Friday Fun YAK YAK "Romance vs Realism"

A while ago, we presented the first part of this series about "fiction vs realism"...

...now here's the second, and sadly, final part of the series!

Dell gave MAD mainstay Jack Davis his own title, to do with as he pleased.

The series, Yak Yak (subtitled "A Pathology of Humor") only ran two issues, but they were pure Davis, who wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the whole project as well as providing painted covers for both issues!

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Art of Jack Davis

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!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder LOST WORLD "Teach Your Children Well..."

See if you can figure out who the returning mysterious figure from the past will be...

...before he/she appears!

Did you guess it would be young, impressionable VoltaMan Igor, last seen HERE?

Will he be a lynchpin in the coming revolution?

Only time will tell...perhaps!

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Planet Comics

Volume 11

(contains issues 48-53) 

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!

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

Be back Thursday for more on...Inapak!

Monday Mars Madness AMAZING ADVENTURES "Man Who Killed a World!"

Who would've thought a "War of the Worlds" would be decided by hand-to-hand combat?

This never-reprinted tale from Ziff-Davis' Amazing Adventures #6 (1952) gives the details, along with a trick ending...

So, even though the Earthman was defeated, we won!

Heckuva moral lesson there, guys!

Though the writer is unknown, the art is by Paul Parker, who left the comics field after a decade and over 100 stories to became a news reporter for several radio stations in New York City including the all-news station WINS.

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Mars in the Movies

A History