Friday, May 2, 2014

Re-Presenting: Was INAPAK the Chocolate Drink That NEVER Actually Existed?

Yesterday, we presented the miracle chocolate drink Inapak...
Now here's an interesting point...
It apparently never existed!
Really!
From extensive research (we're talking off-line and on-site) thru the archives of several dealers and collectors who handle related food ephemera like Ovaltine and Quik (now Nesquik) packaging and advertising, I've yet to come across anything (besides the comic book) relating in any way to Inapak!
Could it have been a proposed project that never got off the ground, like Victor Fox's Kooba Kola?
If so, who was behind it?
Magazine Enterprises, the publishers of the The Avenger, FunnyMan, and original Ghost Rider, produced the comic, and it's copyrighted in their name, not an outside corporation, as most licensed comics are!
Bob Powell is obviously the artist, though the writer is unknown.
It's theorized on the Grand Comics Database that Gardner Fox scripted the two stories in the book.
Speaking of which, here's the short tale from the back of the book...
Now, here's my theory about who Major Inapak is and how he came to be...
At this point (1951), there were a number of kids' sci-fi tv shows like Captain Video, featuring characters who also promoted their sponsors' products...

...and there was talk of a tv version of radio/comic/movie serial hero Captain Midnight (who was still owned by Ovaltine) with a heavier sci-fi flavor to compete with Captain Video, Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, Space Patrol, et al.
(A Captain Midnight show eventually aired in 1954-56, with some sci-fi elements, but set present-day to keep the budget down.
And of course, it had lots of promotion for products...)

Could this book have been a tryout with the original, futuristic, format for Captain Midnight, spotlighting his sponsor, Ovaltine?
And, when it didn't sell, the story was reformatted with a new character and a non-existent chocolate drink to demonstrate what Magazine Enterprises could do for potential clients, and then used as a trade-show giveaway to drum up business for a licensed-comic division (similar to what both Marvel and DC have today)?
Think about it...

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Thursday, May 1, 2014

Re-Presenting: INAPAK: The Ultimate Chocolate Drink!

Bosco?
Bah!
Quik?
Crap!
Ovaltine?
Ewww!
You want serious chocolate flavor in your milk?
Here it is...
It must be true!
Major Inapak says so!
And Major Inapak wouldn't lie!
In fact, he uses science to prove his point...
Major Inapak returns to tell the Youth of America what to do...
You'll pardon me while I run out to the supermarket to get a box!
Be back tomorrow for more on...Inapak!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Best of Reading Room: COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB Conclusion

...that really says it all, doesn't it?
BTW, wouldn't this comic make a great multi-million dollar cgi-fx movie?
(Wait a sec...they're doing a BattleShip flick...)
 Aquatic aliens vs the US Navy!
These guys at American Comics Group were ahead of their time...by over 50 years...and theirs was better!
On with the story...
Commander Battle and the Atomic Sub will return...soon!
(I wanna see what happens next, too!)

Script by Richard Hughes, the Stan Lee of ACG who wrote practically everything during his tenure as editor/writer!
Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Odgen Whitney and others.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Best of Reading Room: COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB Part 2

Now, that's a synopsis!
(For the record, the "saucer" still looks like a doughnut!)
On with the story...
I could see the editorial conference now...
"OK, guys, for our first issue we have..
3-D (sort of) effects!
An atomic sub!
Evil aliens!
A "flying saucer"!
The underwater city of Atlantis!
A giant sea monster!
Did we leave anything out?"
Find out tomorrow in the pulse-pounding conclusion!

Script by Richard Hughes, the Stan Lee of ACG who wrote practically everything during his tenure as editor/writer!
Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Odgen Whitney and others.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Best of Reading Room: COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB Part 1

Travel back to the 1950s, when atomic power was all that stood between us and flying saucers...
...although how an atomic submarine will do it is something to behold!
So, buckle your seatbelts and dive in!
Oddly enough, the "flying saucer" looks more like a flying doughnut...or the 1950s concept of a space station as seen in then-contemporary films like Conquest of Space!
Script by Richard Hughes, the Stan Lee of ACG who wrote practically everything during his tenure as editor/writer!
Pencils by Sheldon Moldoff, inks by Odgen Whitney and others.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

COMMANDER BATTLE AND THE ATOMIC SUB are returning...

While preparing files for our 3-D Week series a couple of years ago, I came across this title in my archives...
..which doesn't use 3-D, but a pseudo-3-D process called...
BTW, only the first issue used the TrueVision gimmick.
The 1954 seven-issue series, Commander Battle and the Atomic Sub from American Comics Group, had a lot in common with the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea tv series and the Voyage to the Deep comic series, emphasizing wild science fiction storylines with the occasional spy/anti-Commie tale.
Be here tomorrow when we re-present the never-reprinted #1, which features the origin of the sub, the assembling of the crew and their first mission!