Dec 23rd 2020 Advent Calendar

December 22, 2020

Dec 23rd 2020 Advent Calendar

A city is consumed by a rush of flames and pure energy-- it could be New York --or London --or Paris--

A group of glum faces stare out at us-- are they mourning their dead? Or looking on coldly at the carnage they have unleashed?

A mushroom cloud puffs out over the dying city-- a vision of the future?

GIGANTIC STRANGE ADVENTURES, published in Oct 1970 posed the worrying question-- 'Of the eight nations possessing H-bombs in the 1986... WHO will trigger WORLD WAR 3?' The potential culprits as well as the US were China, England (as opposed to the whole of the UK), France, Israel, Russia (presumably having by 1986 abandoned the USSR experiment), Africa (yes, the WHOLE continent!) and Arab Republic (deliberately non-specific or, like 'Africa' demonstrative of a sense of 'well they're all the same, aren't they?' attitudes?).

So, beside the casual xenophobia of the art editor, this collection of reprinted stories is introduced by a cover threatening the destruction of the planet the following decade. By 1970 the prospect of nuclear destruction was a very real concern, these TIME MAGAZINE covers giving a flavour of the imagery used in the press to terrify us all during the period between the first atomic bomb and the date this comic was published--

To be honest, the Joe Kubert cover powerfully depicting the destruction of a city could equally have been produced in 1985 and seemed no less accurate a prediction of the world's fate as these TIME covers from that year confirm.

Three years later STRANGE ADVENTURES #242, another reprints issue, also featured the spectacle of nuclear devastation, again showing a city being obliterated in the shadow of the mushroom cloud.

Ten years before that in 1963, an alien known as the Faceless Creature had brought a nuclear explosion (albeit a harmless one) to the cover of #153 of STRANGE ADVENTURES--

But buyers of STRANGE ADVENTURES wouldn't have been the only young readers witnessing the force of atomic destruction through the silver and bronze ages. The cover of GREEN LANTERN #23 showed Hal seemingly powerless to have prevented the mushroom cloud seen exploding on a screen beside him--

And WONDER WOMAN #95 saw Diana protecting Steve from the explosion dominating the issue's nightmare-inducing cover.

But it was the Man of Steel who witnessed the nuclear winter itself in 1985 on the cover of SUPERMAN 408, this eerie image showing him collapsed amongst the radioactive dust, the obligatory child's toy present and correct.

And in the late 80s he got to see another fearsome mushroom cloud in this powerful cover for ACTION COMICS #598-

Ironically Superman had been present to record the 'Atom bomb test' as revealed in 1946 on the cover of ACTION COMIC 101. The cover had been repressed originally and was only used when the war was over.

This Freudian wet-dream however was passed unopposed in 1942, prefiguring Kubrick's use of a similar image in DR STRANGELOVE two decades later (although Captain Marvel was depicted in a similar way for SPECIAL EDITION COMICS #1 two years earlier than this in 1940)--

I'm not sure which is the more worrying detail about this cover for SUPERMAN #18, the overt sexual symbolism coupled with the intention of provoking violent thoughts in the minds of its young readers or the conflating of two distinctly different enemies of the US into 'the Japanazis', the kind of over-simplification which leads to jingoism and misinformation. And yes, I know the bomb Superman's straddling is not a nuke, but I it's such a shocking image I felt I had to include it.

And just to confirm Superman's special relationship with Weapons of Mass Destruction, it was revealed on the cover of SUPERBOY #115 that he was capable of withstanding a nuclear blast within his own stomach, with alarming side-effects--

Other comics featuring the awful spectacle of the mushroom cloud include ADVENTURES OF THE OUTSIDERS #40. dated Dec 1986, which wasn't the first time the phrase 'nuclear family' was used with this double meaning--

In the UK's 2000AD #245, readers started the new year with the sight of a gloved finger pressing the nuclear button as the epic JUDGE DREDD - THE APOCALYPSE WAR began--

Then there's RADIOACTIVE MAN #1, the spin-off from THE SIMPSONS, the mushroom cloud signalling his origin story in this spoof cover, falsely dated Nov 1952 to tap into the subjects and concerns seen in sorts of covers it's parodying, as included above--

Finally in this brief gathering of kids' comics depicting mass extermination I feel I must include Raymond Briggs' cover for WHEN THE WIND BLOWS-- the principal difference here being the lack of superheroes. Instead we have an ordinary elderly couple smiling out at us under the umbrella of a mushroom cloud. Of all the covers I think its quotidian nature makes it the most effective, the most chilling.