Solar comics, but they're very HTF since they were "self-covered (fragile newsprint covers, like the inside pages, instead of the heavy slick magazine paper most comics use for covers) and included with food products, whose juices would damage the paper!

How Hawks in Congress Think We Can Fight the Russians in the Ukraine...

I'd say they read these comics as kids...

#2 (1953) Art by Jim McLaughlin

...presuming they could actually read!

#3 (1953) Art by an unknown illustrator

Click on the links to our "brother" RetroBlog War: Past, Present & Future...and read about...

Atomic War

&

World War III

(which were two different series with two different plotlines and histories from the same publisher!)

Is This Our Future?

With Russia making moves into the Ukraine. maybe we should look at how it was...

...during the Cold War by looking at what they thought (in the 1950s) would happen in the near-future (the 1960s onward)!

Turns out it wasn't so great, as you'll see when you click on the links to our "brother" RetroBlog War: Past, Present & Future...and read about...

Atomic War

&

World War III

(which were two different series with two different plotlines and histories from the same publisher!)