Best of Reading Room: "Space Speedsters"

Combine When Worlds Collide, Damon Runyon's Broadway tales, Flash Gordon, and Front Page...

...and you get this really-weird one-shot tale!

So, we got...Armageddon, gangsters, intrepid spacemen (and women) and spaceships, newspaper reporters, and some comedy relief.

Did I miss anything?

This never-reprinted tale from Black Terror #23 (1948) seems like part of an ongoing series, but I can't find any other stories featuring the lead characters!

Illustrator (and possible writer) Stan Asch was one of the steadily-working artists who were the backbone of the comics industry in the Golden Age.

With over 300 stories and covers to his credit, he co-created Johnny Thunder and Dr Mid-Nite for DC Comics, and assisted both Milton Caniff (on Terry and the Pirates) and Al Capp (on Lil' Abner) during his long career.

Was this a try-out for an onoging series that didn't sell?

We'll never know...

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Re-Presenting: 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!

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!

You'll pardon me while I scamper out to the supermarket to get a box!

Be back Thursday for more on...Inapak!

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

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

...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.