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!

Reading Room HOME RUN "Little Leagues"

With the return of fans worshipping at the temples of the National Pastime (aka "baseball stadiums")...

...we thought we'd look at the origin of how many of us (myself included) first experienced organized baseball!

There was a short-lived surge in sports-themed comic books from 1949 to 1952.

This particular one-shot from Magazine Enterprises, produced in 1952 (but published in '53), was the last gasp of that cycle.

Produced/packaged by writer/artist Bob Powell's studio, this non-fiction historical piece was typical of the high-quality material he supplied to numerous publishers including Magazine Enterprises, Street & Smith, Prize Comics, and Harvey Comics, from the mid-1940s to the early 1960s.

Baker Reading Room ALARMING TALES "Half Man-Half What"

"Scientists Tampering with Things Man Should Not Meddle In!" is an old cliche...

Art by John Severin

...given a new look by a most unusual assortment of artists...at least four, along with the writer...

Art by the Bob Powell Studio

OK.

Let's identify the talents involved in this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Alarming Tales #5 (1958)...

Cover art by John Severin

Script by Dick Wood.

Opening page (which was actually the lower part of the contents page) by the Bob Powell Studio.

Story pencils by Matt Baker (who's the reason this is included in Black History Month).

Story inks by Al Williamson.

Thursday:

the entire story (and cover) in original art form, with some revealing alterations and footnotes!

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Matt Baker

Art of Glamour

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Monday Madness FLASH GORDON COMICS "The World You WILL Live In"

In 1950, what amazing advances did we think the 21st Century would bring?

As shown in this uncredited (and never-reprinted) feature from Harvey's Flash Gordon #1 (1950), all five predictions have, in fact, come to pass...albeit in modified form.

Unlike the predictions from #1, most of these from #2 have not come true!

Only the wristwatch one has occurred, and only on expensive, high-end timepieces!

In 2025, we do have laser scalpels (in limited use, mostly for eye surgery) and lasers are used to remove tattoos.

The mobile telephone one can be interpreted as cell phones, but radiophones in cars were a popular item among the rich (and spies/superheroes) in the '60s to early '80s.

(Batman, James Bond, Honey West, Matt Helm, The Avengers [Steed and Peel, not the superheroes] and The Green Hornet all had them!)

Extensive mining of minerals from the ocean floor has yet to occur, and the sun's going nova billions of years from now has been predicted since the 1800s.

So, 4 out or 5 for this never-reprinted feature from Harvey's Flash Gordon #3 (1950) is pretty good, eh?

Both the artist and writer are unknown.

Let's take one final look at this never-reprinted strip...

Of the five predictions in this one-pager from Harvey's Flash Gordon #4 (1950), the first is a possibility, the second and fifth have yet to occur, and the third and fourth have come true.

Both the artist and writer are unknown.

This was one of three different new one-page features that appeared in all four issues of the series which reprinted the Flash Gordon Sunday newspaper strip by Alex Raymond, reformatted for the comic book page, and with new covers (not by Alex Raymond).

The others were "Stories Behind the Stars" (about the myths behind constellation names) and "Know Your Planets" (about the other worlds in the solar system).

Reading Room STRANGE TALES OF THE UNUSUAL "Gift"

Do we really appreciate presents given freely to us?

Or do we always think there's an ulterior motive behind them?

Illustrated by Bob Powell, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Tales of the Unusual #1 (1955) suggests Mankind should be a bit more trusting and less paranoid.

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Reading Room JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS "Lost...One World"

James Blane is in for a rough day...

...or is it a rough year...or decade...or...

"A chance to do your life over, with no memory of what you've done previously.

Would you repeat your mistakes, or take a different path...into The Twilight Zone?"

(Sorry, couldn't resist)

This odd tale of time and turnover was the lead (but not the cover feature) in Atlas' Journey into Unknown Worlds #53 (1957).

However, these scans are from Marvel's Worlds Unknown #4 (1974), which had better reproduction.

Art by Bob Powell, but the writer is unknown.

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Ten-Cent Plague

Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America
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