Space Hero Saturdays MAJOR INAPAK: SPACE ACE

Buckle On Your Blaster Belts, Kiddies...

...as we hurtle through the depths of outer space (and learn invaluable scientific facts) with the one-and-only Major Inapak and kid stowaway-turned-sidekick, Robin John!
Our tale begins in the far-distant year of 2031...













Sadly, there were no further adventures of Major Inapak and Robin John/"Master Rocketeer"!

Illustrated by Bob Powell and scripted by Powell, Gardner Fox or the two in collaboration.

We presented background info about Major Inapak and Inapak Chocolate Drink  HERE and HERE!

You may note the cover doesn't have a price on it!

It wasn't sold on newsstands or in candy stores!
It was likely handed out at licensing trade shows to show merchandisers how publisher Magazine Enterprises could produce a tie-in comic with their products, just as DC and Marvel do today!

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Was INAPAK the Chocolate Drink That NEVER Actually Existed?

Tuesday, 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, we've yet to come across anything (besides the comic book itself) 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/space opera flavor to compete with Captain Video, Tom Corbett: Space Cadet, Space Patrol, et al.
A Captain Midnight TV series 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 Ovaltine 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 to Ovaltine, the story was retitled/relettered 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)?

You'll see the action-packed space adventure right here on Saturday!

Remember INAPAK, the Amazing 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 scamper out to the supermarket to get a box!

Be back Thursday for more on...Inapak!

Belated Holiday Post: EVERY DAY'S A HOLLY DAY "Thrilling Story Behind Old Glory: Flag Day"

Learn About...

...and try to forget it was also (ironically) the 79th birthday of disgraced, twice-impeached, President Don (the Con) Trump, the Oldest President in American History!

Coloring goof: the Union soldiers in panel 5 are wearing Confederate gray!

Why is this 1955 comic entitled "Every Day's a Holly Day" instead of "Every Day's a Holiday"?

Because it was given away to kids by grocers who sold Holly Sugar!

Illustrated by John Rosenberger, it's a unique pamphlet covering a number of American holidays, including both Lincoln and Washington's Birthdays (before they were combined into "Presidents' Day" in 1962), Mothers' Day (though not Fathers' Day), Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and a couple of holidays we've largely abandoned...Pan-American Day and American Indian Day!
Note: We're gearing up for our traditional multi-blog Summer Blogathons which we'll announce the week before the 4th of July weekend and begin the week after!

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Space Hero Saturdays WITCHCRAFT "Hero of the Venus Flyer!"

Being a Space Hero Can Be as Easy as Being in the Right Place at the Right Time...

...and as difficult as being willing to die to save others!

Illustrated by Gene Fawcette and scriped by an unknown writer, this tale appeared twice within a year, first in Avon's WitchCraft #6 (1953), then in Avon's Strange Worlds #18 (1954), where, due to a miscalculation in pagination, the last page of the story ended up on the inside back cover, in black-and-white!

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Reading Room DO YOU BELIEVE IN NIGHTMARES? "Man Who Crashed into Another Era"

Here's a short story featuring dinosaurs, illustrated by Steve Ditko...

...just before his stint on Charlton's Gorgo!

Ok, so it was the old "It's only a dream" scenario.

You got to admit, it's well-done!

From St John's Do You Believe in Nightmares? #1 (1957), a short-lived anthology produced just before St John went out of business.

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Unexplored Worlds

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Reading Room STRANGE WORLDS "Abduction of Henry Twigg"

Here's a dream come true for all us fanboys and nerds (Yep, I'm one)...

...in this Joe Kubert-illustrated tale from Avon's Strange Worlds #8 (1952)...

Talk about politically-incorrect...from both sexes!

But it's still entertaining, and that's what counts, eh?

Note: we've run stories from two different series named "Strange Worlds".

This tale is from the first one, published by Avon Comics in the early 1950s.

By the late 1950s, Avon Publishing had abandoned comic books and concentrated on "traditional" publishing (hardcovers and paperbacks) in various genres (including sci-fi and horror).

Curiously, when comics became "hot' in the 1960s, Avon did not reprint their comic library in paperback format the way Ballantine Books did with EC Comics, Signet did with DC Comics, Lancer did with Marvel. and Belmont did with Archie's super-heroes!

Considering they owned the material and didn't have to pay to reprint it like all the other publishers did, it seems like a lost opportunity for Avon to make some quick cash.

Note: We've re-presented several tales from the other Strange Worlds, published by Atlas Comics in the late 1950s, literally right before they became Marvel in 1961!

It's easy to tell which is which, since the Atlas/Marvel version features work by creatives like Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Steve Ditko who would be the creative mainstays of the Marvel Age of Comics, while the Avon books have art by illustrators who would make their mark at DC, like Joe Kubert and John Forte!

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Space Hero Saturdays SPACE ACE "Nothing Weapon!"

Buckle Up for EXCITEMENT in the Far-Flung Reaches of Space...

...as Magazine Enterprise's Space Ace 2.5 makes his initial appearance, and he's looking good!

Al Williamson does the penciling, showing off his superb design and anatomy skills.
The inking is by Williamson plus the legendary Fleagle Gang (Frank Frazetta, Angelo Torres, Roy Krenkel, George Woodbridge).
If that weren't enough, the script is by Gardner Fox, taking the somewhat more juvenile concepts of "Space Ace 2.0" (as seen HERE and HERE) and making them a superb example of classic, epic space opera.

BONUS #1: the original art for page one...

Is that magnificent, or what? ;-)

Bonus #2

This story in 3-D

Get your Red/Blue glasses out...

From 3-D Zone #10 (1988)
"ZoneVision" conversion by Ray Zone.

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