Atom-Age Combat
Entry updated 18 December 2023. Tagged: Author, Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1952-1953). Five issues (but see below). St John Publishing Co. Artists include Bob Bean, Ben Brown, Howard Larsen, Ralph Mayo and Doug Wildey, also possibly Charles Sultan and George Tuska. 3-5 longer strips per issue, plus 1 or 2 briefer pieces (strips, text stories or jokes). They were a mixture of non-fantastic Korean War stories and sf tales. There was only one of the latter in #1, but by #5 three of the four strips were sf.
Each issue has the Future War adventures of Captain Buck Vinson, who leads a "suicide squad" of the Atlantic Commandos. As his tale in #1, "Commandos Blitz a Red Invasion", explains: "Global aggression by the ruthless Red Asians had plunged the freedom forces of the world to the brink of chaos!". We first see the commandos running up a Galapagos beach in frogman gear – breathing apparatus, bathing trunks and flippers – facing "the searing fire of atomic machine guns and mortars" (see Weapons). Perhaps unsurprisingly, only two survive (Buck is remarkably blasé about the casualties). After some adventures facing radioactive bullets, treacherous Germans (Western Europe having already fallen), weapons that fire "supercharged neutrons" and paralytic Rays, the pair are caught: but not for long, easily capturing a four-star general and escaping in his Rocket ship. #2 has "Yellow Peril in the Skies", where "the red hordes ... [are] spreading virus bacteria [sic] from mile-a-second radio-controlled flying saucers over America's west coast" (see UFOs): large scale attacks on their home base fail, but a small band of Atlantic Commandos succeed in destroying it. "Assault on Target UR-238" in #3 has "Red Asians" capturing a Uranium mine (see Nuclear Energy) in the Belgian Congo: fortunately a squad of Atlantic Commandos save the day, helped by a gorilla who kills the enemy leader. In #4's "X-40s Defy the Frozen Army" a flotilla of iceberg forts approach America's east coast, protected by an "electronic-charged barrier" (see Force Field) that cannot be pierced by missiles: but, as usual, the enemy's advanced Technology is no match for a plucky band of Atlantic Commandos, who instruct the airforce to use "fiberglass non-metallic bombs", Buck telling the forts' Admiral that "You were licked by a science the Reds can never master. Yankee ingenuity." Finally, in #5's "The Deadly Crawler", Buck tests the "Crawler", a new type of tank with atomic rocket cannon and radiation proof armour, by attacking an enemy laboratory near the Baltic and freeing the enslaved Scientists: the frozen tundra is melted by explosions, so the laboratory sinks into the mud.
#2 and #3 have refurbished Dan Hastings tales from Dynamic Comics #11 (1944) and #19 (1946), using the artwork, but with new stories (though the one in #3 is very similar to the original) and Dan renamed and "Tony" and "Craig" respectively. #2 has "Science Assaults the Death Sphere", set in "the third decade of the atomic age" (a phrase presumably inserted to justify its inclusion in this comic), with Earth threatened by a "midget planet". A trio of Space Rangers led by Tony drill through to the planets hollow core in their Spaceship, where they are captured by human-like Aliens who neglect to take away Tony's gun, believing it empty; it is not, so escape is relatively easy. The core's "Gravity pumps" are then reversed, causing it to explode just after the Rangers have fled. #3 has "Intrigues of the Planet Smasher", where two scientists invent a means to transmit radiation by radio waves: one is evil and kills the other, intending to "rule the universe", beginning with the Earth. However, he is outsmarted by the girlfriend of the Space Patrol's Craig.
#5 has "The Hungry Moss": Earth's first Space Station, afflicted by space moss growing on its exterior, is boarded by space pirates planning to tow it to Venus; but the station's crew releases the space moss into the pirate's ship with deadly results. "Sky Diver" has aliens abducting humans: when a scientist's friends are taken he persuades the White House to let him use an untested spaceship to rescue them. Landing on the aliens' planet he and the crew are captured by plants guarding a nearby city: here he discovers the abducted humans are being turned into Zombies to lead an Invasion of Earth. Fortunately the window of his prison can be pried open without too much difficulty.
The Buck Vinson and Korean war stories are exercises in unsubtle Cold War propaganda and racism (see Paranoia; Politics; Race in SF). As is usually the case with this comic genre, radiation is rarely an issue (see Scientific Errors). The Buck Vinson setting – essentially, World War Three – is presumably intended as a dreadful warning about the consequences of failure in Korea. There are a couple of interesting ideas, such as the iceberg fortresses; but the actions of Buck are painfully trite, relying heavily on the stupidity of an apparently technologically superior enemy (though "The Deadly Crawler" seems to imply this is due to enslaved Western scientists). The other sf stories are also minor.
The title Atom-Age Combat was re-used by St John Publishing five years later, for #1 (1958), with the series then taken up by Fago Publishing, who brought out #2 and #3 (both 1959). All three issues' artwork seems to have been by Dick Ayers. #1 opened with a strip from the editors asserting we should "work incessantly to prevent the suicidal thermonuclear holocaust of total war in the Atom Age!" Vigilance is still required: until everlasting peace is ensured we "must keep developing new weapons", so the comic will have stories of "limited thermonuclear battle" which "are not science fiction", as the weapons shown are based on those that exist or are "in their final stages of development". Some stories lack excitement – in #1 (1958) a giant Computer tells us how it collates data for potential enemy attacks; in #2 (1959) a military wife learns not to be jealous of how their husband's responsibilities drains and distracts them. There are more action-based tales: #3 (1959) has "Third Element" where the US and Russian military simultaneously land their spaceships on the Moon and are on the brink of battling to claim it, when they are attacked by aliens; the two sides unite to fight this new enemy. Another story in #3, "The Puzzle", has Earth's spaceships attacked from Mars whenever they go beyond the Moon. A squadron manages to reach the planet only to discover the Martians are long extinct, but had designed computer-controlled weaponry to ensure no civilization can leave their respective planet's domain: it ends with one soldier asking "but why?". [SP]
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