Thursday, June 19, 2025

Was INAPAK the Chocolate Drink That NEVER Actually Existed?

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 AvengerFunnyMan, 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 VideoTom Corbett: Space CadetSpace 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, June 18, 2025

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder INVASION '55 "Fog"


...and things are looking pretty desperate for an...eclectic....group of "typical" 1950s Americans as they band together against a maurading band of actual aliens...extraterrestrials, to be exact!
To Be Concluded Next Wednesday!

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Tuesday, June 17, 2025

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!

Monday, June 16, 2025

Monday Mecha Madness NEUTRO "Captured by 777"

When Last We Saw Neutro...

Two American scientists had reassembled the parts of a giant automoton left in the Southwest over a century earlier by aliens for reasons unknown...for now!
However, unfriendly governments know of the robot, and seek to possess it!













We'll Never Know What Happens Next!
Written by editor D J Arneson and illustrated by Jack Sparling, Dell's Neutro #1 (1967) was meant to be an ongoing series, but never made it past the first issue.
Whether any work at all was done on a second issue is unknown!

Next Week:
Three Times the Mecha Mayhem as Combatra and Dangard Ace Join Raydeen as We Revisit the Shogun Warriors!

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Sunday, June 15, 2025

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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