Was this the first atomic blast cover? 0

[Aces]

And thus the first official comic of the Atomic Age?

 

 

Oct 1946, which means it was on the stands about one year after the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

Was there an earlier comic cover with an atomic blast?

 

 

[circumstances]

same month

 

[Aces]

Wow, a tie.

 

Well I guess that settles it.

The Oct 1946 cover date is the official end of the Golden Age and beginning of the Atomic Age.

 

 

edit:

And action 101!

Which means the Golden begins with Action 1 and ends with Action 100?

 

 

Edited May 16, 2013 by Aces

[circumstances]

this was much earlier, but you have to count the blast in the title logo:

 

[Sqeggs]

this was much earlier, but you have to count the blast in the title logo:

 

 

I've always wondered about that one. They title the book Atomic Bomb and then the cover shows the hero breaking up a robbery or a kidnapping.

[Aces]

this was much earlier, but you have to count the blast in the title logo:

 

 

I've always wondered about that one. They title the book Atomic Bomb and then the cover shows the hero breaking up a robbery or a kidnapping.

I suspect a "wanna be".

 

They probably just threw up the title and put whatever they wanted in it.

[Crimebuster]

My knowledge of Golden Age stuff is mostly limited to Boy Comics, but that title did have a slightly earlier a-bomb cover, sort of anyway:

 

 

 

As you can see, there's a giant mushroom cloud with the text on the left, being described as "like the mighty burst of an atom."

 

There's no cover date on this, nor is there a date in the indicia. But the cover date is apparently February, 1946. I'm not sure when it was actually on sale.

 

Edited May 17, 2013 by Crimebuster

[spillred]

There's also this one...Real Life Comics #27, January 1946

 

 

[Hibou]

Interesting juxtaposition...

 

Superman filming the bomb as a spectator - Captain Marvel at ground zero trying to catch it.

 

 

NO GIVE ME STRIKE MOD0... NO GIVE ME STRIKE!!

[Gatsby77]

Not a blast cover, but my understanding is the first technical "atom bomb" cover was Terry Toons # 39 (second appearance of Mighty Mouse), with a December 1945 cover date.

[Electricmastro]

Honorable mentions:

Captain Aero Comics #24 (November, 1945):

Wings Comics #64 (December, 1945):

Contact Comics #10 (January, 1946):

And it seems to be a tie between these three:

Picture News #1 (January, 1946):

Real Life Comics #27 (January, 1946):

Science Comics #1 (January, 1946):

[Tri-Color Brian]

4 hours ago, Electricmastro said:

Honorable mentions:

Captain Aero Comics #24 (November, 1945):

Wings Comics #64 (December, 1945):

Contact Comics #10 (January, 1946):

And it seems to be a tie between these three:

Picture News #1 (January, 1946):

Real Life Comics #27 (January, 1946):

Science Comics #1 (January, 1946):

OK, please forgive my ignorance, but I don't see what the Capt Aero, Wings, or Contact has to do with the A-bomb.  Those are all just normal bombers, and I find it interesting that the early 1946 comics artists didn't seem to know exactly what the atomic blast looked like yet.  The drawings on your last three comics don't really resemble mushroom clouds.   As for when the Atom Age starts, I've always heard it was 1946. 

[Electricmastro]

4 hours ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

OK, please forgive my ignorance, but I don't see what the Capt Aero, Wings, or Contact has to do with the A-bomb.  Those are all just normal bombers, and I find it interesting that the early 1946 comics artists didn't seem to know exactly what the atomic blast looked like yet.  The drawings on your last three comics don't really resemble mushroom clouds.   As for when the Atom Age starts, I've always heard it was 1946. 

I suppose I was uncertain in telling the difference between regular bombers and atom bombers then. Palais surely comes the closest in drawing a mushroom cloud, but even then, his main intention was probably just drawing an explosion that looked attention-grabbing in general. That said, makes me wonder how many pictures of an atom bomb explosion he had seen for reference though.

[Robot Man]

On 5/20/2013 at 11:09 AM, Gatsby77 said:

Not a blast cover, but my understanding is the first technical "atom bomb" cover was Terry Toons # 39 (second appearance of Mighty Mouse), with a December 1945 cover date.

A classic for sure! 

[Robot Man]

Not the first, but notable...

[thunsicker]

No explosion, but I think this is supposed to be an Atomic Bomb:

[Robot Man]

12 minutes ago, thunsicker said:

No explosion, but I think this is supposed to be an Atomic Bomb:

It sure is. I forgot about that one. Yours is sure prettier than my copy...

[IngelsFan]

15 hours ago, Electricmastro said:

Honorable mentions:

Captain Aero Comics #24 (November, 1945):

Wings Comics #64 (December, 1945):

Contact Comics #10 (January, 1946):

And it seems to be a tie between these three:

Picture News #1 (January, 1946):

Real Life Comics #27 (January, 1946):

Science Comics #1 (January, 1946):

Science 1 also is one of the few covers that actually shows Hiroshima being bombed.

[batman_fan]

6 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Not the first, but notable..

By far my favorite Atomic Bomb cover.  My first job out of school was assessing the nuclear survivability of military systems 

Nothing more fun than running blast models to determine kill radiuses.

[Electricmastro]

1 hour ago, IngelsFan said:

Science 1 also is one of the few covers that actually shows Hiroshima being bombed.

Yep, definitely not just generic land, as there are mountains and line work where civilizations would be.