Nuke Pop: Popular Culture Images of Nuclear War • Credits

More Early Reactions

More Early Reactions
Comic panels - left says "But... back on the mountain" and illustration of man with lamp saying, Son, it's two minutes after twelve! Whatcha doin' in there?? Son says, "Ahhh, I've got it... got it! Now to pull the switch and..."; Right panel has mushroom cloud with text, "...and before the eyes of horrified people for miles around, the cabin, then the mountain, disappear in an atomic explosion that grows and grows and grows until..."
Few writers in the early months of the atomic age emphasized the dangers posed by the new weapon as strongly as Will Eisner, who depicted the end of the world through nuclear terrorism in his newspaper comic strip The Spirit, February 3, 1946.
Back at Wildwood…-and before the eyes of horrified people for miles around, the cabin, then the mountain, disappear in an atomic explosion that grows and grows and grows until….
Illustration of cave people on planet camping around fire and looking out at the stars and other planets.
” …Billions of miles away, in the dark reaches of outer space, the inhabitants of a planet pause to notice a tiny flash that for a moment brightens the whole sky. Where there was once a huge planet teeming with life and people there is now nothing…absolutely nothing!! “
“See that celestial explosion Glugg?”
“Shhh… Zogk has just discovered the secret of making fire! The medicine men say that it will enable us to rule supreme over all the other animals on our Earth! They are now deciding whether to share the secret with the other tribes in valley or keep it until we can work out a lasting peace!!”
In a scene reflecting early postwar debates over who should own the new technology, Eisner ironically has the death of the earth witnessed by primitive humans on another world who are busy creating their own arms race, then shifts perspective again–
Comic with three panels: first has man reading paper and yawning, second has man yawning and dropping paper, and third has man wearing sandwich board, eating apple and ringing bell. Sandwich board says, Eat at Joe's Food Service with Atomic Speed.
–to remind us that the holocaust we have just witnessed happened, after all, only in a comic strip, but in such a way as to satirize the postwar fad for Atomic cocktails and so forth, reminding us that the cavalier attitude toward the bomb reflected in so much of popular culture could be fatal.
“Eat at Joe’s. Food Served with Atomic Speed”
Woman in bikini holding block.
Most people have forgotten that the bikini was named after the site of the first postwar atomic test. Its designer, Louis Réard, thought the bottom-baring daring new swimsuit would have an impact comparable to the bomb.
Cover of magazine with mushroom cloud and text, War in the Atomic Age? By Captain Walter Karig, U.S.N.R.
In 1946 Naval Captain Walter Karig published this fictional account of a future nuclear war to justify the continued relevance of the Navy in the Atomic Age.
Shows the Earth from above with a graphic shield going up from the ground; missiles are being shot from the ground and exploding as they are blocked by the shield. Text, Everyone was detonated in flight against the super-electronic wall...
It portrays a number of fantastic defensive devices, including this impregnable electronic shield to protect the U.S. from enemy missiles, decades before Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative.
Comic book cover with illustration of army men with guns on a hill and the text, Atomic Attack! Top Secret.
Such bizarre fantasies were, of course, embraced in popular media as well. A war comic book entitled Attack cashed in on the craze for atomic weapons in the early fifties by retitling itself Atomic Attack.
Comic book cover with military personnel in combat running with guns, explosions and mushroom clouds and the text, "Atom-Age Combat; Spine-tingling exploits of Buck Vinson in the War or Wars. Stanger than Fiction; Fighting U.S. Marines at Zero Hour; Danger flight;
This one contained a story featuring a broad array of atomic weapons.
Two comic panels with illustration of two men carrying guns: first man says My radar pulser is clicking the beat. Frequency is strongest when I'm turned this way. What's over there? Second man says, Snout of an atomic machine gun! A nest, Cap'n. One black death grenade will neutralize it!! Second panel shows large explosion with two men running in the distance. First man says, We can do a lot of damage with these nuclear spitballs. The reds can match us with other weapons, but they never have copied our black death!
including atomic machine guns and atomic grenades.
Comic panel with soldier who is wearing a headlamp and small mask. There are explosions in the distance and he is saying, This is rough! Guided missiles with atomic warheads have struck our sub!
Clearly the author has not bothered to adapt his style to the new weapons. Three missiles have struck one submarine, doing it serious damage.
Comic book cover for Atomic Spy Cases, 10 cents. Image of woman talking on microphone and man with gun. Text, In this issue: Devil in Petticoat, Train of the Family Heirloom, Donovan of Central Intelligence, Operation H. M. - Based on True Stories!
A recurrent theme of the early fifties was atomic secrecy. The Claus Fuchs case, then the Rosenberg trial and execution, led to a large number of fictional depictions of atomic spy cases. Despite the best efforts of the FBI, the Soviet Union succeeded in creating–first–an atomic bomb and then, with breathtaking rapidity–a hydrogen bomb.

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