You'd think Dr Strange's creator Steve Ditko would be a bit more sympathetic to the counter-culture...
...but when you consider he was already 34 in 1961 when he drew this story from Charlton's Unusual Tales #29, you might wonder which side of the Generation Gap he really was on!
Remember that, when Ditko was doing the Dr Strange series in Strange Tales, he was turning 40!
Behind this spooky (if off-model) Sol Brodsky/Joe Maneely cover...
...from the never-reprinted Atlas' Space Squadron #5 (1952) is an apocalyptic tale about a delusional, obese, but dangerous potential dictator in the 21st Century!
(Who does that remind us of?)
If this tale was produced today, it would be a book-length story with full and double-page splashes! Yet artist Allen Bellman and the unknown writer pulled it off in only five extremely-crowded pages!
...now here's the second, and sadly, final part of the series!
DellgaveMADmainstay 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!
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, 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 originalGhost 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 Enterprisescould 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)?
